Eggplant and Three Cheese Calzone

One thing I suddenly realized I love this year is eggplant.  I've never really had much of it, and as for cooking with it, I made baba ganoush and that was about it.  And then we went over to Anne's for dinner a couple months ago, and she made us eggplant parmesan.  It was exquisite.  I have since ordered it at 2 different restaurants and apparently I am obsessed with it (I definitely need that recipe, Anne).  When I noticed that my beloved new Smitten Kitchen Cookbook had a recipe for eggplant and three cheese calzone, I knew I simply had to try it.  I love calzones, and eggplant, and cheese.  So... thus it began.

Deb (yeah we're on a first-name basis) has 2 different pizza dough recipes, called rushed and leisurely.  She says that leisurely has a more developed flavor, but it requires 8 hours to overnight in the fridge.  However she says that the rushed pizza dough is also "perfect."  Obviously I went with rushed, where it rises in a warm but off oven for about a half hour.  One more note about the dough: her book has directions to make the doughs by hand or by mixer.  I will be sharing the mixer version only.  While the dough rose, I roasted the slices of eggplant. and made the cheese mix.

When the dough was ready, I rolled it out and topped it with the sliced roasted eggplant, a mixture of ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella, and oregano.  Other than salt and pepper, that's all you need!  I am not really sure why my calzone ended up being really ugly and more trapezoid-shaped than your usual calzone, but I think it was because the recipe says to roll it out into a circle, and next time I think I will do a rectangle!  Oh well - I am used to my food tasting great and looking a little funky.  After an egg wash, I baked it and could hardly wait the 20 minutes it took!

I ended up serving this with the same sauce I made for the potato gnocchi because it was so damn good, and the gnocchi were long gone but I still had some sauce left.  The recipe did come with its own sauce recipe, so I will include that just in case you don't happen to have leftover potato gnocchi sauce!  It was a pretty good idea to use it, because the sauce is amazing, and now I could enjoy it with an amazing calzone.  The calzone really was great, but unfortunately I made it on an awkward night where Kenzie, an eggplant lover, wasn't home, and Mom and Rachael had already eaten, so I was the only one who got to enjoy it.  You will just have to take my word for it.  The dough was great: soft, crunchy on the outside, and chewy.  Inside, the cheeses were melty and the eggplant was earthy, and dunked in the tomato sauce, they made a hearty, warming, delicious calzone that will have to be made again to introduce it to my family!

Recipe:

eggplant and three cheese calzone
from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman
serves 4

Ingredients:
for calzone:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium (3/4-pound) eggplant, sliced 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick
salt
freshly ground pepper
1 3/4-pound pizza dough, ready to go (see below for rushed pizza dough recipe)
1 cup ricotta
1 cup coarsely grated mozzarella
1/3 cup finely grated parmesan
dried oregano
1 egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon water for egg wash
a handful of snipped fresh basil leaves

for quick sauce:
1 cup strained tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 garlic clove, minced
red pepper flakes
pinch of sugar (optional)
few drops of red wine vinegar (optional)

Instructions:

1) Prepare eggplant: preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Coat a baking sheet with olive oil.  Arrange the eggplant slices in one layer.  Season them with salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Roast for 20 minutes, flip, then roast for another 10 minutes.  Let the eggplant cool slightly.  Leave oven on.

2) Assemble calzone: Roll the dough into a 12-inch round.  Mix together ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan, then season the cheese with 1/2 teaspoon table salt, a pinch of dried oregano (or more to taste) and freshly ground pepper.  Stir the eggplant into the cheese mixture, and then heap it down the center of the dough.  Pull the sides of the dough over the center, pressing and crimping a seam down the middle.  Brush the outside of the calzone with egg wash.

3) Bake the calzone for 15 to 20 minutes, until puffed and golden all over.

4) Make the sauce: while the calzone bakes, heat the tomatoes, salt, garlic, and a pinch of red pepper flakes in a small saucepan until simmering.  Gently simmer for 5 minutes, then taste for seasoning.  For extra sweetness or punch, add a pinch of sugar or a few drops of red wine vinegar to taste and simmer for one minutes more.  Pour into a small dish.

5) To serve: when calzone is finished baking, slide it onto a serving dish and slice into larger sections.  Garnish with snipped basil and serve with sauce on the side.

rushed pizza dough
yield 1 12-ounce dough

Ingredients:
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for counter
1 teaspoon table salt
olive oil, for coating bowl

Instructions: 

1) Turn oven on to warm (about 200 to 225 degrees) for 5 minutes, then turn it off.

2) Pour 1/2 cup warm water into the bowl of your electric mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the water, and let it stand for 5 minutes.  Add the flour, then the salt, and mix with your dough hook at a moderate speed until the mixture starts to form a craggy mass.  Reduce the speed to low and mix for 5 minutes, letting the hook knead the mass into a smooth, elastic dough.  Remove dough and wipe out bowl.

3) Coat inside of mixing bowl with olive oil, place dough back in bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.  Place in previously warmed oven, and let it sit for 30 minutes, or until doubled.  Remove the dough from the oven.  Turn the dough onto a floured counter if you want to roll it out, pizza peel, or prepared baking sheet, and let your recipe take it from here.

Celebrating Good News

I got some great health news this morning, and texted everyone to let them know.  Within seconds, my phone was full of happy texts, including some from Susie recommending a celebration, and jokes from Mom that it was a baked Alaska kind of night (we've always joked about making baked Alaska because it's so difficult), and Kenzie telling me to get back into the kitchen!  I knew they were all joking, but I figured, why not throw a party tonight? It's not every day we have great health news in my house, after all.  Tonight was a night to party, and a night to make baked Alaska!

slicing into it!

So, if you don't know, baked Alaska is ice cream topped with meringue that gets baked in the oven.  Yes, you read that right: ice cream that gets baked!  And it doesn't melt!  The meringue acts as an insulator... I might have to teach about this when I get to heat energy.  It's pretty fancy schmancy, but it was a special occasion, so it was the first thing I started when I got home.  I made the bottom "cake" first.  I say "cake" because it has no flour (Kaz!); it is a spongy kind of cake made from lots of eggs, chocolate and sugar.  Then I took a plastic wrap-coated bowl and filled it with softened pistachio and cherry ice creams (apparently those are the flavors used in baked Alaska; who knew?) and froze it up, and worked on the meringue frosting.  The ice cream gets put on top of the cake, and the meringue gets spread over the entire thing.  Then into a 500-degree oven it goes for 3 minutes, until the meringue starts to brown.  It seems miraculous when you cut it open and the ice cream isn't melted!  This thing got absolutely rave reviews.  Betsy requested that any time I make it, we invite her over immediately.  There were lots of moans and compliments from the baked Alaska.  I may have even a spotted a certain mother of mine eating seconds! It was really not that hard to make - there are just a lot of steps - but it has wow factor!

All baked and browned!

Mom was my froster

raviolis!

I also made an appetizer that was kind of spur of the moment; I was worrying that I was taking too long to get dinner done, and I had recently pinned a recipe that I knew I had all the ingredients for, so I gave it a shot: oven toasted ravioli.  They were very easy and surprisingly delicious.  You just take frozen ravioli and defrost them, then dip them in egg and milk wash, and then bread crumbs and parmesan, and bake.  That's it!  I served them with some tomato sauce that I added some basil and oregano to, and everyone loved them.  Rachael said they were the best thing I've ever made, which is great since they were so easy.  I should say one reason why I think they were so great, though: Mark and I made our own bread crumbs!  We were out, and instead of going to buy some, I knew we had some old crusty bread and a brand spanking new food processor, so we gave it a try.  We sliced the bread and processed it, and it was turned into crumbs in no time.  Then, since the recipe called for Italian bread crumbs, I found a recipe that gave me the spices to mix in, and Mark whipped them up for me.  We had to bake them for 10 minutes, and then they were done!  I really think they made the raviolis even better, and I might never buy bread crumbs again.

photo credit: Susie!

Last but certainly not least, we made pizzas for dinner.  I made my usual dough, courtesy of Bobby Flay's recipe.  Mark was mostly in charge of the pizza making; he does a great job flipping the dough up in the air and everything.  I think our best pizza (we made four!) was with sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, and fresh basil.  Mmmmmm!  Our pizzas got rave reviews.

I also heated up the remnants of my soup from the other night and it was a huge hit yet again.  I even got rid of a couple more bread bowls :)

All in all, I am totally exhausted from this party; I cooked for 4 hours after work to party it up with 12 of my favorite people, but it was totally worth it.  We had a lot to celebrate, a lot of great food to eat, and a lot of love going around :)

Recipes:
baked Alaska
oven toasted ravioli
Italian bread crumbs
pizza dough

Baked Potato Pizza

Well, it has begun.  School, that is.  Today was day 2 with the kids.  It hasn't been horrendous yet - I like my class - but there are all sorts of other insane things going on that make it rather exhausting and difficult.  However, that has not stopped me from cooking.

Weirdly and shockingly, my mom found a recipe in a magazine that she thought sounded great: baked potato pizza.  Would anyone on earth guess that my mom would eat and/or like baked potato pizza!?  Clearly it is obvious that I would love it, but MOM?  But she asked for it Monday night.  So last night, I made the doughs, and today I made the pizzas.

I have always used the same pizza dough recipe, but this pizza had its own dough recipe and I decided to give it a try.  Plus it's all Guy Fieri's, and that guy knows what he is talking about!  It needs to rise for a bit longer than the recipe I already used, but other than that it was easy enough.  The recipe makes two doughs, and I put them in the fridge last night.  Later I read on a blog that you should never put them in the fridge, only the freezer, but it worked out okay, luckily.

Is it ready yet!?

Today it was pizza day.  It did kind of take me a while, since I had to use a mandoline to slice potatoes and onions, I had to chop herbs, and I had to cook bacon (by the way, this was the first time that I did that in the oven instead of a skillet.  It was amazing and I am so cooking bacon this way every time.  400 degrees, 25 minutes, and a foil-lined baking sheet, and you have perfectly-cooked bacon and no messy cleanup!  Not to mention no painful spatters on your arms.  Genius.  Thank you, Pinterest).  But then it was pizza-making time.  Mark was my darling sous-chef; he rolled out the dough, I sprinkled the cheese, and then he laid out the potato/bacon/garlic etc. topping.  He was very exact about it so that each bite would have a little bit of everything.  Then he was extra good at shimmying the pizza off the cookie sheet and into the oven on the pizza stone.

We ended up making both pizzas, and then frantically sending Rach to the store for more dough, since we unexpectedly had 7 people for dinner!  They unfortunately were out of fresh dough, so she bought those Boboli already-cooked doughs, and we made two more pizzas with those.  I had plenty of toppings left to make 4 pizzas instead of the two that it claims to make, so it wouldn't hurt to double the dough recipe.

These pizzas were a huge hit!  Everyone loved them, from Mom to Rach to Mark to Alex to Jack to Luke - and of course, me!  The thinly sliced potatoes, the three types of cheese, the fresh chives and tomatoes, the bacon - oh my god.  Can there be more delicious ingredients on any pizza anywhere?  I think not.  This will a definite repeat pizza.  In fact, as I type this, Mom is saying, "that pizza was really great, Bridget."  As for the dough, I didn't notice a huge difference between this and the one I have always used (although Mom says she did.  Go figure.  She said it was the perfect taste and crispy/chewy combination).  They have both been great.  Bottom line: make your own pizza dough :)   I actually didn't try the Boboli pizzas since I got full by then, but Mom said it was surprisingly still good.  She said my dough tasted better, but this one cripsed up nicely and made up for its lack of flavor.  She still preferred mine though, luckily.

Now: bed time.  Yeah, at 9:00.  You try spending the day with 22 10-year olds!  They suck the energy right out of you!

Recipes:
baked potato pizza and pizza dough

both recipes from Better Homes and Gardens magazine, September 2012

pizza dough

ingredients:
1 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water (113 degrees... but I just go by feel)
1 tablespoon active yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more to grease bowl
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the sugar in the warm water.  Sprinkle the yeast on top.  Let stand for 10 minutes or until foamy.

2.  Add olive oil and salt to the yeast mixture, then use the dough hook to mix in the flour.  Mix until dough comes together.  Add more flour as needed and allow machine to knead dough until smooth.

3.  Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead about 2 minutes more until dough is no longer sticky.  Place dough in an oiled bowl and turn to coat surface.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap, and let stand in a warm place for 1 hour until doubled in size.

4.  Turn out dough onto a floured surface.  Divide in half.  Form into smooth, tight balls.  Cover loosely with a floured kitchen towel and set in a warm place to rise again for 30-45 minutes.

5.  When ready to use, press dough with fingers to flatten as much as possible.  Drape dough over hands, stretching to desired size and thickness (to be honest though, Mark used a rolling pin). Place dough on a floured pizza peel (on my wish list.  I used a corn meal-ed baking sheet).  Top and bake.


baked potato pizza

ingredients:
1 recipe pizza dough, or one 1-lb. ball purchased dough (boooo!)
all-purpose flour for dusting
4 medium-sized Yukon gold potatoes, skin on (1  3/4 lbs.)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup very thinly sliced sweet onion
6 slices applewood-smoked bacon, crisp-cooked and crumbled
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves ( I ran out so I used fresh oregano, since it has taken over my garden anyway)
extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon flaked sea salt
freshly cracked black pepper
1/3 cup shredded sharp white cheddar cheese
1/3 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
TOPPINGS: sour cream (due to Mark and Rach hating sour cream, I just put this out alongside the pizza so people could serve themselves)
4 diced Roma tomatoes (I just used one big one from Heidi's garden!)
1/4 cup finely chopped chives

1.  Preheat oven with a pizza stone to 500 degrees.

2.  For pizza, thinly stretch or rolleach piece of dough, dusting with flour. 

3.  Fill a large bowl with cold water.  Using a mandoline, slice potatoes paper-thin.  Place slices in the cold water and swirl to remove excess starch and prevent potatoes from turning brown.  Drain off water; lightly pat potatoes dry with paper towels.  Add garlic, onion, bacon, and thyme to potatoes in bowl.  Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.

4.  Combine monterey jack and cheddar cheeses.  Divide cheeses between pizza doughs, spreading evenly.  Divide potato mixture and spread evenly on pizzas.  Drizzle each pizza with olive oil.  Top with sea salt, pepper,  and sprinkle of Parmigiano-Reggiano. 

5.  Bake pizzas 8-10 minutes, until crust is golden brown, potato edges are lightly curled, and cheese is bubbly.

6.  To serve, cut pizzas into squares.  Top with a dollop of sour cream, diced tomatoes, and chopped chives.

Southwestern Pizza

Tonight I finally got around to making the pizza that I planned on making last Thursday.  I bought all the ingredients last week, so I didn't have to run to the store (and that type of planning-ahead never happens, so it was  nice!).  I made the dough, which is actually two doughs, but like last week, I decided to use both in one pizza.  It makes for such a soft, puffy crust, and I didn't have the ingredients for two pizzas, so one big one it was!

The good news is that this pizza comes together pretty quickly.  You sort of make your own refried beans by mashing black beans with spices, and spreading that onto the pizza with red onion, corn, tomatoes (except I used them all in the salad yesterday, so no tomatoes for us), and cheddar and monterrey jack cheese.  After it bakes, you add fresh cilantro (my love) and an avocado cream sauce.  I added a tiny bit too much lime juice so my sauce was a bit too limey, but it was really refreshing.  Since it was sour, I didn't spread it all over the pizza like I was supposed to, but I dotted it on and left the bowl  out on the table.  I was surprised when my picky mother not only liked the sauce, but added more!  There aren't many pieces of pizza left, so I think it was a hit.

With the thought that I only have 3 Mondays left of work, I will hopefully be able to limp my way through this last week of MCAS testing.  Here's to warmer weather, and more time both sleeping and cooking! :)

Recipes:
pizza dough
vegetarian southwestern pizza

Happy News for the Andersons

Today, we have a lot to celebrate.  We found out that my uncle's lymphoma is in total remission!  With amazing news like that, there was an immediate need for a celebratory dessert. It took me a while to find one I wanted; I knew I wanted to stick with my favorite blog, Annie's Eats, because she's never steered me wrong .  I also knew I wanted cupcakes or cakes, because I felt they are more festive than cookies or brownies.  Lastly, I felt like a challenge; today the kids had MCAS and so basically I sat around all day watching them (struggle), and I felt an urge to prove that I am not a waste of life!  Hence, we have the caramel peanut-topped brownie cake: a chocolate, bowl-shaped cake, topped with homemade caramel sauce and honey-roasted peanuts.  7 paragraphs of directions could not frighten me tonight!  Although, maybe they should have...



Looks perfect... tasted awful!

Looks too light... but tasted perfect!

The cake itself was simple enough; with a little bit of double boiling action to melt the chocolate and the butter.  That went into the oven in no time.  Then the caramel... I followed Annie's directions perfectly, boiling the sugar, water and corn syrup without stirring, and waiting for the color to turn to "dark amber."  When the color matched the picture on the blog, I turned the heat down and added butter and cream like the recipe said.  I mixed in the peanuts, and voila!.... burned caramel sauce.  It looked 100% like the picture, and yet it tasted chemically and bad... and burned.  I was depressed, but refused to let the celebratory spirit leave me just yet.  In fact, if I may be honest, I had earlier loudly bragged that I enjoyed baking difficult cakes, so even though Mom urged me to just top it with whipped cream, I went to the store for more ingredients to try again.


If you every decide to make this cake, here is what you need to know.  Do NOT let your caramel turn the same color as Annie's picture.  If you do, there is a teeny tiny fine line between perfection and burned horribly.  The second time around, a nervous Mark forced me to stop boiling the caramel earlier than I expected; it was still lighter than Annie's pictures, but we did not want to ruin another batch.  Once I poured it on top of the cake, it still looked a little lighter, but I can promise it tasted better!  So even though my beloved Annie says not to be afraid to wait till your caramel gets dark, I'd have to disagree!

Success!  A lighter caramel color meant a MUCH better taste

As someone who does not love sweets, I actually didn't even try a piece of this, but I ate a bite of Susie's, and it's pretty great!  The cake is soft and fudgy and turns slightly caramel-soggy.  The crunchy peanuts on top are a great texture contrast to the gooey caramel.  It was a big hit, and I am really glad I made it for the Andersons tonight.  Congratulations, you guys!  Love you :)

P.S. In between baking cakes and making caramel sauces,  I also made my favorite pizza dough recipe.  Mark made the pizzas for me so I could focus on my rather involved cake! He ended up making one pizza with both doughs; it was so soft and fluffy and delicious!  Nice work, honey!

Recipes:
caramel peanut-topped brownie cake

pizza dough

adapted from Bobby Flay at foodnetwork.com

This recipe makes 2 14-inch pizza crusts

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 to 4 cups flour, plus more for rolling (Using bread flour will give you a much crisper crust.  You can substitute it with all-purpose flour if you want a chewier crust.  That is the type I prefer!)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 envelope instant dry yeast (or 2 1/2 teaspoons)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups water, 110 degrees F
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons

Directions:

1) Combine the bread flour, sugar, yeast and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine.

2) While the mixer is running, add the water and 2 tablespoons of the oil and beat until the dough forms into a ball. If the dough is sticky, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together in a solid ball. If the dough is too dry, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

3) Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a smooth, firm ball.

Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in a warm area to let it double in size, about 1 hour.

4) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cover each with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes.

Cooking from Dawn till Dusk!

Well, I am certainly not a fan of setting my alarm clock 30 minutes earlier than usual to have time to pop a breakfast casserole into the oven and make a blueberry sauce, but it certainly felt worth it when I was dining with Kenzie at 7:30 before we left for work this morning.   The overnight blueberry French toast was a hit with both of us (and apparently later on in the morning with my mom!).  I wish there were more people living in my house, though, because there is a ton left.  Looks like we will be eating breakfast casserole for a few more days!  Even though it was good, that whole 12 eggs thing really freaked me out, and this casserole has most likely seen its last days at the Tucker house.  I do think, though, that if I had a big crowd coming over (or if Glenwood was the old Glenwood and we still did our monthly staff breakfasts), it would be perfect.  It's sweet, syrupy, crunchy and soft at the same time.


After work, Mom was craving pizza, so I made up two doughs.  In the end, we decided to make just one pizza on a cookie sheet instead of two, one at a time, on our one pizza stone.  Mom and Mark covered half with grilled peppers from the other night, fresh mozzarella, pepperoni, and sliced onions.  I had herbed goat cheese along with the mozzarella.  I can definitely say that this was one of the best pizzas ever!  My crust, if I do say  so myself, was perfect: puffy, soft, and chewy, and our strange mix of toppings just worked.  We all enjoyed, considering I made two doughs and the three of us ate all but three pieces :)  I liked this pizza dough recipe just as much as the last time I made it.  Bobby Flay knows his food.  I think I should sell my doughs (or pizzas?) at the Westminster farmer's market!

Recipe:
pizza dough

How cute is my mom, sitting on the floor to watch our pizza cook?

Italian Night

Holy cannoli, I am exhausted tonight.  I came home from a long Tuesday with 22 11-year olds who are totally feeling the full moon, and did not have too much planned.  However, I wanted to make stuffed shells, and someow an Italian night began taking shape in my mind. Maybe it's that I am currently reading the sequel to Under the Tuscan Sun, enjoying the recipes far more than the prose, or maybe it's that I have been trying to be better about making whole meals instead of just a main course.  All of a sudden, I was planning not only the stuffed shells, but some sort of side salad, bread, and pizza!

Italian Night Dinner!

First I made the bread, since it takes longer with the rising and all.  I made my old fall-back, herbed focaccia.  This is the third time I have made it since my blog began - the only recipe I have made three times! That definitely means something.  So easy, so quick, so delicious!  It went perfectly with the rest of the meal.  I still think that this is the best bread for anyone who is nervous about trying to make bread.  It's pretty hard to mess up, and with the fresh herbs (I used fresh rosemary and thyme, and dried oregano and basil), it just has amazing flavor.

Then came Mark to the rescue with the side salad.  He whipped together a gorgeous Caprese salad; he even bought special thick and gooey balsamic.

I tried not to be offended when Nick came in from Wal-Mart angry that they were out of breadmakers.  Breadmaker?!  Isn't that what I am?  He said he wanted it to make pizza dough, and so that was my next recipe.  I knew that it was basically just a yeast dough, so it was really quick to whip that up.  The pizza would fit in perfectly with my Italian night, too!

By far Nick's best pizza... not just because of my great dough!

Last came the stuffed shells.  I made spinach-and-ricotta-stuffed shells, and they were absolutely delicious.  Such good flavor from the ricotta, spinach, parmesan, and mozzarella!  These will definitely reappear soon.  I think they would be great with some chopped basil added in to the spinach, but we were out, after putting it in the Caprese and the pizza.

How pretty are these shells?

Now that I have been on my feet cooking for about 4 hours, I would say it's time to take a break!  But I certainly recommend everything I made tonight for your Italian night dinner! (Can you tell I taught a lesson on advertising recently?)

Recipes:
herbed focaccia
pizza dough
spinach-and-ricotta-stuffed shells