Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Pizza - the Rest of the Story



While enjoying the smoked salmon pizza, we stretched out the other 3 disks of dough into less regular shapes than the first. We wanted to get away from a store-bought look.

The first choice was simple: pesto. Spread on the basil from the jar we made last summer, add chopped garlic, season with salt and pepper then top with shredded cheese. A drizzle of olive oil made it just right.


The second pizza was very traditional too. Seasoned tomato sauce spread on then topped with pitted oil-cured olives. Then came some crushed red pepper flakes and topped with cheese. Olive oil was added all around the edge.
Now was the last one. This time a touch of olive oil was spread on the dough and then came the cheese – a nice firm layer. Then it was seasoned with salt and red pepper flakes. Slices of the Campari tomatoes had been salted and drained already. That removes extra moisture. They were laid on top and fennel seeds sprinkled on. Then came the olive oil.
Now it was time to bake these fellows so that feast could begin. A pizza peel comes in handy at a time like this. Toss a little corn meal on the thin wooden paddle, add one pizza and slide it on the hot stone. Then proceed to numbers 2 and 3.
Bake until bubbling and beginning to color. Then you use the peel to remove each pizza and place them on a cutting board to settle. You want to let the ingredients get together before cutting.


OK the now it was time for the Foodtasmic test. Get a slice of each on a plate and how our creations stacked up. Do they look tempting? Does the smell make you hungry? What about when you take that first bite?
Ours passed all those tests. Looked great. Smelled just as good. And the taste of each was outstanding. The variety made for an even better experience. It was much better than putting all those things on one larger pizza.

Try something like this a try sometime. Maybe plan ahead better than we did and check the fridge sooner. Decide on a few toppings and make a variety of smaller pizzas. You can even make a party around it and the guests can make their own and share around. Get the bases ready for them and go for it. Don’t forget you will need to time it for oven space.

Give a pizza festival a fling. You will have lots of fun and good eats. Foodtasmic sure did.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Pizza Sooner



While at work on our pizza festival at Foodtasmic, we wanted a little something to tide us over. So we decided to make one of the planned four pizzas first and have it while constructing the remainder.


We stretched one disk into about an 8 inch round. You can roll them out too but stretching gets a thinner result and a nice edge. Since they are small, it’s easy to do.


Smoked salmon, cream cheese and capers sounded good. But that would take careful attention to bake without ruining the salmon. Solution: partially cook the dough before adding the toppings.


What we did was spread a touch of olive oil on the surface and cooked the disk in a sauté pan until just browning on both sides. We let it cool a couple of minutes and spread on the cream cheese. The warm dough made that easy. Topped it with slices of the salmon and sprinkled on a few capers.


The pizza went into the oven for 2 minutes. That’s all it took to firm the bottom and heat the toppings. The result was 4 slices of lusciousness. What a great snack to tide us over while working on the other ones.


Saturday, February 1, 2014

Pizza Fun




All of us get an “inspiration” every now and then – especially when it comes to food. That light bulb starts to flicker then it glows. When it gets bright enough, we have to get cooking.



That’s exactly what happened to us at Foodtasmic recently. The idea was pizza. It was time to make pizza – not just have it.



Pizza from scratch is a pretty simple process. If you take making the dough out of the equation, it’s really easy. Even better is that it is fun.



Let’s talk about dough. Pizza dough is easy enough. It’s flour, water, salt and yeast. Maybe there is olive oil and an herb or two. If you have a food processor, making the dough is a snap.



But let’s skip that part. We did. We used a pizza dough ball. You can buy them frozen or fresh (probably defrosted) in some markets. They are superior to the already formed and cooked bottoms and more versatile.



Here’s what we did together to take care of our pizza fix and do it the way we wanted to.



The thawed dough ball was cut into quarters, formed into disks and allowed to rest for a few minutes. This lets the gluten relax so you can stretch them out easier. They won’t spring back on you. Make sure to cover or the surface of the dough will harden.



Next task: pre-heat the oven. If you have a pizza stone, now’s the time to put it to use. Put it on the bottom rack of your oven. Ours stays there all the time. It provides a protective barrier from the direct heat from the coils in the bottom. It also gives you a hot surface to use.



Go for the highest your oven will produce. For me that’s 550. If you have a convection or convection-style oven, use that one. Pre-heat for at least 30 minutes. Your goal is hot, hot, hot.



Now we were ready to raid the fridge and larder to see what toppings we on hand. Soon we will tell you exactly what we found and how we used them to make for Foodtasmic Pizza Fun.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Smoked Salmon and Champagne



New Year’s Dinner was a done deal so to speak – ham, beans and greens are expected. But lunch was another story. Here the playing field was open.



Foodtasmic was lucky. A friend gave a bottle of real Champagne. This one was from Nicolas Feuillatte. This is a consistent producer of quality Champagne at reasonable prices.



Champagne? New Year’s? Hey, not much decision there. Break out the nice flutes and enjoy. What else did we have that was already on hand that would do justice to a bottle of nice Champagne?



A look in the fridge brought the answer in three parts. First there was smoked salmon. I think there’s hardly a better combination than thin slices of smoked salmon with bubbly. Ours was topped with a few capers for a little flavor pop here and there.



There was a jar of trout caviar. The color was right and it had a clean fresh flavor. The pop from it was so pleasing too.



We found a small piece of 4-pepper goat cheese. It made a great companion to the salmon and caviar. Its pungency was more interesting than sour cream or cream cheese.



A knob of beautiful fresh butter rounded out the plate. Served alongside were simple butter snack crackers.



With all the possible combinations, the few ingredients made for much variety. A little of this, add a caper next time, use the cheese and then not. It made for a busy and fitting New Year’s lunch bash.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Ham, Beans and Greens



In the south, there is a New Year’s tradition of eating certain things. Black-eyed peas are supposed to bring good luck. Greens are for money. And of course pork is the meat of choice. There are more that are specific to individual families.

At Foodtasmic we certainly didn’t want to violate tradition or risk bad luck and no money all year long. So we had our share of approved eats.

The black-eyed peas were most always to be prepared from dried ones. You probably weren’t fortunate enough to have any you canned or froze yourself. These days little cartons of fresh ones appear in the produce market around Christmas yet the stores still have stacks of dried black-eyes on sale for a couple of weeks.

Our peas were cooked from frozen ones. Onion and smoked hog jowls made for tasty stock flavorings. The peas were simmered in the seasoned stock for around 2 hours. The key to good tender southern vegetables is never to boil them. A nice slow simmer will impart flavor from the cooking liquid and make them tender without destroying the texture.

For green we chose turnip greens – also frozen. These are easier and quicker than collards and have a milder taste and smell. Ham hock went into the stock for the greens and some crushed red pepper. At our house a spoon or two of sugar goes into turnip greens, too. Those simmered a little longer than the peas. Be careful. It’s easy to get too much water into turnip greens and they are wet when served.

For the pork to eat, and not that for flavoring, we went for that southern staple country ham. This is a pork leg that is cured in salt and then smoked before aging. We got the real thing – from the folks at Smithfield.

The trick with country ham is to barely cook it at all. Just like Prosciutto, it can be sliced very thin and eaten “raw.” Regularly sliced and just warmed on each side will do the trick. You won’t lose the salty smokiness and the ham will be tender and moist. The pan drippings make their own sauce.

Our New Year’s dinner was well – foodtasmic worthy. Hopefully we will have good fortune and prosperity all year long.