Deep Dish Delight

It's Pizza Friday again. We skipped it last week, still suffering under the weight of so much turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. But having had about a week to recover, we were ready for some hearty fare tonight. This recipe differs from my usual pizza recipe in that it is cooked in my cast iron skillet, and loaded with diced tomatoes, spicy Italian turkey sausage, and plenty of mozzarella cheese. This is not ordinary thin-crust pizza. It is hot and gooey, and needs to be eaten with a fork and knife, at least if you do not wish to wear your dinner. This recipe, adapted from Gourmet Cookbook, is sure to please and makes a delicious meal on a cold night.

Deep Dish Chicago Style Pizza

Dough:

2 1/2 t yeast (or one package)

1/4 t sugar

1/2 C warm water (about 105°)

1 1/2 C flour

1/4 C cornmeal

1 T olive oil

1/2 t salt

Mix water, sugar and yeast in a bowl and let sit for 5 minutes, or until foamy. Stir in flour, cornmeal, salt and olive oil and turn out onto board and knead to combine. Continue kneading for about 5 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Put in oiled bowl and flip to oiled side up. Cover with plastic and set aside to rise in a warm place until doubled in size for about 1 hour.

Filling:

14 oz. diced tomatoes (drained)

2 C mozzarella cheese, grated

1 t oregano

1/2 pound spicy turkey Italian sausage

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 500°.

Remove casing from sausage and crumble and brown in a heavy skillet (I use my 9 inch cast iron one...it should not be non-stick!). Stir in tomatoes and oregano and season with salt and pepper. Remove to a paper towel lined bowl to drain. Wipe out skillet and when dough has risen, punch it down and roll it out into a 10 inch circle. Grease skillet and press dough into bottom and up sides. Let rest, covered for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with 1 C of the cheese, add the sausage tomato mixture, and top with the remaining cup of cheese.

Bake at 500° degrees for 12 minutes. Turn down the heat to 400° and bake for 8 minutes more or until crust is golden and filling is bubbling hot.

At Market...Carrots

Here in California, many things are available at our farmers markets year round, or at the very least, we have two long seasons, separated by only a few short months. That is the case for carrots. Tender young carrots are so very different from the so called baby carrots that are available in every grocery store. Those are actually full size carrots that have been whipped around in a peeling and chopping machine, so that they look like baby carrots. Most of the time, it is very hard to taste the difference between those carrots and the bag in which they were packaged.

But young carrots, plucked fresh from the earth, are something to behold indeed. Slightly grassy yet sweet, crisp yet tender, their orange root contrasts so beautifully with the green frilly leaves on top. I like to eat them raw, but they are also so delicious when blanched briefly and then sauteed with butter and leeks. It elevates a simple root into something fancy enough for a dinner party.

Tonight we dined on New England (I know, NOT local) scallops, sauteed in a bit of garlic, butter and white wine, served over white rice with the carrots on the side. It took all of 20 minutes to prepare, and was served up to my rushed, and seemingly unenthusiastic husband and children before soccer practice. I was left alone at the table to linger over my glass of wine, uninterrupted....which I guess is not as bad as I initially made it out to be. I thought that dinner tasted quite delicious actually and I even went back for seconds!










Sauteed Scallops in Butter and White Wine Sauce
serves 4 small eaters...2 big ones!

1 pound of sea scallops
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T minced parsley
splash of wine
splash of lemon juice
salt and pepper

Cut large scallops in half crosswise. Heat butter and olive oil in the pan over medium heat and saute garlic for about 2 minutes. Turn heat to high and add scallops to the pan in one layer. Cook for just a two minutes a side, or until opaque. Do NOT overcook scallops! Add a splash of white wine and simmer for one minute more. Turn out into serving bowl, and season with salt and pepper and squeeze lemon over. Taste for seasoning. Sprinkle over chopped parsley and serve.











Sauteed Real Baby Carrots

1 bunch young carrots with tops
1 T butter
1 leek (white part only) sliced and soaked in cold water briefly to remove sand
chopped parsley
salt and pepper

Trim carrots so that about 1/2 inch of the top remains. If desired peel. Blanch carrots in water for a few minutes, or until crisp tender. In saute pan, heat butter over medium heat. Add leeks and saute for 3 minutes or until softened. Add carrots and saute for 2 minutes more. Add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle over chopped parsley and serve.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Regarding nuts there are two camps (well three if you count those who are deathly allergic to them): one group just loves nuts and all things nutty and one group not so much. I guess that I fall somewhere in the middle. I do like nuts as solo fliers. I make them often when we are entertaining to munch on with our cocktails, I like them in salads or sprinkled on my veggies, but I am not a huge fan of nuts in sweet treats like quick breads, cookies and especially fudge. That being said, I am crazy for sugared nuts! I love honey roasted peanuts to be sure, by my hands-down favorite are sugared spiced walnuts or pecans. I love them on my caramel apples and in my oatmeal, in my winter salads and just right out of the bowl. And nuts are good for me, right? Practically a health food, I think!

In Cape Cod there is a woman who makes these amazing sugared walnuts called Wicked Walnuts. They are outrageously delicious and addictive and the recipe is obviously a closely guarded secret. Even though I do have a slight walnut sensitivity (they make my mouth peel), that is a small price to pay for eating them! So since I am not currently on the Cape, I will try to recreate the recipe myself....or at least come up with something delicious to tide me over in the meantime.

Her walnuts are sweet and salty, with just a bit of heat, if I recall correctly. And they come packaged with sweetened, dried cranberries too. So this morning I set off on my journey through the wonderful world Internet recipe searches, and came across quite a few recipes, many involving making a caramel out of sugar and spices and then tossing in toasted walnuts. That didn't sound quite right to me. Finally I decided that I would try my old recipe for sugared pecans and see if that did the trick. The recipe is a simple one: toss the nuts with a beaten egg white, and then shake them in a bag of sugar, salt, cinnamon...and my new addition, a dash of cayenne. They are baked slowly, and fill the kitchen with a most heavenly smell!

Update: these walnuts, while delicious, still lacked something when they came out of the oven. I referred back to the picture on the Wicked Walnut website and saw that her's had visable sugar on them. So I created a sugar/spice mixture and tossed the walnuts with it. Bingo! They are perfect.

Sugar and Spice Walnuts

1/2 pound walnut pieces and halves
1 egg white, beaten until frothy
1/2 C sugar
1/2 t salt
3/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/2 C sweetened dried cranberries

Sugar Topping

1/4 C sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
pinch cayenne
1/2 t salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Toss walnuts with egg white in a medium sized bowl. Place sugar, salt, and spices into a large zip top bag. Remove walnuts from egg white with a slotted spoon, letting any excess egg drip out. Place nuts in the sugar bag and shake vigorously to coat. Pour out onto greased cookie sheet and separate nuts. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until dry and toasted.

Mix sugar topping in a large bowl. Gently break apart walnuts with a fork or spatula. Place in the bowl with the sugar and toss to coat. Place back on the cookie sheet to cool. When cool, toss with the cranberries and seal in air-tight containers.

At Market...Oro Blanco

Oro Blanco...the name means white gold in Spanish and it is easy to tell why. These beautiful orbs are available now at California farmers markets, and should remain in the markets throughout the winter. In 1958 farmers created this hybrid from a pomelo, which is the citrus fruit from which grapefruit descended. It has a yellow rind and sweet, light yellow flesh that contains almost no seeds, and tastes mildly of grapefruit. I would call this the grapefruit for people who don't like grapefruit. It's rind is thick and spongy, just like the pomelo's, but its size is much smaller, more like a grapefruit. Good Oro Blancos are heavy for their size, and will last at room temperature for two weeks and in the refrigerator for up to one month.

Their rind is deliciously perfumed and makes excellent sugared citrus candy, which is exactly what I made this afternoon (more gifts from the kitchen). The recipe is kind to those of us whose days are filled with other important tasks...like holiday shopping!! Each part of the recipe requires little attention, and it can sit patiently waiting, until you return for it.

The rind is removed from the flesh, simmered in water for a time, stripped of its membrane then boiled in a sweet sugar syrup. After awhile, the golden rind becomes glossy and translucent, and covered in delicious sticky sweetness. They are drained of any excess syrup, then tossed in sugar, and ready to eat or use in your favorite recipe. I think they would be delicious in scones or muffins, or just eaten straight out of the bowl, for that matter. This recipe adapted from Local Flavors, is a definite keeper.

Sugared Citrus

2 grapefruits, (or 1 pomelo, or 2 oro blancos, or 3 navel oranges)

1 1/2 C sugar

1 1/2 C water

1/4 C corn syrup

superfine sugar for dusting

Quarter citrus and remove flesh. Put rind into a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Pour out water and cover again with cold water. Weigh down rinds so they cannot float (I used a smaller saucepan within a saucepan to hold them down). Boil for 30 minutes, then turn off the heat. Let the water cool to room temp. They can be left for several hours or overnight. Remove rinds from water and scrape out white pith. Slice rinds into thinish strips and set aside.

Heat sugar, water and corn syrup in a large pot. When mixture turns clear, add rinds and simmer for 1 hour or until the rinds are shiny and translucent. Most of the syrup will have evaporated. At this point you can let it sit overnight (and let drip the next day) or you can remove to a rack over a cookie sheet to allow excess syrup to drip off as soon as they are cool enough to handle. Toss a few rinds at a time in superfine sugar, and return to rack to dry out for one hour.

Store in a jar, each layer separated by sugar, in the refrigerator.

Latin Leftovers...Ay Caramba!

Believe it or not I really haven't had my fill of turkey yet. It is such a blank slate and can take on the most subtle or flamboyant flavors. And after all that old-fashioned, classic, rib sticking (or is that hip sticking?) food over the weekend I am ready for some heat. I'm needing something to blast my taste buds with a ton of flavor, without a ton of fat, after all, we have a slew of holiday calories coming our way, don't we? The way in which I usually go about achieving a meal that is both intensely satisfying and yet kind to my waistline, is by using herbs and chilis.

Only one of my three charming offspring will enjoy this meal of Chipotle Turkey Tortilla Soup tonight, and so I will also make a big plate of quesadillas, a staple around these parts, and that should appease their picky palates.

The soup, adapted from this month's Gourmet Magazine, contains homemade stock (which I have plenty of from my Turkey), sweet potatoes, black beans, brown rice, a variety of toasted then ground spices, and chipotle peppers (canned in adobo sauce). Topped with crispy tortilla strips, avocado chunks, and grated cheese, this meal will surely satisfy...and hopefully use up the rest of our leftovers....

When toasting the spices in my nifty mini spice toasting skillet, the fragrant smoke wafts into the kitchen air filling my home with its warm, exotic perfume. My oldest saunters into the kitchen and proclaims dully, soup again? I'll bet you can guess that he will not be partaking in this particular portion of the meal.

I blend the spices with the onions, garlic and chipotle chilis and open the blender and inhale. The smell is so strong that I feel the vagus nerve in my neck pinch suddenly, and I am thankful that I don't pass out and hit my head on the granite. Hmmmm....I'm sure a long, slow simmer will mellow out those strong flavors (it will). And the tender sweet potatoes will help to temper the heat in the chilis (it does). The soup it thick, almost like a stew, and I just can't wait to dig in.

Chipotle Turkey Tortilla Soup

1 pound of chopped left over turkey meat (skinned)

2 quarts of left over turkey stock (or from a box is fine)

1/2 t allspice

1 whole clove

1/2 t cumin seeds

5 peppercorns

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 1/2-2 T chipotles in adobo, finely chopped

1 T adobo sauce

1 C medium or short grain brown rice

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 can of black beans, rinsed

12 corn tortillas

cooking spray

2 avocados

2 limes

grated cheese

1/2 c finely chopped cilantro

Heat stock in large stockpot. Toast spices in dry skillet until they are fragrant and slightly darker, shaking occasionally, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a blender along with onion, garlic, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, 2 t salt and 1 C stock. Blend until spices are finely ground, about 2 minutes. Add puree to stock in the pan, along with rice and sweet potatoes. Bring to a simmer, cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until rice is cooked.

Meanwhile, slice corn tortillas into strips and place on baking sheet. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray strips with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Bake until crisp, stirring every so often, about 15 minutes. Remove to a paper towel to cool.

When rice and potatoes are tender, add chopped turkey meat and beans and simmer until heated through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with grated cheese, hunks of avocado, lime wedges and tortilla strips.

This recipe can also be made with a whole rotisserie chicken (or one you poach yourself).

Lots of Leftovers!

Yesterday was a busy one with most of the morning spent putting away the last of the Thanksgiving dishes and decor, and most of the afternoon spent putting up Christmas. My husband tackled the lights outside, and I decked our halls. We love Christmas, and try to put up the decorations as soon as we deem is reasonable to do so, without shortchanging Thanksgiving Day (which usually ends up being sometime Thanksgiving weekend). But our fridge is still stuffed with reminders of our Thanksgiving feast and we never seem to tire of the endless leftovers of turkey, and the many ways in which to creatively prepare it (which I'm sure you will read about ad nauseum in the coming days).

But the first night of leftovers is a direct homage to the meal we partook in the day or two before. I usually enjoy this meal so much more than Thanksgiving itself, because I am not exhausted from days of cooking and cleaning. I slice up the leftover turkey and heat it in a pan full of leftover gravy. We heat up the stuffing and veggie sides too, and try to free-up as much space as possible in our little fridge. But the best part of this leftover dinner is the potato pancakes, which by the way, are quite different from the potato latkes served during Hanukkah. I make a heap of mashed potatoes just so that we can enjoy this buttery, salty treat with our meal. Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, these potato pancakes are devoured quickly, with each forkful slid through the gravy on the plate.

Leftover Mashed Potato Pancakes

mashed potatoes (about 1/2 C per person)

1-2 eggs (1 egg for 1-2 servings, 2 eggs for 4 or more)

salt and pepper to taste

It is so simple, really. Just toss the mashed potatoes with an egg or two (depending on how much leftover mashers you are using) and mix well. Heat butter in a pan and plop out the potato mixture into small patties and fry until brown and crispy on each side. Salt and pepper to taste.

New England Rum Pie

This delicious cheesecake says holiday to me. It has been served at just about every holiday meal since I can remember. I'm not sure who started making it...I think it was my grandmother, or where the recipe originated, but it is such a rich, simple and elegant dessert. I have vivid memories of my sister, my dad and I literally fighting over the last slice of leftover pie, screaming and chasing each other around the kitchen with our forks raised in battle. And now my children love this cheesecake, and it has become a staple on my holiday tables as well.

Because it is not baked in the traditional spring form pan, it cooks quickly. It has just a few choice ingredients for a ton of flavor, and the splash of rum certainly adds a special touch. It almost tastes like eggnog and I think that if you added a 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg to the filling, it would taste like eggnog cheesecake and be a perfect addition to your Christmas dessert line-up.

New England Rum Pie

crust:

1 C graham cracker crumbs

2 T sugar

dash cinnamon

filling:

12 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 C sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 oz rum

topping:

1 C sour cream

2 T sugar

1 T sherry

Preheat oven to 350°.

Mix together the melted butter, crumbs and cinnamon. Press into standard pie plate.

Mix cream cheese, sugar, eggs and rum until as smooth and as thick as cream. Pour into prepared pie plate and bake for 20-30 minutes or until set (will still jiggle).

Meanwhile stir together sour cream, sugar and sherry. Pour over pie and return to oven and bake 5 minutes longer. Cool to room temperature and refrigerate.