Zuppa de Pesce, or fish soup

We discovered Zuppa de Pesce in an outdoor cafe in Positano.  We’d spent the day climbing up and down the steep stairways of this  picturesque fishing village, built on the vertical, poking into shops and wandering through the alleyways amidst cascading bougainvillea and wisteria.  Our cafe was carved into the side of a hill overlooking the sea, nestled amongst the steeply stacked houses in colors of rose, peach and purple that seemed to reflect  a gentle sunrise.

I can’t think of a better way to first experience this amazing dish with a bit of brine in the breeze and the aromas and flavors of the sea in our bowls.  Maybe that’s what John Steinbeck meant in 1953 when he said “Positano bites deep.  It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you’ve gone.”

I hope this will become a favorite recipe for you.  The secret is in the stock — it is the most important ingredient . . . in fact it’s everything.  It is meant to have depth and complexity.    It is preferable to make it several days before serving to allow the flavors to develop and intensify.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
• 1 rib celery, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, grated
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 star anise
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 5 peppercorns
• 2 cups dry white wine
• 1 cup chopped fresh Roma tomatoes or 2 small cans San Marzano tomatoes
• 8 whole shrimp
• 4 mussels, scrubbed, bearded and rinsed
• 8 razor clams
• 8 scallops
• 1 lb or 500 g  young red mullet or fleshy white fish such as barramundi, cod,  sea bass, or flounder
• 4 (1-inch thick) slices country bread
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 bunches Italian parsley, finely chopped to yield 1/2 cup
• 1 bunch fresh marjoram, leaves only
• 1 K/ 2 lbs cleaned fish bones
• shrimp heads for stock
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Method

•  Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven.  Add the onion and cook gently until translucent, about 10 – 15 minutes. Then add celery, carrot,  garlic, and pepper flakes and cook an additional 6 to 8 minutes. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Add the fresh tomatoes and continue cooking until they begin to break down, about 10 minutes.  Add wine, fish bones, shrimp heads and enough water so that the bones are covered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

•  Add canned tomatoes and their juice, half the parsley, thyme, bay leaf, star anise, crushed chilis and peppercorns. Bring to a boil over a high flame, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the tomatoes have broken down substantially,  20 – 30 minutes, stirring frequently throughout.  Strain the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve. Let cool, then refrigerate for up to 2 days.

 

• Before using, skim the surface of any impurities that rise to the top.
• Reheat the zuppa in a stockpot over a medium flame until gently simmering. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the fish pieces and shell-fish and cook for about 6 minutes; the fish should be well cooked and flaky. Ladle the soup into serving bowls. Add the chopped parsley just before serving, and drizzle with a high-quality extra-virgin olive oil.

 

• OPTIONAL Toast the bread and, while still hot, rub with the garlic. Lay 1 slice in each of 4 bowls. Divide the seafood among the 4 bowls, then divide the broth among the bowls, and sprinkle each bowl with parsley. Garnish with marjoram leaves. Serve immediately.

 

Remember that every village along Italy’s long coastline makes a zuppa de pesce that is personal to them.  Let this recipe develop to your palate and your own little village.

And if you want to top it off with something special, make the effort to find some authentic Italian limoncello!  Enjoy!!

Apples . . . and an upside down caramel apple cake

 

What jumps into your head when you hear the word “apple?”   For me, I think of Halloween and bobbing for apples, or maybe caramel apples, and certainly apple pie, apple crisp and apple sauce.    When you think of apples can you smell the cinnamon and the beautiful aroma of sugar caramelizing?  Or do you visualize the harvest as you walk amongst apple trees?

 

 

 

For today’s recipe we took a field trip to Mock Red Hill, a well established Bio-Dynamic apple orchard.

What struck me was the sheer abundance of apples and the breeze that brought with it the scent of apples and the rich soil beneath our feet.   Today we were looking for tartness so we chose Granny Smith and Pink Ladies, but there were plenty of other varieties on offer.  The apples were irresistible and I had to hold myself back from buying more than we could consume.

Now it’s time to make something special from our little harvest.  I don’t know what I like most about this recipe.  The end result is impressive with the apples spiralling amidst the golden caramel and it tastes every bit as good as it looks.   It is also a cinch to make.

Caramel apple upside down cake

• Pre heat oven to 180°C.
• Grease and line the base and sides of a 24 cm loose bottomed cake pan.

• Peel and core apples.

• Add sugar and 2 tblsp water to a saucepan and bring to the boil.
• Reduce  heat to medium and cook, without stirring, until a golden caramel color.
• Pour in the cake pan and cover the caramel with the overlapping slices of apple.
• Beat butter and brown sugar together in an electric mixer until thick and pale, then add the  Dulce De Lechte and vanilla.

• Beat in the eggs 1 at a time with a little flour ( this prevents curdling of mixture).
• Fold in the flour and almond meal, then pour into the cake pan.

• Place the pan on a baking tray, then bake for 40- 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
• Rest the cake in the pan for  10 minutes, then release the pan and invert onto a plate.
• Drizzle over caramel from the pan.
• Serve warm or cool with cream.

The recipe in its entirety follows but I thought I would sneak in a beautiful poem that really resonated with me.  Let’s celebrate the season with apples.

After Apple-Picking

BY ROBERT FROST

My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree

Toward heaven still,

And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill

Beside it, and there may be two or three

Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough.

But I am done with apple-picking now.

Essence of winter sleep is on the night,

The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.

I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight

I got from looking through a pane of glass

I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough

And held against the world of hoary grass.

It melted, and I let it fall and break.

But I was well

Upon my way to sleep before it fell,

And I could tell

What form my dreaming was about to take.

Magnified apples appear and disappear,

Stem end and blossom end,

And every fleck of russet showing clear.

My instep arch not only keeps the ache,

It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.

I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.

And I keep hearing from the cellar bin

The rumbling sound

Of load on load of apples coming in.

For I have had too much

Of apple-picking: I am overtired

Of the great harvest I myself desired.

There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,

Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.

For all

That struck the earth,

No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,

Went surely to the cider-apple heap

As of no worth.

One can see what will trouble

This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.

Were he not gone,

The woodchuck could say whether it’s like his

Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,

Or just some human sleep.

 

INGREDIENTS  

• 1 cup castor sugar
• 3 Granny Smith Apples or Pink Ladies, peeled, cored and sliced
• 175g softened unsalted butter
• 100g brown sugar
• 200g Dulce De Lechte ( caramalised condensed milk)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 175g self raising flour
• 100g almond meal
• Pure (runny) cream to serve

METHOD

• Pre heat oven to 180°C.
• Grease and line the base and sides of a 24 cm loose bottomed cake pan.
• Add sugar and 2 tblsp water to a saucepan and bring to the boil.
• Reduce  heat to medium and cook, without stirring, until a golden caramel color.
• Pour into the cake pan and cover the caramel with the overlapping slices of apple.
• Beat butter and brown sugar together in an electric mixer until thick and pale, then add the  Dulce De Lechte and vanilla.
• Beat eggs in 1 at a time with a little flour ( this prevents curdling of mixture).
• Fold in the flour and almond meal, then pour into the cake pan.
• Place the pan on a baking tray, then bake for 40- 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
• Rest the cake in the pan for  10 minutes, then release the pan and invert onto a plate.
• Drizzle over caramel from the pan.
• Serve warm or cool with cream.

 

Let’s go to Mexico . . . Chipotle Mojo Shrimp

The correct pronunciation of this dish is Moe Hoe but in this instance I stick with gringo speak and say Mojo, with a hard J.  Mojo conjures up images of shrimp with attitude and a night with a mariachi band,  a margarita and the scent of lime. And this recipe has mojo.   The chipotle infuses the garlic with a taste of warmth.  The mojo can be made about four to five days ahead of time – always a plus and served sitting next to crunchy corn chips and a bowl of salsa verde or pico de gallo.  Don’t forget the cervasa !

Ingredients

• 2 heads of garlic (about 26 cloves), peeled and cloves crushed
• 1 1/2 cups extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 small can chipotle in adobe sauce, seeded and minced
• 2 pounds medium shrimp—shelled and deveined, tails left intact
• Freshly ground pepper
• Chopped cilantro, for garnish
• Lime wedges, for serving

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 325/170. In a 4-cup ceramic baking dish, combine the crushed garlic and olive oil with a pinch of salt. Put the dish on a cookie sheet and bake for about 30 minutes, until the garlic is tender and just starting to brown. Stir in the lime juice and bake for about 15 minutes more, until the garlic is golden and very soft. Let the mixture cool slightly.

 

• Pour the garlic and oil into a small saucepan.  Using a fork, mash the garlic against the side of the pan and stir to incorporate the oil; the sauce may look like it has separated. Add the chipotle, season with salt and keep warm.
• An additional step it to give it a whiz in a food processor, but completely optional.  I like the consistency and the color I get by taking this step.
• In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the garlicky oil from the mojo until shimmering. Add half of the shrimp and a generous pinch each of salt and pepper and cook over moderately high heat, turning once, until golden and just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer the shrimp to a platter. Repeat with 2 more tablespoons of the garlicky oil and the remaining shrimp. Top the shrimp with more garlic mojo and garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve with lime wedges, passing the remaining garlic mojo at the table.
• MAKE AHEAD  The garlic mojo can be refrigerated for up to 1 week. Reheat gently before using.  SERVE WITH crusty bread .

Not Mom’s old fashion rice pudding!

Rice pudding, salted caramel and almond short bread

Hi again.  Trying to throw some recipes at ya to get you through the holiday weekend.  No pictures this time. . . just a killer recipe.  And yes, I know the title sounds a bit pedestrian and may even bring back images of Mom or Dad’s rice pudding. . . thick and cloggy with some raisins thrown in for good measure.  This is more like rice pudding on steroids.  It is extremely light, due to the addition of whipped cream and the lack of raisins (and cornstarch)  and the addition of a ethereal caramel sauce and almond short bread.  Hold your breath. . . you may even give up chocolate for this amazing dessert.  And don’t panic about the various elements.  The caramel takes so long to simmer to doneness that everything else is done as you wait for the caramel.    To be honest it took me a full 90 minutes to prepare.. . but then its fully done and you can just wait for the praise that will be coming your way.  It has a more than smooth ice cream feel to it . . . maybe a rich pudding ice cream?  Not sure how to describe it, but it is definitely my favorite dessert at the moment. . . till the next one comes along.

And the beauty of this recipe is that it can be made a day or even two ahead.

 

Ingredients

Rice pudding

• 175 g sushi rice
• 700 ml cold water
• 900 ml full cream milk
• Pinch of sea salt
• 1 vanilla bean
• 70 g finely ground sugar (caster sugar)
• 300 ml thickened cream (in the States it’s just cream)

Salted caramel

• 500 g caster sugar (finely ground sugar0
• 150 ml water
• 400 ml thickened cream
• 30 g unsalted butter, diced
• 20 g flaked sea salt

Almond short bread

• 170 g unsalted butter, softened
• 50 g castor sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 100 g blanched almonds, toasted
• 125 g self raising flour*
• 100 g plain flour
• *To make your own self-raising flour just add 2 teaspoons of baking powder for each 150 g/6 oz/1 cup plain flour. Sift the flour and baking powder together into a bowl before using, to make sure the baking powder is thoroughly distributed (or you can put both ingredients into a bowl and whisk them together). If you are baking with cocoa, yogurt or buttermilk then add 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) as well as the baking powder as generally these ingredients need a little extra leavening boost.

Method

Rice Pudding

• Place rice and water into a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 6 minutes and then strain and discard water.
• Place rice and water into a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 6 minutes and then strain and discard water.
• Return rice to the saucepan along with the milk, salt, vanilla seeds and pods.
• Bring back to a boil than lower heat to a gentle simmer.  Continue to cook for approximately 20 minutes until liquid thickens and rice is cooked.
• Add castor sugar and stir until dissolved.
• Pour mixture into a flat dish or tray to help it cool quickly.  Be sure to cover the surface with baking paper that has received a spritz of spray oil, and then cover again with cling wrap.  Refrigerate for minimally 1 hour to allow pudding to set.
• Whip cream to soft peaks.
• Place rice mixture into a bowl and stir to loosen.  Add whipped cream and fold through until combined.  Refrigerate until needed.
• Return rice to the saucepan along with the milk, salt, vanilla seeds and pods.
• Bring back to a boil than lower heat to a gentle simmer.  Continue to cook for approximately 20 minutes until liquid thickens and rice is cooked.
• Add castor sugar and stir until dissolved.
• Pour mixture into a flat dish or tray to help it cool quickly.  Be sure to cover the surface with baking paper that has received a spritz of spray oil, and then cover again with cling wrap.  Refrigerate for minimally 1 hour to allow pudding to set.
• Whip cream to soft peaks.
• Place rice mixture into a bowl and stir to loosen.  Add whipped cream and fold through until combined.  Refrigerate until needed.

 

Salted caramel

• Place sugar and water into a heave saucepan.  Place over a medium to high heat and stir until sugar is dissolved.  Once dissolved do not stir again.
• Brush edges of the pan with water and a pastry brush about every 3 minutes to prevent crystallizing.
• Gently boil until syrup is a deep golden brown (approximately 170 C)
• Carefully pour in the cream so as not to burn yourself with the boil and stir over heat until the sugar is completely dissolved.
• Remove from the heat, and whisk in the butter and salt.
• Allow to cool to room temperature.

Almond Short Bread

• Pre-heat over to 165 C
• Pulse your almonds in a food processor to bring them to crumbly, but leaving a few intact to allow for the crunch of a nearly whole almond.
• Place the softened butter into a large bowl.  Add sugar, vanilla seeds, salt and almonds and mix thoroughly with your hands, until sugar is dissolved.
• Sift the flours into the butter mixture and continue to mix until the mixture comes together.
• Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper.  Spread mixture out to approximately 1 cm thick.
• Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Allow to cool.
• Assemble be spooning rice pudding into serving glasses.  Spoon over the salted caramel and scatter with broken almond short bread.

Adapted from Hellenic Republic

Roasted side of ocean trout with Iranian fig salsa

It’s a busy week for many of us with  kids on vacation as well as celebrating various religious holidays.  We, too, are busy in the kitchen and pushed for time.  But we wanted to share the recipe we will have Friday night.  It’s extremely easy, colourful, healthy and, if I might add, a show stopper.    Enjoy your family time.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 side Fresh Ocean trout skinned and pin boned
• Sea salt and pepper or chilli and garlic salt rub
• Large handful fresh basil leaves

Salsa

• 100 g Dried Iranian figs soaked in hot water for 10 minutes, than halved
• 1 large red capsicum, roasted and seeded
• 125 g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 tablespoons capers
• ½ cup green olives, chopped
• Large splash olive oil
• Large splash balsamic glaze (optional)
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

• Pre heat oven to 160°C.
• Line a baking tray with baking paper and place fish on top. Season with sea salt and pepper and spray with oil.  Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until firm when touched.  This can also be done on the grill, but pay attention to temperatures and cooking time.  Remember it will continue to cook once placed on the serving platter.
• Meanwhile, combine all salsa ingredients together and season to taste.  Allow to sit at room temperature until trout is cooked.
• To serve, tear basil leaves and add to the salsa. Slide fish on to a large platter and top with salsa.
• Serve with a salad such as lentil and/ or quinoa.

The ultimate comfort food . . . Meatloaf !!!!

Meatloaf is an iconic family dish.  It certainly was a hero in my childhood home when trying to feed five hungry kids on a budget.  But I think meatloaf fell from grace twenty years ago.  I’ve heard mention that the word “loaf” offends some and makes it seem rather common . . . we may have taken ourselves too seriously in the ’80’s.   On a trip home to the States (and yes, I do say I’m going home to the States, as well as I am going home to Australia)  I remembered meatloaf.   I was flipping through my Mom’s antique cookbooks and a well-worn, folded, stained piece of paper fell to the floor.  And there, in my Mom’s old fashioned cursive writing, was her recipe . . . cue the tears!

They say that our memories can be triggered by a smell or a taste, and this recipe is the one that takes me to an earlier time of a family dinner with everyone talking over each other, drenching perfect mashed potatoes in velvety gravy,  and passing platters around for second helpings.   In our family,  Mom always made two meatloafs to ensure sandwiches.  Add the family dog and meatloaf night made for a pure Norman Rockwell moment.

You can serve whatever green vegetable you want, but for us, it was usually green beans, sometimes mixed with Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup and topped with canned fried onions.

I am not exaggerating when I say this it the best-ever meatloaf recipe.  It’s a family recipe so it is less specific in certain instances.  Try this first and then look at the variations I have offered.  Make it your own.  Leave the recipe someplace random for your kids to find.  But have a go and I promise you will love this very special comfort food.

Puree onion, green pepper/capsicum,  and eggs.  Add carrots and celery if you choose this variation.  It’s not the best picture but will give you a sense of color and consistency.  It’s quite watery.

Add puree to ground/minced meats.  Add crackers or bread crumbs and  mix by hand along with salt.  Don’t forget that kids love to get in on the act and mix by hand.

 

Place in loaf pan and cook for 90 minutes.

 

 

Ingredients

• 200 g  ground pork
• 200 g ground beef
• 200 g  ground veal or lamb
• 1 onion
• 1 green pepper
• 4 slices white bread torn
• eggs  . . . 1 – 2
• tomato paste
• salt to taste
• flour,  drippings and beef stock

Method

• Puree onion, green pepper/capsicum and eggs.
• Add puree to ground/minced meat.
• Add crackers or bread crumbs and  mix by hand along with salt.
• Place mixture into a loaf pan and cover with tomato paste.
• Bake at 400/190 for approximately 90 minutes.
• Remove from oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile make a rue with 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of butter and add beef stock, drippings from pan and 2 tablespoons of tomato paste until you have a gravy consistency.

Variations

• add 2 carrots and 2 stalks of celery.
• experiment with using panko (Japanese bread crumbs).
• wrap in bacon.
• instead of simple tomato paste mix 1/4 Cup ketchup, 2 teaspoons dry mustard and 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar and spoon over meatloaf prior to baking.
• If meatloaf starts to become too brown cover in foil.

Serve with mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans.

 

Let’s spice it up

I’m not sure when pre-mixed spice mixes came into fashion in the States.  I have read different accounts.  But it is likely that McCormick’s led the race starting with the simpler spices and then branched  into convenience packets as the demand grew.  The 1950’s was the time when the US went into overdrive on convenience products.   Soup came from a Campbell’s can, a box of Bisquick made pancakes, waffles, biscuits and pizza crust  and a cake was  considered to be made from scratch if it came from a box mix.

Our family was big into all of that, with drawers full of  pre-mixed seasoning packets.   Dad worked for Lawry’s Foods so it was natural that we would be well-supplied.  Our stock included taco mix, sloppy joe mix and even a flank steak marinade.    Lawry’s Seasoned Salt was liberally sprinkled on practically everything.  Family lore has it that my youngest sister was a teenager before she realised that “natural” salt was something else altogether!

Of course this is well before the days when we all started reading labels and I’m not sure people were asking a lot of questions about additives.  I like to think that the food manufacturers were unaware of  long-term health consequences of various additives,  although I am reasonably confident that the implications of adding sugar to everything was well understood. And then there is the salt which is typically added in large amounts.  We all know that salt is a terrific preservative and brings out foods’ natural , but it can be used sparingly.   Sea salt or other natural products are good alternatives to some of the mass-produced salts that may have unnecessary additives.

But when I started mixing my own spices, I didn’t do it to take the moral high ground.  I did it because it tasted better.  The first recipe is for my BBQ spice marinade.  I use it to make BBQ chicken, but feel free to experiment with other cuts of meat.

The second recipe is for our taco seasoning.  Just add it to whatever meat you are using for your tacos that night.  It is authentic Mexican and you may as well double the recipe so you can keep it on hand.

BBQ dry seasoning

1/2 cup paprika
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons mustard powder
1/4 cup chile powder
1/4 cumin
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
1/4 cup granulated garlic
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper (optional)

Mix spices together and store in an airtight container.

Taco seasoning

• 1 Tablespoon Chili powder
• 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 Tablespoon onion powder
• 1/4 to 1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper

Mix spices together and store in an airtight container.

 

Home beer making 2 – bottling!

Just over a month ago, I went through the first principles of making beer at home.

So what do you do after your beer has been fermenting for a couple weeks?  Well, put it into bottles of course!  After it sits in bottles for another two weeks, it’s ready to be enjoyed.

As with the brewing process, once again it’s very important that everything is clean.  Once again, use some no rinse brew sanitisor on everything.

So, the first step, getting some bottles… a good home brew supplier can sell you empty beer bottles at about $18 (Australian) for a pack of 24.  However, I prefer to make them myself.

I made the empty one myself!

To make bottles yourself, go to your local liquor store and pick up some of your favourite beer.  Preferably, the beer will be in brown bottles with pry-off (not twist top) caps.  Invite some friends around and before you know it you’ll all have made lots of empty bottles!  A standard beer bottle is 330 ml, so you’re looking at three bottles per litre as there will be a little wastage.

As mentioned, brown bottles are preferred.  This is because certain wavelengths (colours) of light will interact with hops and “skunk” your beer – I don’t think I need to describe what this smells like!  Brown bottles filter out the most light.  Also, to be on the safe side, keep everything out of direct sunlight; I even go as far as throwing a towel over the fermenter.

You’ll also need bottle caps (purchased from the home brew store), a bottle capper, and either carbonation drops (sugar lumps bought from the homebrew store) or some castor sugar.

The sugar gives a little more food for the yeast.  When yeast eats sugar, it creates alcohol and carbon dioxide.  When in the fermenter, the carbon dioxide bubbled off; sealed inside the bottle, the CO2 dissolves into your beer, carbonating it!

As I mentioned, clean everything – don’t forget the bottle caps!

From here:

While a little more expensive, I prefer a capper with a lever arm as they’re easier and more reliable.

• Rinse all the bottles thoroughly with brew sanitisor and put one carbonation drop/one teaspoon of sugar in each bottle.  This is called priming.  Don’t be tempted to over prime: at best you’ll get really fizzy beer; at worst the bottles won’t be able to stand the pressure and explode.
• Fill the bottles with beer, taking care to minimise aerating the beer as oxygen is bad for it at this point.  Your brew kit should have come with a tube or siphon – make sure it’s at the bottom of the bottle.
• Cap the bottles and give them a little shake – just two or three quick shakes of the wrist.

You’re done!

Towards the end there may be some viable beer in the bottom with a fair bit of yeast in it.  This is perfectly drinkable and can be bottled, however, this bottle will have a large amount of sediment in it.  Some people will bottle it and not mind drinking it, others don’t like it, it’s up to you.

Let these bottles sit for another two weeks and enjoy!

When you do enjoy, remember to enjoy responsibly and enjoy out of a glass.  Home brew hasn’t been filtered like commercial beer so there will be more sediment, much of this will decant out if poured slowly into a glass.

Next time I’ll cover a bit of advanced theory as well as recommend some equipment to get you started.

What’s for dinner? Why not a drink!

Do you ever have those days, maybe even those weeks where the question of what’s for dinner is enough to throw you into pre-traumatic stress syndrome?  For me it happens from time to time.  OK, that’s a lie – it happens all the time.   I can usually jump-start myself by cruising Pinterest.  But this time it had the reverse effect.  I tried shaking myself by the shoulders  and playing a game that involved pretending I was standing behind myself to give myself  a push.  Maybe it was a diagnosis of this malaise that I needed.    And so in the spirit of scientific evaluation I ran a simple calculation.  You must know this calculation.  Years married = 33.  I punched 33 into the calculator times 45 weeks a year (to take vacations into account) times 5 days a week.  I came up with 7,425 dinners prepared over the last 33 years, plus or minus.

OK, that’s better.  It’s not surprising to have a few bumps in the road when we’re dealing with those kinds of numbers.   What’s an even bigger shocker is that I haven’t face planted in some dead cooks’ alternative reality.

Inspiration intervention was required, and fast.  I scoured my favorite bloggers.  There are some really good bloggers out there.  Maybe I will be one of them when I grow up.  One in particular gets me out of lot of bad moods.  He has a wicked sense of humor and can have me laughing in minutes — David Leite.  I do encourage you to visit his blog.  I was reading about a drink that David calls his Faddy Daddy cocktail when it struck me that we shouldn’t be talking about food it all.  What we needed was a drink.

Although I am an enthusiastic participant in drinking events, drink- making is not my department.   So here I share some beverages that Bob has made that give our events a real kick-start.

Did I tell you that Bob is a Maryland boy?  And yes, I am hoping this post will nudge Bob into revealing his mint julep recipe.

Bob’s Gin and Tonic

Ingredients

• 2 oz gin
• 5 oz tonic water.  Do not be seduced by low-cal or sugar-free tonic.  If you’re watching your caloric intake that closely,  you can’t have a G & T.
• 2 – 3 lime wedges
• A tall glass (not the tumbler your mother used for whiskey sour in the ’50s)

Method

• Fill a highball glass almost to the top with ice cubes.
• Squeeze one or two lime wedges into the glass – – about 1 tablespoon.
• Pour the gin in first, then add the tonic.  If the 2 ounces of gin doesn’t fill the glass to the 1/3 level, add a bit more gin.  Stir well.
• Garnish with the other lime wedge.

Notes:

• Use freshly opened tonic.  It’s all about the fizz!  I buy a six-pack of the smaller bottles.  You’ll rarely finish one of the bigger litre bottles, and the plastic bottles lose carbonation if they’re on the shelf too long.
• Cocktails are back in vogue thanks to shows like Madmen.

In the spirit of sharing, I have also included my father’s martini recipe.  Bob was fond of this beverage early on in our courtship, and family lore has it that his “crystal yum-yums” gave him the courage to ask me to marry him – I will never really know if that’s a true tale!  But for some reason, to this day, Bob refers to martinis as IBMs.  It took a few years before he confessed that stood for “instant big mouth”.

RW’s Manly Martini

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 oz of the best gin available
• 1/2 oz dry vermouth
• 6 ice cubes
• 1-2 green olives

Method

• Toss the ice cubes into a martini shaker, with a bit of attitude thrown in for good measure — the word “insouciance” comes to mind.  Then pour in your gin.
• Stir well for about 30 seconds.  This is where RW would tell us that shaking is a useless affectation
• Pour the the vermouth into a martini glass and swirl it round to coat the sides of the glasses.  Throw any remaining vermouth down the sink.
• Strain and pour the chilled gin into the martini glass.
• Drop the olives into the bottom of the martini glass.  One olive is really sufficient. Was it W. C. Fields who said olives take up space where gin could be?
• Sip away.

Even this may not be dry enough for some purists. Noel Coward suggested filling a glass with gin, then waving it in the general direction of Italy.

And last but not least is a recipe you may not want to follow.  The official name for my Grandfather’s beverage  is Baboo’s Cornhusker Coolers.  And no, don’t ask about  his name.

Baboo’s Cornhusker Coolers 

• Drive to Trader Joe’s (if you’re in the States) or Dan Murphy’s if you are in Australia and buy whatever beer is within reach.
• Upon returning home, turn into the driveway at highway speed, veering into the flower bed and taking out a few rose bushes and the odd sprinkler head.
• Choose a glass and blow heartily into it to dislodge any dust.  When carrying it to the counter, plant your thumb firmly inside the rim.
• Place the glass firmly on the counter – – do not tilt the glass.  Pour beer energetically into the center of glass to stimulate head.
• Quaff the beer through the head, taking in the malt aromas and maximizing foam mustache.
• Repeat!

Pizza . . . no need to say more!

What is it about pizza that everyone loves?  I know what you’re thinking — you’re thinking — it’s the ingredients in pizza that make it unhealthy.  But pizza doesn’t have to be on your foods-to-avoid list.  Keep the crust thin and make it fresh.  Go easy on the toppings as they can tip the scale in an unhealthy direction.  If you want to have a splurge you can also make it a little more of a treat — like adding bacon and chorizo.  But you aren’t going to get into much trouble with a thin crust, a smear of a (preferably homemade) tomato sauce, some anchovies , or even a homemade pesto and some fresh in-season tomatoes.   This flexibility is what makes pizza one of my favorite dishes to make.   The opportunity to be creative with various toppings make it extremely versatile.  It’s a great way to get young and old involved in the kitchen, either rolling out an individual pizza or choosing and preparing toppings.

So this is what Rahul and I  attempted after an epic week.  We had punched through so many recipes our heads were spinning,  but felt we had to make this pizza  because in this instance the Bolognese was already simmering for the other recipes we have referenced in earlier posts.

It was a bit of fun.  Rahul hadn’t made pizza dough before.  I think he was surprised by how easy it is.  So sauce simmering we went to work.

Tips are important in this process.  And please do not let the tips throw you off or rattle your confidence.

• When baking, weigh your ingredients if at all possible.  Pizza dough is no exception.
• Get a good quality dried yeast,  store it in the freezer and check your expiration dates.
• Use sea salt.
• This is an important one.  Use “00” flour.  I won’t bore you with the chemistry lesson but in bread and dough making it is all about the gluten. “OO” flour is the right choice.
• When you combine flour and yeast in the mixer, keep it on low-speed to give the gluten time to develop and the water a chance to work through.
• It takes doughs and breads as long as it takes to rise.  It is dependent on a variety of factors.  If I am leaving dough in a draft free place to rise, I try to make it in the morning and leave it along until after lunch.  Or better yet, leave it in the fridge to prove over night.
• The dough will be sticky.

OK here we go.

• Combine yeast and 100 ml of lukewarm water (lukewarm is about body temperature.  Be careful not to use hot water as it will kill the yeast) and a pinch of sugar.  Set aside for 5 minutes and allow it to get foamy.  You will notice little bubbles along the edges.

• Combine flour, salt and olive oil in an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Turn mixer on low-speed.

• Add yeast mixture and another 320 ml of water leaving speed at low for approximately 5 minutes.  Dough will be somewhat sticky to the touch.
• Pour and scrape dough into a glass bowl and cover with a towel and wait until it doubles in size.  I have a proving feature on my oven so we knew it would be ready in an hour.   Alternatively, put dough in the fridge and allow to prove overnight.  Slow fermentation has the advantage of a more flavourful crust.
• To minimize mess, I leave dough in the bowl to punch back and knead it in the bowl until it is smooth and soft.  Add a tiny bit of flour as necessary.
• Divide dough into 6 balls and place on a lightly floured surface.  Cover with a lightly floured towel until the balls double in size  . . . 20 to 60 minutes .  Preheat oven to highest possible temperature and place pizza stone in the oven.

• Roll out one ball of dough at a time into a 22 cm diameter base (about 8.5 inches) and place on heated pizza stone (doesn’t my wine bottle make a great rolling pin!).

• We spread the Bolognese sauce,  dolloped a bit of the pesto sauce and sprinkled with bacon and fresh basil, but this is where you can be creative.  Another good combo is to just top with pesto or use any of the suggestions below in whatever combination strikes you on the day.

Pizza Dough Ingredients

• 5 g (1 3/4 tsp) dried yeast
• 700 g “00” flour
• 15 g (1 1/2 tsp) sea salt
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) extra-virgin olive oil

Topping suggestions

• anchovies
• Grated or sliced mozzarella. . . the better the quality the better it will taste.
• salami
• chorizo
• 1   Capsicum, roasted and peeled
•  Fresh Ricotta cheese
• Chopped Artichokes roasted
• Chopped semi-dried tomatoes
•  Grated Parmesan
• Handful of Fresh herbs such as basil, parsley, spinach
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

This is not meant to be an exhaustive list.  It’s only just a start to get you thinking creatively.  Enjoy!