Oops

This is what happens when you get a little overconfident.

It was my second time making a pizza at home. I had the pizza stone in the oven heating up at 500 degrees. I was preparing my dough on the pizza peel (that big wooden board used to slide pizzas in and out of the oven), when things started going wrong.

I was trying out whole wheat dough and I used a little flour to help make it manageable. Stupidly, I did not re-flour the peel before I started topping the pie. I did my usual ritual - a little olive oil, some sauce, fresh mozzarella, a few mushrooms, salt, pepper and a sprinkle of parm - and was ready to throw it in when, whoops ... the pizza would not move.

Of course, I panicked. I removed the stone from the oven delicately and placed it on my stove. I tried to flour underneath the pizza by lifting it up like a carpet and chucking some flour underneath. After a lot of back and forth, I managed to push the pizza onto the stone where it immediately began to cook.

Did I mention that it had mutated from a very loose circle to a unbalanced, amoeba-like shape?

After 5 minutes, I looked in on the pie, only to find a gurgling, cheesy mess. I couldn't tell where the pizza stopped and where the stone began. I panicked again (sense a theme here?) and got the pie out of the oven only to find that it wasn't cooked. It only looked nice and brown because, duh, it was whole wheat dough.

After slicing it up, I had to throw the slices back onto the stone. When all was said and done, we had a decent-tasting, but odd-looking pizza and a pizza stone that looked like it had barely escaped the Anbar province.

Lesson: when eight thousand pizza people tell you to use cornmeal on the bottom of the dough, listen to them.

COMMENTARY - Chicken Marsala

This is some good stuff. I've made two upgrades to the original recipe given to me by mamasito. First, the preparation of the chicken helps keep the meat juicier and gives it a nice little taste boost. In fact, I've used this technique - pound, salt & pepper, flour - to make a number of other chicken dishes and it always makes for a more positive experience.

The second thing I've added from another recipe: the lemon juice. You can add up to two tablespoons, depending on your preference. But definitely add a little; it really makes the chicken dance in your mouth.

As far as pasta shapes, I usually go with farfalle, gemelli or penne, although you can probably do just about anything. I'm not really a pasta snob, but I generally stay away from the long shapes (like spaghetti and linguine) for this dish. I'm also lazy and just make the whole pound of pasta, even though it's probably more than you need.

Enjoy!

RECIPE - Chicken Marsala

Ingredients

• 1 lb. chicken breast (or tenders)
• 2 TBSP or olive oil (or butter)
• 1/4 cup flour
• salt and pepper
  
• 1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 1/2 cup Marsala wine
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 TBSP cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 garlic powder
• 1 TBSP lemon juice
• 3/4 lb. pasta
  

Directions

Pound chicken until 1/2 to 1/4 inch thick. Salt and pepper both sides of each piece. Dredge through flour, shake off extra and place in large (coverable) skillet with oil. Brown chicken pieces on both sides and remove from pan.

In remaining oil, saute mushroom and onion until fairly tender, but not browned. Meanwhile, mix broth, cornstarch, garlic powder, salt and lemon juice in separate bowl. When mushroom and onion are ready, return chicken to the pan and add Marsala. Bring to a boil.

Add cornstarch mixture to pan and bring to another boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer everything 10 minutes or until sauce thickens and chicken is properly cooked through. Serve over your favorite pasta or rice.

Stuffed Peppers Redux

After storing, reheating and storing again, stuffed peppers can take a beating. It's especially difficult to microwave them, because they will not heat through in their natural form. So, you'll probably end up cutting them into little pieces and mixing everything together.

Yeah, I know ... it looks messy. But it still tastes like a little slice of heaven.

Best. Tomato Sauce. Ever.

Nothing like a little hyperbole to start your engines!

Anyway, I'm not going to pretend that homemade sauce will ever be equaled by a bottled sauce. (You will get my recipe for that later.) However, if the sauce in question has the same ingredients and tastes oodles better than that average Ragu swill, well, you've got something special on your hands.

When, during the course of human events, one must actually used a bottled sauce, you should look for not more than seven ingredients:

1. Tomatoes (duh!)
2. Olive oil
3. Onion
4. Garlic
5. Basil
6. Salt (preferably Sea)
7. Pepper

Everything should be fresh. But, even more important is what should not be in the sauce: tomato paste. When you see this on a bottle, go home and cry. You're seriously better off frying up some tomatoes in olive oil with a sprinkle of Parmesan.

So, I've always been a Rao's man. Great sauce, no doubt. But this new one is a contender and the price is a few bucks cheaper than the big R.

It's called Paesana Marinara and it just blew my mind.

Ciao!

Fuji Mountain Celebration

The wife surprised me with a financial windfall tonight: two scholarships that will help keep our heads above water in her final year of vet school. A cause to celebrate, no?

Of course. So, having not had sushi in months (that shit be expensive, yo!), we strolled down the street to our favorite raw fish place: Fuji Mountain.

Did I mention it was only 5:45? I felt like we were an old, married couple in Florida. Alas, Fuji did not have an early bird special.

Although it is Restaurant Week here in Philly (three courses for $30 at select restaurants), we bypassed the specials in order to split a sushi plate. Sixteen pieces of sushi, a spicy tuna roll, and a shrimp tempura roll. Mmmmmmmm, rolls.

As usual, all was excellent. I even got a bonus when the wife didn't want to finish her share. That's right: extra sushi for me.

There was one weird piece which I couldn't quite identify. It looked to be the consistency of squid, but it was definitely softer, like fish. I expected to hate it, but it turned out to be my favorite of the plate.

Don't you love little surprises?

COMMENTARY - Stuffed Peppers

So, have you all tried this recipe yet? If so, you will have discovered that it's the bomb! Seriously, it's just about my favorite meal.

Like most of the recipes that will appear on this blog, it's a hand-me-down from dear, old Mom. Although, I hope she's not reading this, because she wouldn't appreciate being called "old." But I mean it in the most endearing way possible.

Anyway, since the wife is a semi-vegi (no cows, no pigs), I usually substitute ground turkey for the meatloaf mixture. Maybe I'm too used to it this way, but it's damn good. Of course, the original formulation will yield a more rich stuffing. You may also need a crash cart.

Generally, I'm a Parmesan freak. I only use the real stuff on pasta (procured from DiBruno Brothers, natch). But when I'm using it more as an ingredient, I have been known to use the tube stuff. I know my Italian relatives are spinning in their grave, but I've made my peace with it.

Biggest danger in this recipe: the sauce. Mine tends to be on the soupy side. I need to let the water evaporate off in the last ten minutes to get it back down to an acceptable viscosity.

Let me know how yours turn out.

RECIPE - Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

Meat Mix

• 1 LB mixture of beef, pork & veal (meat loaf)
• 3/4 cup Italian-style breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup milk (adjustable)
• dash salt & pepper

Other

• 3 large red bell peppers
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 - 2 cloves garlic
• 1 - 2 TSP oregano
• 1 small can tomato sauce (Contadina 8 oz.)
  
• 1/2 cup water

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine bread crumbs, cheese, egg, salt & pepper and enough of the milk to moisten the mixture. It should be the consistency of cooked oatmeal. Add meat into breadcrumb mixture and combine together with fork or clean hands. Put aside.

Wash peppers. Cut out steam, leaving a round hole big enough to spoon in meat mixture. Clean out all seeds and soft tissue. Stuff peppers with meat.

In a large, coverable skillet or pot, heat olive oil over medium flame. Brown stuffed peppers on all sides. Add sliced garlic to pan and saute until softer. Add oregano, tomato sauce and water. Mix ingredients together and reduce heat. Simmer for 1/2 to 1 full hour.

If the sauce is too soupy, cook a little more uncovered until sauce is thicker. To keep sauce from burning, add water a little at a time.

Serve over rice.