This week was another two-grocery store hit. Cub does not have the best cheese selection. I know at one time they carried Manchego, but apparently those days are over. I didn't find anything there that resembled "herb-laced cheddar type cheese". For the triple-creme cheese, I picked up some Camembert. Jeff thought for the cheddar, I should just use regular cheddar and sprinkle herbs over it. I could do that, I supposed, but it seemed against the spirit of the game. I would think about it.
I took Jeff with me to Cub. Financially, that is always a mistake. He always wants to buy everything labeled "shocker" whether we need it or not. I think I had four things on my list, and we ended up spending $100. It could be worse, I suppose. We ended up buying several pounds of brats and froze them when we got home, so we would have them for when my friends from Wisconsin come (in August) for the weekend. I guess it doesn't hurt to be prepared. Maybe next week, we'll get the potato salad and the chips.... Do chips last that long? Not in my house. He had said before we went that I didn't need to buy the tomatoes I needed for the sauce, that surely by Thursday, we would have ripe tomatoes in our garden. When we got there, though, he put a cluster of them into my cart. It turned out that I needed them. I only found one mostly ripe tomato in the garden.
I went to Sam's Club to get the Manchego. They are rearranging the Bloomington Sam's Club, and when I went to where I would normally get my cheeses, the bins were empty, and there were carts parked about with piles and piles of cheeses on them. I asked an employee where I might find Manchego. After explaining to him that it was a hard Spanish cheese sort of like cheddar. He lead me to a cart full of cheese and said it might be on there somewhere. I dug through it, and was successful, but along the way, I found a "herb and garlic cheese". I snapped it up! It would definitely fit the bill. I now have enough cheese for the pizza with about four pounds to spare.... I am going to have the best sandwiches next week!
When I got home from work on Wednesday, I was really tired. I hadn't slept well all week, and it was really catching up with me. That combined with the fact that we were on our fourth near-100º day made it difficult to remain upright. The heat and humidity just sucks every ounce of motivation right out of me. It was a good thing these recipes didn't seem terribly fussy. I decided I didn't need to do any preparing for the dessert pizza - the ingredients (as I had interpreted them) just needed to be assembled, and dessert would be done.
There really wasn't much to do for the Artisan Cheese Pizza either. I had dough in the freezer for the crust. I just had to pull that out to thaw. I could slice the cheeses, but I didn't feel it was necessary to do that in advance either. I decided to make the fresh tomato sauce and be done with it. Without reading the recipe through, I started on the first ingredient: The tomatoes. I was cutting the recipe in fourths, because I only needed a cup of sauce for my recipe (I always cut the pizza recipes in this book in half - we don't really need two of the same pizza). Two tomatoes would turn out to be the cup and a half that I needed for my portion of the recipe. Started the small dice. I like cutting tomatoes. I keep challenging myself to see if I can make the dice all the same size and shape. It never turns out that way, but I sure like trying. I spent about 20 minutes with my two tomatoes - slice in half, slice each half horizontally, slice perpendicularly, turn the tomato and cut it crosswise for perfect cubes. I love my tomato knife. It slides right through, all the way through, the tomato as if it had no substance at all.
With that completed, I consulted the recipe again. What is going to be done with these cute little pieces of 'mater? Oh, they get salted and left in the refrigerator overnight. Hmmm, nothing left to do then, but take a nap. I gazed longingly out the window at my lonely hammock. I wait impatiently 9 months out of the year for it to be warm and sunny, but with the heat index at 115º -120º, I think I will pass. I did muster up the energy to clean up the dishes and mop the floor, so my guests' feet don't stick to it when they walk in. Thursday morning, I placed my liquor order early, so I would have everything we needed for "drink-o-the-week". I had the order entered at 8:15am. One of the warehouse workers, as a personal favor (without any prompting by me), brought me my goodies at 10:30am. I was set! I kept thinking that I should put the bottles in my "magic bag" (the bag that goes with me everywhere, and appears to be magic, because whenever I need anything, it seems to be in the bag), so I wouldn't forget them. But, I couldn't possibly forget them! It's booze, after all - one of my favorite dishes.
I got home and changed into cooler clothes and raced down to the kitchen to get started. Glancing at my recipes that were spread across the counter, I wondered where I should start. I was pretty parched at this time, so I was considering starting on the drink of the week, even though this is usually reserved for after the girls arrive. I could at least get the ingredients lined up for the event. Let's see... cognac and Cointreau. Yep, just purchased that this morning... I'll just go ... get ... it... EEEK! I left it under my desk at work!! What now?? We would have to improvise.
OK. Nothing I can do about it now. I can't even call Jeff to bring it home with him, because he wasn't coming home right away. He had a big "guy" evening with his cop buddies at the shooting range. Not really my thing, but it seems to make him really happy, and if he is happy, I am happy.
I decided to start on dessert first. I have realized (after many years) that it is best to start with the dessert pizza, because if the main course is made first, everyone starts eating that without me while I am still working on getting the dessert made or in the oven or whatever, so it is ready when we are done with our entree. First of all, as I have done with the last couple of recipes, I decided to ditch the "sweet crust" for a traditional graham cracker pie crust. I took the easy way out and bought a pre-made one. Once I got it home, I realized I had all of these graham crackers in my cupboard that I should have used, since we don't really eat them.... Oh well. Anyway, the pizza (I guess it really is just a pie now) went together quickly and easily, considering you just scoop the cheesecake filling into the crust, open a can of cherry goo & spread it over the cheesecake stuff, and sprinkle the top with white chocolate curls. There was a slight problem loading the ready-to-eat cheesecake stuff into the crust. When I tried to spread it around, it glommed onto the crust and adhered to it, even as I was spreading, so there was a little graham disintegration that nobody appeared to notice when it was served. The curls were the most labor intensive part of the dish. I had bought a bar of white chocolate (Ghiradelli, of course) and slid my potato peeler down the length of the side to get the curls. The bar ended up with a big missing U-shape along the side, but I bit into it, and it still tasted fine...
Just about the time I finished my pie, Pammy showed up. She had walked over from Jennifer's house. Apparently, she flew in to Eden Prairie from her house in Frederic, WI just for pizza night. She really wanted to come, but didn't want to make the long drive. Wow! She really knows how to make a girl feel special!
I explained the problem with the drink of the week. I handed her the drink book and told her to pick something out for us for which we had the ingredients. After running through a few lists, she closed the book and told me about this fantastic beverage that she had on one of her trips. It was a key lime pie martini. The bartender wouldn't give her the recipe, because it was their signature drink, but she thought she could replicate it. Unfortunately, we didn't measure anything, or write anything down, so we will never be able to recreate it exactly. She poured the shaker mostly full with vanilla vodka, splashed in some sweetened lime juice, and added a little cream. On first taste, the drink was a little too creamy and not sweet enough, and it wasn't green. She poured the drinks back into the shaker and asked for green food coloring. I told her where it would be, if I had it. She didn't find any, but she did find almond extract, which she thought would be good in there. She added some of that and some simple syrup. She re-shook it and re-poured. It was delicious! Slightly tart, slightly sweet, and a hint of creaminess. The almond extract added a little depth to the drink, another dimension, a curve to the liminess of it... Delicious!
While we sipped on those, I rolled out the dough. I had taken it out of the freezer Wednesday night and put it into the fridge. In the morning, I pulled it out of the fridge, so it would be pliable enough to roll out when I got home from work. Then, I started working on the cheese. We discussed (obviously without looking at the recipe) whether or not to include the rind of the Camembert. We decided we should leave it in. I cubed the Camembert, I sliced the Manchego, and sliced the herb/garlic cheese and put each in separate bowls to take to the grill. I shredded the basil (I used much more than the recipe called for, because I am a fan of basil). I think you can never have too much - it's like garlic in that way. I put it into the strained and drained tomatoes from yesterday and added the freshly ground pepper. Somebody give me a tortilla chip, I want to try this stuff! With all of my ingredients prepared and bowled up, we were ready to move to the grill. We were graced with 86º weather and (relatively) low humidity, so we could probably keep our clothes dry if we were to stand out there and grill and later eat outside. We loaded up the pizza paddle with the ingredients and were going to go outside, when Jennifer, Jonah, and Gracie showed up. Gracie won her play-off game! Woo hoo! Cheers all around!
Once we had properly welcomed the Liggetts, it was time to get serious. Pam and my drinks were empty and Jennifer didn't have one yet. I decided a simple gin martini may be in order. I filled the shaker (mostly) with gin, tossed in a little sweetened lime juice, squeezed a couple of lemon wedges into it, shook, and poured. I garnished each glass with a think slice of lemon. It was beautiful and delicious.
We moved outside in a gaggle. Jennifer helped me juggle dough, sauce, and cheeses; and Pam was the drink carrier. We put the crust on the flamed side of the grill. We shut the lid of the grill and tried our martinis. A huge smile spread across Jennifer's face, and she said, "I like gin." I do too. That about says it all.
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| Me Enjoying My Gin in a Weird Crouched Position (she was supposed to take the pic from chest up, but apparently she missed) |
Once the crust had some nice grill marks on the down side (and a couple of burn marks, too), we flipped the crust onto the no-heat side of the grill and added the toppings.
The only thing left to do was drink and wait for the browning! That is what we did. Unfortunately, a 9 year old and a 12 year old get really bored when three old ladies are sitting around shooting the ... (ahem!) I mean, drinking gin. The kids were severely bored, but we certainly enjoyed ourselves, catching up, commiserating, and enjoying each other's company.
Jonah claims that he doesn't like cheesecake, but I have made cheesecake several times, and he has eaten every one without complaint and mostly with requests for seconds. He said he would try it, but he really doesn't like cheesecake. OK. Whatever. At this point, the mosquitoes decided it was dinner-time, too, and they attached us with viciousness, so we decided to have dessert inside.
It was a huge hit with everyone. Jonah even asked for seconds (he didn't get any, but it had to be asked, right?). He had seen the pie in its container with the original plastic from the crust domed over the top and told Jennifer that I bought the pie. As IF! I worked long and hard on that pie, and I wasn't going to let some unnamed corporation take credit for it! It is MY own home-made cheesecake thingee! Don't forget it!
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| This is the Drink We Were Supposed to Have - Maybe Next Week? |
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