Recipe notes: Drop Meatballs

16 December 2019

Recipe from Cook's Country, February 2018

For meatballs, I have been using a recipe from way back in 2002, season 2 of the America's Test Kitchen TV show. The recipe  produces good results in just over an hour. The main problems are meatballs that tend to fall apart and a lot of dirty frying oil to discard. I had never heard of "drop meatballs" until I recently saw an episode of Cook's Country on TV which foregoes browning the meatballs and just drops them into the sauce to cook. It seemed worth trying.

First step was making the meatballs. A panade was made in a large bowl from crushed saltine crackers and milk. To this, beef (2 pounds 85% ground beef), grated Parmesan cheese garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper were added and mixed by hand. The meat mixture was portioned with a #16 scoop creating 18 meatballs. These were placed in the refrigerator while the sauce was made. Ten peeled and smashed garlic cloves were cooked in olive oil in a Dutch oven. Red pepper flakes were added (I used ¼ tsp, half what is specified in the recipe) and cooked followed by two 28-ounce cans of crushed tomatoes and salt. The meatballs were added to the sauce (the pot was quite crowded!) and the sauce brought to a simmer. The Dutch oven was covered and placed in a 400° oven for 40 minutes and then removed and cooled for 20 minutes. Finally, chopped fresh basil was stirred in. Total preparation time was two hours.

The meatballs and spaghetti were both good, nothing fancy but good. The sauce was a little watery. The meatballs were not as good as those that had been fried, but then they don't fall apart and there is no dirty oil to discard. The rest time after removing the sauce and meatballs from the oven was put to good use to cook the pasta and make a green salad.  With one meatball per serving this will provide us 9 meals! We expect to freeze some and we may have to supplement the sauce before the meatballs are all gone. 

Recipe Notes: Hearty Cream of Chicken Soup

10 December 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated All Time Best Soups, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 46; also available online from Cook's Country, April 2014.

It is soup season in California, time to make some old favorites and also to try new recipes from the soup cookbook that I have been working through over the last Winter or two. Flipping through the pages of the book I can easily skip some recipes for various reasons, the use of odd ingredients or too much spice, for example. The recipe for Hearty Cream of Chicken Soup though, looked good and had none of these disqualifiers. But to see if is a winner it must pass the real tests that only happen in the kitchen and at the dinner table.

I made two modifications to the published recipe. Lacking dry sherry I substituted merlot. And I skipped the garnish of fresh chives, I couldn't justify buying a bunch of chives just for a garnish. The skin was removed from a bone-in chicken breast and the meat was seasoned with salt and pepper. The skin was cooked with a little bit of water in a Dutch oven over low heat to render the fat. The heat was then increased to medium to brown the skin. Butter and leek slices (white and light green parts only) were added to the Dutch oven and cooked until softened. Flour was stirred into the mixture and cooked. Then wine was added and cooked until it evaporated. Chicken broth, Yukon Gold potato pieces, fresh thyme sprigs, a bay leaf, and the chicken were added to the Dutch oven and simmered until the internal temperature of the chicken was 160°. Because the chicken breast was so thick it took longer to cook than predicted by the recipe and isome of it ended up well over 160° and some a little under. The chicken was removed to a plate and allowed to cool while the soup simmered, about 20 more minutes. Fat and  foam were skimmed from the surface of the soup and the chicken was shredded, discarding the bones. The chicken skin, thyme sprigs, and bay leaf were discarded. The shredded chicken and cream were stirred into the soup which was seasoned with salt and pepper and served. Total time was 2 hours 10 minutes, much of it hands off.

This soup passed the test and is worth making again! There was nothing too challenging in the preparation and the soup tastes great. It is not the best looking soup with a muddy-looking broth, but the combination of tender chicken pieces, the savory broth featuring leeks and cream, and the tender vegetables will provide several satisfying and delicious meals for the two of us.

Recipe Notes: Flourless Chocolate Cake

4 November 2019

Recipe from The Perfect Cake, America's Test Kitchen, 2018, p. 190; also available online from Cook's Country, April 2016.

I have made a Test Kitchen recipe for flourless chocolate cake several times. The recipe has just a few ingredients and we enjoyed it both times I made it. So I figured a newer recipe could provide a better result, the Test Kitchen having learned some lessons since it published the first recipe and improved on it. The best way to find out is to make the cake.

The ingredient list in this recipe is longer than the 3 or 4 ingredients in the older recipe, but it is still a fairly easy cake to make. Chocolate and butter were melted together in the microwave oven and set aside to cool. In a large bowl the other ingredients were whisked together: eggs, sugar, water, cornstarch, vanilla, espresso powder, and salt. The cooled chocolate mixture was whisked into the ingredients in the large bowl. The batter was strained into a 9" springform pan and baked at 275° for about 45 minutes. After cooling on the counter it was stored in the refrigerator and eaten the next day. Total time from start to fridge was 2 hours 25 minutes, mostly hands off.

I had high hopes for this cake but ended up being disappointed by it. The coffee flavor was too strong for my tastes. This was not surprising as I often find I like chocolate baked good better with less espresso powder than in the recipe. But I also found it lacked both sweetness and chocolate flavor. Judging from my brief comments on the older recipe, we liked it better. No regrets, though, you need to try new things sometimes to find it if they are better than the old things. This time they were not.

Recipe Notes: Southern-style Skillet Cornbread

3 November 2019

Recipe from Bread Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 44.

I have tried various cornbread recipes, both northern and southern styles and one that lies between these two. I haven't developed a real favorite so I am up for trying new recipes. This one is from the Bread Illustrated cookbook and while similar in some ways to other recipes I have used I wanted to give it a chance to become the favorite.

The recipe used a 10-inch cast iron skillet, which I do not have. I do have a 10-inch, oven-safe skillet that should work. At least I thought it would. First, the cornmeal was toasted in the skillet on the stove top. I used Bob's Red Mill medium grind cornmeal. The cornmeal was removed and whisked together with sour cream and milk. The skillet was wiped clean. vegetable oil was added, and it was placed in a pre-heated 450° oven. When the oil was shimmering, the pan was carefully removed from the oven and butter was added. After the butter melted most of the oil/butter mixture was whisked into the cornmeal mixture. The remaining ingredients—sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt—were whisked into the cornmeal mixture and finally eggs were whisked in. The batter was poured into the skillet which and returned to the hot oven to bake. The recipe says it should be done in 12 to 15 minutes, I baked mine for 24 minutes before removing it! Total time to prepare was just 70 minutes.

Even with the long baking time the cornbread was not done. The bottom part of the loaf was done but the top was still more like a corn custard than bread. The cornbread tasted okay but I don't think I was  really able to give it a fair tasting because of the baking issue. I am sure the problem was my skillet. A 10-inch cast iron skillet has straight sides so the bottom and top are both close to 10 inches in diameter. My skillet was 10 inches across at the top but only 7½ inches at the bottom due to the sloping sides. This the batter was much deeper than it would be in a cast iron skillet and thus took much longer to bake. Given that I don't have an appropriate skillet I probably won't be trying this recipe again. I do have a recipe I like for southern-style cornbread that uses a 12-inch cast iron skillet, perhaps it will become my go-to recipe.

Recipe Notes: Pasta e Fagioli

21 October 2019

Recipe from Cook's Country, October 2018

My mom would make pasta e fagioli (Italian for pasta and beans) using a packet of dried ingredients from the supermarket. I don't remember ever making this myself so I don't know what else went into it, but it was a good soup. I have made a number of very good soups using America's Test Kitchen recipes in the last few years so I was hoping my memories and this new recipe would come together to provide another good soup.

Two cans of cannellini beans provided the fagioli for the recipe. One can was mixed with water and puréed in a food processor. In a Dutch oven, chopped onions, carrots, celery, and pancetta were cooked in olive oil to soften the vegetables. Tomato paste, minced garlic, and red pepper flakes were added and cooked until fragrant. The second can of beans was stirred into the mixture with the puréed bean mixture, brought to a boil, and simmered for 10 minutes. Pasta was added (I used tubetti rigati  #72, the closest I could find to the ditalini specified in the recipe) and cooked until al dente. Off heat, grated parmesan and chopped fresh basil were stirred into the soup. The soup took about 90 minutes to prepare.

This is a good soup but we both thought it was lacking something. Even though I halved the amount of red pepper flakes called for in the recipe, I thought the background warmth it added go well with  the earthy flavors of the soup, the beans, pasta, and aromatic vegetables. Diane thought is was a little bland and needed something more, but probably not more red pepper flakes. So this a good soup but I don't know if it is good enough to make again given the other soups we have tried that we liked better.

Update, January 2022: Wanting to make this soup but disappointed in the ATK recipe, I tried an older recipe from Food Wishes. The ingredients and video instructions are found, now, on different web pages.  While we did not do a side-by-side tasting, I think we liked the Food Wishes recipe better. This recipe includes Italian sausage which perhaps adds the element that we found missing in the ATK version. I used mild sausage, a modest amount of red pepper flakes (as always), and tubetti pasta because I had it in the cupboard. It was simple to make, taking less than an hour. Chef John of Food Wishes has several more recent versions of "pastafazool" which might be worth trying.

Recipe Notes: Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

25 September 2019

Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, recipes from The Perfect Cake, America's Test Kitchen, 2018, pp. 116 and 401; also available online.

Autumn is the time for spiced desserts. Thus when I had an opportunity to make a cake for some meetings I went to the sheet cake section of The Perfect Cake and found this recipe. 

Some advance planning was needed as several ingredients (butter, eggs, and buttermilk) needed to be at room temperature. The powdered spices (cinnamon, cardamon, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg) were mixed together and a small portion was set aside for the frosting. The butter was put into a skillet, melted, and browned. The spices were added to the hot, nutty brown butter to bloom their flavors. After the butter mixture had cooled to room temperature, the dry ingredients were whisked together in a bowl: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla were whisked together. Butter, sugar, and molasses were creamed in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Grated fresh ginger was added along with the the butter mixture and half of the egg mixture.  These were mixed until combined then the remaining egg mixture was added. The flour mixture and buttermilk were added and mixed into the batter, alternating flour and buttermilk additions to help prevent the formation of lumps. The batter was placed in a greased and floured 13x9-inch baking pan and baked at 350° for 31 minutes. The cake came out of the oven 1 hour and 45 minutes after starting.

The frosting was made by beating together cream cheese, butter, sour cream, vanilla and salt until smooth then beating in confectioners' sugar and the spice mixture from the cake. This was spread on the cake after it had cooled.

When I first ate the cake I must admit I wasn't a fan. The cake and frosting had a great texture, both were light and moist. However I found the frosting to be too tangy (remember that I am not a big cheese eater) and the cake uninspiring. However, the flavors grew on me over time. I think resting in the refrigerator helped the flavors to mellow and blend which I liked. This is a cake that I might serve  again some day, but if I did it might be worth making it a day in advance and letting the cake sit for a day in the refrigerator before serving.

Recipe Notes: Challah

24 September 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, May 2019; recipe is also available online

Challah is a soft, rich Jewish bread often served at holiday meals. I made it once before and remember how beautiful the braided loaf was. Unfortunately my blog post didn't include many details beyond mentioning the three-braid loaf so I can't compare that loaf with the one made with this new recipe. However, this recipe uses some newer techniques and ingredients and I was eager to try it.

Preparing the dough was pretty standard except for the addition of an egg, two egg yolks, and some vegetable oil. The dough included a paste of flour and water, tangzhong, which is used to good effect in several other bread recipes I regularly make. The flour paste was whisked together with the egg and yolks, oil, and water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Bread flour and yeast were added, mixed until combined, then allowed to rest for 20 minutes. Sugar and salt were added and the dough was kneaded for about 9 minutes. The relatively dry dough was then placed in a large measuring bowl and left to rise until doubled in volume. The risen dough was transferred to a counter and cut into four equal-weight pieces. These were rolled into 18-inch long ropes which were braided to form the loaf. This was covered loosely with plastic wrap and left to rise until doubled; this took 2 hours rather than the 3 hours listed in the recipe. An egg wash was applied and the bread baked until golden brown. Total time from beginning to removing the finished bread from the oven was about 5½ hours.

Like the older recipe, this one produced a beautiful loaf of bread. I used it mostly for sandwiches. I appreciated the more uniform shape of the 4-braid loaf compared to the earlier 3-braid loaf which was more triangular than rectangular. The bread was soft and rich and made good sandwiches. I didn't try it for French toast but hope to do so one day, Challah is said to be the best bread to use for French toast.

Recipe Notes: Cod and Potato Cakes

23 September 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, May 2019, also available online

A recent issue of Cook's Illustrated included a fish recipe. As I have relatively little experience or knowledge about fish cookery I was happy to have another recipe to try. This one looked to be easy to prepare, using readily available fish, and good to boot.

I halved the recipe from the magazine which serves 4. A russet potato was cooked in the microwave, cooled, then pressed through a ricer. ⅜ cup of tightly-packed mashed potatoes were put into a bowl and fluffed with a fork. In a skillet, minced green onion whites (from 1 green onion), garlic, thyme (I had to use dry thyme as the supermarket had no fresh thyme), salt, and pepper were cooked in butter until softened. Pieces of cod (other white fish could be used: hake, haddock, pollock) was added to the pan and cooked, flipping it after about 3 minutes, until it just began to flake. The cod mixture was added to the potatoes along with sliced green parts of the green onion. This was mixed, allowing the fish to fall apart. Half of a lightly beaten egg was gently stirred into the mixture. Using a ⅓-cup measuring cup, the mixture was scooped up and placed on a plate, creating four cakes that were placed in the freezer for 15 minutes then coated with crushed panko bread crumbs. These were cooked in a thin layer of oil in a skillet until brown. Preparation time was 75 minutes.

We enjoyed having these cod and potato cakes for dinner and look forward to having them again. They are easy to make and require no exotic ingredients or techniques. They have a nice crispy outside and soft inside. Foods with a crispy exterior like this generally don't work well as leftovers so it was good that we finished all four cakes at one sitting. (A "for two" recipe usually provides the two of us two dinners.) Diane thought they would benefit from a sauce, something creamy or a garlic butter sauce. The recipe in the magazine includes instructions for making a quick tartar sauce that is probably worth trying. 

Recipe Notes: Indian Butter Chicken

10 September 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, May 2019, also available online.

We don't eat out very often, preferring to home-cooked meals. When we eat out it is likely to be American food. Thus, we have limited experience with food from India or other countries. Cook's Illustrated seems to be featuring more recipes for dishes inspired by food from outside the U.S. I welcome this change, after all how many different recipes do you need for roast chicken? The recipe for Indian Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani) seemed reasonably familiar with no ingredients unique to this one dish so it was worth trying.

I used the "for Two" version of the recipe that I found online. Preparation consisted of two distinct parts: creating the sauce and cooking the chicken. For the sauce, onion, garlic, ginger, and a serrano chile (ribs and seeds removed and discarded) were cooked in butter. When the aromatics had softened, spices—garam masala (a readily available spice blend), coriander, cumin, and pepper—were added and cooked for about three minutes. Water and tomato paste were whisked into the mixture followed with sugar and salt. Off heat, cream was added and the sauce processed with an immersion blender until smooth. Finally it was returned to the heat, brought to a simmer, and some additional butter added. Next, the chicken was cooked. One pound of boneless, skinless chicken thighs were coated with plain European style yogurt. (The recipe specified plain Greek yogurt, but the supermarket had none.) These were cooked under the broiler, flipping half way through, for about 16 minutes. After resting, the chicken was cut into chunks and stirred into the warm sauce and finished with some chopped fresh cilantro. Total time was about 80 minutes.

We enjoyed this dish. We served it with rice and, like most ATK "for two" recipes, it was good for the two of us for two meals. The chicken was tender and juicy. The sauce was rich and smooth with a complex flavor but not too rich and not too spicy for our wimpy palates. It tastes and looks like an Indian dish and it is worth making again.

Recipe Notes: Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

9 September 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, May 2019; also available online

Why another recipe for peanut butter cookies? The Test Kitchen already has an excellent recipe that produces very peanuty cookies using crunchy peanut butter and chopped peanuts. What is so special and different about this recipe and how do the cookies compare? Perhaps the title provides the answer, is this a chewy version?

The technique for making these cookies is standard, it is the proportions and choice of ingredients that leads to a different sort of peanut butter cookie. Flour, baking soda, and salt were whisked together in a bowl. In another bowl, brown sugar, peanut butter (I used Skippy creamy), eggs, melted butter, honey, and vanilla were whisked together. The dry ingredients were added to the wet and stirred with a spatula to form a smooth dough. The dough was finished by stirring in finely chopped dry-roasted peanuts. The dough was dropped onto a parchment-lined baking sheet using a #30 portioning scoop (about 2 tablespoons). The balls of dough were gently flattened into 2-inch disks and baked at 350° for 11 minutes. It took an hour to make 26 cookies.

The original peanut butter cookies are crispy on the outside and chewy inside with the traditional cross-hatch pattern on the top. These new cookies don't have cross hatches and they are not crispy on the outside, but chewy through and through. They have a texture that is more like peanut butter than the classic cookie. Both are good and both are worth making whenever the urge for peanut butter cookies strikes. It's just a question of which texture you want when the time comes.

Recipe Notes: Fluffy Dinner Rolls #2

2 September 2019

Recipe from Bread Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 63; recipe also available online from December 2006 Cook's Country.

This is the second recipe I've tried titled "Fluffy Dinner Rolls". The first one is actually more recent and uses the tangzhong method to result in a moist, fluffy dinner roll that also keeps very well. This method is also used in my favorite recipe for white sandwich bread which I make regularly. Both dinner roll recipes set out to create a soft roll that can be made ahead of time and frozen, yet still taste fresh, moist, and fluffy when thawed and warmed. With just two of us for dinner most nights this is a very desirable quality in a dinner roll. It worked out well with the first recipe, will it work here, too?

The dough was made using standard methods. The dry ingredients—AP flour, yeast, and salt—were whisked together in the bowl of a stand mixer. The wet ingredients—milk, honey, egg, melted shortening, and melted butter— were whisked together then slowly added to the dry ingredients using the dough hook on low speed. The mixer speed was increased and the dough kneaded for about 8 minutes. I added a few additional tablespoons of flour as the dough seemed too wet and sticky. It then rose until doubled in size. It was divided into 15 equal pieces; I used a scale, each portion was about 90 grams. Each portion was formed into a ball and placed in a prepared 13x9-inch baking pan. The dough was slightly tacky which made it very easy to form into balls. These rose until almost doubled in size, brushed with an egg wash, then baked in a 350° oven. Total time was 3 hours, 15 minutes and they were ready to eat after just 15 minutes cooling.

We have had these rolls several times now, both fresh and reheated from the freezer. In every case they have been flavorful, soft, tender, and moist. They're a little on the large size but given how fluffy they are this has not been a problem, though we have never been tempted to have more than one each with a meal. They were very easy to shape as each was a sphere and they were baked in a baking pan. Some dinner rolls can be difficult to shape but that was not the case here. These are worth making again and again, it would be interesting to do a side-by-side comparison with the tangzhong rolls, if I ever do that I'll try to amend this post.

Recipe Notes: Classic Sloppy Joes

30 August 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, May 2019

I have tried many variations of sloppy joes over the years, but I have always preferred an old family recipe. When the Test Kitchen published a new recipe which took a different approach I gave it a try. These sloppy joes were designed to be less sweet than most with tender meat and thicker, less sloppy, sauce. Would this be the recipe to finally replace the one I have known since childhood?

Ground beef (I used home-ground beef chuck) was mixed with a baking soda solution to raise its pH and tenderize the beef. In a skillet, chopped onion was cooked in oil and some baking soda (which helps it break down) until softened. Minced garlic was added and cooked until fragrant followed with brown sugar, paprika, pepper flakes (I halved the amount in the recipe), and salt. This was cooked until the paprika was fragrant. Tomato paste was added and cooked. Next, the beef was added, mixed with the onion mixture, and cooked until there was no more pink meat. Another innovation: the meat mixture was mashed with a potato masher. Ketchup, vinegar, and Worcestershire were added. Finally, a slurry of corn starch was stirred into the mixture to thicken the sauce. Total time to prepare was 45 minutes.

As advertised, these sloppy joes were less sweet, and less sour, than many of the other recipes I have tried. The finely textured meat and thickened sauce made for sloppy joes that were decidedly less sloppy than other versions. It was an okay dish made with some innovative methods. However, I think I'll stick with the old family recipe. I missed the tang and sweetness that I am used to. I like ketchup and miss it in this recipe. Some comfort foods are harder to replace with updated recipes than others.

Recipe Notes: Lemon-Olive Oil Tart

29 August 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2019; also available online.

I enjoy lemony desserts like lemon posset and lemon meringue pie. Thus I was happy to see a new recipe for a lemon tart in Cook's Illustrated. It was made even more inviting by the simplicity of the recipe and the use of a surprising ingredient. Inspired in part by olive oil cake, the recipe replaced butter with olive oil in both the crust and the filling. How would this work?  

First, the crust, which, though it is made with flour, is as easy to make as a crumb crust. The dry ingredients—AP flour, sugar, and salt—were whisked together. Extra-virgin olive oil and water was whisked into the dry ingredients: voila, the crust was done. It was crumbled into a tart pan and pressed by hand into a smooth crust. This was baked in a 350° oven for about 30 minutes. The filling was made while the crust baked. Sugar, flour, and salt were whisked together in a sauce pan. Eggs and egg yolks were whisked into the dry ingredients followed by lemon zest and lemon juice. The filling was cooked slowly to a temperature of 160° which took a little longer than the 8 minute estimate in the recipe. Off heat, olive oil was whisked into the filling. The warm filling was poured into the warm crust and then baked until just set, about 8 minutes. Total time was 100 minutes but this could have been shortened by not doing mise en place for the filling until the crust was in the oven.

This was a good dessert and worth making again. The crust was crispy and, perhaps not surprisingly, its texture was similar to that of a crumb crust. The filling was tart and fresh, almost too tart but the slight sweetness of the crust was a good complement. Though the crust was no longer crispy after a few days in the refrigerator, the filling was less tart; it was still very good eating.

Recipe Notes: Spanish-style Meatballs in Almond Sauce

26 August 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2019; also available online.

I didn't know tabout Spanish-style meatballs, not that I had ever thought about it. Italian meatballs and Swedish meatballs I have heard about, but not Spanish. These meatballs, albóndigas, are often served as a tapas offering but they can also be served as a main dish with dinner. I was intrigued by the recipe and so gave them a try. 

The first step was to prepare a picada which provides the sauce for the meatballs. Almonds and white bread were finely ground in a food processor then transferred to a nonstick skillet. Olive oil was added and the mixture cooked until golden brown. The picada was finished by adding minced fresh parsley and garlic. The meatballs are made from ground pork rather than ground beef. Bread was finely ground in the food processor. Egg, garlic, water, parsley, salt, and pepper are added and processed until smooth. Ground pork was added to this panade and pulsed until combined. A #60 portioning scoop (about 1 tablespoon) was used to form the meatballs. I made 38 though the recipe says I should get about 24, so I guess my meatballs are a little on the small size for this recipe. Extra-virgin olive oil was heated in a nonstick skillet and finely chopped onion was cooked until softened. Paprika was added and cooked until fragrant, followed by chicken broth and white wine which were brought to a simmer. Saffron was stirred into the mixture and the meatballs were added. These were cooked in the simmering liquid, turning the meatballs once, until they reached an internal temperature of 160°. The picada was stirred in and cooked for a few minutes until thickened. Off heat, red wine vinegar was stirred in to finish the dish. Total time was 90 minutes.

I wish I had a better palate and more training so I could better identify the flavors in this dish. This is the first time I have ever cooked with expensive saffron. Whatever it was, the meatballs and sauce were wonderful. The meatballs were tender and the sauce had a wonderful aromatic flavor. The flavors were more subtle than those in Italian and Swedish meatballs but that is not to say this dish is inferior in any way. We had these meatballs for three meals, served with either rice or mashed potatoes, and they only got better after sitting in the refrigerator for a few days. This is a dish worth making again.

Recipe Notes: Pizza Al Taglio with Arugula and Fresh Mozzarella

18 August 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2019.

I have not made many pizzas from scratch. After reading the article in the recent Cook's Illustrated I knew that I wanted to make this one. It is unlike pizza as we think of it. It's distinguishing feature is a an airy, chewy crust that is crisp on both top and bottom, burnished with a thin layer of sauce. Rather than round it is baked on a sheet pan and then cut up to be eaten. Al taglio translates to "when cut" in English.

The dough was made a day ahead of time. The long, cold fermentation built both structure and flavor. Bread flour and yeast were whisked together. Water and extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) were stirred into the dry ingredients and the shaggy dough was left to sit for 10 minutes. Salt was then stirred into the dough and it rested for another 20 minutes. The kneading method consisted of folding the dough onto itself in the bowl, then turning the bowl and repeating six times. The dough rested and the folding/turning process was repeated followed by another rest. It was then placed in an oiled baking pan, covered, and put into the refrigerator for 25 hours. The preparation process took about 80 minutes.

The next day sauce was made by combining canned tomatoes, extra-virgin olive oil, anchovy paste (the recipe specified fillets, I guesstimated a substitution of paste), dried oregano, table salt, and red pepper flakes in a blender. The dough was removed from the refrigerator, drizzled with EVOO, and inverted onto a rimmed baking sheet. After stretching the dough to the edges of the baking sheet it was covered and left to rise. A small amount of the sauce, just ½ cup, was distributed over the dough then covered with a thin layer of EVOO. The pizza (with no toppings!) was baked in a 450° oven for about 20 minutes. It was cut into squares and topped with arugula that had been dressed with EVOO, some fresh mozzarella, and parmesan cheese. Total time to prepare the pizza on day 2 was 110 minutes.

I need to make pizza more often because this was great! The star was the crust which was crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, with a pleasing complex flavor. The sauce provided some subtle background notes and this was all complemented by the fresh greens and creamy cheeses. As leftovers it was still good as the toppings were added fresh. However, and this was no surprise, it did not have the great crusty texture of the fresh pizza. The biggest criticism I have is that it makes too much for just the two of us. This leads to having leftovers which lack the impact of the freshly baked pizza. The recipe includes two other suggestions for toppings that would be fun to try. Diane wanted the cheese to be melted and at least one of these variations has that.

Recipe Notes: Chewy Sugar Cookies

25 July 2019

Recipe from The Perfect Cookie, America's Test Kitchen, 2017, page 36; also available online. 

The Perfect Cookie has two recipes for sugar cookies that I have already made and enjoyed: Brown Sugar Cookies, and Chocolate Sugar Cookies. It seemed time to try third sugar cookie recipe for Chewy Sugar Cookies. This would seem to be a recipe for plain ole sugar cookies, as opposed to the two others that feature a flavor in addition to sugar and vanilla. 

These cookies have one ingredient that you don't usually see in cookies, cream cheese, and the dough was mixed by hand. First, the dry ingredients (AP flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) were whisked together and set aside. Sugar and the cream cheese were put into a bowl then whisked with melted butter. (The cream cheese had been cut into pieces, which was a challenge because it is so soft.) In turn, the additional wet ingredients were whisked into the mixture: vegetable oil, egg, milk, and vanilla. The dry ingredients were folded into the wet forming a wet dough. Using a #30 portioning scoop, the balls of dough (about 2 tablespoons each) were made, rolled in sugar, and placed on a backing sheet. They were flattened into 3-inch disks using a metal measuring cup that was sprayed with cooking oil. The cookies were sprinkled with sugar and baked in a 350° oven until the edges just started to brown. Total time to make about 2 dozen cookies was just over one hour.

These are good cookies with a nice taste enhanced by the bit of tang that comes from the cream cheese. When fresh they seemed almost too chewy, as if they were under baked. Perhaps they were, the episode of the TV show where they demonstrated this recipe discussed how critical the baking time could be. As leftovers, stored in the freezer, they were good, too. They were still crispy with a chewy interior and didn't seem like under baked cookies to me. I didn't like them as well as the other two varieties of sugar cookie which were more interesting to me than these which are a little plain.