The Oktoberfest recipe came a week late. It is my fault, really, for skipping a Thursday a couple of weeks back, so that I could visit my friend Kala in Appleton. I had a great time, and it was well worth it. I wasn't ready for it to be November any way, so I look at it as extending October for just a little bit. One night. Actually, the funny thing about Oktoberfest, is that it is a festival that starts toward the end of September and only lasts through the first week of October. So, I guess this recipe was more than a few weeks late, but in the spirit of slowing the pace of time passing, it was perfectly all right with me. In the spirit of Oktoberfest, we should have had beer, but none of us are really beer drinkers, so that portion of the deal went out the window. A fun little Italian drink would have to do, and it would go really well with the other entree for the evening - the Mediterranean pizza.
I was pleased to find three Classic Crust dough balls in my freezer on Wednesday and set myself an alarm to remember to take them out of the freezer Thursday morning to thaw. The only other preparation I got around to on Wednesday was making the mustard cream sauce for the calzones and "shredding" my cabbage.
Adapted from The Everything Pizza Book by Belinda Hulin
1¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
½ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
3¼ cups bread flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh tarragon
1 cup heavy cream
2 ounces shredded Parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded red cabbage
1 small onion, minced
4 whole cooked bratwurst
16 ounces shredded sharp Cheddar 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 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.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add the garlic and tarragon and cook for an additional two minutes. Add the mustard and cream while whisking until it is well blended. Heat until hot, but not boiling - there should be a few bubbles gathering at the edges. Add the Parmesan cheese while continuing to whisk, making sure that the cheese is thoroughly melted and mixed in. Remove from heat.
Preheat the oven to 375º F. Divide the dough into four pieces and roll or stretch each piece into a six inch circle. Brush each circle with the mustard cream mixture, leaving a half-inch border. Combine the cabbage and onion together and place one fourth of this mixture onto half of each of the dough circles. Place a bratwurst on each of the piles of cabbage. Cover each bratwurst with four ounces of cheddar. Fold the untopped side of each dough circle over the filled half and pinch the edges together to seal. Place the four calzones on a greased baking sheet. Cut three slits into each calzone for venting. Bake for about twenty minutes.
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh tarragon
1 cup heavy cream
2 ounces shredded Parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded red cabbage
1 small onion, minced
4 whole cooked bratwurst
16 ounces shredded sharp Cheddar 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 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.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add the garlic and tarragon and cook for an additional two minutes. Add the mustard and cream while whisking until it is well blended. Heat until hot, but not boiling - there should be a few bubbles gathering at the edges. Add the Parmesan cheese while continuing to whisk, making sure that the cheese is thoroughly melted and mixed in. Remove from heat.
Preheat the oven to 375º F. Divide the dough into four pieces and roll or stretch each piece into a six inch circle. Brush each circle with the mustard cream mixture, leaving a half-inch border. Combine the cabbage and onion together and place one fourth of this mixture onto half of each of the dough circles. Place a bratwurst on each of the piles of cabbage. Cover each bratwurst with four ounces of cheddar. Fold the untopped side of each dough circle over the filled half and pinch the edges together to seal. Place the four calzones on a greased baking sheet. Cut three slits into each calzone for venting. Bake for about twenty minutes.
My mom was still in town. She had been watching Jennifer and Roger's kids while they took a romantic anniversary vacation in Italy. Unfortunately, they had been planning on coming back through New York over the weekend, but Hurricane Sandy drowned their plans. They were unable to get back to the states as planned, took a detour through Paris and Chicago, and they were now due to arrive in Minneapolis sometime after seven in the evening. Mom and the kids showed up just after I had all of the dough rolled out and ready for assembly. I gave her the calzones to work on while I assembled the Mediterranean pizza. She did a great job of distributing the sauce and ingredients, but left the closing and sealing to me. Unfortunately, there was so much cabbage and cheese, I could barely get the dough closed.
Adapted from All the Best Pizzas by Joie Warner
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
½ cup warm water
¼ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ cups bread flour
1½ tablespoons olive oil, divided
4 ounces crumbled feta cheese
2 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
4 ounces seeded, diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons minced garlic
8 Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
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.
Preheat oven (with pizza stone inside, if using) to 500ºF. Roll or stretch dough into a 13 inch circle on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or board. Brush dough with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Sprinkle feta and mozzarella over the top. Scatter the tomatoes over the cheese and sprinkle the minced garlic all over. Evenly distribute the olives over the tomatoes and garlic. Sprinkle with the thyme. Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbling and crust is golden.
1 measure peanut butter flavored vodka
½ measure Campari
½ measure Campari
1 measure limoncello
½ measure lemon juice
Pour all of the ingredients into an ice-filled shaker. Shake and strain into an ice-filled low-ball glass.
The first batch was bitter. It was like grapefruit with all of pith blended in. The original recipe called for Frangelico, which is a hazelnut liqueur. I didn't have any, so I used peanut butter flavored vodka instead. I think that it isn't as sweet as Frangelico, so it wasn't offsetting the Campari as well as it should have. On the second run, I halved the Campari. There was still a little bit of a bitter edge to the drink, but it was pleasant this time. It was a good balance. The texture of the drink was smooth, almost creamy. The instant it touched my tongue it was sweet, but that quickly dissolved into slightly tart with a sharp kick.
The Mediterranean pizza was together in no time. It was just a matter of sprinkling the dough with cheese, tomatoes, olives, and garlic. I was happy to still be using fresh garden tomatoes for this, too (I had picked the green ones and put them in the green house in a paper bag to ripen).
Mom had brought her "special of the week" pizza over. It was a Costco take-and-bake pepperoni pizza that was on sale for $5.99. It was a great deal, and it was loaded with thinly sliced pepperoni and mounds of cheese. We slid all three into the oven while we were working on perfecting our drink.
I had forgotten my solemn vow to put some kind of wash - whether it be egg, egg whites, butter, or all of the above - on all calzones to give them a nice shine and make them golden brown. These had finished cooking, but the crust was still on the pasty-colored side.Pour all of the ingredients into an ice-filled shaker. Shake and strain into an ice-filled low-ball glass.
The first batch was bitter. It was like grapefruit with all of pith blended in. The original recipe called for Frangelico, which is a hazelnut liqueur. I didn't have any, so I used peanut butter flavored vodka instead. I think that it isn't as sweet as Frangelico, so it wasn't offsetting the Campari as well as it should have. On the second run, I halved the Campari. There was still a little bit of a bitter edge to the drink, but it was pleasant this time. It was a good balance. The texture of the drink was smooth, almost creamy. The instant it touched my tongue it was sweet, but that quickly dissolved into slightly tart with a sharp kick.
The Mediterranean pizza was together in no time. It was just a matter of sprinkling the dough with cheese, tomatoes, olives, and garlic. I was happy to still be using fresh garden tomatoes for this, too (I had picked the green ones and put them in the green house in a paper bag to ripen).
In hindsight, I would have wrapped the calzone dough around the brat instead of folding it loosely like a regular calzone. Either that or chop the brat up so it can be evenly distributed throughout the pocket, but that would diminish the Oktoberfest-ness of it all. It had great flavor, though. The tarragon really shone through, even with the massive amounts of cheddar that were stuffed into this little gem. It was just a hint of warm black licorice on the back of the tongue. The cabbage maintained some firmness and added a little crunch to each bite. The sausage tried to roll away from each fork tine, but it was eventually captured and paired up with the cheese and cabbage. It was a great combination.
The Mediterranean pizza was also good. It was even better for the low putz-factor on the recipe. this is something that could feasibly be put together on a weekday after work and still be served before midnight. It was salty and tangy, the crust crisp but with a nice chew in the middle.
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