My Secret to Great Pizza

I have access to the world’s greatest pizza sauce.  You wouldn’t believe how much it cost me to obtain it and the danger I am now in just by revealing the fact that I have it.

This is a sauce that you can’t just buy. No, you have to know someone. You have to be in “the family.” You have to…

Actually, you have to wait and hope that my lovely sister Anna becomes a successful entrepreneur and starts selling her product on the shelves at your local grocery store.

Me? I just call my sister up and say I need more. Because in a blind taste test, by family chose her sauce overwhelmingly by a margin I’m too embarrassed to admit to.

My sauce was described as acidic and over-seasoned.

Hers was praised as rich and spicy. (Please don’t point out the irony of the fact that it says “Spicy and Rich” in Italian on the front of her jar.)

So Anna, if you’re reading this, I guess I need more pizza sauce.

For everyone else who can’t purchase this amazing sauce just yet, let me give you the perfect pizza crust recipe for you to store away for the day when Anna’s sauce is available to the masses.

Pizza Dough

• 2 1/2 c All Purpose Flour
• 2 1/4 t Yeast
• 1 t Sugar
• 1 t Salt
• 2 t Olive Oil
• 1 c Water (approximately)

Add all ingredients except the water to the bowl of your food processor with the regular chopping blade in. Turn on your food processor and add all but about 1/4 cup of water through the feed tube.

The mixture will start to look crumbly. Add a little bit of water at a time through the feed tube, just until the mixture forms into a ball of dough. Once the dough forms, leave it running for another minute.

Put dough in oiled bowl covered with a damp towel and let it rest. Each recipe makes about 1 large crust for us. I usually make 4-5 batches to feed our group.

Top with The World’s Best Pizza Sauce, Mozzarella cheese and your favorite toppings.

Bake at 425 degrees for 13 minutes on the lowest rack in your oven.

What to do when Goofy Nephews don’t like Meatballs

My two goofy nephews (they’re the ones on the ends. The one in the middle is  own goofy son) slept over last night so my lovely sister could celebrate her birthday. Forgetting for a moment that they were goofy, I decided that  I would make the ultimate kid-friendly meal. One that any reasonable kid is certain to love.  A dinner that never fails to elicit cheers and thrills from every child to whom it is served.

I’m talking about spaghetti and meatballs. With huge, giant meatballs.

And do you suppose I heard cheers and accolades for my amazing creation? Did I hear pledges of un-dying admiration? Did I receive even a simple fist-bump from the goofy nephews?

Nope. I only heard “No sauce, just noodles and cheese, please.”

So today I had enough sauce left over to serve the entire meal all over again. Unfortunately, I also have a family (read husband) who tends to turn their noses up at leftovers.

So, what do I do with a pot full of spaghetti sauce and meatballs? There’s really only one possible answer.

As soon as the goofy nephews were gone…Baked Spaghetti for the rest of us!

This stuff is so good that nobody could possibly mind having the same dish two days in a row. Re-cooking it makes it better, the noodles are saturated with sauce. The sauce has had time to blend its flavors. And of course, oodles of gooey cheese is always a good thing.

Unless you’re a goofy nephew.

Cause goofy nephews apparently have unsophisticated palettes.

To Make Baked Spaghetti that will be Loved by Everyone but Goofball Nephews:

• Butter your baking dish, then sprinkle the dish with Parmesan cheese.
• Mix together leftover spaghetti sauce and spaghetti noodles (make more noodles if necessary)
• Dump into baking dish
• Nestle meatballs (if you’ve got ‘em) into the pasta
• Cover with grated mozzarella or cheddar cheese, ora combination of both
• Bake at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes untilspaghetti is heated through and cheese is bubbly and melted
• Enjoy!

Tastes just like chicken

We are just finishing up a weekend of very, very hard work. It was the weekend for getting everyone their Thanksgiving turkeys and the last of the year’s chickens. What made all the hard work so much easier was the opportunity to talk with the people who have been enjoying our chickens all summer.

We were told over and over by almost everyone how amazing our chicken tastes. This contrasts dramatically with comments I get from others who can’t imagine that there could possibly be a reason to purchase chicken anywhere but the grocery store. I’ve tried to describe it to non-believers a number of ways. The best I could ever come up with is that our birds taste just like chicken, only chicken-ier. I wish I could explain it better, but there’s no way to describe the taste difference between our birds and the ones in the store.

It’s like the difference between a grocery store tomato in the middle of winter and one picked fresh from your garden on a beautiful summer day.

A bag of frozen strawberries or a basket fresh from the farmer’s market sold to you by the little 12-year-old girl that helped to pick them that morning.

Canned corn versus U-Pick corn rushed straight into a pot of boiling water.

Think about it in these terms. Of course there’s a difference. Now, think about poultry. You can have chicken that’s been raised indoors – even if it was raised humanely – or you can eat chicken that as soon as it was old enough to leave the brooder, had fresh green grass, juicy tasty bugs, fresh air and sunshine.

How could it not taste better?

Super Crispy, Uber Tasty Fish

I have been married to a fisherman for over 18 years, and this week, for the first time,  I made uber-delicious batter-fried fish.

You know the kind…a crispy crust that’s not too thick and the flavor of which is so addictive that none of the little bonus crispy bits made it to the table. As soon as they were cool enough, they became chef’s treats.

And as I was the chef…well, let me just say, I was treated.

Crispy Tasty Fish

• 2 1/2 lbs cod
• 1 1/2 c flour
• 1/4 c corn starch
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1 t onion powder
• 1 T Old Bay seasoning
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 2 t salt
• 1 1/2 c water
• 1 qt vegetable oil or, if you can get it, use lard!!!

Cut cod in serving sized pieces. For my 2 1/2 pounds of fish, I had 3 fillets and cut each one in 4 pieces.

Thoroughly whisk all dry ingredients together. Dredge pieces of cod through dry mixture, pat to shake off extra flour. Lay fish on wire racks over a cookie sheet while you get the rest of your dinner ready and heat the oil. The juices from the fish will mix with the flour mixture and create a gluey surface that will help the batter stay stuck to the fish while its frying. And you don’t get the annoying batterless fish coming out of the frying pan.

When you’re ready to cook the fish, heat your oil in a deep pan until it’s 350 degrees. Dip a piece of the fish in the batter, then carefully drop it in the fryer. Cook your fish in batches, a few pieces at a time.

Watch your fish, when they start to look golden brown, pull one out and test its temperature. It should be about 140 degrees in the middle of the fillet.

I like to drain my fish on a cookie sheet that is layered with newspapers covered with paper towels.

Enjoy!

Taking Credit

Where have I been? Living through insanity.
Where am I now? Living on the edge.
Nothing dramatic; nothing bad; nothing unusual. Just life.

A few weeks ago was particularly crazy busy. Without going into detail (mostly because I don’t want to relive it), I did manual labor at work all week which helped me to realize something.

There’s a reason I have a desk job.

That entire week, every day, every hour was spent spring cleaning the children’s museum where I work. And during that back-breaking week, I learned two things:

1. Never wear blue jeans to a meeting, no matter how much painting you’ll have to do as soon as the meeting is over. Everyone else will be there in their nice duds and you’ll look like a slacker.

2. If someone is raving about a dish at the company potluck and asks if you made it, always say yes. Chances are the real cook won’t hear you claim her dish, and even if she does, you’ll at least have the glory for one brief, wonderful moment.

Thursday was potluck day. I made my Pasta Caprese salad. And of course it was good. You know, it’s really hard to go wrong when you’re using those little balls of fresh mozzarella. Cuteness and deliciousness rolled into one.

But as good as my salad was, it was not the best thing there that day. The best of show winner was Christi’s husband’s Garlicky Garlic Artichoke Parmesan Dip. Oh heavens! Creamy and rich with hints of garlic. Well, mob-style hints of garlic…slug-you-in-the-face hints of garlic…everyone-you-talk-to-the-rest-of-the-day-better-have-eaten-the-same-thing-or-you’ll-have-no-friends-left hints of garlic. And there were artichokes there too.

I begged the recipe from Christi. She said it’s one of those “What’s in the Cupboard” recipes. But I told her that was fine. I’ve got stuff in my cupboard. And if she gives me the basics, I’ll work with it from there.

So here’s her recipe for your enjoyment.

And I’m sorry if I’ve offended you with my garlic breath.

Christi’s Husband’s Garlicy Garlic Artichoke Parmesan Dip

• 2 cans quartered artichoke hearts (drained)
• 2 cups mayo
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 2-5 cloves garlic (to taste)
• 1 tbsp course ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1 tbsp basil

Mix artichokes and spices to taste, blend in mayo and sour cream. Fold in ½ of the Parmesan cheese and spread in bottom of a 9×9 baking pan. Sprinkle the rest of the Parmesan on the top (not too much as it will create a thick crust).

Cover with aluminum foil and bake in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and bake an additional 10 minutes (or until cheese starts to brown). Here I’ll add my 2-cents-worth. My dip separated, and while it was still good, it was pretty greasy. Next time I’ll bake at 325 for 20-30 minutes and see if that helps.

Serve with toasted baguette slices or crackers.