Bacon and Lobster Calzones; Scrabble Night Pizza "Casserole", Black Martini

     I had such high hopes for the bacon and lobster calzone recipe, and I was disappointed.  It has all of the makings for a great meal, but I think my ingredients were a bit off.  I fished out a lobster tail from the depths of my freezer.  Unfortunately, it wasn't labeled, so I wasn't sure how long it had been in there.  If I had to guess, though, I would say that it had been in there for more than six months (it's hard to justify buying lobster when I am unemployed).  It was a big one, too - creating much more than the two cups of lobster tail meat that the recipe required.  And, if 2 cups is good, 3 should be better, right?  However, after tasting the end result, I fear that it was just too old.

     I think I also may have cooked it too long.  Usually, when I am putting seafood in a pizza recipe, and the recipe indicates that it should be cooked before it gets cooked on the pizza, I only partially cook it.  Never having baked a lobster tail before, I seriously missed the mark.  It was completely cooked when I took it out of the oven, and recooking it inside the calzones didn't do it any favors.
     Two other problems with my particular rendition of this recipe:  the sauce was probably equally as old as the lobster, since it was also "fished" out of the bottom of my freezer and had no date on it; and the Asiago cheese never made it into the calzone, since the original recipe never gave instruction on when to add it.  It is completely the recipe author's fault on that one.  I refuse to take the blame there.
     I debated about whether I would even mention this failure at all, since all of our uneaten slices landed in the garbage can.  I decided that it should be talked about.  The recipe definitely has merit, and with fresh ingredients and a little more care in the preparation of the lobster, I still think it could be fabulous.  I will try it again after I have been gainfully employed for a bit.

Bacon & Lobster Calzones

Adapted from The everything Pizza Cookbook by Belinda Hulin

2 tablespoon olive oil, divided

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 ounces onion

6 ounces tomato sauce

3 ounces diced tomatoes

2 ounces diced green pepper

1 ounce minced celery

2 cloves garlic

pinch of cayenne pepper

pinch of black pepper

1 teaspoon tabasco

2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

1 cup warm water (about 110º)

1/2 teaspoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 1/4 cup bread flour

1 16-ounce lobster tail (9 ounces of lobster meat after shelling and cooking)

3 tablespoons of melted butter

3 tablespoons of lemon juice

12 ounces ricotta cheese

1 1/2 ounces cooked crumbled bacon

4 green onions, minced
4 ounces shredded Asiago cheese
1 egg
1 teaspoon room temperature water

Make the sauce:  Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until flour turns a rich brown color.  Add half of the chopped onions and stur until they begin to soften and brown.  Pour in tomato sauce, whisking as you do so.  Continue to stir until the flour mixture is completely dissolved.  Add the diced tomatoes, the remaining onion, celery, garlic, cayenne, black pepper, and tabasco.  Bring to a full boil.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer for two hours.  Sauce should be reduced to about one cup.

Make the dough:  Combine the yeast, one cup water, and sugar in a bowl and set aside for at least five minutes.  Stir the salt and flour together in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Add the yeast mixture and one tablespoon of olive oil and stir on a low speed until the mixture forms a ball around the hook.  Continue mixing a little longer  until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.  Let rest for an hour in a greased bowl in a warm, dry place.  

Cook the lobster:  Preheat the oven to 450º F.  Flip the lobster tail upside down, so the pleopods (swimmerets or fin-type thingees) are facing you.  With a scissors, cut along through the membrane on the left side, underneath the pleopods, from the body end to the tail end.  Repeat on the right side.  Cut across the end of the tail, where the meat ends, and the tail fans out, removing the fans. Remove the center membrane piece.  Cut through the attachments on the inside of the shell, so that the lobster meat is still in the shell, but not attached (the shell will protect it somewhat from overcooking).  Whisk the butter and lemon juice together in a bowl.  Brush the lobster meat all over with the lemon butter mixture.  Wrap the tail in aluminum foil.  Bake at 450º F for about 15 minutes or until lobster meat is just starting to lose its translucency.  Check it after 10 minutes to make sure it isn't being overcooked.  Remove tail from oven and foil and let rest until it's cool enough to handle.  Remove lobster meat and roughly chop.

Assemble calzones:  Divide the dough into four pieces.  Roll each portion into a ball.  Stretch or roll out each piece into a 10 inch circle on a cornmeal or flour dusted board.  Brush each circle with about one-quarter cup of sauce, leaving the edges bare.  Dollup about 3 ounces of ricotta onto half of each circle.  Press down with the back of a spoon to spread out over half of the sauce.  Distribute a forth of the lobster over the ricotta on each of the four circles.  Sprinkle the bacon over the lobster pieces.  Top with the minced onion and Asiago cheese.  Fold the half without the toppings over onto the filled side, forming a half-moon, and pinching the edges together to seal.  Place calzones on a greased baking sheet (or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper).  Cover with a damp towel and let stand for about thirty minutes.  Preheat the oven to 400º F.  With a sharp knife, cut slits into the top of the calzones for venting.  Thoroughly whisk the egg and water together.  Brush the egg wash over the tops of the calzones.  Bake for 15 minutes or until crust is starting to become golden.  Let rest a few minutes before cutting.

     I had to research how to cook a lobster tail in the oven.  Jeff and I have had lobster tails at home in the past, but he has always cooked them for us.  He cuts down the back side of the tail, pulls the lobster meat up through the cut without cutting the membrane, so that the lobster meat is sitting up above the shell, and the shell protects the meat from the direct heat of the grill.  He continually bastes it with butter until he feels that the lobster is done.  It was cold outside, and I had no desire to pull out the grill and stand outside for any length of time.  I went with a technique (and cooking times) I found on the internet, and this may be where I went wrong.  It seemed like a reputable site, so I didn't even question that this delicate little piece of meat was going to be in a very hot oven for 35 minutes!  I have lowered the cooking time in the above recipe dramatically - if you make this recipe, I suggest you check it before the fifteen minutes are up to make sure you aren't overcooking it.
     The tail I had found in my freezer was pretty.  It had orange and black striping on its fin-things (which I have now discovered are called pleopods or swimminets).  When I started cutting through the membrane under the fins, the back of the tail shell shattered.  That may have been a clue that it was old - I'm not sure - but I forged on.

     Once I had gotten the meat disconnected from the shell, I stirred the lemon juice and the melted butter together.  I placed the tail, still in its shell, onto a piece of aluminum foil and started brushing the butter mixture all over the belly of the tail and inside underneath it, being careful not to dislodge the pieces of shell that had shattered in the process.  The tail was thawed, but it was still quite cold, as I had just brought it out of the refrigerator.  The butter started coagulating as soon as it came in contact with the lobster.  I decided that wasn't a problem, since it would keep the butter in place until it started cooking.  Then I closed up the foil around the tail and threw it in the oven.  A lesson in hindsight:  I should have put it on a rimmed baking sheet instead of directly on the oven rack, because some of the spinier pieces of shell had punctured the foil, and some of the butter melted out and onto my oven floor (and also all over my counter after I had removed it from the oven).

    While the lobster was in the oven, I started working on my dough for the calzones.  I know I have mentioned this before, but I really love the smell of the yeast proofing.  It smells like freshly baked bread, which is one of those foods I just cannot resist when it comes right out of the oven.  I am also fascinated by the foaming up of the yeast after it sits in the sugar water for a bit.

     The dough was waiting for its illustrious rise, and the timer had gone off on my lobster.  My little tinfoil package smelled wonderful - buttery and salty and warm.  After it had cooled a bit (and I had wiped up the butter pool on my counter), I opened it up and started slicing.  It still was pretty.  The back of the meat had turned that happy orange color seafood gets when it is cooked.  I was disappointed to see that there wasn't any opaque parts to it - it was thoroughly cooked, if not overly so, and I was getting ready to put it in the oven again.

      I spread the sauce over my dough circles.

       And dolluped the ricotta over the sauce.

     Next came my lobster chunks.

     Once I had the onions and bacon sprinkled over the lobster, I sealed up the calzones (not remembering until they were in the oven that there was also supposed to be Asiago in there somewhere).

     With those resting again, I was able to concentrate on the "Scrabble Night" pizza.  I am not sure why the author decided to call this a Scrabble Night Pizza Casserole (it didn't seem to have anything to do with Scrabble, and it was a pizza, not a casserole), but I was willing to go with it.  I brought out the Scrabble game that Jeff and I had purchased long ago and never played, and set it out on the table to see if I would get any takers when my people arrived.

Scrabble Night Pizza Casserole

Adapted from The Everything Pizza Cookbook by Belinda Hulin

1 teaspoon + 1/4 cup olive oil, divided

1 1/2 ounces tomato paste

14 1/2 ounces of canned tomatoes

6 ounces chopped onion, divided

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes

2/3 cup water

pinch of thyme

2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

3 1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 pound ground beef, browned (10 ounces after cooking)

4 Italian sausage links, casing removed, and browned (6½ ounces after cooking)

1 1/2 ounces diced green pepper

8 ounces ricotta cheese

Make the sauce:  Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil and the tomato paste in a small skillet over medium high heat.  Cook, stirring constantly, for about two minutes.  Put canned tomatoes, 2 ounces of onion, sugar, oregano, basil, hot pepper, water, and thyme into a blender and purée until smooth.  Add to the tomato paste mixture and stir to dissolve the paste into the sauce.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes or until sauce  has thickened and reduced to about 2 cups.

Make the dough:  Combine the yeast and water in a bowl and set aside for at least five minutes.  Stir the salt and flour together in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Add the yeast mixture and one quarter cup of olive oil and stir on a low speed until the mixture forms a ball around the hook.  Continue mixing a little longer  until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.  Let rest for an hour in a greased bowl in a warm, dry place.

Assemble pizza:  Preheat oven to 400º F.  Roll, stretch, or press dough into a 10x15 rimmed sheet pan.  Bake in preheated oven for 5 minutes or until crust starts to firm up.  Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.  Spread sauce over the dough.  Combine the beef, Italian sausage, 4 ounces of onion, and green pepper in a bowl.  Distribute over the sauce.  Drop spoonfuls of ricotta randomly over the meat mixture.  Combine the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and distribute over the meat and ricotta.  Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is starting to brown.

     I started first with the sauce.  When I was making this sauce in large batches and freezing what I didn't use, it really did take a couple of hours to reduce it to the right consistency.  By making just a little at a time, and reducing the amount of water added in the beginning, I brought the time down to about 45 minutes, and I wasn't taking up any (now becoming precious) freezer space.

     The dough was soft and really pliable by the time I had gotten around to playing with it.  I was able to hand stretch it into the corners of my 10 x 15 bar pan quite easily.  It was a quite elastic, though, so it took a little manipulating to get it to stay in the place I had left it.  Eventually, I gave up worrying about getting it completely into the corners, figuring that it would fill them in when it started cooking.

     Looking back, I realized that, at this point, I should have prebaked the crust a bit.  It was really a gooey dough, and there were so many toppings on it, that the crust didn't get a chance to firm up.  However, I didn't prebake it, I just started putting the toppings on.

     I topped the pizza off with the cheese, and Pam arrived.  I put her to the task of making the espresso for our Black Martini.

Black Martini

1½ measures light white rum

1½ measures créme de cacao liqueur

1½ measures cold espresso coffee

She all ingredients with ice and strain into a martini glass.

     It wasn't a particularly attractive drink, but it was delicious and belly-warming, which is what I was hoping for now that winter had arrived.  I thought it's sweetness was perfectly balanced with the dark, bitter, coffee. Pam said she would have preferred hers a little sweeter.  Jennifer was in my camp.

     When Jennifer and the kids arrived, Pam and Gracie sat down for a game of Scrabble.  I think that Gracie would have won, had she not lost interest and ventured into the television room (or maybe Pam lost interest and that prompted Gracie to leave).

       

     The scrabble pizza looked fabulous!  It definitely appeared to be a casserole.  Everything on it was gooey and rich and salty and delicious.  The only downfall was the crust, which didn't cook up enough to allow us to eat this with our hands.  I am sure that the massive amount of toppings would have prevented it anyway, but that is beside the point.  There was no clear distinction between the toppings and the crust (if you could call it a crust, since it never left the dough-stage).  None-the-less, it got rave reviews from everyone, including Jeff and Gracie.  When I asked if it would be as good without the ricotta or with less meat, I was told it was perfect the way it was.

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Thanksgiving!

     I love Thanksgiving.  How could I not love a holiday that revolves around food?  It's not just the food for me, though (are you surprised?).  The food is secondary.  I like the whole idea of people, not just necessarily family, getting together and appreciating the good things in life, being thankful for them, and voicing it all out loud.
     I have been doing a little research on the American holiday, and it has been interesting.  There were a lot of "Thanksgiving" festivals in the early days of our country.  They weren't anything official, but one of the most famous festivals involved the crazy colonists that first came here and the Native Americans they met when they arrived.  The colonists had no idea how to take care of themselves, how to feed, clothe, and shelter their families, and the Wampanoag people taught them what and how to grow their food and helped them get settled in their new world.  Together, they celebrated the first successful harvest.  And, they did it with style - that Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days!
     Apparently, the turkey didn't make it to that celebration.  It was New England, and they ate what was available: venison, seafood (lobster!), geese, and, of course, the wonderful crops of corn and squash that the Natives had helped them grow.  Turkey didn't become a staple at Thanksgiving tables until after World War II.  The poultry industry had taken flight.  They had figured out a way to produce bigger and better turkeys, and they had the marketing to convince America that their big bird should be the centerpiece at every Thanksgiving table.
     We have Sara Josepha Hale to thank for making the holiday an officially recognized holiday.  This author of thousands of works, including "Mary Had a Little Lamb."  For almost, she wrote letter after letter to presidents, asking them to officially declare a Thanksgiving holiday.  She published editorials in The Ladies' Magazine, of which she was the editor, convincing readers to support her cause.  Individual states started having their own designated Thanksgiving holidays.  Finally, she convinced Abraham Lincoln in a letter, that even though a nationally recognized holiday of thanks wouldn't stop the civil war, it would bring the country together at least for the day.
     So, what am I thankful for?  I am thankful for a wonderful, supportive family.  I am thankful for a wonderful husband, who is my official taster and companion in my culinary adventures.  I am thankful for my parents, who taught me the most important lessons in life.  They taught me to keep my elbows off the table and that if "everyone" is pissing you off, maybe the problem is you.  I am thankful for my two gorgeous sisters, who are my great friends and favorite foodies.
     The actual food itself for the blessed day?  I think the food is all about comfort.  We have tried some of the crazy spins on all of the traditional foods - bacon wrapped turkey, apple cider marinaded turkey, pumpkin chiffon pie, garlic mashed potatoes - and while they were all good, some very good, in fact, but it left me feeling like I was missing something.  I long for a simple, juicy slice of turkey; plain mashed potatoes with a good, fatty gravy; light and fluffy, warm, dinner rolls, slathered with real dairy butter; a simple slice of pecan pie with fresh whipped cream.  I even crave the Campbell's green bean casserole.
     On Wednesday, Jeff started in on the preparations.  His job was to make "roll mops".  Our next door neighbors used to make these little items for many gatherings.  Mr. Swanson had called them "Roll 'm Ups" when I was a kid (when was that, exactly?), and I thought he was saying, "Roll Mops", so that name stuck.  They are thin slices of meat (originally, I think it was Carl Buddig roast beef) spread with cream cheese and wrapped around a green onion.  Our usual deli selection for this item is thin cut salami.  Jeff took it up a notch and added prosciutto to the mix.  I don't mean that he replaced the salami with prosciutto - he literally added a slice of prosciutto to the salami before rolling it up around the onion.  They were fantastic!
     This year (as I did for last year), I made Alton Brown's turkey recipe.  And, as last year, the turkey was done long before I expected it to be.  It just seems like a 30-pound should take longer.  I remember my parents talking about the days when they would have to get up at the crack of dawn (whoever she is) to get the turkey in the oven, so it would be ready by two.  Now, I have never done anything crazy like that - I like my sleep too much .

     No, we didn't buy a mutant turkey.  On one of Jeff's bargain-hunting trips to the grocery store a while back, he found some turkey legs on a temporary price reduction and had froze them.  We added them to the bird, because it seems that there is always a fight between the kids and Grandpa as to who gets the legs.
     I made a "Mix and Match" stuffing.  I had a loaf of sourdough bread that was more like a sourdough brick that I used for part of the bread cubes.  I used half a package of sage bread cubes from a stuffing mix  for the remainder of the bread in the recipe.
     For the veggies in the base of the stuffing, I used a combination of leeks and shallots for the two cups of onions to go with my two cups of celery.  They softened up nicely in the butter, and the aroma of the fresh sage and thyme wafting through the kitchen, set my stomach grumbling.
     For the mix-ins, I had a little over a pound of mushrooms I planned on using.  I had intended on using some breakfast sausage I had left over from earlier in the week for the meat in the stuffing, but there wasn't as much there as I had remembered.  However, there was bacon!  I cooked up the bacon and then sautéd the mushrooms in the bacon fat.  I mixed the bread, broth, bacon, mushrooms, eggs, and pecans together, covered it with aluminum foil and put it in the 375º oven for a thirty minute stint.
     At this point, my dad showed up for the pre-eating activities: whiskey and football.  He brought Jonah and Gracie with him to drop off the extra linen napkins I needed and to retrieve the cream Jennifer needed for her dishes.
     I didn't stray from my Foodnetwork.com theme, and grabbed a pecan pie recipe from there as well.  It certainly didn't sound fancy or anything, and it was extremely easy to put together - especially since I cheated and used a Pillsbury pie crust.
     My darling husband, who specifically requested sweet potatoes for the meal, jumped in and started working on those while I finished cleaning up the house and setting the table.  He cubed the sweet potatoes, added a stick of melted butter and dusted them with brown sugar and Harley's seasoning salt.  He baked them at 375º, too, alongside my stuffing.
     My last task was to start baking a brie.  I took a two pound brie wheel, sliced it in half horizontally (so I had two brie circles).  I placed one half in the middle of another Pillsbury pie crust.  A quarter cup of pesto went on top of the cheese.  The pesto got a sprinkling of toasted pecans (about a half cup), and then the other brie circle went on top.  I closed up the pie dough and baked it at 400º until it was golden brown.

     The table was set, the turkey was done, the stuffing and sweet potatoes were done.  It was time to call the troops.  Mom showed up with a corn casserole.  Jennifer made the mashed potatoes and brought croissants.  Pam brought cranberry-walnut pie and caramel apple pie.  She also brought a wonderful Caesar salad (with her own home-made dressing).
     It was a grand evening.  The food was wonderful, the company spectacular.  Jeff's fabulous hot turkey gravy hid the fact that the turkey was a little dry and a little cold.  There wasn't a single item I didn't like, and I wished that I had room for seconds.  It was either seconds or pie, but not both.  I chose pie.

     Oh yeah....  I am also thankful for pie.

"Gorgonzola" and Caramelized Onion Pizza; Crab & Ricotta Appetizer Pizza; Beverly Hills Iced Tea

     Tragedy struck Thursday afternoon when I started working on these pizzas.  I had been pleased to find just enough sauce in my freezer to use for the crab pizzettes, and I had it thawing on my counter all morning.  In the afternoon, when I was ready to start rolling the dough, I placed a wooden board on the counter for my rolling surface.  It was a little wide, and I gave it a little nudge to get it all the way on the counter.  As I did so, the board hit the little container of sauce on the edge of the counter, and down it went.  The lid had been just resting on the container, so when it hit the floor, the sauce splattered all over the floor.  None of it was salvageable.

     My mind raced with options.  Did I have time to make another sauce (this had been slow-simmered for over two hours on a previous Thursday)?  Did I have enough tomatoes to make another batch of sauce?  Could I use just plain, old, store-bought spaghetti sauce?  I did have some, and I thought about it briefly.  Quickly glancing at the clock, I considered the options.  I had two and a half, maybe three hours before people started showing up.  I decided I would give it a try.  I scaled down the original recipe roughly by a third, so I would only be making enough sauce just for this recipe (the original version claims to make three cups, and I only needed one).  I was hoping that by doing so, it would reduce the amount of time I would need for simmering.  Also, (ripe, unfrozen) tomatoes were becoming scarce around my house, and I wouldn't have had enough to make 3 (or 4) cups of sauce.  

     Déjà vu set in as I cut the cores out of my tomatoes and tossed them into the Vita Mix.  I was working at break-neck speed (and so was my wonderful, beautiful, most-helpful Vita Mix).  I found some frozen tomato paste leftover from something else in my freezer (why do they make the containers so big, when you hardly ever use that much at one time?).  I started cooking the olive oil and the tomato paste while the Vita Mix was running (for that brief second).  When that was ready for me to add the puréed tomatoes, I quickly poured emptied the Vita Mix bowl into the pan and popped my little piece of onion in is place for a quick "chop".  Have I mentioned that I love my Vita Mix??

     In less than ten minutes, I had the new sauce bubbling away on the stove, while I redirected myself to the dough at hand.  

Crab & Ricotta Appetizer Pizzas

Adapted from The Everything Pizza Cookbook by Belinda Hulin

3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon olive oil, divided

2 ounces tomato paste

10 ounces tomatoes

1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 1/2 ounces onion

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 2/3 cup of water, divided

1 1/4 teaspoon yeast

1/2 teaspoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 1/3 cup bread flour

10 ounces ricotta cheese

6 ounces shredded crab meat

8 ounces mozzarella cheese

1/3 cup fresh basil, minced

Make the sauce:  Combine 1 teaspoon of olive oil and the tomato paste in a medium pan over medium-high heat.  Cook and stir for approximately two minutes.  Purée the tomatoes.  Add the tomatoes to the olive oil and tomato paste mixture.  Add the garlic, onion, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, and 2/3 cup of water.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until thick, about 30 minutes.

Make the dough:  Combine the yeast, one cup water, and sugar in a bowl and set aside for at least five minutes.  Stir the salt and flour together in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Add the yeast mixture and one tablespoon of olive oil and stir on a low speed until the mixture forms a ball around the hook.  Continue mixing a little longer  until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.  Let rest for an hour in a greased bowl in a warm, dry place.  

Preheat oven to 350º F with pizza stone inside, if using.  Divide dough into 24 equal portions and roll or stretch each piece into two inch circles.  Brush the tops with two tablespoons of olive oil and bake for 8 minutes.  Divide the tomato sauce among the 24 circles.  Place a spoonful of ricotta over each circle and smash down with the back of the spoon to spread it out.  Place the crab meat evenly over the pizzas.  Top with the cheese and basil.  Return to the oven for three to five minutes or until the mozzarella melts.  Serve immediately.

     I divided up my large wad of dough for the crab pizzas into 24 pieces.  They seemed really small and the recipe had no indication of how large each piece should be rolled out to other than "tiny" circles.  Once they were rolled out, it was obvious that some of the pieces had been larger than others - I had rolled them all to roughly the same thickness, and some were wider than others. 

I rationalized that this is some of the charm of home baking and continued with my mission.  I brushed them all liberally with olive oil and threw them in my preheated oven.  By the time I had my dough rolled out for the Gorgonzola pizza, my sauce had thickened nicely.

     It had reduced to about a cup, and it was barely enough to cover each of the 24 circles I had made.  I stretched it as far as I could, using a spatula to get every tiny smudge of sauce out of my pan and onto a dough pillow.  Incidentally, they did look like little pillows.  They were still a pasty white, but they had puffed up a little in the oven.

     Applying the ricotta seemed to justify everything.  I put a little dollop in the middle of each pizza and smashed it down with the back of my spoon, sending some of the sauce to areas that weren't previously covered.  The original recipe called for two cups of ricotta.  This is usually about 15 ounces of ricotta, but as I was spreading the ricotta around, it seemed to me that if I were to actually use that much ricotta, my scant amount of crab would be lost and there would have been no reason to add it.  I stopped at 10 ounces and still thought it might be a bit much.

     In October, I had made crab canapés and was too frugal (er, cheap and lazy) to buy real crab that I would have to pay by the pound for the shell along with the meat.  Also, once I got it home, I would have to shell it myself and hope that there were no pieces of shell mixed into my crab pieces.  I had taken a risk and purchased refrigerated crab in a bag, and it had turned out better than I expected.  I expected it to be a little fishy or tuna-y tasting, but it was sweet and salty and not the least bit fishy.  So, for this recipe, I bought it again.  It was $6.99 for a 6 ounce pouch, which sounds like a lot when you figure that comes out to $18.64 per pound.  However, the lowest price I have seen crab legs on sale for is $6.99 a pound but I'm guessing only a third  to a half of that is actual, edible meat, meaning to get a pound of just the meat, it would run me somewhere from $13.98 to $20.97, and I would still have to shell it. 

     It didn't seem like it was quite the two cups the recipe had called for, but it looked like a healthy amount on top of each of the little pizzas.

     With a quick spattering of cheese and basil, these little cuties were ready for the oven.

"Gorgonzola" and Caramelized Onion Pizza

Adapted from All the Best Pizzas by Joie Warner

1¼ teaspoon active dry yeast

¼ teaspoon sugar

½ cup warm water

1¼ cup bread flour

¼ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter

8½ ounces thinly sliced onion

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 ounces Gorgonzola cheese crumbles

2 ounces shredded mozzarella

4 cloves garlic, sliced

¼ teaspoon coarsely ground pepper

¼ cup shredded fresh basil

Combine the yeast, one cup water, and sugar in a bowl and set aside for at least five minutes.  Stir the salt and flour together in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Add the yeast mixture and stir on a low speed until the mixture forms a ball around the hook.  Continue mixing a little longer  until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.  Let rest for an hour in a greased bowl in a warm, dry place.

Preheat the oven to 500º F with pizza stone inside, if using.  Roll or stretch dough out to a thirteen inch circle on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or board.  In a medium frying pan, melt the butter over low heat.  Once melted, add the onions and cook until they are soft and browned, about 30 minutes.  Brush the edges of the dough liberally with olive oil.  Spread onions over the dough.  Top with Gorgonzola and the slices of garlic.  Sprinkle with pepper.  Bake for five to ten minutes or until cheese is starting to melt and brown slightly.  Remove from oven and top with basil.

     It took a while for my onions to brown up, and I am always amazed at how much they shrink upon caramelizing.  They looked a little pathetic and lonely on my dough.

     Once I got the "Gorgonzola" (my blue cheese crumbles that were made in Wisconsin instead of Italy) on there with the onions, it looked much better.

     With the mozzarella and the garlic slices filling in all of the gaps, it was almost a thing of beauty.

    Jennifer arrived, and I had her clean up the cheese and basil that had gotten sprinkled in between the appetizer pizzas (I don't know how that happened), while I started building our drink.
 

Beverly Hillbilly Iced Tea

3/4 measure gin

3/4 measure vodka

1 measure triple sec

1/2 measure lime juice (about 1/4 of a small lime)

1/2 measure agave nectar

Brut sparkling wine

Fill a shaker with ice.  Add the gin, vodka, triple sec, lime juice, and agave nectar.  Shake.  Strain into a collins glass half filled with ice.  Top collins glass off with the sparkling wine.  Garnish with a lime twist.

     The sound of a cork popping out of a bottle of bubbly is always a festive occasion, and this was no exception.  I had mixed all of the liquors together with the lime juice and agave nectar, and poured it into two glasses.  As soon as I was done topping them off with the sparkling wine, Pam walked in the front door.  I quickly whipped up another drink.  It was bubbly and tart and strong, without being overly strong tasting.  It was like a Fresca on steroids.  It was delicious.

     The crab pizzas were the first to come out of the oven.  I was afraid of overcooking them, because I didn't want the crab to get chewy, fishy, or dry.  The cheese had barely melted when I took them out.  I think I should have left them in a little bit longer, because the sauce and ricotta didn't have enough time to heat all the way through.  It may have been an adequate amount of time had the sauce and crust been already warm.

     It had good flavor.  The ricotta accented the sweetness of the crab and the basil contrasted it nicely, adding a little licoricey bite to every bite.  The sauce underneath had a little bit of spice to it and kept the whole thing interesting.

     On the other hand, the "Gorgonzola" pizza came out of the oven all brown and bubbly and gorgeous.  It was clearly the favorite of the evening.  We ended up bargaining for the last few pieces that were originally meant for Gracie and Jonah, but they refused to try it.  It was warm and homey.  The crust was crisp.  The garlic added a nice zing to cut through the richness of the blue cheese.  Even the little amount of cracked pepper that was sprinkled over the top added another dimension and made the whole combination sing.  

And, after a couple more rounds of  "tea," we were ready to sing, too.

Return to the beginning.

Return to the "Gorgonzola" and Caramelized Onion Pizza recipe.

Return to the Crab & Ricotta Pizza Appetizer recipe.

Return to the drink recipe.

Pepper, Leek, and Blue Cheese Pizza; Thin-Crust Tapenade Pizza; and Between the Sheets

     It had been a long week, and it was only Thursday.  I was able to do ahead some things for this week's recipes, because I had a phone interview Thursday morning, and I wanted to go to the job fair at my local Workforce Center in the afternoon.

     My Cub had disappointed me.  I knew that they carried olive tapenade at one time, but I couldn't find it anywhere when I went this week.  I decided it wasn't a big deal, because while I was there I Googled a recipe to make it myself.  It looked really easy, and I had most of the ingredients.  I just needed some olives.
     As luck would have it, there was a really good deal on olives, so I threw some in the cart.  However, when I got to the checkout, they rang up a different price than the shelf advertised.  The cashier couldn't find the price in that week's ad after spending an excruciating amount of time looking for it.  He couldn't be bothered to ask anyone about it, so I told him to forget it.  Only then, did he suggest that he page someone to go to the olive aisle and check it out, but it had taken so long up to this point (several shoppers had already switched lines), and I was so mad, that I refused.  Only when I got in the car did I remember that I needed those olives, because they didn't have any tapenade!  Argh!

       Wednesday, I searched my cupboards for options.  The cupboards were devoid of olives, but there were calamatas and green olives in the fridge.  I also found an almost empty jar of "Bistro Olives" (whatever that means).  That was going to have to do, since I refused to go back to Cub (or anywhere else for that matter).

     I turned out the tapenade was so easy, I don't know if I will ever buy the commercial stuff again.  I just threw everything in my Vita Mix and let it go.  That may not have been the best tool for this - all texture was lost in the blink of an eye, but the flavor was definitely there.  It was more like a pâté than a tapenade, and it looked like it, too.  All of my beautiful olives had turned into a brown pile of goo.

THIN-CRUST TAPENADE PIZZA

Adapted from The Everything Pizza Cookbook by Belinda Hulin

3/4 teaspoon yeast
3½ ounces warm water
2½ tablespoon olive oil, divided
½ teaspoon sugar
1½ cups bread flour
½ teaspoon salt
8 ounces mixed olives
1 (heaping) teaspoon anchovy paste
2 large cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon pesto
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 ounces shredded Gruyére cheese
3 ounces shredded Emmentaler cheese

Combine the yeast, water, and sugar in a bowl and set aside for at least five minutes.  Stir the salt and flour together in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Add the yeast mixture and half of a tablespoon of olive oil and stir on a low speed until the mixture forms a ball around the hook.  Continue mixing a little longer  until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.  Let rest for an hour in a greased bowl in a warm, dry place. 

Combine 2 tablespoons of olive oil, olives, anchovy paste, garlic, pesto, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor.  Process until well-blended (the length of processing depends on how chunky you want your tapenade - I put it in my Vita Mix and, in less than a minute, it was puréed, but I think I would have preferred it a little grainier...).

Preheat oven to 450º F with a pizza stone inside, if using.  Roll or stretch dough out on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or board to a 13 inch circle.  Spread the olive mixture over the dough.  Sprinkle with the cheeses. Bake for 12 minutes or until crust is brown and the cheese has melted.

     With that taken care of, I scaled down the recipe for the crust.  The original recipe made four crusts, and I only wanted one.  I could have made all four and put the additional three in the freezer, but not everyone is a food hoarder like we are.  I wanted to see if it could be done, and apparently, it can.  It was a little dicey trying to get the measurements exactly right, but it seemed to work.  When I was done, I had my teeny little ball of dough - just the one.

     This tiny orb made the dough for the Pepper, Leek, and Blue Cheese Pizza look enormous.

     It's a little hard to tell from this picture, but my fingers are extended just like with the small ball.  The dough itself covered up all my digits!

     I wanted to get the frying of the leeks out of the way before Thursday, because it is usually a messy, time-consuming task.  At least it is for me.  Oil dribbles across the stove as I pull the food out of the pan.  Oil dribbles on my shirt as I put some of the food in my mouth.  Crumby fried bits fall to the floor as I sneak another sample.  And on it goes.

PEPPER, LEEK, AND BLUE CHEESE PIZZA

Adapted from James McNair's Vegetarian Pizza

1½ teaspoons active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

1 tablespoon sugar

3¼ cups bread flour

6½ tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 teaspoon salt

8 ounces blue cheese crumbles

3 ounces drained roasted red peppers, cut into strips

10 ounces julienned leeks, divided

Coarsely ground sea salt

Coarsely ground pepper

Vegetable oil for frying

Combine the yeast, water, and sugar in a bowl and set aside for at least five minutes.  Stir the salt and flour together in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Add the yeast mixture and four tablespoons of olive oil and stir on a low speed until the mixture forms a ball around the hook.  Continue mixing a little longer  until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.  Let rest for an hour in a greased bowl in a warm, dry place. 

Preheat oven to 450º F with a pizza stone inside, if using.  Roll or stretch dough out on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or board to a 15 or 16 inch circle.  Brush dough with 1½ tablespoons of olive oil.  Distribute blue cheese over the olive oil.  Evenly distribute the roasted red peppers over the cheese.  Sprinkle 3½ ounces of leeks over the red peppers.  Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil over the entire pizza.  Bake for about 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown around the edges.

Meanwhile, in a medium sized skillet, pour vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the pan.  Heat over medium-high heat.  Add remaining leeks and fry until golden, stirring often.  Remove leeks from pan onto a paper towel lined plate.  Sprinkle over baked pizza.

     Washing the leeks themselves is sort of a task in and of itself, too.  They aren't happy with just a quick rinse under the faucet.  They have to be sliced lengthwise and de-layered to get all the grit that gets stuck in between.  Leeks grow their layers on the outside - meaning that the new layers grow over the old layers, trapping sand and dirt in between them.  Apparently, onions do not have the same process - their layers grow inside the outer paper layer, keeping a clean interior.

     Leeks are funny vegetables.  They mascarade as green onions, but on a large scale.  It looks like something Paul Bunyan would grow.  They are related to elephant garlic but have a taste closer to an onion (though not as strong).

     It took about two medium sized leeks to get the three cups of julienne (about 10 ounces).  I guess they weren't julienned so much as shredded.  It seemed like an awful lot of leeks for one little pizza.  I had visions of the pie being buried alive under the weight of them.

     When I started frying the two-thirds of them, they shrunk up right away.  I actually just put one in the pan to test the oil, and it curled up and straightened back out like it had a life of its own.  Unfortunately, though, I didn't get that on film.

     Of course I had to sample them once they were cool enough to handle.  My first impression was that it wasn't very flavorful, but by the fifth or sixth sample, I found them to be quite delicious and addicting.

     My last task of Wednesday was to shred the cheeses.  While I was rooting around in my refrigerator for the Emmentaler and the Gruyére, I noticed the the Gorgonzola that I had purchased for the leek pizza wasn't Gorgonzola after all.  It was just a regular blue cheese.  It was probably a subconscious decision on my part, because "blue cheese" seems to be cheaper than the blue cheese labeled Gorgonzola.  I wondered what the difference was.  Apparently, the Italians take it very seriously and have even formed a Consortium for the Protection of Gorgonzola Cheese.  According to them, it can only be called Gorgonzola if it is from some select northern regions of Italy around the township of Gorgonzola,and there is a special seal they put on the cheese that indicates that it is authentic.  Although, I have noted that the Gorgonzola at Cub is made in Wisconsin, and it has no seal, so maybe my plain old blue cheese would have been the same as the "Gorgonzola" I left behind in the case.

     Because of all my preparations on Wednesday, I had both pizzas fully assembled long before my guests started arriving.  It gave me a chance to gather the drink ingredients together and have a batch ready for the first person to walk in the door.  Originally, I was going to make "Between the Sheets," but I was missing triple sec (an orange liqueur).  Jeff said he was going to bring some home, but he worked late and didn't come home with the goods until after everyone had arrived.  I couldn't let my people go thirsty, so I used the closest thing I had to an orange flavor: peach schnapps.

BETWEEN THE SHEETS
(Or...  In the Sleeping Bag?)

1 measure light rum

1 measure cognac
1/2 measure peach schnapps

3/4 measure lemon juice

1/2 measure agave nectar

Combine all ingredients in a shaker filled with ice.  Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with a thin slice of lemon.

     It was delightful!  It was slightly sweet, very fruity, with that deep robust cognac flavor lurking beneath its fluffy exterior.  It instantly warmed the belly and brought a smile to our lips.  Or maybe that was my new apron Jennifer and Roger bought me on their recent trip to Italy...

     Paul and Leslie arrived with the gorgeous little girls, and we all watched in adoration as Allegra delighted herself with a fake mouse she found on our floor.  She seemed to like it so much, I wanted to send it home with her.  Pele wouldn't miss it.

     They brought with them, two fully assembled pizzas that were ready to bake.  One was what Paul calls the "Lowden Special," which sounds weird, but it is fabulous.  The "sauce" is peanut butter, and the toppings are bacon and jalapeno peppers with mozzarella.  It is fantastic - warm and gooey with a little heat and a nice salty crunch.  The second pizza they brought was a pepperoni, olive, and bacon.  There seemed to have been a theme.

     The pizzas were done in a matter of minutes, and we pulled them out of the ovens and brought them to the table.  I actually remembered to top the leek pizza with the fried leeks once it came out of the oven.  I usually get so excited about eating the pizzas that all post-oven directions are lost.

     They were all beautiful (except maybe the tapenade pizza).   The tapenade was good.  It had great olive flavor, however, I felt that the tapenade was too strong for the cheese.  I could no longer detect the subtle nuttiness of the Gruyére nor the sharp tang of the Emmentaler.  It could have been regular old mozzarella for as much flavor as I was getting from it.  I wonder if cutting back on the tapenade or increasing the amount of cheese might improve it?  I may have to put this on the docket to try again with some adjustments.

     The Pepper, Leek, and Blue Cheese Pizza was fantastic.  I don't think Jeff cared for the fried leeks on top.  He claimed that they didn't add anything to it, but I think he really objected to the texture more than anything.  He has an aversion to crunchy toppings.  Although "crunchy" may not be the right word for the leeks.  They were fragile, almost pastry like.  I thought it gave the pizza a toasty depth.  The cheese was rich, and the red peppers made a nice, sweet, juicy counterbalance to the richness. 

     As always, the pizzas Paul and Leslie brought us were delicious.  The Lowden Special never disappoints, and one can never go wrong with bacon, pepperoni, and olives.

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