It's been a while...

Sorry it's been a while. I've been doing other things (taping, mudding, painting, shelving, making curtains...) but I have been cooking. A few delicious meals lately that I wanted to share. Probably not cooking tonight since we're on our way up to our parents' for my sister & brother's grad party tomorrow. But this should tie you over till I cook again Sunday or Monday.

So we made grilled pizza the other day. It was so delish. One of our fave restaurants here has a flatbread pizza that we love so I wanted to recreate it, but on the grill. I made my own pizza dough - so worth it, it's flaky and delicious and just yum. It's from one of my Italian cookbooks that I think I borrowed from my grandma and never gave back.... whoops.

Pizza Dough
1 tbsp dry yeast (it's one packet)
1.5 cups lukewarm water
3.5-4 cups flour (approx) - I used a little less than 4 cups
1 tbsp. sugar
1.5 tsp salt
2 tbsp. shortening (Crisco) - yea, I used butter

1. Add yeast to water. Stir after 10 minutes.
2. Add shortening to yeast mixture.
3. Add dry ingredients, saving out about 1/2 cup of flour. (I put in 3.5 cups and left out .5)
4. Place dough on floured board and knead for 5 minutes, using whatever you need of the reserved 1/2 cup of flour so dough is not sticky.
5. Place dough back in greased mixing bowl. Cover tightly with saran wrap and let rise till double in bulk - about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
6. Punch dough down and divide into four pieces. This makes four mini-pizzas - each piece rolls out into about half a cookie sheet.

Then, in my brilliant glory, I cut some goat cheese, scallions, and bacon for toppings. Hubster put some oil on the dough and dropped it on the grill while I cooked up chopped bacon on the stove inside. Hint: get the bacon that comes in those plastic containers and freeze it. It's so easy to take it frozen and chop it into tiny bits before cooking. And, it lasts longer.

Once the pizza was flipped, we spread goat cheese on top then added the cooked bacon & scallions. I was shopping quickly this week and accidentally got fig goat cheese instead of plain... I was worried, but it actually was delicious. A nice nutty flavor to counter the scallions and salty bacon. It's a great meal or a delicious appetizer. Whatever you prefer!

I'll share my asian inspired marinade another time... I am a self-proclaimed master of the asian cuisine.
Bon Appetit!

Chicken Soup for the Summer Soul

It's been a while, sorry. We finally got drywall up in the office plus did some much needed shopping for hardware, fabric, rugs, and tools. Now all we need to do is finish unpacking and maybe it'll start looking like a real home!

So I made a whole chicken yesterday for the first time and it was a bit of a nightmare. Tasted delicious, but it was quite the journey to get there. Anyways, Husband carved the bird and saved all the scraps for me to use for soup. And I decided today was a good day. Why make soup when it's freakin' humid & hot? Well, because I have piano lessons to teach this afternoon near the air conditioner, far away from the hot stove. Bazinga.

So I make soup differently than my sister makes soup which is weird because we both learned from my mother. Oh well. And I make soup differently than my mother-in-law makes soup which Husband used to be quick to remind me. However, he's come around to liking my soup too. [which is good, cause he wouldn't eat if he didn't.]

So to start, chop an onion, a couple stalks of celery (I do about 4), a couple big rabbit carrots (you know what I mean - I did about 4 too) so it's a mire-poix ratio of 1 to 1 to 1. Heat some oil on the stove in a huge soup pot and drop those babies in so they can cook for a bit. I pepper them only because I wind up over salting things I think and it's just better to let people salt their own soup - esp since I like to use parm cheese instead of salt at the end. Anyways, pepper it a bit and let them cook out for oh, 5ish minutes? Then drop your chicken bones in. I put the carcass [what a gross sounding word. carcass] in an the wings cause we never eat those. Then fill 'er up. With water. Seriously, fill the pot. Well not completely full, but you know, full enough. Then let it cook down and render out all that delicious chickenness. You'll have to let it simmer and cook for about an hour or so, longer if you want, shorter if you're in a rush. I usually let mine go for 1.5 to 2 hours. And be sure to scrape off the fat that rises to the surface. That's the gross stuff.

Once the stock has reached the color you like - it really is up to you. Take out all the bones. And try really hard to take out all the bones cause inevitably you'll forget one and find it when you're eating, but try. Those suckers are tiny. Then you can do a couple of things, you'll want to add chicken, but it's up to you how you do it. You can take raw chicken cut it to tiny pieces and poach it in the stock, you can take pre-cooked chicken from a previous meal and let it heat in the soup, or you can brown some chicken on the stove, par cook it, and let it cook the rest of the way in the soup. Whatever you want, add chicken next. Then I add my noodles to cook right in the soup. I use acine de pepe which are small noodles that are delicious and so made for chicken soup, but Husband doesn't always like them. He likes bigger noodles. So we've been experimenting lately. But today, I'm using acine de pepe. Then, secret ingredient... I whisk two eggs together and fiercely stir them into the soup. They're delicious. Serve with whatever you like - I like to put parmesan cheese on top of mine and eat with some delicious bread. Which I also made last week. Dang, I need to get more planning for next year done. I've been baking too much...

Oh well, bon appetit!

Asparagus Risotto Deliciousness

So I just finished making asparagus risotto. It was the most delicious thing I've made yet this week. It's a little intimidating and completely new to me, but so good. So risotto is a rice dish (vegetarian, sweet) that you have to stir constantly which is kind of a pain in the butt, but makes for some sweet eats.

So since I've never made risotto before I consulted epicurious on my phone - but you can try it at epicurious.com. It's a great reference and resource. Anyways, you have to get Arborio rice, which is expensive, but so worth it. So first, I put my asparagus 2-in pieces in hot water for 2 minutes before I drained them and then put them in cold water. While I did that I brought 5 cups of chicken broth (or if you're going completely vegetarian, some other broth...) to a simmer. Then, I chopped a small onion and put it in a skillet with sides with some EVOO till the onion was clear. Then, add a cup and a half of rice with a wine glass full of white wine. Let that soak up, stirring, for a bit. Then start adding your simmering broth a cup at a time. You have to stir constantly so it'll take about 20 minutes. Mine took 20 exactly - so weird.

So, once all your broth has been added, let the rice soak it up - it will. Oh, and your burner should be about Medium. Sorry, I forgot to mention that. Anyways, then add your asparagus and stir for about 2 minutes. Take it off the heat and add half a stick of butter (preferably cut up). Stir that in then add parmesan cheese, however much you want, but remember that it's gonna give a salty taste. Season it with pepper (the parm cheese will do the salt) and serve! It's so delicious. So great.

Anyways, risotto is wonderful, so enjoy it and good luck! You'll have a great meal and hopefully learn a new dish! Bon appetit!