Pizza!

Uel and I made our first attempt into pizza making.  We got a pizza stone about a month ago and it was time to give it a shot.  We used the Alton Brown method.  Recipe Here.  With some adaptations of course.  We didn't actually do the dough the way it says in the recipe.  Pizza part 2 (when I write it) will compare the dough making methods.  We made ours Friday morning and left it sitting out on the counter (and room temperature at our place is a bit chill) for a few hours.  So, once we make it the way it is in the recipe, I'll post about which is better.  Another change we made was they types of cheeses used.  We used some Mozzarella, Cheddar and Parmesan.  We also made a couple (we made 4 personal sized pizza) with the 3 cheeses, peppers, roasted garlic and artichoke.

Roasting Garlic:
Here is what Uel did:  He took our popover pan (easier to find in my house than a muffin tin, which will also work) and put water in all the cups but the ones you are roasting (put some oil in that one).  Cut the top off of the bulb (Not the root end) and put it in the oil cup.  Then roast for about 20 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees.

The only other tip I can think of is to make sure you flour your peel in between pizzas, it is much easier to get the pizza into the oven this way.

Happy pizza!
Beki

Pumpkin!

I am so happy to be in Philly where there are abundance of farmer's markets and so many pumpkins and winter squash.  I LOVE winter squash.

Here are the recipes I made today.  I found them on sweetpeaskitchen.org  I will post the actual links.

Pumpkin cake/bars

Pumpkin granola bars

Pumpkin Scones

I haven't eaten any of the scones yet, but the others are delicious and I hope you like them.  I made them using fresh pumpkin, but one can make them with canned too of course.  Just if you are using fresh, make sure you puree the pumpkin before using it in the recipe so it isn't all stringy and stuff.

Beki

Mushroom Bolognese

Here's the recipe for my mushroom bolognese.  It is adapted from a recipe from "On Top of Spaghetti."  I don't know how closely, because I couldn't find the cookbook.  If I could, then I'd be posting that recipe instead of my own.  Hopefully I'll find the cookbook soon and I can make that and figure out something.  All of that said, I really was quite pleased with the outcome.  So while different, it was delicious.

Here's what you need:
Vegetables:
1 lb portobello Mushrooms
1 lb (or so) of another mushroom - I used Shitakes, I want to say that the original recipe called for dried porcini mushrooms.  I don't think it matters a SUPER amount, but don't use ordinary button mushrooms.  They are boring.
5-6 baby carrots, chopped as small as you can
1 large bell pepper (any color is fine)
1/2 onion
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste.

Spices:
3-4 cloves of garlic - chopped, mashed, whatever.
Basil - teaspoon dry or 10-15 leaves fresh + 1/2 teaspoon dry (leave aside)
Oregano - 1 tsp dry or 10-20 leaves fresh + 1/2 teaspoon  dry (leave aside)
Sage - 1/4 tsp dry, or 3-4 leaves fresh + 1/4 teaspoon (leave aside)
Rosemary - 1/2 tsp dry, 1 sprig fresh + 1/4 teaspoon (leave aside)
Cumin - 1 tsp powdered, + 1 teaspoon (leave aside)
Pepper - 1 tsp.
(all spice measurements are approximate, please add more or less to taste.)

Other ingredients:
red wine - 1/4 cup
salt - 1 tsp + 1 tsp for pasta water
Pasta - 1 lb (I would recommend Linguini or some other heftier pasta)
Parmesan cheese
Olive oil - 2 Tblsp.
1. Chop all vegetables and herbs
2. Sweat onions and garlic in olive oil with the salt - about 3-5 minutes
3. Add carrots and peppers, sweat another 2-3 minutes.
4. Have someone make you a lovely beverage
5. Add spices (the larger amounts) and sweat another 2 minutes, Stir.
6. Put water on for pasta
7. Add all mushrooms. Sweat another 5 minutes
8. Drink your lovely beverage.
9. Add the diced tomatoes, the sauce and paste.  Stir to combine
10. Add the additional spices
11. Add Red wine, Stir to combine
12. When water has boiled add salt then pasta.
13. Add small amount of parmesan to sauce (a couple of tablespoons)
14. When pasta is cooked, combine with sauce and serve.
15. Additional salt, pepper, and parmesan to taste.

I hope you enjoy it!
Beki