I planned on starting in the morning Wednesday, but my AADD got the best of me. I needed to go to the post office to mail something I didn't have an envelope for.
I thought that I should make sure I had everything I needed as far as ingredients were concerned before I headed out of the house. I rechecked that and remembered that Jeff wanted me to write a check to someone and mail that today, too, so I thought I would get that done. When I went into the office to take care of that, I noticed that he had forgotten to make a deposit. I wrote that up and powered up the computer to see what we owed for the bills.
Then, I finally showered and grabbed the deposit, the items to be mailed and headed to the post office. I figured I could buy an envelope there, but when I got there, they only had the Priority Mail ones, which would increase the amount of postage.
I headed off to the gas station next door, thinking they might have something there that would work. Wrong! I got back in the car and drove another mile to the Walgreen's, bought some envelopes, addressed and stuffed the one, and drove back to the post office to mail the stuff.
Then, I went to the bank. All of a sudden it was three o'clock! With the other distractions and things I felt I had to do before I got started, I didn't even start on my dough until after five. Oh, but wait! I had to do the dishes and clean the kitchen first!
Thank goodness I had a half a recipe of Classic Crust in the freezer from the batch I had made last week. First order of business - take it out of the freezer. I was off to a great start!
There really didn't seem like there was a whole lot I could do in advance for the pizza burgers except form the burgers. While reading the recipe, I found it hard to believe that there was no seasoning for the burgers themselves, so I decided to add my own. Since they were pizza burgers, I decided to add pizza-type seasonings. I added a little granulated garlic, dehydrated onion flake, oregano, and basil. I smushed everything together with my (clean) hands. It felt good to squish the meat between my fingers and roll it around, and my hands were nice and soft when I was through.
I made eight quarter-pound burgers. They were four inches across, and they were one inch thick at the edges. I had patted down the centers, so there was a rim of meat around the edge. They looked like thick tart pans made out of meat. I needed the space in the middle, because the pizza sauce was going to go on top of the burger, inside the indent. The beef was going to be the "crust" of this pizza!
I skimped on the ricotta again. Most of the time, the only size even close to three cups is the 15 ounce package, which is actually 2 cups (yes, I actually measured it). The next size available at Cub this week was 32 ounces, which would be just over four cups in volume. Since all of the recipes in this book seem to have an overabundance of filling, I didn't spring for the extra container or the larger container.
I thoroughly mixed the ricotta, sugar, and vanilla together and put it back into the original ricotta container to store for Thursday. I decided to "rinse" the spoon before putting it in the dishwasher, and it was delicious. Maybe I should have bought the extra ricotta but doubled the sugar and vanilla, because that little taste I had was perfect. It was sweet and smooth with the slightly oaky vanilla in the background. I could just eat that! I couldn't wait for the end product.
We had a wonderful day of garage sales on Thursday. We started early and drove all over the city in search of bargains. Their were fourteen of us all traveling together, caravan style. We found so many bargains, we had to come home and unload half-way through the day. Mom and Jennifer weren't able to join us for the event, and they don't know what a great time they missed out on.
I got some incredible bargains. I bought a smoker grill, a pop refrigerator that works like a vending machine; a cribbage board, and (of course) cookbooks and novels. Pam ended up with a vacuum cleaner, a yard game, several gas cans, a suitcase, laundry baskets, shoes, clothes, and (of course) cookbooks and novels.
We came back to my house, and I started working on dinner, while she rearranged her goodies in the car. Earlier in the day, I realized that I had forgotten to take the dough out of the fridge in the morning, so when I got home, that was the first thing I did. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to have enough time to warm up properly before I had to roll it out. Cold dough requires quite a bit more elbow grease than warm dough.
I let the dough warm up on the counter while I diced the apples. I didn't peel them, even though the recipe said that they should be. I just don't think it is necessary, and I believe that there are a lot of nutrients in the skin. There is a flavanoid in the peel of apples called quercetin that can boost your memory, and who couldn't use that? I cut them into quarter-inch cubes, and two medium sized apples gave me 3 cups of diced apples. I tossed them into the sugar, flour, cinnamon, walnut mixture I had prepared the day before and stirred them up.
The dough was still pretty cold at this point, so I mixed up a drink for us.
CHAMPARELLE
½ measure Harlequin orange liqueur
½ measure green chartreuse
½ measure Meukow 90 cognac
½ measure anisette liqueur
Pour ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass.
I took some liberties with this drink, because I wanted to use the liquor I had on hand. The original recipe called for triple sec, which is an orange liqueur, usually made with vodka and artificial orange flavoring. I had Harlequin, which is cognac based. It has a heavier flavor and a thicker texture than triple sec. Most triple secs are lower in alcohol than Harlequin, as well.
It also called for yellow chartreuse instead of green. I have read that the yellow is not as strong in flavor and alcohol and is a little sweeter. I haven't tried the yellow, so I cannot confirm this, but I wasn't about to run out and buy a bottle - my curiosity on the matter wasn't that strong.
Also, this drink was supposed to be layered into a rocks glass. Apparently, if you pour the ingredients in the correct order into the glass, it will remain layered in the glass. However, since I had changed up the ingredients a little, and my liquors weren't cold, and neither was my glass, I opted for my martini preparation.
With the drinks mixed and poured, I started on my cold, stiff dough. Pam and I were already overheated from the day's events and the weather. It was over 83º outside, and even though my house was still only 70º, I was breaking a sweat trying to force the dough into a circle. Because the dough was cold, every time I lifted the rolling pin the dough that I had just flattened would snap back almost to its original position. I basically had to beat the hell out of it to get it to remain in a twelve inch circle. Then, I had to repeat it two more times with the other two-thirds of the dough. I thought that by the time I got to the last one, it would have been warmed up enough to make it easier than the first two, but I was wrong. I could detect no difference in elasticity.
Once I had my three circles rolled out, I brushed two tablespoons of butter (total) over the three circles. Next, I put my premixed ricotta over half of each circle and the apple and walnuts on top of that.
Then they were ready to be sealed up. I preheated the oven, but I decided to wait on putting them in until we had gotten started on our burgers. I wanted to be able to serve it the calzones hot, but we hadn't even started working on the main course yet.
Jeff had come home while I was sealing the calzones, and I asked him to start the charcoal and be grill-master.
I got the burgers out of the freezer and explained to him that I wanted him to cook with the rimmed side down first. Then, I let him know that when he flips them back to rim side up, he needed to let me know, so I could add my sauce and cheese. Unfortunately, the burgers had frozen to the plate I had set them on when I made them. We set them aside until the charcoal was ready, but he still had to pry them off of the plate with the spatula. I kept envisioning a sudden release and an airborne patty, but he did well, and there were no such incidents.
 |
| Roger and Jonah |
I had only used half the bag of mozzarella I had brought outside, because that seemed to be the amount that fit on top of the burgers at the time. I probably could have applied myself better and gotten more on, but I was two champarelles into it, and they looked pretty enough. I was supposed to sprinkle the sauce with garlic salt and oregano before added the cheese, and I was supposed to sprinkle Parmesan over the mozzarella once the burgers came out of the oven, but those things didn't happen either. We passed the remaining mozzarella cheese around at the table. I got high compliments on the flavor of the meat itself, and I was really glad that I hadn't gone the plain beef route. These were fun little sandwiches. Jeff had cooked them perfectly - they were medium rare and juicy, and the sauce and cheese just elevated it a notch. I think if I had remembered the Parmesan, we wouldn't have needed the additional mozzarella, but I guess we won't know for sure, will we?
PIZZA BURGERS
2lbs ground beef (80% lean is what I used)
2 teaspoons granulated garlic
1 tablespoon dehydrated onion flake
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon of basil
4 ounces of pizza sauce (I used the extra sauce from last week's pizza casserole)
8 ounces of shredded mozzarella
8 hamburger buns (I used squishy white buns, because they're Jeff's favorite)
Mix the beef, garlic, onion, oregano and basil together thoroughly with your hands. Form the beef into quarter-pound patties, pressing down in the centers to form a ridge around the outside edge of each patty. Place on a greased tray, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze overnight. Prepare a charcoal grill. Grill over medium coals ridge side down for about five minutes. Flip patties over and add a tablespoon of sauce to each indentation, covering as much of the burger as you can. Sprinkle the mozzarella over each sauced patty. Replace the grill lid and cook for another 5 minutes or until the meat has reached your desired doneness. Remove patties from the grill and place on the buns.
Before we had pulled the burgers off the grill, Jennifer and I went inside to get her a drink and put the calzones in the oven. I had her slash the tops of the calzones, brush them with the egg and butter wash, and sprinkle them with the chopped walnuts While she was working on that, I made her the drink.
The calzone timer went off just as we were finishing our burgers. Jennifer pulled them from the oven. I cut them, and we brought them outside for everyone to eat. They were beautiful golden brown, and the nuts on top were toasty and crunchy.
Jennifer had made a face when I told her what the ingredients were. She hates cooked apples. She won't eat apple pie or strudel or anything like that. She doesn't like the texture of them. However, she tried this anyway and loved it. The apples were hot but still somewhat firm. They hadn't become the mushy goo that she associates with cooked apples. The combination of the creamy sweet ricotta, the tangy and juicy apples, and the earthy, crunchy walnuts was a taste and texture perfection.
APPLE WALNUT CALZONES
½ recipe Classic Crust dough
4 tablespoons melted butter, divided
15 ounces (2 cups) of ricotta cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups diced Granny Smith apples (¼ inch dice, peels on - about 2 medium apples)
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon roasted Saigon cinnamon
2 cups walnuts (divided)
Divide the dough into three and roll each third into a 12 inch circle. Brush the circles with 2 tablespoons (total) of melted butter, leaving a quarter-inch boarder around the edge of the dough. Preheat the oven to 375º F. Combine the ricotta, sugar, and vanilla together and mix thoroughly. Divide the ricotta mixture among the three dough circles and spread it over half of each circle. Mix the apples, flour, cinnamon, and 1 cup of walnuts together in a bowl. Distribute one-third of this onto each calzone over the ricotta. Fold the dough over the filling to form a crescent and press the edges together to seal, using damp fingers, if needed. Cut three slits in the top of the calzone. Beat the egg and the remaining two tablespoons of melted butter together and brush this mixture over the tops of the calzones. Chop the remaining walnuts and sprinkle over the egg-wash. Bake for 20-25 or until the tops are golden brown.
 |
| Gracie |
No comments:
Post a Comment