Thin Crust Pizza and Easy-Peasy Tomato Sauce

When I received Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook My Father's Daughter for Easter, I found myself surprised by two things in it.

1) I really, really like her philosophy about food. It's meant to bring people together, shouldn't leave you frustrated in the kitchen, and, really, no one needs to get all pretentious about it. Love this, especially the idea of a pretension free kitchen. I think I've made my feelings pretty clear about those bloggers who are strictly in this business so they can become the next Pioneer Woman and those who feel that when it comes to food and recipes, there's a clear right and wrong.

I just don't have time for that nonsense. Since I believe food is all about bringing people together, I hardly see how snobbery fits with that.

Bring in the love, push out the jive.

So, I love that a big name actress with a big name husband subscribes to the same philosophy. Awesome. If only everyone got on board. I guess there'll always be haters, and those who need to feel superior by hurting others.

2) Gwyneth Paltrow is SO not afraid of the fat. I'm insanely jealous of how gorgeously thin she is, because, let me tell you, this is no low cal recipe. It is, however, honest and totally, totally amazing. So, I find myself wanting to hate her guts, but can't bring myself to do it. She rocks my world right now.

Tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella, basil, olive oil. YES.

Gwyneth Paltrow's Wood Oven Pizza (without the wood oven)

(from My Father's Daughter)

Ingredients

2¼ cups warm water, divided
2 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp + 1 tsp active dry yeast (3 packages)
5 cups all-purpose flour (Gwyneth uses bread flour, but I was out)
1½ tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp coarse salt

Directions

1. Mix 3/4 cup warm water with white sugar in a large bowl until it is dissolved. Sprinkle surface with yeast. Set aside to proof.

2. Once it has proofed, stir in remaining water, 3½ cups flour, olive oil and salt. Add in additional flour, ½ cup at a time, until mixture no longer sticks to the side of the bowl. Dump onto a generously floured work space and knead for about 8 minutes, incorporating more flour if needed (1 tbsp at a time), until dough is smooth and elastic.

If there are fewer than, say 4 of you eating, divide the dough in two and put one half in a freezer bag and store for later use. To use, place in the fridge to thaw and rise the night before you want to use.

3. Place (remaining) dough ball in a greased bowl, tossing to coat completely. Cover and set aside at room temperature until doubled (or place in the fridge to rise for several hours).

4. If you're like me and don't have a wood burning oven in your garden, preheat your oven, with your pizza stone in it, to the hottest it will go. Let the stone heat up in there for the better part of 1 hour.

5. To make bases, divide the dough into either 8 pieces (if you didn't put half into the freezer) or 4 pieces (if you did set dough aside for later). Stretch with your hands until dough is quite thin.

It's important to NOT use a rolling pin here, because you'll crush all those delicious air bubbles if you do.

6. Place dough on a floured pizza peel (or make-shift peel) before topping with sauce and toppings. Transfer to pizza stone and bake until slightly charred, with a bubbling top, about 6-7 minutes (if your oven is better than ours, and I assume it is, it will take less time).

See all those bubbles? That's where happiness lies.

Doesn't that sauce look fantastic? Make it while the dough is rising. It's dead easy. AND, it makes more than enough, so you can put some in the freezer for a later date.

Also, if I may... buffalo mozzarella, where have you been all my life? YUM.

Gwyneth Paltrow's Pizza Sauce

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
1 28-oz can whole peeled tomatoes with their juices
1 tsp coarse salt

Directions

1. Heat oil and garlic in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the tomatoes, their juices and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for an hour, until sauce has reduced and has thickened. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Once cooled, puree in a blender to desired consistency.

See? Easy.

I will never buy sauce again.

We made 4 kinds of pizza: salami (Rowe Farms) and buffalo mozzarella (Nancy's Cheese), 3 cheese (mozzarella, Bleu Bénédictin and Parmesan) with white truffle oil (my favourite), mozzarella and basil with a drizzle of olive oil and a salami, mozzarella and blue cheese number.

That was a TON of pizza for the two of us.

Or at least, I thought it was a ton. My husband thought it was just right.

I'd say it serves 4-6 regular human being with a salad on the side. On its own, 3-4.

Lemon-Almond Crunch Parfaits with Berries

This has been one of those weeks that feels like it just couldn't have ended soon enough! I haven't been online at all in the past few days - not even to respond to work emails. I'm swamped with after school clubs.

So, yes, I know I promised the appetizer recipe. But it's finally sunny out and I feel like celebrating with a dish that's bright and springy.

Whenever we have dessert with my parents and cousin, the dairy in the dessert recipes has to go, as my cousin has an allergy. Bring in, then, the edible oil product known as Cool Whip.

Let me be perfectly honest here: while under just about all circumstances, I would reject Cool Whip, this recipe was so good that, not only did I not mind about there being Cool Whip, I actually preferred it with it. It was lighter and brightly lemony.

Lemon-Almond Crunch Parfait with Berries

(adapted from Canadian Living)

Ingredients

3/4 3/4cup cupwhipping cream (or 1 tub light Cool Whip)
1 can (14 oz/398 mL) apricot halves in light syrup , drained and quartered1 pint raspberries, blackberries or a mixture of both, rinsed and thoroughly dried

Lemon Curd:
3 egg yolks 3 3egg yolkegg yolks
1 egg 1 1eggeggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 1/2cup cup (125 mL) granulated sugar
1 tbsp granulated sugar 1 1tbsp tbspgranulated sugar
2 tsp finely grated lemon rind 2 2tsp  (10 mL) finely grated lemon rind
1/2 cup lemon juice 1/2 1/2cup cupfresh (125 mL) lemon juice
1 pinch salt 1 1pinch pinchsalt

Almond Crunch:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 1/4cup cupall-purpose flour
2 tbsp large-flake rolled oats 2 2tbsp tbsp(25 mL) large-flake rolled oats
1 tbsp packed brown sugar 1 1tbsp (15 mL) packed brown sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter , cubed2 2tbsp tbsp(25 mL) unsalted butter, cubed
2 tbsp slivered almonds 2 2tbsp t (25 mL)slivered almonds

Directions

1. Almond Crunch: Preheat oven to 350º and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, stir together flour, oats and brown sugar. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Stir in almonds. Dump mixture onto baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes or until mixture is golden and crisp. 

Do keep a close eye on it, because it will go from gorgeously brown to disastrously black in an instant.

2. Lemon Curd: In a heat proof bowl (you're going to be making a double boiler here, so choose your bowl appropriately), whisk together all lemon curd ingredients. Place over saucepan of simmering water and cook, whisking frequently, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. If you have an instant read thermometer, it should read 160ºF. Remove from heat and strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, being sure to press wrap directly onto the surface of the curd. This will prevent a thick skin from forming.

3. To Assemble: Stir half the curd to break up. Mix in half the tub of Cool Whip. Stir to thoroughly incorporate. Gently fold in remaining half of the tub (alternatively, whip the cream and divide in half and proceed according to above directions).

Divide berries between 8 serving glasses. Top with lemon mixtures. Sprinkle with almond mixture. Serve with long handled spoons!

Coming Saturday...

Just one quick picture to whet your appetite...

Back from Ottawa

What a crazy whirlwind of a weekend! We drove up to Ottawa for the Easter break, which was well worth its while for the proscuitto wrapped grissini alone. We got to see my family and some friends, eat our weight in ham and chocolate and generally be merry.

I can't wait to share some recipes with you from the weekend, but as this week is pure madness (I've running two after school clubs, and two at lunch activities), I doubt I'll get around to a fresh post before the weekend.

One of the great presents the Easter Pig (we don't have an Easter Bunny in my family) brought me was Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook: My Father's Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family & Togetherness. The recipes look amazing, and I'm really excited to start whipping some stuff up from it!

If you've made anything from it, I'd love to hear about your experiences and recommendations for recipes!

Happy Easter Weekend

I'm off to Ottawa this weekend for Easter with my family. Have a great holiday for all those who celebrate, and a generally awesome weekend for those who don't!

Non-cooking related things that make me happy.

1. Taking 139 kids on a field trip to see Romeo and Juliet and having the kids behave well.
2. Not losing any children.
3. Only having one child vomit on the bus, while many others were threatening to burst. Who knew so many kids get car sick?
4. Having students cry during the play because they just got it, man.
5. Watching a very muscular, lithe Tybalt wander around without his shirt on. Yum.

Any Toronto area teachers out there - I highly recommend The Classical Theatre Project for all your Shakespeare needs. It's dirty (as it should be), funny and so accessible for the kids. They're also coming to Ottawa for Romeo and Juliet for a few performances in May!

Quick and Easy Minestrone

When I think back to my painfully picky childhood, this was one of the first soups that had visible vegetables in it that I really liked. Prior to this recipe, Campbell's Cream of Mushroom and Tomato soups were about as adventurous as I got.

Thankfully, I got peer pressured into eating more vegetables, and I remember this soup being one of the first that I was genuinely surprised to like.

Having said all that, this recipe is in desperate need of a tweak as it dates back to the 1992 milk calendar and originally clocks in with close to 1000 mg of sodium. That's far too much in my books.

Plus, as it was in the milk calendar, there's... well... milk in the soup. And I just don't think that's either necessary or appropriate.

Quick and Easy Minestrone

(adapted from 1992 Milk Calendar)

Ingredients

3 slices bacon, diced (optional - use 1 tbsp olive oil in place of the bacon and its fat)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups low sodium or homemade vegetable/chicken/beef stock
1 2/3 cup fire roasted tomato pasta sauce
1 can (14 oz) kidney beans (that's about 1½ cups of beans, if you're making your own)
3 cups water
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1 medium zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and sliced into half moon or quarter moon shapes
½ tsp dried basil
¼ tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp dried thyme
1/2 cup small pasta (macaroni, shells, or really, whatever you have on hand)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. If using, cook bacon in a large saucepan until crisp and fat is rendered. Remove bacon and drain any excess fat. You want about a tablespoon left in the pan. If you're not using bacon, heat 1 tbsp olive oil in pan. Sauté onion and garlic until tender.

2. Add in next 9 ingredients (through thyme), bring to a boil and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Add in pasta, and let simmer for an additional 10 minutes, or until pasta is tender. Stir bacon back in. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with focaccia bread, fresh basil (or a dollop of pesto)!

Quick Japanese Pickles

I wish I'd taken a picture of the bento boxes I'd made for my husband and myself earlier this week! Kara age (fried chicken), brown rice with umeboshi, carrot kinpira and Japanese pickled cabbage and cucumber.

God, I love pickles. Give them to me in just about any form and I'm a happy camper.

Unlike your dill or bread and butter pickles, these Japanese pickles don't use any vinegar as part of the fermenting process. Instead they rely entirely on salt.

And, if you like, you can toss them with a little soy sauce at the end.

Otherwise, just leave them alone. They're meant to cleanse the palate, not overwhelm it.

Quick Japanese Pickles

(adapted from both Washoku and Just Bento)


Ingredients

3 small Japanese cucumbers, thinly sliced (1/8" thick)
¼ head savoy cabbage, shredded or finely sliced
1½ tsp kosher salt
1 piece kombu, 1" square
½ tsp soy sauce

Directions

1. In a large bowl, toss cucumber slices with ½ tsp salt, massage for a couple of minutes, until slices begin to become limp and start to sweat.

2. Combine cabbage with cucumbers and toss with remaining salt. Massage again, increasing pressure as the vegetables become limper and you are able to squeeze a fair bit of liquid from them. Keep whatever liquid you get in the bowl.

3. Add in kombu and massage again. The kombu will feel a bit slippery which is a good thing. Place a plate, smaller than the size of the bowl directly on top of the vegetables. Weigh down with heavy weights (I put an 8 lb weight in a heavy jar on top of my plate) and marinate for at least 1 hour (preferably 3 hours) at room temperature (or 24 hours in the fridge).

4. Before serving, rinse under cold water and drain, squeezing to make sure no water remains. Drizzle soy sauce over pickles just before serving.