What She Shovels » recipe

Pumpkins and Pinwheels

Trina — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 07:15:14 +0000

With Click and Clack my usual weekend companions and the return of pumpkin to lattes and scones, it can only mean it’s time for Fall Hell (or Fall Swell if you’re not teaching) in the high school test prep business. I’ve been working an insane number of hours and an insane schedule: days up to 15 or 16 hours long and every evening from the middle of August until October 10th. One more week and then I can relax while high school seniors across the country pin their collegiate hopes and dreams on a 4 hour test that tests nothing of real importance. Ahem, I may be a little jaded (vocab word!).

It was looking a little unlikely I would get the block done this month until Nana came and kidnapped Gosling and Tweety. With Ken Burns’ fabulous new documentary in the backgeound and a grapefruit gimlet, I managed to eek it out tonight.

More on Pizza

Trina — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 05:49:28 +0000

As per our tradition, we had homemade pizzas tonight for dinner. I froze the rest of the dough from last week and took it out to thaw late this morning. It always seems to taste better after it’s been frozen for some reason. Whether it’s the fact it “magically” appears or the dough has sufficient time to rest, I’m not sure. I did make sauce today. I try to stagger the weeks so I’m not making both on one day and can use the leftovers (ahem, planned-overs, according to Grandma Ruby) from the week before.

Easy Pizza Sauce
2 T olive oil
4-5 cloves garlic
1 large (28oz) can crushed tomatoes
Basil or other herbs, as desired
Pepper

Heat olive oil in saucepan over medium heat. Press garlic cloves through garlic press into hot oil. Allow the garlic to simmer in the oil for a few minutes, but not develop color. Add can of tomatoes, any herbs and a generous grind of black pepper. Simmer over low heat 1-2 hours.

Tonight’s pizzas: pepperoni on the first, ham and pineapple on the 2nd.

After pizza, the younger members of the family needed baths. The color appearance of children and bathwater are courtesy of Crayola and their bath products.

Sunday Dinner

Trina — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 06:57:30 +0000

We’ve had a tradition around here of having homemade pizza on Sunday nights for about a year, save that whole life-altering 6 months we had where nothing was consistent. I’ve tried a lot of pizza dough recipes (a LOT), and this has become my favorite, from Cook’s Illustrated:

22 oz bread flour (approx 4.5 cups) – tonight I used 1 lb bread flour and 6 oz whole wheat flour, but have used all white, too
2 1/4 t yeast, or one envelope
1 1/2 t salt
2 T olive oil
1.5 c lukewarm water

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil and water, mix to blend, knead for 5 minutes (I do all this in my mixer). Let rest in well oiled bowl in a warm place for 1-2 hours, or until doubled in size (more or less, I’m not a stickler here). Preheat oven and pizza stone to 500F. Divide dough into 3 equal pieces, roll into balls. Let rest for at least 10 minutes, but not more than 30. Stretch each ball into crust, transfer to peel. Brush with olive oil, top with sauce, cheese and toppings. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until golden, brown and delicious.

We had this with fruit salad AKA Smoothie Salad, according to my son. We had a bunch of oranges in our CSA box, some apples that never got made into pie for Christmas and a banana that needed to be used.