chicken artichoke pesto calzones

I hardly ever cook large roasts of meat, but when I do, I find like I like the leftovers even more than the original meal. I had lots of fun after Thanksgiving, and found that pot roast makes an amazing soup and sandwich. And roast chicken, to be honest, hardly ever impresses me served plain with dinner, but once it’s cooled and mixed with mayonnaise for some chicken salad, I am one happy camper.

This time, though, I forwent the mayonnaise for something more interesting. I happened to come across a recipe for chicken artichoke pizza when I had shredded roast chicken, artichokes, and pizza dough in the freezer. I was practically forced to make it. Plus it sounded delicious.

I made calzones instead of pizza mostly just because I hadn’t made them in a while, but I do think that the sizable chunks of shredded chicken that I wanted to use would be more appropriate in a calzone. Calzones, though, are undoubtedly more work than pizza. Instead of rolling out one round of dough for every 2-3 people, you’re rolling out one per person, and once the ingredients are added, the edges need to be crimped.

The extra work was worth it for me, because I really enjoyed these calzones. Pesto, chicken, and artichokes are a great combination, and it can only get better with cheese.

One year ago: (Almost) No-Knead Bread

Chicken Artichoke Pesto Calzones (ingredients adapted from Stefany’s pizza, which is adapted from allrecipes; calzone method adapted from Cooks Illustrated)

Serves 8

I used mozzarella because I had it, but I think fontina would be even better.

2½ pounds pizza dough (a full recipe of this one would be perfect)
1 cup pesto
1 cup frozen artichokes, defrosted and roughly chopped
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella or fontina cheese
olive oil for brushing

1. Adjust the oven rack to the lowest position, set a pizza stone on the oven rack, and heat the oven to 500 °F (260°C) for at least 30 minutes. Turn the risen dough out onto an unfloured work surface. Divide the dough into eight equal pieces. Gently reshape each piece of dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel, and let the dough rest at least 15 minutes but no more than 30 minutes.

2. Working with one piece of dough at a time and keeping the other pieces covered, stretch and pull the dough into a 7- to 8-inch round. (I don’t like to roll pizza dough, but I suppose you could if you prefer.) Set it aside while you stretch out the remaining rounds of dough. You’ll want to form and fill just four at a time, and then work on the other four while the first set bakes. (Cooks Illustrated stacks the rounds with squares of parchment paper in between; I like to use a kitchen towel.)

3. Spread 2 tablespoons pesto onto each round of dough, leaving about a 1-inch border around the edge. Divide the toppings evenly between the eight dough rounds, forming a pile in the center of the bottom half of each dough round and leaving a 1-inch border uncovered.

4. Fold the top half of the dough over the filling-covered bottom half, leaving ½-inch border uncovered. (The photo above shows how the dough doesn’t overlap all the way. Look at the left half of the photo, where the dough isn’t crimped yet.) With your fingertips, lightly press around the silhouette of the filling and out to the edge to lightly seal the dough shut.

5. Beginning at one end of the seam, place your index finger diagonally across the edge and gently pull the bottom layer of the dough over the tip of your index finger; press into the dough to seal. (Hopefully the same picture  helps illustrate this.) Repeat the process until the calzone is fully sealed.

6. With a pastry brush, brush the tops and sides of the calzones with olive oil. Carefully transfer the calzones to parchment paper; slide the calzones on the parchment onto a pizza peel or rimless baking sheet, then slide the calzones with parchment onto the hot pizza stone, spacing them evenly apart. Bake until the calzones are golden brown, about 11 minutes; use a pizza peel or rimless baking sheet to remove the calzones with the parchment to a wire rack. Remove the calzones from the parchment, cool 5 minutes, and serve. While the first batch of calzones bakes, form the second batch and bake them after removing the first batch from the oven.

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chanterelle salad with speck and poached eggs

I don’t know if there could be a less appetizing name for a more delicious food than there is for Speck. When I hear Speck, I think of Star Trek or maybe dust particles – I do not think of spicy smoked ham.

I almost dismissed the Speck in this recipe entirely. I figured that proscuitto or pancetta, both of which I can get at my regular grocery store, would make a convenient substitute. But then I was right near an Italian butcher, and it was no big thing to go in and grab some Speck. I’m glad I did, because I love the stuff. I wish I’d had some proscuitto to taste alongside it, because I feel like I liked the Speck more than I normally do proscuitto, but I haven’t eaten enough proscuitto to really remember.

After my first uncertain egg on salad experience, I seem to have become somewhat enamored with the idea. In this salad, I really enjoyed the warm savory egg on the tart dressed greens. The Speck, sautéed until crispy, was of course delicious. I wasn’t crazy about the cooked chanterelles in the salad – they seemed a little too chewy to fit in with the other ingredients. Dave really liked them though.

I didn’t follow the recipe exactly – I had just made fresh bread, so I skipped the toasting step. I also made a different dressing. As if one hard-to-find ingredient in the recipe wasn’t enough, you’re also supposed to reduce Vin Santo, an Italian dessert wine, for the vinaigrette, and mix it with walnut oil. I made a simple balsamic vinaigrette and was happy with it.

Notwithstanding the chewy mushrooms, this salad was very good. This was a nice, light meal that left me plenty of room to eat some of the chocolate chip cookies that I have coming out the wazoo.

Warm Chanterelle Salad with Speck and Poached Eggs (from Bon Apetit December 2008 )

6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
4 fresh thyme sprigs
3 garlic cloves, divided
1 pound fresh chanterelles, cleaned, cut into ⅓-inch thick slices
nonstick cooking spray
4 ounces ⅛-inch-thick slices Speck, rind trimmed
6 ¾-inch-thick slices ciabatta or pain rustique
½ teaspoon salt
6 large eggs
2 small heads butter lettuce, coarsely torn (about 11 cups)
6 cups mâche or arugula (3½ ounces)
Vinaigrette

Preheat oven to 500F. Combine 4 tablespoons oil and thyme in large bowl. Press 2 garlic cloves into oil with garlic press; whisk to blend. Add chanterelles and toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Spray rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray. Spread mushroom mixture on sheet. Roast mushrooms until tender, stirring occasionally, about 6 minutes.

Cut Speck crosswise into ¼-inch-thick strips. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in small skillet over medium-high heat. Add Speck; sauté until crisp, 4 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

Toast ciabatta slices until golden; rub with remaining garlic clove. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil. Halve each slice lengthwise.

Fill large skillet with water and bring to boil. Add ½ teaspoon salt. Crack eggs, 1 at a time, into custard cup, then slide egg from cup into water; reduce heat to low. Poach eggs until whites are set and yolks are softly set, 3 to 4 minutes.

Meanwhile, toss lettuce and mâche with enough vinaigrette to coat. Mound salad on 6 plates. Using slotted spoon, remove eggs from water, dab with paper towels to absorb excess liquid, and place atop salads. Garnish with mushrooms and Speck. Place ciabatta fingers around salad and serve immediately.

Balsamic Vinaigrette (from Cooks Illustrated)

Serves 4

¼ cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar , or wine vinegar
½ teaspoon table salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
⅔ cup olive oil

Whisk first 2 ingredients with salt and pepper in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in oil, so the vinaigrette emulsifies. Serve.

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peter reinhart’s pizza

This makes two Daring Baker recipes in a row that were already on my mental to-do list. It’s perfect because otherwise who knows when I actually would have gotten around to making them. I would have been making my standard pizza recipe, too lazy to try this new one which I’ve heard great things about, and wondering if mine is as good as it gets.

I’ve been using Cooks Illustrated’s crust recipe for years, which has the same ingredients as Peter Reinhart’s in only slightly different proportions. I started adding some sugar and white wine to it after Deb discussed it, and I found that my crust was a little more light, crisp and bubbly, which I liked.

But the CI recipe hasn’t always been perfect for me. Lately when I try to stretch it out, it has a tendency to rip, even when the dough is warm enough and risen completely. It’s not an elasticity issue either – it’s not like the dough is bouncing back on itself when I try to stretch it out.

One of the keys to Reinhart’s recipe is that he uses very cold water in the dough, then refrigerates the dough immediately after kneading, similar to his pain a l’ancienne. To be honest, I usually do this – albeit somewhat half-assed – with CI’s recipe, just because it’s more convenient for me to make the dough the night before I want it for dinner.

The biggest difference between the two recipes is that Reinhart mixes and kneads his dough with a stand mixer, while CI uses a food processor.  Despite the similarity between CI’s and Reinhart’s recipes, their outcomes were relatively distinct. Reinhart’s dough did not rip – it seemed capable of stretching to infinite lengths. Rosa, this month’s host, requested that we take a photo of the dough being tossed and spun, but this dough was so floppy, there’s no way I was going to chance throwing it around the kitchen.

Baked, the pizza wasn’t very different from my normal recipe. In fact, Dave didn’t notice that I had changed it. However, it wasn’t quite as crispy, and it wasn’t substantial enough to hold up my toppings, even though I don’t think I overloaded it. I think I might have gone overboard in making it thin.

I think in the future, I’ll stick with the ingredient proportions from CI’s recipe, adding the the sugar and white wine. However, I’ll use Reinhart’s method of preparing the dough with the stand mixer and using refrigerated ingredients. Hopefully this way I’ll get the best of both worlds. It’ll be a while before I have a chance to try it though, because right now, I have a half recipe of both doughs in my freezer.

Update: At some point I’ll get around to posting my method for making pizza (exact crust instructions, sauce, etc.), but I want to do some refining first.  In the meantime, you can find blog entries on Cooks Illustrated’s basic recipe here, here and here.

Basic Pizza Dough (adapted from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart)

Makes 6 pizza crusts, about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter.

4½ cups flour (bread, high-gluten, or all-purpose), chilled
1¾ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
¼ cup olive oil or vegetable oil (both optional, but it’s better with)
1¾ cups water, ice cold (40 degrees)
1 tablespoon sugar
cornmeal for dusting

1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl or stand mixer. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (spoon or paddle attachment) to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth. If it is too wet, add a little flour and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water. If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for the same amount of time. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour. If it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water. The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C.

2. Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper. Cut the dough into 4-6 equal pieces. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil and cover with plastic wrap.

3. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days. NOTE: You can store the dough balls in a freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil (a few tablespooons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.

4. On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.

5. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C). If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.

6. Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal. Take 1 piece and lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss. Make only one pizza at a time. During the tossing process, if the dough tends to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue the tossing and shaping. In case you would be having trouble tossing the dough or if the dough never wants to expand and always springs back, let it rest for approximately 5-20 minutes in order for the gluten to relax fully,then try again.You can also resort to using a rolling pin.

7. When the dough has the shape you want, place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan. Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

8. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for about 5-8 minutes.

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lenox almond biscotti

Dave loves biscotti, especially almond biscotti, so he was really happy about Gretchen’s pick for TWD this week. I do like biscotti, but I have trouble figuring out where it should fit into my routine. They’re too snack-like for dessert, but too unhealthy for a snack. Plus they’re kind of a hassle to make, with the slicing and the double-baking and all.

Ah, but almond extract, how I love it. The dough for this biscotti tasted really good.

There was some confusion among TWD members about what Dorie meant by “standing the biscotti slices up like a marching band” for the second baking, but looking at it now, I’m thinking she means that they should bake on the flat non-cut side of each slice. I laid them on a cut side instead, oops. I didn’t bother to flip them, but both sides seemed evenly browned regardless.

There is a reason why I do a lot of side-by-side comparisons of recipes. Not only is it the best way to spot small differences, but Dave, who is actually pretty good at picking out subtle differences in recipes, has a very bad memory for food. Whenever I ask him how one recipe compares to another, he says he’d need to taste them side-by-side.

Not so this biscotti. He knew immediately that he preferred the last biscotti recipe I made, even though I hadn’t made it in over 6 months. He likes that the other recipe is crunchier. Dorie’s biscotti were more tender than most that I’ve tried, which I don’t necessarily mind, but I’m not the main biscotti-eater around here. The reason for the difference is easy to see from a quick comparison of the recipes – Dorie’s uses almost twice as much butter.

So it looks like I’ll be sticking with my old biscotti recipe for now. If you’d like to check out Dorie’s recipe, Gretchen has it on her blog.

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sauteed shredded zucchini

The side I originally served with Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic was shredded sautéed zucchini with tomatoes and basil. While it’s a very good dish, in retrospect, I don’t think the Italian bent in the zucchini matched the flavors and French feel of the chicken. My goal for the vegetable served alongside this flavorful garlicky chicken was something that would play backup well while offering a bit of contrast in flavors. While any simply prepared vegetable would work nicely, I also wanted something that my guests probably hadn’t made for themselves.

I do like the shredded sautéed zucchini, so I didn’t want to completely alter my original meal plan. I love when vegetables get just a little crispy and browned, and something about shredded zucchini instead of slices makes me happy. All of the prep work for this dish can be completed a few hours before dinner, which means the vegetables just need a quick stay on a hot burner and a few turns before they’re ready to be served.

The problem is that it’s not a simple task getting something as watery as zucchini to caramelize. Just like cabbage, the best way to get water out of zucchini is to sprinkle some salt on it and set it aside in a strainer. Then squeeze the hell out of it. I made only two servings of this recently, and squeezed out almost half a cup of (vividly green) water.

The original recipe makes this a bit more work than I like to put into a side dish. For one, it gives instructions for shredding the zucchini by hand. That isn’t happening; that is why I have a food processor with a shredding disk. You’re also supposed to discard the watery middle of the zucchini where the seeds are, but I disregard that too, so that I can just throw the whole vegetable through the feed tube of the food processor.

Once the zucchini are shredded and squeezed, you can mix them with your flavorings and some oil and set them aside until you’re ready to cook them. For serving with the chicken, I like to use just olive oil and minced shallots with a bit of lemon juice squeezed on at the end. It’s the perfect side dish – interesting and flavorful on its own right without overpowering the star of this show, which is the chicken.

Zucchini with Shallots and Lemon (adapted from Cooks Illustrated)

Serves 4

Bridget note: Five zucchini for four servings sounds like a lot, but you lose a lot of volume with the water, so it really is the right amount. I’ve added all of the oil to the zucchini mixture and added all of that to a preheated, non-oiled pan, and that works too.

5 medium zucchini (about 8 ounces each), ends trimmed
Table salt
2 shallots, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1-2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice from 1 lemon
Ground black pepper

1. Shred zucchini with shredding disk of food processor or large holes of a box grater. Toss zucchini with 1½ teaspoons salt and place in colander set in medium bowl; let drain 5 to 10 minutes. Wrap zucchini in kitchen towel, in batches if necessary, and wring out excess moisture.

2. Place zucchini in medium bowl and break up any large clumps. Add shallots and 2 teaspoons oil to zucchini and toss to combine thoroughly.

3. Heat remaining 1 teaspoon oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat. Add zucchini mixture and spread evenly in pan with tongs; cook without stirring until bottom layer browns, about 2 minutes; stir well, breaking up any clumps with tongs, then cook until “new” bottom layer browns, about 2 minutes more. Off heat, stir in lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

For the tomato-basil variation: Combine 3 cored, seeded and diced plum tomatoes, 1 clove of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, ¼ teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves in small bowl and set aside. When the zucchini has finished cooking, remove it from the heat and stir in tomato mixture and salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to serving platter, sprinkle with ¼ cup finely grated Parmesan, and serve immediately, drizzling with additional olive oil, if desired.

Other recipes part of this recommended dinner party menu:
Salad with Herbed Baked Goat Cheese
Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic
Pain a l’Ancienne (baguettes)

Just about any dessert works well with this meal.
Many wines work well with this meal, but I especially like full-flavored whites such as Chardonnay, and medium-bodied reds such as Pinot Noir.

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ricotta spinach (and tofu) ravioli

A while ago, I wrote a comment on someone else’s blog about how tofu’s bad reputation comes from people trying to substitute tofu for tastier but fattier ingredients, like cheese and meat. And it’s true – I love tofu in recipes where it belongs – hot and sour soup, moo shu, peanut sesame noodles, stir fry. But, it turns out that I’m a hypocrite, because just a few days before I wrote that comment, I had made ravioli filling with ricotta, spinach, parmesan, and, yes, tofu.

This filling is a holdover from my brief stint as a brown rice-eating, refined sugar-avoiding health nut. The lifestyle wasn’t a keeper, but this recipe is. The trick is to process the tofu in a food processor before adding the other ingredients to ensure that the tofu is absolutely smooth. I also like the spinach processed, or at least very finely chopped, because the texture of cooked spinach is potentially stringy unless chopped finely.

This is my most successful attempt at making homemade ravioli. (And it was all done between 9pm and midnight on a Friday, because I’m a nut.) I made the dough by hand instead of using the food processor, since I’ve been more successful with hand-kneaded dough in the past. The picture is all out of whack – I was supposed to use 3 eggs and 2 cups of flour, this is 3 cups of flour and 2 eggs. I figured out the screw-up just in time.

In the past, I’ve always rolled out pasta dough for ravioli to the thinnest setting, but then they’re impossibly delicate. I kept the pasta just a bit thicker this time. I was also careful to form wider sheets of pasta, which meant I could form square raviolis instead of rectangles. It’s a small issue, but I was excited about the squares. For nice square ravioli, make sure you start rolling the dough by feeding the widest edge through first. Not only does this make for prettier ravioli, but the pasta sheets don’t become as long and difficult to handle.

The thicker dough made far better ravioli than I’ve made before! This is the first time I’ve been able to boil ravioli without it immediately tasting watery. The dough remained firm, and the ravioli, both the filling and the pasta, were delicious. The tofu doesn’t detract from the filling at all, and while I can’t say that it’s adding any flavor of its own, it sure is a healthy filler ingredient.

Spinach Ricotta Tofu Ravioli (dough ingredients and ravioli forming instructions from Cooks Illustrated; dough mixing and rolling method from Marcella Hazan; filling recipe is my own creation)

The instructions look long, but that’s only because I copied and pasted Marcella Hazan’s very detailed pasta instructions from her lasagna recipe. It’s not nearly as complicated as it looks.

I’m not providing you with a sauce recipe. I’ve been using a simple tomato sauce with these.

Ravioli take well to freezing. I didn’t eat any of these the day I formed them. I immediately flash froze them, and they’ve made for some handy easy meals in the weeks since.

For the dough:
2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached flour
3 large eggs

For the filling:
10 ounces fresh spinach
12 ounces firm tofu
15 ounces ricotta cheese
¾ cup (1.5 ounces) grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper

For the pasta:

Pour the flour onto a work surface, shape it into a mound, and scoop out a deep hollow in its center. Break the eggs into the hollow.

Beat the eggs lightly with a fork for about 2 minutes as though you were making an omelet. Draw some of the flour over the eggs, mixing it in with the fork a little at a time, until the eggs are no longer runny. Draw the sides of the mound together with your hands, but push some of the flour to one side, keeping it out of the way until you find you absolutely need it. Work the eggs and flour together, using your fingers and the palms of your hands, until you have a smoothly integrated mixture. If it is still moist, work in more flour.

When the mass feels good to you and you think it does not require any more flour, wash your hands, dry them, and run a simple test: Press you thumb deep into center of the mass; if it comes out clean, without any sticky matter on it, no more flour is needed. Put the egg and flour mass to one side, scrape the work surface absolutely clear of any loose or caked bits of flour and of any crumbs, and get ready to knead.

Return to the mass of flour and eggs. Push forward against it using the heel of your palm, keeping your fingers bent. Fold the mass in half, give it a half turn, press hard against it with the heel of your palm again, and repeat the operation. Make sure that you keep turning the ball of dough always in the same direction, either clockwise or counterclockwise, as you prefer. When you have kneaded it thus for 8 full minutes and the dough is as smooth as baby skin, it is ready for the machine.

Cut the ball of dough into 6 equal parts.

Spread clean, dry, cloth dish towels over a work counter near where you’ll be using the machine.

Set the pair of smooth cylinders, the thinning rollers, at the widest opening. Flatten one of the pieces of dough by pummeling it with your palm, and run it through the machine. Fold the dough twice into a third of its length, and feed it by its narrow end through the machine once again. Repeat the operation 2 or 3 times, then lay the flattened strip of pasta over a towel on the counter. Since you are going to have a lot of strips, start at one end of the counter, leaving room for the others.

Take another piece of dough, flatten it with your hand, and turn it through the machine exactly as described above. Lay the strip next to the previously thinned one on the towel, but do not allow them to touch or overlap, because they are still moist enough to stick to each other. Proceed to flatten all the remaining pieces in the same manner.

Close down the opening between the machine’s rollers by one notch. Take the first pasta strip you had flattened and run it once through the rollers, feeding it by its wider end. Do not fold it, but spread it flat on the cloth towel, and move on to the next pasta strip in the sequence.

When all the pasta strips have gone through the narrower opening once, bring the rollers closer together by another notch, and run the strips of pasta through them once again, following the procedure described above. You will find the strips becoming longer, as they get thinner, and if there is not enough room to spread them out on the counter, you can let them hand over the edge. Continue thinning the strips in sequence, progressively closing down the opening between the rollers one notch at a time. This step-by-step thinning procedure, which commercial makers of fresh pasta greatly abbreviate or skip altogether, is responsible, along with proper kneading, for giving good pasta its body and structure. Continue thinning the pasta until the second-to-last setting.

For the filling:

Place cleaned spinach leaves and any water that clings to them in a nonreactive soup kettle. (If you’re using pre-washed bagged spinach, add 2 tablespoons water to the pot). Cover and cook over medium heat until spinach wilts, about 5 minutes. Cool spinach slightly and squeeze out the excess liquid; set aside.

Process the tofu in a food processor until smooth. Add the spinach and pulse to combine and finely chop. Add the remaining filling ingredients and pulse to combine.

To form ravioli:

Your sheets should be approximately 4 inches across. Place small balls of filling (about one rounded teaspoon each) in a line one inch from the bottom of the pasta sheet. Leave one and one-quarter inches between each ball of filling. Fold over the top of the pasta and line it up with the bottom edge. Seal bottom and the two open sides with your finger. Use fluted pastry wheel to cut along the two sides and bottom of the sealed pasta sheet. Run pastry wheel between balls of filling to cut out the ravioli.

To cook ravioli:

Bring 4 quarts water to boil in a large stockpot. Add salt and half the pasta. Cook until doubled edges are al dente, 4-5 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer ravioli to warmed bowls or plates; add sauce of choice. Meanwhile, put remaining ravioli in boiling water and repeat cooking process. (Or bring two pots of water to boil and cook both batches simultaneously.) Serve immediately. (Alternatively, after draining the boiled ravioli, layer them in a baking dish with sauce and put them in a warmed oven until ready to serve.)

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caesar salad

I almost never make salads. Not because I don’t like them, but because I don’t like them as a side dish. To me, salad doesn’t coordinate well with other dinner items. I do like when it’s served before a meal, or as a meal.

I went the route of serving Caesar salad as a meal the day that I made the peanut butter torte. I figured that if I was going to eat peanut butter and cream cheese and oreos and chocolate and whipped cream for dessert, something was going to have to give.

In one of Alton Brown’s first Good Eats episodes (um, before the show was very good), he discussed the original Caesar salad recipe, which was built tableside at a restaurant by chef Cesar Cardini. The recipe starts with a thin coating of oil on the lettuce, then salt, pepper, more oil, lemon juice, and a coddled egg. I’m not all about this method. I like to at least attempt to emulsify my salad dressing ingredients, and I also think that putting oil directly on the leaves keeps the other ingredients from flavoring the lettuce. Instead, I whisked the dressing ingredients thoroughly, then dressed the leaves with the mixture.

The only ingredient in this recipe that struck me as unusual was the coddled egg. Coddled eggs are cooked in boiling water for about one minute, so, yeah, they’re still mostly raw. I didn’t tell Dave about the raw-ish egg in the salad, and I tried not to think about it myself. I’m not worried about salmonella, I’m just grossed out by eating raw egg white. But I really don’t think the salad would have been as good without it. The egg gives the dressing not only smoothness and body, but a pleasant rich, but not overwhelmingly eggy, flavor.

Alton’s croutons are really exceptional. I had my doubts that grinding the garlic into the oil and then straining the oil to toast the bread in would add enough garlic flavor, but they were extremely garlicky and delicious.

Because I’m a flake, and I forgot while planning this meal that one of the key parts of Caesar salad is the croutons, I made Deb’s pizza bianca to go with the salad. I used my pizza dough recipe instead of the one she gives (although they’re very similar) and followed the directions in the recipe for forming the dough. (Keep in mind that Deb rolled her dough out much thinner.) Also, because Peter Reinhart’s constant reminders that a slow rise is better for artisan breads has stuck with me, I made the dough the day before (with less yeast) and let it rise in the refrigerator overnight. The next day I took it out and let it come to room temperature, then shaped it and put it back in the fridge until I wanted to bake it. It was very good. The only thing I’ll change next time is to use less olive oil on the top, because “Oh my god, there’s a fire in the oven!” aren’t words Dave likes to hear from me when I’m cooking.

Hail Caesar Salad (from Alton Brown’s Good Eats)

Bridget note: I made a few changes to the recipe. I dried the bread as slices instead of cut up into bite-size pieces, because they were easier to cut once they were dried. I didn’t use kosher salt. I found 2 cups of water to be far too little to be able to cover the eggs. I probably used a bit more Worcestershire sauce and Parmesan cheese.

1 loaf day old Italian bread
3 garlic cloves, mashed
9 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon plus 1 pinch kosher salt
2 eggs
2 heads romaine lettuce, inner leaves only
7 grinds black pepper
1 lemon, juiced
6 drops Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut ½ to ¾-inch croutons from the loaf of bread and place on a baking sheet and put into the oven until dry but not browned.

Use a mortar and pestle to mash the garlic with 4 tablespoons of oil and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Strain the oil into a skillet over medium heat. Add the dried croutons and fry, tossing constantly until all of the oil is absorbed and the croutons turn gold. Set aside.

Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the eggs and cook for 1 minute. Chill in ice water to halt cooking. Set aside.

In a very large bowl, tear lettuce and toss with 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Sprinkle with the remaining kosher salt and the black pepper. Add the remaining olive oil. Toss well. Add the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. Break in the eggs. Toss until a creamy dressing forms. Toss in Parmesan cheese and serve with croutons.

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almond biscotti and hazelnut dried cherry biscotti

On one of our first dates, Dave and I drove two hours into Chicago to see one of his favorite musicians perform. It was a great night, one that moved our relationship from “so far, so good…” to “holy smokes this is going well.” At the beginning of every song, Dave would whisper in my ear that this one was his favorite. On the way home, we missed our exit not once, but twice, for which I still tease Dave. Fortunately, he had thought ahead and brought along some almond biscotti from his favorite bakery. It was one of my first times eating biscotti, and certainly the first time I gave it an honest chance.

It was good. I was surprised, always having likened biscotti to sweetened stale bread. But even though I enjoyed it that night, and Dave has asked me to make it several times in the past six years, I’d only bothered to once, and I sent that batch off to a friend. Dave still requested it, and I still said “yeah, of course, when I get around to it.” Deb finally convinced me that it was time with her recently published almond biscotti recipe.

And this recipe was worth getting out of my too-lazy-to-make-biscotti- for-my-boyfriend-then-fiance-then-husband habit. The biscotti are crunchy, but not rock hard. Sweet but not cloying. The almonds are a noticeable and satisfying addition.

The recipe is also adaptable. After the success I had with the almond variety, I wanted to try other flavors. I looked for good biscotti recipes on epicurious, but couldn’t find one that sounded good and had good reviews. So I decided to make the same base recipe I had before, but with different flavorings. I used dried cherries and hazelnuts, and it worked great.

Deb calls this recipe a hole in one, and I have to agree. Tasty, crunchy, straightforward, and adaptable – this recipe has it all.

Almond Biscotti (adapted from Bon Appetit, December 1999, as copied from Smitten Kitchen)

Deb note: They’re supposed to make 3 dozen, but my batch yielded at least 45.

Bridget note: The second time I skipped the egg white wash, and I recommend using it. I also substituted 1 cup of hazelnuts (toasted and chopped) and 1 cup of dried cherries for the almonds, and reduced the orange liqueur by half.  Also, my biscotti tended to be a little browner than I wanted, so I recommend reducing the baking times in the last step to 11 minutes on one side and 7 on the other.

3¼ cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/3 teaspoon salt
1½ cups sugar
10 tablespoons (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier or orange liqueur
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 cup whole almonds, toasted, coarsely chopped or sliced almonds
1 large egg white

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl. Mix sugar, melted butter, 3 eggs, vanilla extract, orange liqueur and zest in large bowl. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and stir with wooden spoon until well blended. Mix in almonds.

Divide dough in half. Using floured hands, shape each dough half into 13½-inch-long, 2 ½-inch-wide log. Transfer both logs to prepared baking sheet, spacing apart. Whisk egg white in small bowl until foamy; brush over top and sides of each dough log.
Bake logs until golden brown (logs will spread), about 30 minutes. Cool logs completely on sheet on rack, about 25 minutes. Maintain oven temperature.

Transfer logs to work surface; discard parchment paper. Using serrated knife, cut logs on diagonal into ½-inch-wide slices. Arrange slices, cut side down, on same baking sheet. Bake 12 minutes. Turn biscotti over; bake until just beginning to color, about 8 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool.

Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.

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spaghetti and meatballs

I actually made this dish a couple of months ago, but never got around to putting it in my blog. There’s not much to say about it, other than that spaghetti and meatballs are delicious. What’s not to love about pasta, sauce, and dressed-up meat?

Updated photo 11.08.08

Of course, not all spaghetti and meatballs are created equal. But I’ve had my share of meatballs, and I’ve never had any better than these. This dish is a classic that will always please.

Classic Spaghetti and Meatballs (from Cooks Illustrated January 1998)

Serves 4 to 6

CI note: This streamlined recipe can be on the table in under an hour.

Bridget note: I find that recipes almost always call for more pasta per sauce than I prefer. Therefore, I would serve this with 12 ounces pasta instead of the 1 pound that the recipe calls for.

Meatballs
2 slices white sandwich bread (crusts discarded), torn into small cubes
½ cup buttermilk or 6 tablespoons plain yogurt thinned with 2 tablespoons sweet milk
¾ pound ground beef chuck (or 1 pound if omitting ground pork below)
¼ pound ground pork (to be mixed with ground chuck)
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
1 large egg yolk
1 small clove garlic, minced (1 teaspoon)
¾ teaspoon table salt
Ground black pepper
vegetable oil for pan-frying (about 1¼ cups)

Simple Tomato Sauce
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon minced fresh basil leaves
Table salt and ground black pepper
1 pound spaghetti
grated Parmesan cheese
1. For the meatballs: Combine bread and buttermilk in small bowl, mashing occasionally with fork, until smooth paste forms, about 10 minutes.

2. Mix all meatball ingredients, including bread mixture and pepper to taste in medium bowl. Lightly form 3 tablespoons of mixture into 1½-inch round meatballs; repeat with remaining mixture to form approximately 14 meatballs. (Compacting them can make the meatballs dense and hard. Can be placed on large plate, covered loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerated for several hours.)

3. Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in large pot for cooking pasta.

4. Meanwhile, heat ¼-inch vegetable oil over medium-high heat in 10- or 11-inch sauté pan. When edge of meatball dipped in oil sizzles, add meatballs in single layer. Fry, turning several times, until nicely browned on all sides, about 10 minutes, regulating heat as needed to keep oil sizzling but not smoking. Transfer browned meatballs to paper towel–lined plate; set aside. Repeat, if necessary, with remaining meatballs.

5. For the sauce, discard oil in pan, leaving behind any browned bits. Add olive oil along with garlic; sauté, scraping up any browned bits, just until garlic is golden, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, bring to boil, and simmer gently until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Stir in basil; add salt and pepper to taste. Add meatballs and simmer, turning them occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes. Keep warm over low flame.

6. Meanwhile, add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta to boiling water. Cook until al dente, drain, and return to pot. Ladle several large spoonfuls of tomato sauce (without meatballs) over spaghetti and toss until noodles are well coated. Divide pasta among individual bowls and top each with a little more tomato sauce and 2 to 3 meatballs. Serve immediately with grated cheese passed separately.

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olive oil bread

My plan for this loaf of bread was to have it and the rest of dinner ready before Dave got home from work on a Friday evening. The kitchen would be clean, a bottle of wine would be open, garlic would be roasted. We’d sit down together, drink the wine, spread roasted garlic on fresh bread while the rest of dinner was on hold until we were good and ready. Doesn’t that sound nice?

It didn’t work out that way. I was still rolling out pasta for the lasagna and because I was behind on cooking, I was way behind on cleaning. It was almost an hour after Dave got home before the lasagna was built and I could take a break to enjoy this bread and drink some wine. We spread roasted garlic on it (the bread, not the wine – ew), and when we ran out of garlic, we dipped it in green extra virgin olive oil.

Eventually I got the lasagna in the oven, but ignored the mess in the kitchen. When the lasagna was done baking, it was apparent that something had gone very wrong with it. In my hurry to finish cooking, I had taken some shortcuts. I skipped a step that Marcella Hazan specifically calls “something of a nuisance, but necessary.” All too true. The lasagna was sort of a disaster actually, but that was fine, because I was happy to fill up on bread.

The bread is based on two recipes – the method comes from Peter Reinhart’s recipe for Italian Bread in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. This is a great book if you’re pretty serious about baking bread at home. Reinhart is all about forcing the maximum flavor out of each ingredient, which I love. The addition of olive oil stems from a recipe for Mantovana Olive Oil Bread in Ultimate Bread, by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno. This book is great for the less-serious home bread baker. The pictures throughout the book are wonderful and the recipes are varied and interesting, but I think you’ll have more consistent results following Reinhart’s methods.

The olive oil bread was delicious, although I would have preferred an even stronger olive oil flavor. I admit that I got a little scared by the amount of olive oil Treuille and Ferrigno call for and went easy on it. Also, I used regular olive oil, when I meant to use extra virgin. In short, it was really good – but there’s a potential for it could be even better. That just gives me an excuse to try it again soon.

Mantovana Olive Oil Bread (adapted from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice and Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno’s Ultimate Bread)

Makes one 1-pound loaf

1 recipe biga (recipe follows)
4½ ounces (1 cup) unbleached bread flour
1¼ ounce (¼ cup) whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon instant yeast
½ teaspoon barley malt syrup (optional)
¼ cup water
¼ cup olive oil

1. Remove the biga from the refrigerator 1 hour before making the dough. Cut it into about 10 small pieces with a pastry scraper or serrated knife. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour to take off the chill.

2. Stir together the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in a 4-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). Add the biga pieces, olive oil, barley malt, and water, and stir together (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) until a ball forms, adjusting the water or flour according to need. The dough should be slightly sticky and soft, but not batterlike or very sticky. If the dough feels tough and stiff, add more water to soften (it is better to have the dough too soft than too stiff at this point).

3. Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer the dough to the counter, and begin kneading (or mixing on medium speed with the dough hook). Knead (or mix) for about 10 minutes, adding flour as needed, until the dough is tacky, but not sticky, and supple. The dough should pass the windowpane test (see below) and register 77 to 81 degrees. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

To perform the windowpane test, cut off a small piece of dough from the larger batch and gent stretch, pull, and turn it to see if it will hold a paper-thin, translucent membrane. If it falls apart before it makes this windowpane, continue mixing for another minute or two and test again.

4. Ferment at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.

5. Gently pat the dough into a rough rectangle. Without degassing the piece of dough, fold the bottom third of dough, letter style, up to the center and press to seal, creasing surface tension on the outer edge. Fold the remaining dough over the top and use the edge of your hand to seal the seam closed and to increase the surface tension all over. Lightly dust with a sprinkle of flour, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and let rest for 5 minutes. Then complete the shaping, extending the loaves to about 12 inches in length. Line a sheet pan with baking parchment and dust with semolina flour or cornmeal. Place the loaves on the pan and lightly mist with spray oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap.

6. Proof at room temperature for about 1 hour, or until the loaves have grown to about 1½ times their original size.

7. Place an empty heavy-duty sheet pan or cast-iron frying pan on either the top shelf of the oven or the oven flour. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Have hot water standing by. Score the bread with 2 parallel, diagonal slashes or 1 long slash.

8. Transfer the dough on the parchment paper to a peel or the back of a sheet pan. Transfer the dough to the baking stone (or bake on the sheet pan). Pour 1 cup hot water into the steam pan and close the door. After 30 seconds, spray the walls of the oven with water and close the door. Repeat once more after another 30 seconds. After the final spray, lower the oven setting to 450 degrees and bake until done, rotating 180 degrees, if necessary, for even baking. It should take about 20 minutes. The loaf should be golden brown and register at least 200 degrees at the center.

9. Transfer the loaves to a cooling rack and cool for at least 1 hour before slicing or serving.

Biga

Biga will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for about 3 months. You can use it as soon as it ferments, but I prefer to give it an overnight retarding to bring out more flavor.

5½ ounces (1¼ cups) unbleached bread flour
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
7 tablespoons to ½ cup water, at room temperature

1. Stir together the flour and yeast in a 4-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). Add 7 tablespoons of the water, stirring until everything comes together and makes a coarse ball (or mix on low speed for 1 minute with the paddle attachment). Adjust the flour or water, according to need, so that the dough is neither too sticky nor too stiff. (It is better to err on the sticky side, as you can adjust easier during kneading. It is harder to add water once the dough firms up.)

2. Sprinkle some flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Knead for 4 to 6 minutes (or mix on medium speed with the dough hook for 4 minutes), or until the dough is soft and pliable, tacky but not sticky. The internal temperature should be 77 to 81 degrees.

3. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for 2 to 4 hours, or until it nearly doubles in size.

4. Remove the dough from the bowl, knead it lightly to degas, and return it to the bowl, covering the bowl with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in the refrigerator overnight. You can keep this in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or freeze it in an airtight plastic bag for up to 3 months.

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