Dad Isn't Afraid of Yeast: Making Pizza

In my last post I conquered my fear of separating eggs and whipping egg whites. I still haven't started making food requiring yeast. My dad on the other hand uses yeast enough to have a brand preference so strong that he'll make a separate visit to a different supermarket just to get some of the right brand. But hey, that's okay with me if buying yeast means he will make one of my favourite foods. . . PIZZA!!!!

I think I request pizza pretty much every time I'm at home now, but really who doesn't want pizza? He made extremely loaded pizza for Christmas Eve. That was pretty traditional pizza with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. But this time, he was up for an experiment in the form of an attempt to recreate a Murrieta's flatbread he had once in Canmore at home. Needless to say he was impressed by the restaurant's creation. I believe it must have been the "Chorizo" with sun dried tomatoes, roasted mushrooms, black olives, and goat cheese. Incidentally, he must have forgotten about the mushrooms since he didn't suggest including any. But, what do you expect from a guy who persists in calling chorizo "chorozo"? Anyways, mushrooms or none, my dad makes a mean pizza and the experiment was a success.

I was semi-involved in the process so I'll tell you more or less how it went down:

My dad prepared a sauce of fresh Roma tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper. He put it in the fridge until we were ready for the pizza making. He also cooked up some Spolumbo's chorizo sausages and sliced them and let them brown nicely. I think these were also chilled until the main event.

Next, came the magic I know not as he made a whole wheat pizza dough crust. This was actually the first time I had his pizza in it's new whole wheat form and it was a winner with more flavour than a white crust. I also know that the crust utilized the fine buckwheat honey we bought at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto in place of sugar. The honey flavour was too subtle for me to notice despite using the "Guinness of honeys," buckwheat honey.

The oven was preheated to 450 F with a ceramic pizza stone inside while the pizzas were prepared. The tomato sauce was spread over the dough, which was shaped by hand. Next the topping were arranged on top including sausage slices, strips of sun dried tomato, and pieces of kalamata olive. Finally, large crumbles of soft goat cheese were added. We to reconstitute the sun dried tomatoes in boiling water for 2 minutes and pit the olives. To pit the olives my dad smashed them with the side of a knife like you would with garlic. It really makes the pits easier to remove.

This is the pizza before baking on a sheet metal pizza paddle with cornmeal for easy transfer to the stone in the oven:
And this is the delectable pizza after baking. . . a little longer than my dad wanted to 'cause I like a crisp crust:
It was really good and different from the usual pizza. There was much less cheese but the cheese that was on the pizza was creamy, tangy, perfect goat cheese. The crust was crisp and tasty with it's light smearing of fresh tomato sauce. The toppings: olives, sun dried tomatoes, and chorizo were all very flavourful. Needless to say, I did my part in eating the pizza. My dad was disappointed with the minimal leftovers with me home and eating pizza.

For the record, my mom also makes great food. I couldn't get enough of her Caesar salad the night before we returned to Edmonton.

Mowing Down on the Sunday Chow

From the title you might think that the Sunday chow is some slow-cooked home style feast like pot roast or Sunday gravy. But really it's just some tasty stuff I had today that I want to share with you, my readers. (Do I have readers?)

Anyways, first up is a simple, easy and tasty sandwich that I made myself for lunch.

It's a super-tasty grilled cheese with Havarti, tomato, and basil. I made it by grilling a sandwich of cheese, tomato, and basil and mustard in a pan with a little olive oil. I adore the crunchy bread, gooey cheese and moist tomatoes. It was excellent from start to finish. There are few things as easy and tasty as a good grilled cheese.

I got my dinner at the Cariwest Caribbean Arts Festival in Churchill Square after an appetite-building afternoon of shopping. The festival had lots of Caribbean flavour in the entertainment. I heard steel drums, saw dancers, and heard other festive music as well. But, the main thing on my mind was getting some food 'cause I was hungry. There was a bit of a mish-mash of food on offer from Italian sausage to ginger beef to enchiladas. But, I only had eyes for the Caribbean food because isn't that what the festival is all about.

I lined up at the tent set up by the Sit and Chat Caribbean Restaurant. I wanted to get the oxtail but it was not available (at least for me). So, I went with the choice of the Caribbean guy in front of me in line and went with the colossal curried goat roti for $10. Here it is in its entirety:

I was also a bit thirsty and curious what an authentic Jamaican ginger beer would taste like, so I got one for $3:

First, what's in a roti? What is a roti? I'd say it's like a Caribbean burrito with a flaky wrapper and a filling of curried potato, chickpea, and goat. Here are the insides because you know you wanted to see them:This was a rib sticking tasty concoction. The potatoes and chickpeas offered up their tender starchy goodness and the goat was flavourful and on the bone. I ate it mainly with a fork. I don't see how you could really pick it up without it falling apart. Especially since you have to gnaw meat off the bone, an activity that I increasingly enjoy. The curry flavour was tasty but not overly spicy. Overall, I enjoyed eating my roti while soaking up the sights and sounds of the festival.

The ginger beer was much sweeter than I would have thought with over 40 grams of sugar in 300mL. But I drank it all because of the intriguing strength of the ginger flavour that was sort of in the background. So, those are the highlights of my tasty Sunday chow.

Long Time No See, Sorry It Was a Food Adventure

I haven't written in a while because I went to Calgary with Albert last weekend and his visit continued until Thursday. Then, I was busy preparing for a bit of a dinner party tonight. First, I'll talk about Calgary. (I actually forgot to take photos at the party, so I will take some of the leftovers. . . I'm a bad blogger).

I was really hungry (and crabby) when I got to Calgary. I'd read some good things about the Cafe in the McNally Robinson Bookstore on Chowhound. It was nearby, so I decided to go there. . . at about 5 o'clock. I ordered the pear and blue cheese salad for about $10. It came with a slice of multi grain bread, which I ate along with the entire salad. A large, late snack don't you think? Anyways, the bread was good, blue cheese is always good, the greens were fresh, and the berry vinaigrette was tasty (but I had to ask for it). The pears, well, they seemed like canned pears. That was a bit disappointing. . . of course I could be wrong. Albert had some sort of chocolaty, boozy dessert coffee while we were there. He found it too sickly sweet to finish, but should have known better perhaps.

That night, we ate at PiqNiq Bistro above the BeatNiq jazz bar. It was the fanciest meal we had. It started off with a couple of tasty little rolls with butter. They had an intriguing flavour that we argued over the source of. I was reminded slightly of winter squash. Caraway was brought up as a possibility. We moved straight to mains after that. I had the catch of the day, which was seared Ahi tuna. It came with really tasty baby potatoes, julienned vegetables, and fennel that may have been pickled. The fish though was underwhelming for the price. I heard the waitress describing it as blue rare. That would have been great. What I got was a shade under well-done in my books and many bites tasted dry. I was too timid to complain since I've never actually had seared tuna before. . . maybe I should have. Albert had
"Truffled Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Ravioli, Fresh Tomato Coulis." It included some asparagus spears as well. He said it was a playful dish and seemed to enjoy it. The best part of our meal came last with a chocolate cheesecake that we split for dessert. It was rich and creamy, chocolaty, and not too sweet. It was very, very good. Down in the jazz bar afterward, I enjoyed a most excellent Caesar in honour of Canada Day and Albert had a pint of the local brew on tap.

There's still more to talk about (and it gets better) . . . but that's all I'm going to say for now.

The Risotto Revelation

For a while I have been thinking that I'd like to try my hand at making a risotto. It seemed like it would be something of an accomplishment to do, that it would prove my cooking skills. One thing that was stopping me was that I could not remember ever having eaten a risotto, I believe because my I remembered my father saying it was gross. . . maybe. Anyways, I tried my first risotto in memory at Quarry in Canmore. It was a creamy delicious almond risotto described here. The other thing I wanted before I made risotto was a good chicken stock. The chicken broth (made from bullion, naughty me) that I used to braise chicken thighs for sandwich meat seemed to fit the bill. I chilled it, skimmed off the fat, and froze it for my future risotto.

For the risotto, I also bought short grain rice. It's not aborio but calrose. I'm pretty sure that's okay, right? Anyways, it worked. I looked for a simple risotto recipe on Epicurious in which I could use my "chicken stock". The recipe I chose was this one for Risotto with Peas and Prosciutto. I of course made a few alterations, basically make a third of the recipe. I used
less butter than called for and didn't add any to finish as it already had a creamy texture and the comments with the recipe suggested it was unnecessary. I believe I also used less cheese than would be 1/3 of the recipe and used Roman in place of Parmigiano. People on Epicurious commented that there was too much cheese in the original recipe and it made for a sticky risotto. I omitted completely the white wine, as there wasn't enough reason to buy a bottle for my risotto experiment and I omitted the lemon zest. . . because I'm lazy? Hell, this was my special Sunday lunch, I'd do whatever I wanted.

I prepared the risotto as directed otherwise, but found that instead of 20 minutes it took a good 45 minutes for the rice to be of an edible tenderness, which I think was still al dente. That's a lot of stirring, risotto will beef up your stirring arm boys. My finished product looked pretty good:
It was a creamy, starchy bowl of bliss. However, I found myself adding quite a bit of black pepper, because it needed the slight kick. I also think that more peas would be good what with the colour, sweetness, and healthfulness they add. The prosciutto was really tasty too, nice and salty. The elements of this risotto really go well together, not surprising since peas and prosciutto is pretty classic. I would love to make it again in a larger portion to share with a friend. I think it would be really impressive. . . and we could use the wine and lemon zest for a more complex flavour, especially the wine. Anyways, I'm sure this won't be my last risotto.

Highlights (not) For Children

Last week I was in the mood for a burger. Serendipitously, my friend Ryan brought over a patty for a turkey cacciatore burger a la Rachel Ray. I think it must be this recipe, although I don't know what substitutions were made and it was served on a bun--a whole wheat kaiser as shown below. I'm not going to get into the merits or sins against food of Rachel Ray. All I'm going to say is that with mustard, sauteed mushrooms, spinach and tomato this was a tasty burger. I absolutely love mushrooms with burgers. It's freaking awesome and if you don't agree you're crazy. It may also have stopped me noticing the chopped veggies in the burger and the fact that it was made of turkey. As for the bun, I think a whole wheat kaiser is really good for a burger. There's not too much bread and I like the texture. Thanks for the burger Ryan!Now I want to mention one of my comfort foods. Fried eggs on toast:
I used to eat a variation on this for breakfast on weekends pretty often as a kid. I used to require Cheese Whiz, an egg, and ketchup or salsa on a toasted slice of bread. On my own, I come up with some variations that might be a little more grown up. This one has ham under the egg, black pepper on it, and some shaved Romano cheese on top. The key to all of this is a runny yolk, you can't beat it. I eat this with a knife and fork by the way. If it were French I suppose it would be a tartine.

For a weekend meal, I cooked a rainbow trout--complete with head. It was okay, but really needed the lime juice I squeezed on it. I think I overcooked it slightly. I did eat the meat from it's cheeks though and it was particularly succulent. . . as I think fish cheeks are supposed to be. My side dish of roasted new nugget potatoes was awesome though. I made them based on Heidi Swanson's recipe for Black Pepper and Lime Oven Fries. They look pretty nice below:I didn't really measure anything and I forgot the cheese on the ones above--but they were still delicious. A sprinkling of Romano was a nice touch though once I remembered. Anyways, the chili and black pepper flavouring was good. To be honest, I think the nugget potatoes were so good that they would have made great oven fries no matter what I seasoned them with. There was just so much potato goodness.

To finish up this post, I want to talk about some damn good poultry. You might have thought I only like pork, but I also adore dark meat chicken. That's right: DARK meat. Not white, not what's in Chicken McNuggets (the gold standard for nutrition). My dad will not buy chicken thighs. But when he eats them, he seems to like it. Anyways, I've been using chicken thigh meat that I cook myself for my sandwiches with blue cheese and mustard. Pretty much any cheese would be good on the sandwich though. I used to love turkey, cheddar and mustard sandwiches. Anyways, to make the chicken I brown skinned thighs well. This step looks delish below:

When the chicken is well browned I add some chicken broth made with bullion 'cause I'm a cheater until the chicken is partially covered. Then I simmer the chicken until it's tender, about half an hour. I think this may count as braising. Finally, I take the meat off the bone and shred it. I froze some of the meat for future sandwiches and it seems to keep well. Sandwiches with this chicken are awesome because there's so much real chicken flavour and texture. The liquid left over seems intensely chickeny and I saves some for a possible future risotto in the freezer.

Another great use for chicken thighs is chicken curry. It starts with browned skinned (but bone in) chicken thighs but lots of veggies an seasoning go in as well. This one has carrot, onion, ginger, curry powder, chicken broth, and spinach. I kind of make it up as I go along. I think it's important not to be afraid to experiment in the kitchen. Chicken curry is a warming, filling, and satisfying meal with some rice.

Dinner Party Part 1: Appetizers

On Saturday I hosted my first ever dinner party. I think it was tasty and fun for me and four of my friends who decided to attend. First up were the appetizers: I made two different toppings for baguette slices: a "classic caponata" and garlicky roasted bell peppers with feta cheese. Interestingly rumor has it one of my guests would eat an entire baguette with spinach dip given the opportunity.

First up, the peppers. This is my variation on a recipe that my uncle learned from a Greek neighbour. My uncle and father make this by barbecuing the peppers to blacken them. I'm not equipped for that, so I use my oven following the guidelines of Clotilde. Bell peppers take nearly an hour to roast at 400 degrees, with several turns. I used two green peppers and one red, since I wanted a mix of colours and flavours. After sweating the peppers in foil and peeling them, I sliced them into strips and tossed them with about two tablespoons of olive oil, a minced clove of garlic, salt, and pepper. I then refrigerated them overnight as these things get better with time. It's key to roast the peppers on foil as pepper juices can burn and pretty much ruin a baking tray. I know because it happened to me a few months ago. These are my peppers after roasting and sweating, don't be alarmed at the burnt spots because they peel off for the most part when you skin the peppers by hand.

I really like the taste of the peppers combined with feta cheese slices and bread. I've eaten that combo four separate times in the last two days because I had leftovers since three peppers is more than five people need. Every bite is good with it's combination of salt, creaminess, breadiness (bread is good, don't you know?), and the indescribable but so good flavour of roasted pepper. As a variation, you could use hot peppers like my uncle does. In this case, the feta is a necessary cooling agent. Even so, three years ago I could barely eat one piece of his roasted chili. It was freaking hot.

I made the caponata from this recipe on Epicurious. I'd never had caponata that I know of, but it sounded good and I like eggplant. Plus, the recipe was well rated. I made a bit less than the full recipe, which was nevertheless a lot. I used a one pound eggplant, 3/4 of an onion, two tablespoons of red wine vinegar, and a little less than the recommended amount of olive oil. I omitted the pine nuts since one of my guests was probably allergic, plus I'm lazy and cheap (actually I'm not sure if they're expensive). Also, I boiled the mixture considerably longer than recommended. I think this helped the flavours to meld together and to soften the eggplant. Here you can see the onions, garlic, and eggplant sauteing. It looks pretty good right there.

This was a good make-ahead appetizer. My guests seemed to like combining it with feta cheese as well, which is fine by me. I'm really not a food Nazi who tells people exactly how to eat my cooking. I actually just want people to enjoy what I make for them. The flavour of the caponata is a bit tart with plenty of eggplant texture. The capers in it add a tart and salty dimension. If you haven't tried capers, you really should. I'm experimenting with mixing the leftovers with pasta for lunch tomorrow.

In conclusion, tasty things on bread are a winner as starters for a dinner party. Plus, they can be made the day before and I'm pretty sure my friends liked them nearly as much as I did.

Cheeeeeese 2

This is where I continue my list o' cheese:

Gouda: A nice flavour in a cheese, I can't really describe it but it's good. Sometimes in the afternoon, it's Gouda time, just ask my sister.

Swiss: This cheese was my enemy for life. I really didn't like the taste when I was little. But now, I'm quite okay with it. It has a taste, I like that in a cheese. It's good on sandwiches. Besides, who doesn't enjoy looking at a cheese with holes.

Pecorino Romano: A hard, salty Italian cheese that I grate on my pastas right how. Pasta is way better with some cheese. I'm sure Parmigiano is also good. Much better than cheese from a can. This cheese appears in the photo above.

Mozzarella: This cheese is a lot bland for me in it's industrial form, which is most of what I've eaten. Those fresh ones people talk about might be nice. Otherwise, this is only for pizza. But don't get me wrong, I love pizza.

Gruyere: I bought a Swiss imported Gruyere. It's quite mild and perhaps a bit nutty.

Cottage Cheese: I like the tartness of cottage cheese but have not eaten it recently.

Cantenaar: My cheese of the moment. This is a Dutch cheese. I'd say it's semi-hard. It's lower in fat than many cheeses but it has a really satisfying tang. I guess it's a bit sharp. It's good for sandwiches. . . actually the description in the store said it was. That's why I bought it. It's photographed above.

That's all I can think of for now folks. Please, tell me about your favourite cheeses.

Cheeeese!!!

Over the last year, I've been on a bit of an informal and admittedly not very efficient cheese tasting mission. You see, after leaving Lister--land of the plastic cheese--I could buy my own cheese. Good cheese, flavourful cheese. I discovered by something of a random occurrence that I actually love strong cheese even the dreaded blue cheese. I ate some during lunch on my first day volunteering in the campus community garden last may. It was really good and I was driven to expand my cheese horizons. Here are a few of my notes about cheese, they're a little random because it's late:

Brie: I like this more for soft, creamy texture than flavour, but it's good.

Blue Cheese: Strong, smelly cheese flavour and a little goes a long way. . . mmm. This is why I like the salad in the previous post.

Cream Cheese: Excellent on bagels, cheese cake is pretty darn good too. I love the creaminess and slight tang.

Cheddar: This was my main cheese growing up and I still love it. The sharper the better. Mild cheddar is a no go.

Camembert: Also soft and creamy but mild.

Double Gloucester: Orange and British, it looked like cheddar, but the flavour was disappointingly mild compared to an old cheddar. It grew on me, though.

Edam: It had a red wax coating, the texture and flavour were not bad but not remarkable either.

Feta: I really like salty feta on pizza and with marinated roasted peppers on bread. It's the star of Greek salad, which is really and excuse to eat cheese.

Goat's Cheese (Chevre): I love the tang and the sort of creamy texture. To me it's like cream cheese gone wild. Wild is good.

Consider this the start of a list. More tomorrow perhaps.