I couldn't believe it was Thursday already! Boy, time really flies when you don't have a job. It feels like I have been running around all week - increasing my networking time, calling people for informational interviews, brainstorming, tweaking the resume, and scanning the Internet for jobs. I'm going to need a vacation from my unemployment pretty soon!
It was a slow start again (there seems to be a theme here). I began with scanning my ingredient lists once again to see if I had everything. For the drink of the week, it called for pineapple syrup. I made my own. I took a couple of canned pineapple slices, the juice from the can, and half a cup of sugar and threw it in the old Vitamix until it was boiling. That was it. It probably wasn't as thick as it should have been, but it was sweet, it was pineapple-y, and all of the sugar had dissolved.
The grapefruit juice was a little trickier. I thought I had one more little single serving portion of Ruby Red that I had bought a while back for a different drink, but the cupboard scan proved me wrong. I sent a text out to my peeps to see if someone would bring some for the cause.
Pam had called and left me a message, saying that she was going to be late as it was, but if I wanted her to still get the grapefruit juice, I should let her know. I didn't want to delay her any further. I hadn't heard back from Jennifer, so I called her cell phone. Her son, Jonah, answered and informed me that she was out running. At about four o'clock with no response, I jumped in my car and headed there myself.
Then, the internal debate began. Do I spend $2.69 for 64 ounces of grapefruit juice, knowing that we will not use all of that in our drinks, and I likely won't be able to drink it all before it expires, or do I spend $2.89 for 36 ounces of juice in cute little 6 ounce cans, where the unused juice would probably keep for a year (or another 16 months, if you believe the packaging). There wasn't going to be a savings if I ended up throwing half of the juice away, so I grabbed myself a 6-pack and headed back home.
The pizza casserole recipe called for pizza sauce - either home made or purchased. I did another pantry dig and came up with no pasta sauce or spaghetti sauce nor any facsimile thereof. Well, if I could make pineapple syrup in the Vitamix, why not pizza sauce? I rummaged around to see what I could come up with.
PIZZA SAUCE
2 15 ounce cans of diced tomatoes, drained
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
2 tablespoons of garlic
1 cup of diced red onion
2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons basil
I looked around for some macaroni shells and found an unopened box. I measured out 4 ounces of pasta. It really didn't look like much. I went back to the recipe and noted that there was a pound of ground beef on the list. I could not bring myself to put an entire pound of ground beef in with only four ounces of pasta (not to mention half a pound of cheese or more). I considered the amount of people we were going to have and decided to double the macaroni.
Once again, it was time to make dough for the crust. It was the same as every other week for the past several. I made the entire recipe, cut it in half, and froze half for later. I should be able to make this dough in my sleep by now.
After I browned the hamburger, I added the sauce. I added it a little at a time, because I didn't think that there should be two entire cups of sauce in the recipe. After I put the first cup in, I acquiesced and added the second cup. I figured that the extra amount of sauce was more for the noodles to soak up than to moisten the meat.
I layered it as instructed - sauce and meat, then noodles and cream, then cheese, and repeat. It didn't really stay layered, the cream sunk down into the bottom layer of sauce, and the sauce from the second layer of sauce and meat went to the bottom, too, but the cheese and the meat still stayed in place.
PIZZA CASSEROLE
1 lb. ground beef
2 cups pizza sauce (see recipe above or use purchased sauce)
8 ounces macaroni noodles
½ cup half and half (optional)
8 ounces shredded mozzarella
2 ounces shredded Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoons granulated garlic
Cooking spray
Cook the noodles as directed for al dente (this may be an optional step - if you use the half and half, you may not need to cook the noodles first). Combine the noodles with the half and half, if using. Cook the ground beef in a frying pan over medium heat until just barely browned. Drain off the fat. Add the pizza sauce. Sprinkle the oregano and garlic over it and stir to combine. Preheat the oven to 350º F. Spray a 9x9 pan with cooking spray. Pour half of the ground beef mixture into bottom of the pan, spreading to make an even layer. Layer half of the noodles over the beef. Sprinkle the noodles with half of the mozzarella. Repeat the three layers. Spray a piece of aluminum foil with cooking spray and cover the pan with it. Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover the casserole and sprinkle the Parmesan over the top layer of mozzarella. Bake for another 5-10 minutes or until the cheese begins to brown. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Unfortunately for Jeff, though, he was going to miss this calzone. He had abandoned me for a guy's "weekend" up North for Fishing Opener. My Dad hosts a party every year that starts earlier and earlier every year, and it is guys only. This year, Jeff went up Wednesday morning. Maybe there would be some left for him.
Mom and I had a little adventure, trying to find this cheese. I had looked at Cub earlier in the week, and they didn't have it (shocker!). She and I had gone out for dinner on Wednesday near Whole Foods. I thought for sure that they would have it. They have everything, and if they don't have it, their cheese lady is so knowledgeable that she would be able to recommend a substitution. However, when we got there, my cheese lady wasn't there. There was a young kid behind the counter, and it was very difficult to get his attention. When we asked for Port Salute, he asked what it was. When we explained it to him, he told us that they didn't carry it. He didn't look at the inventory, he didn't consult any one, he just said they didn't carry it. As we were walking away, he mentioned that it was his first day. I wondered if they did have it, and he just was clueless and afraid to ask his co-workers. I was sure that Lund's would have it, anyway.
We went to Lund's. The store was pretty empty. We went straight to the cheese area. I found the cheese right away. Unfortunately, they only had two pieces. One was entirely too small for our purposes (it was less than a quarter-pound. There was another whole wheel, and it was 6 pounds! The cheese was on sale, but even with the sale price, the wheel was almost $90.00.
We brought the wheel up to the deli counter, where an employee was cleaning the bins. We asked her if she would cut us off a pound of it. She informed us that the cheese specialist had gone home for the day, so there was nothing she could do for us. I was ready to quit and put Festival Foods on my list of places to go Thursday morning, but Mom didn't take "no" for an answer. She grabbed the wheel and marched to the front of the store, looking for the manager. A man in a Lund's apron walked briskly past her, and she followed him, calling "Sir? Sir! SIR!" He didn't turn around until we all reached the deli again. She asked him if he could direct her to the manager. He mumbled something and waved to the front of the store. When she asked him to repeat himself, he told Mom that the manager was in the check-out area, bagging groceries. Then, he quickly vacated the area.
Back to the front of the store we went, still carrying the giant chunk of cheese. There was only one person bagging groceries, so we asked her if she was the manager. She nodded, and Mom explained that we only wanted a pound of this cheese, and the person in the deli said she couldn't cut it, because the "cheese specialist" had gone home for the day. We were met with an incredulous look and no words. Mom pressed on: "Would you be able to cut a hunk of this off for us?"
The woman asked us to repeat the reason the deli worker wouldn't cut it for us. Mom repeated the bit about the cheese specialist, and the manager grabbed the cheese from Mom, and the three of us marched back to the deli. After some arguing, a third person entered the scene. There was more discussion and more head shaking. The first woman we spoke to came out from behind the counter and grabbed the small piece of cheese and asked us again how much we wanted. We told her a pound, and she looked at the cheese as if she could make it grow.
"So, this isn't enough?"
"No!" Mom and I both said simultaneously.
Finally, another employee went behind the counter and said that she would cut it. After a few minutes, the manager stuck her head out and asked us again how much we wanted.
"A pound," Mom replied.
The manager looked in the back and then back again to us and said, "The piece she cut is almost .9 pounds - is that okay".
"Fine!" We took it and paid for it, and we didn't get so much as an apology for the inconvenience.
I laughed when I read the instruction that the port salute was supposed to be diced. I wasn't sure the author had ever dealt with this cheese before. It is very soft, and while I did start out trying to dice the cheese, after a few attempts, I ended up just pinching off globs with my (clean) fingers.
I diced up the pears with their skins on. The recipe didn't mention anything about pealing them first, so I took that as a sign that the skins should be in there. I am sure that I read somewhere that the skins are pretty nutritious. Apparently, the skins are what contain most of the fiber, potassium, and vitamin C. I have also read that there is something in the skins that could help prevent Alzheimer's and cancer. The skins stay on.
I had purchased four pears. I was estimating that after the core was removed, each pear would be about a cup of diced pear pieces. I was really close. I got four cups after three pears. Now, I can have the extra one for lunch the next day!
After brushing the three calzone dough circles with butter, I piled on the pears and cheese. It actually looked like this filling was going to fit this time. I was able to keep all of the ingredients on the one side of the calzone.
I had to admire the visual aspect of it before I sealed them up. The green pears against the bright white cheese and the occasional orange of the rind that I didn't take off, even though instructed to, was almost art. Actually, in my opinion, it was art, but I was biased.
PEAR AND PORT SALUTE CALZONES
½ recipe Classic Crust
5 tablespoons melted butter (divided)
4 cups fresh pears (about 3 pears)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon roasted Saigon cinnamon
2 cups of pieces of port salute cheese (about 3/4 pound)
3 tablespoons sliced almonds
Divide the dough into three pieces and roll them each out into a 12 inch circle. Brush each circle with a tablespoon of butter. Mix the pears, flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon together in a medium-sized bowl. Distribute one third of this mixture over half of each buttered dough circle. Sprinkle one third of the cheese over the same half of each dough circle. Fold each dough in half over the fillings and crimp to seal, dampening with a little water to help seal, if necessary. Place a damp towel over the calzones and let rest for about an hour. Preheat the oven to 375º F. Mix the remaining two tablespoons of butter with a beaten egg. Brush butter-egg mixture over each calzone and sprinkle with the sliced almonds. Place in preheated oven and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until crust is a shiny golden brown.
My dear friends, Paul and Leslie and their two girls joined us for the evening. They brought with them two fully assembled, ready-to-bake pizzas. One was a fabulous Mediterranean style pizza that Leslie had created. It had kalamata olives, tomatoes, peperoncini peppers, and feta cheese. She drizzled Greek style vinaigrette over the toppings before putting it in the oven. It was fantastic. The flavors were bright and very powerful despite the fact that there didn't appear to be very many toppings. The tang of the peppers and dressing mellowed out the richness of the feta and the saltiness of the olives. It was a perfect combination.
The other pizza was a classic Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza - another of Jeff's favorites that he missed.
Once all of the guests had arrived, we started in on constructing our drink. Apparently, pamplemousse is the word for grapefruit in French. There wasn't a whole lot of grapefruit juice in the drink, but it is definitely a powerful element in the drink. I happen to love grapefruit, so this was a winner for me. I thought it might be too sweet with the pineapple syrup and the Southern Comfort, but the 100 proof version isn't as sweet as their regular strength variety. Also, I suspect that my home-made pineapple syrup wasn't as sweet as what you would purchase or get from a can of pineapple. The drink wasn't too sweet, and it was balanced so well that I didn't get the usual pucker of the grapefruit. I thought it was a great accompaniment to the Mediterranean and the Hawaiian pizzas.
PAMPLEMOUSSE
1½ measures Canadian whiskey
1 measure Southern Comfort 100º
½ measure grapefruit juice
¼ measure pineapple syrup
Pour ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.
Jennifer hadn't seen Paul and Leslie and family since their second daughter, Chelsea, was born. She brought gifts for the two girls, and it seemed pretty obvious that the packaging was miles more interesting than the books they contained. However, Gracie made friends with Allegra (their older girl) by reading her new book to her.
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The pizza casserole was loved by the kids and Paul. I could have taken it or left it - I thought it bland and would liked to have had something more interesting in it: maybe ricotta or a cream sauce (instead of the half and half) and definitely some more spices. I was thinking some fennel, hot pepper flake or the peppers themselves, onions, etc. Both of Paul and Leslie's pizzas were wonderful, but my favorite (and I think everyone's) was the pear and Port Salute calzones. Even Jonah had two pieces of it. It was sweet and nutty, the crust was a perfect golden brown (thanks to the egg I added to the melted butter in accordance with my new egg wash rule. The best part of the evening, though, was the company...
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