It looked like most of the troops were going to show. My friends, Pat & Karen, were coming. Pam had texted ion her reservation. Jennifer, Roger and Jonah were coming, but Gracie, that ever-popular, over-scheduled 9 year old was already committed to something else for the evening. We missed her, but the show had to go on.
My first task of the project was to start on the crust for the turnovers. The recipe called for vegetable shortening - something that I just never buy. I know that if I do, it would sit there untouched for years, maybe even decades after I had finished this meal. I really don't see it as having any redeeming value taste-wise, anyway. Lard or butter is so much better. In my opinion, pork fat rules, and who doesn't like butter?
The recipe in the book calls for half a recipe of their no yeast dough. Normally, I would make the entire recipe and freeze half for another day. I looked in my freezer, though, and it couldn't possibly hold anything more without exploding. As a matter of fact, I have resorted to wearing shoes whenever I open the door to it, for fear that something is going to leap out of there and smash my toes (yes, it has happened before). I decided to cut the recipe in half. This isn't always an easy task - how do you only use half an egg? I was going to use the whole thing (waste not, want not, Mom always says) and decrease the amount of water. I measured out the entire amount of water, though, just in case, and added it a little at a time, until I got the consistency I needed. It turned out that, even though I used a jumbo egg, I ended up using more than half of the water the original, full recipe called for. I thought this surprising, especially considering how humid it was today.
NO YEAST CRUST (Pie-type)
adapted from The Everything Pizza Book by Belinda Hulin
2½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) salted butter
1 (jumbo) egg, beaten well
5½ tablespoons ice cold water
Put the flour in a large bowl. Whisk in the salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and cut it into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture resembles tiny peas. Add the egg and mix well. Add the water, a little at a time, until you are able to form the dough into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least a half hour. On a well-floured surface, roll dough out into a circle that will fit into a 12 inch pizza or tart pan or use dough as directed in recipe.
With the crust dough done for the turnovers, I turned my attention to the filling. The peaches needed to be peeled. I haven't worked with peaches enough to know the best method to peel them. I made a peach pie once, and I had cut an "x" in the bottom of each fruit and placed them in boiling water for about a minute. Then, I transferred them to a bowl of ice water. Once they were cool enough to handle, I grabbed the skin where it puckered up from my cuts and pulled it off. I had been a while since I made that pie, but I seemed to remember it didn't work exactly as planned, and it was a bit of a hassle.
As my water was boiling to try this method again, I grabbed one of the peaches and attempted to peel it with a regular vegetable peeler. This was a little tedious, also, as the peaches are a little too small and round to get a good swath of skin to come off at once. I did two peaches like that and put the other two peaches in the boiling water for a minute.
Just as before, I left them in there for about a minute, and then I transferred them to an icy bath and let them sit until they were cool enough to handle. The skin didn't pucker at the score marks as nicely as I would have liked. I tried pulling at the peel and got a tiny bit off of the peach. I grabbed the skin where my tear had left off and tried again - still only a small piece came off of the fruit. Halfway through this chore, I gave up on that peach and tried the smaller one. This one came off nicely - in about two pulls. My boiling water may not have been deep enough for the first peach (which I finished off with the vegetable peeler). Where the skin had come off with my fingers, the flesh was a beautiful red-orange, and there was definitely more flesh left on the fruit after peeling.
I may revisit this problem at a later date, but I think that if the fruit is going to be inside something (i.e. not able to be seen and admired), I definitely wouldn't waste the time boiling water, I would just use the vegetable peeler. However, if the fruit was going to be displayed, as in an open pie, I might just go to the extra effort to get the red hues to stay on the fruit.
When I went to melt the butter, I accidentally read the measurement above the butter - the measurement for the peach preserves: three tablespoons instead of one. I didn't realize my error until I had already poured the melted butter over the peaches and went to check the measurement for the sugar. Well, everything is better with butter, so this will be better than better, right?
When I make something for the first time, I usually try to follow the recipe as closely as I can, but since I had already screwed that up, I decided to add a little flair of my own to this recipe. I swapped out the white sugar for brown. I love the hint of molasses that brown sugar brings to the table. I also added some almond extract. Back when I had made a couple of peach pies in a row (one of Jeff's favorite), I had gotten the best reviews from the family when I had added almond extract to the mix. I was hoping for more of that reaction for these little treasures.
Once I had combined the peaches, the butter, sugar, almond extract and cornstarch I looked in the bowl and tried to image how this amount of filling would stretch into 6 turnovers. Most of the recipes in this book have too much filling, I reminded myself. I pulled out my measuring tape and measured off four inches (the diameter of the future dough circles. It wasn't very big, but I recalled the size of the dough balls I had put in the fridge and decided they could be rolled out bigger than four inches, and I certainly didn't want to skimp on the filling. Since I had added extra butter and extra flavor with the brown sugar, the filling could stand to have some more peaches. I decided I would rather have extra filling than not enough, and I promised myself that I wouldn't try to shove it all in if it wasn't fitting. I added another peach.
FRIED PEACH TURNOVERS
adapted from The Everything Pizza Book by Belinda Hulin
1 recipe of no-yeast crust dough (see above)
3 tablespoons salted butter, melted
3 cups (about 6 medium-sized peaches)
¼ cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon almond extract
Vegetable oil for frying (I used peanut)
Superfine sugar
Divide the dough into 6 pieces. On a heavily floured board, roll each piece out into a 6 inch circle. Brush the circles evenly with the melted peach preserves, leaving a small unpeached border on each circle. Mix the peaches, sugar, cornstarch, and almond extract in a medium bowl. Divide this mixture among the 6 circles, only covering half of each circle, and still continuing to leave a small clean border around the edge. Fold the dough over the filling and pinch the two sides together, forming a half-moon. Pour oil to a depth of two inches into a deep skillet. Turn heat to medium-high. When oil is hot, fry turnovers two at a time for about 3-4 minutes per side until golden. Drain pies on a paper towel Dust with superfine sugar. Let cool for several minutes before serving.
After I mixed the peaches, butter, sugar, cornstarch, and almond extract together and put it in the refrigerator, I started cutting the vegetables for the bagel pizzas. I also fried and crumbled the bacon and set out the pepperoni and mozzarella, so everything would be ready for assembly.
At five o'clock, I started looking at the bagels and thinking about my guest list. There were going to be nine of us, and the bagel pizzas were essentially going to be my main course. If the kids were going to try them, too, that means the bulk of the meal will be one bagel half per person. That just wasn't going to do.
I quickly started gathering ingredients together for another crust. Once I had the Kitchen Aid working on that, I scoured the fridge for toppings. I thought about the pizza Leslie had made for us a couple of weeks ago, and decided to do something similar. She had brought together feta cheese, peperoncinis, kalamata olives, tomatoes, and Greek salad dressing. I had the dressing. Goat cheese could stand in for the feta. I didn't have kalamata olives, but I did have sliced black olives. There were no peperoncinis to be found, but I did have a jar of pickled hot banana peppers. I didn't have tomatoes, but I could add some red peppers for color.
I quickly started gathering ingredients together for another crust. Once I had the Kitchen Aid working on that, I scoured the fridge for toppings. I thought about the pizza Leslie had made for us a couple of weeks ago, and decided to do something similar. She had brought together feta cheese, peperoncinis, kalamata olives, tomatoes, and Greek salad dressing. I had the dressing. Goat cheese could stand in for the feta. I didn't have kalamata olives, but I did have sliced black olives. There were no peperoncinis to be found, but I did have a jar of pickled hot banana peppers. I didn't have tomatoes, but I could add some red peppers for color.
LESLIE-INSPIRED GREEKISH PIZZA
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
½ cup water
¼ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ cups bread flour
½ tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon Greek vinaigrette dressing
4 ounces soft goat cheese
½ cup sliced yellow onions
½ cup sliced yellow onions
¼ cup diced red pepper
½ cup sliced hot banana peppers
2 ounces of sliced black olives
Mix the yeast, water, and sugar together and set it aside for about five minutes. Whisk together the salt and bread flour in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the yeast mixture and the olive oil and combine at a low speed (adding a little water, if necessary) until the dough forms a ball. Remove dough hook and cover the mixer bowl with a damp towel and leave in a warm place for an hour. Preheat oven to 450º. Punch down dough and roll out into a 14 inch circle, creating a little bit of a rim around the outer edge of the dough. Brush the dough with the vinaigrette. Sprinkle the cheese, onions, peppers, and olives over the crust. Bake for about 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
It turned out that I didn't have to worry about filling the turnovers. Pam was the first to arrive, and I put her to work, rolling out the dough balls into little circles. I asked her to roll them out into six inch circles or as large as she could make them. She did a wonderful job. I think she was actually able to get seven inch circles out of them. Without looking at the recipe, I handed her the bowl of the peach mixture that I had put in the fridge earlier that day and told her that this was going to be the filling. What I neglected to remember at this point, was that there was supposed to be some melted peach preserves brushed over the crust before putting the filling on.
While she assembled the turnovers, I started working on our drink of the week. She objected to the amount of peaches in the filling mixture. She thought that the filling wasn't going to be enough to go around to all six circles she had rolled out. I added one more peach, bringing the amount of peaches a full cup over what the original recipe called for. When she had the turnovers assembled, we put them on a tray and put them in the fridge to keep them cold until we were ready to fry them, which we decided would be after we finished eating the bagels and the Greek-like pizza.
OLYMPIC
1 measure cognac (I used Remy 90)
1 measure Cintronge
1 measure orange juice
Pour the three ingredients into a shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange slice.
Jennifer, Roger, and Jonah arrived just as I was finished making a batch of three drinks. Jen and Pam and I each took one and took a sip. It was orange-y and smooth. The juice and Cintronge had completely wiped out any harshness of the cognac, but the cognac helped to balance out the sweetness. I had expected it to be candy-like in sweetness because of the two orange ingredients, which are both pretty sweet, but the drink had great balance. I just hoped that I would after a couple of these.
I had brushed the bagels with some olive oil and baked them at 450º until they were nice and toasty. I spread the pizza sauce over each of them and continued to pile on the toppings: onions, olives, bacon, pepperoni, red pepper, and cheese. These went in the oven first, since it was now going to be our appetizer course. I rotated the cookie sheet that they were on part-way through cooking, because the tops of the bagels on one side of the pan were starting to brown, but those on the other side were not. Once they were browned to my satisfaction, the impromptu pizza went in at the same temperature. We plattered up the bagels, brought them to the table, and gathered the troops. Pat and Karen arrived just as we were sitting down.
EVERYTHING BAGEL PIZZAS
5 "everything" bagels (garlic, poppy seed, onion, etc.), sliced in half horizontally
¼ cup olive oil
4 ounces pizza sauce (see recipe from 5/10/12)
¼ cup thinly sliced yellow onions
2 ounces of sliced olives
¼ cup diced red pepper
2 thick-cut slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
30 thin slices of pepperoni
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
Heat oven to 450º. Brush all of the cut sides of the bagels with the olive oil. Bake for about five minutes. Bagels should be just starting to toast. Spread pizza sauce evenly over all of the bagels. Top with onions, olives, red pepper, bacon, and pepperoni (3 slices per bagel). Top with the shredded cheese. Sprinkle the oregano and garlic over the cheese. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese is just starting to brown.
A new batch of drinks went around the tables, and we dug into our bagels. They disappeared quickly off of the tray. These were tasty little treats. There may have been too many things going on with this recipe to make any of the ingredients stand out. It was salty and warm and had good flavor. The cheese on top did a good job of holding everything together.
When I went into the kitchen to retrieve my spur-of-the-moment pizza, I realized that the crust recipe I had used, even though it had said for one pizza, really should have been for two. Due to the fact that I had just decided to make the pizza shortly before my guests arrived, I didn't give it enough time to rise. It definitely rose in the oven. It looked more like bread with a couple of things thrown on top of it by accident. (I have adjusted the recipe above accordingly...).
Luckily, Pat and Karen had brought with them a wonderul little cheese called Cotswold. It had onion and chives in the cheese. It was a dry, sharp cheese, and it was wonderful on top of the extra crust we pulled off the the Greek pizza.
Once we pulled off some of the crust, the overall flavor of the sudden pizza was pretty good. I really liked the tangy vinaigrette with the creamy, pungent cheese. The meaty flavor of the black olives were brightened up by the vinaigrette, too. The red peppers softened the spicy, briny banana peppers. There just simply wasn't enough topping for the amount of bread I had made.
After we had our fill, Roger left to go get Grace, and Jennifer and I went into the kitchen to start frying the turnovers. I could only fit two turnovers in my 12 inch pan at a time. We lined a plate with paper towels for the finished products and put it in the still-warm oven. With the oil two inches deep in the pan, we carefully placed our first two turnovers in it. There was only a small portion of the turnover that wasn't covered by the oil. It took about three minutes for the first side to get brown. We flipped the turnovers and the second sides of them took even less time. We repeated this until we had all six of them fried up and warming in the oven. We encountered one little problem. The first two turnovers, that were sitting directly on the paper towels had adhered themselves to the towel. Jennifer was able to pick off the bits of paper, and we kept the secret to ourselves. We arranged them on a platter, sprinkled them with sugar that I had whirred up in my coffee grinder to make it really fine and cut them each in half.
We brought them to the table and got "oohs" and "aahs" from the audience. It was flaky and sweet. The peaches were a little tart, but it was offset by the brown sugar. Because they were a little less than ripe, the peaches remained in tact and did not turn to mush. Frying them for such a short period of time may have been a factor, too.
Gracie and Roger returned in the nick of time to be able to sample the turnovers. They were such a hit that we were all drooling over the last two pieces that were still sitting on the platter, and Jennifer was trying to fend us off with her fork.
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