Pizza with several cheeses and prosciutto

I swear I eat pizza at least once a week. Most of my recipes are variations of my house pizza. Recently, I made this pizza to go with a garlicky Tortellini Soup. Here is last night’s version of pizza. 

2 cups of flour

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tbs. instant yeast

Olive oil

1 cup of water

1 15 oz. can of tomato sauce

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. basil

Adobo seasoning

1 clove of garlic, finely minced

Tabasco

4 oz. thinly sliced prosciutto

4 oz. shredded parmesan cheese

8 oz. package of mixed Italian blend shredded cheese

8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

Fresh ground white pepper

Corn meal

Preparation

For the dough, add the flour to your mixing bowl. Add the sugar, salt, yeast, about a tablespoon of olive oil and the water, to the flour and bring the dough together. If necessary, adjust by adding a spec more flour or water to make it right. Knead it for a minute and then let it rise while you make the sauce. 

For the sauce, place the tomato sauce in a bowl and add about a tablespoon of olive oil. Now add the oregano, basil, garlic and a good sprinkle of adobo seasoning. Give it a couple shakes of Tabasco. Stir the sauce together and let it rest while you sit and enjoy a glass of wine. As you pour the wine, preheat the oven to 450º. 

When the oven dings that it is at the right temperature, start working the dough into a 17” circle, flouring it as you work it. Once you have it right, slide it into a pizza pan that has been sprinkled with corn meal. Fold the edges to form a crust. 

Spoon on enough tomato sauce to cover the pizza dough (use any leftover sauce for your second pizza. You wouldn’t make just one pizza, would you?). Sprinkle on the shredded parmesan cheese. Take your sliced prosciutto and cover the pizza with the it, use it all. Add the mixed Italian cheese, use it all. Add the mozzarella cheese, use it all. Grind some white pepper over the top of the pizza. Bake the pizza in the 450º oven until the cheese is nicely brown and bubbling. Sprinkle the pizza with some of your best olive oil and then let the pizza sit for a couple of minutes before slicing. 

Serving

Serve the pizza with several bowls of garlic tortellini soup. Enjoy this with lots of red wine from Greece. Eat until a button pops off your shirt. 

Scotch Broth

One of the best things about roasting a large leg of lamb is that, when you are done, you have that big lamb bone to make soup. Scotch Broth is my favorite form of lamb soup. 

Many times I like to substitute barley for rice, but with Scotch Broth, barley is the norm. Lamb, rutabaga, barley and carrots, blend together to make this traditional soup. How do I know it is is traditional? I don’t. I just made that up, but it sounds nice. 

1 meaty bone from a roast leg of lamb

1 large onion, chopped

2 bay leaves

Lots of water, somewhere near 6 quarts

1 small rutabaga, diced

3 large carrots, diced

1 cup of roast lamb, chopped

1/2 tsp. of allspice

1 leak, chopped

1 cup of red lentils

1/2 cup of uncooked barley

1 bowl of chopped cabbage

1 large potato, peeled and diced

1 tsp. white pepper

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. thyme

Cajun seasoning

Sea salt

Preparation

Place the lamb bone in a large soup pot. You may have to break it at the joint to fit in your pot. Add water to cover, enough for a lot of soup. Add the chopped onion. Bring that to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Let that simmer for about twenty minutes. 

Add the rutabaga, carrots, lamb, allspice, and lentils. Let that simmer for about an hour. Add the leek, cabbage, barley and potato. Season it with the onion powder, white pepper, thyme and a little cajun seasoning. Let that simmer for another hour. Taste and adjust the soup for salt, pepper and cajun seasoning. Keep simmering until the soup is nice and thick. Taste and adjust the seasonings one more time and turn the heat off. 

Serving

I like to serve Scotch Broth with a homemade bread that was made with whole wheat, buckwheat honey and brown sugar. Oh, and course, slathered with lots of butter. 

This can be first course followed by reheated roast lamb, mashed potatoes and gravy, assuming you have enough of that leftover. If not, you can follow the soup with seared pork chops and steamed Brussels sprouts. All that can be followed with even more soup. Pick out a nice Greek red to wash everything down 

Autumn honey bread

Recently, I made my first batch of pea soup for the fall. Pea soup is a favorite of mine and almost a ritual for me during the fall and winter. The one thing you need, when you serve pea soup, is warm homemade bread, fresh out of the oven. 

As I started making my bread, I remembered that I had couple jars of honey. Hmm. Why not add some of that? Honey adds a nice fragrant touch to fresh homemade bread. Here’s how I made it.

You could also use Maple syrup if you like. 

4 cups of unbleached bread flour

1 cup of honey

2 tbs. of room temperature butter

1 tsp. of sea salt

2 tbs. of instant yeast

2 cups of lukewarm water (approximate)

Additional butter for when the bread comes out of the oven

Preparation

Place the flour in your mixing bowl. Add the salt, honey, butter and yeast. Turn the dough hooks on and add the water. As the flour comes together, you may have to adjust it by adding a bit more flour or water. Don’t holler at me. I never measure this stuff. If you need to adjust it, do so quietly.

Once the dough comes together, knead it for a couple of minutes. Dust it with flour and let it rise in a warm place, for about a half hour or so. When the time is up, knead the dough again and divide it into two equal parts. Shape them into long thin loaves and let them rise for another twenty minutes or so.

Place a few slash marks across the top of the loaves and place them in a 460º oven. They’ll need about twenty to thirty minutes. You want the loaves to be dark golden brown. Remove the loaves to a cooling rack and rub the loaves with butter, getting a nice sheen on them. Let them cool for five or ten minutes before slicing.

Serving

Serve this bread with lots of butter, while you enjoy several bowls of pea soup. Warm homemade bread, slathered with melting butter, can turn pea soup into a feast. I know. I frequently wolf down half a loaf while enjoying several bowls. Now, open a bottle of Merlot and dinner is ready. It is a beautiful thing.

October whole pea soup

Around this time of year, I have a fondness for soup, especially pea soup. Normally, I prefer to use a ham bone for pea soup, but I don’t always have one available. Instead, you can use two large smoked ham hocks, and make the pea soup out of that. 

Now, if you read most cookbooks, they’ll tell you that you have to soak the peas first, either over night, or for an hour in water that was brought to a boil. Well, the last time I made this, it was already past noon when I started, so I skipped the soaking step. Here’s what I did instead.

Grape seed oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

2 large stalks of celery

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 tsp. thyme

1/2 tsp. chopped fresh sage

1/2 tsp. oregano

2 large smoked ham hocks

1 cup of chopped roast pork or ham (optional)

2 bay leaves

4 quarts of water

1 lb. dried whole green peas

1 tbs. dried onion flakes

Cajun seasoning

Adobo seasoning

Salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat a large soup pot and add enough grape seed oil to coat the bottom. Add the medium chopped onion, the red pepper flakes, the thyme, sage, oregano, the ham hocks and the chopped pork. Stir and cook until the onions have softened and start to brown.

Add the bay leaves, the rinsed and sorted peas and the water. As the water is coming to a boil, add the chopped carrot, chopped celery, the large chopped onion, the garlic and the onion flakes. Sprinkle on some cajun seasoning and adobo seasoning. Now add some salt and pepper.

Let this simmer, very gently, for four hours and stir often. You may need to add some additional water to maintain the volume. After about three hours, smash some peas against the side of the pot as you stir. 

During the last hour, taste the soup for seasoning. You’ll need to add more cajun seasoning and more salt. Taste it and adjust it several times during that last hour. Also break up the ham hocks as you stir. I’d add a little more thyme during the last hour as well. The soup is ready when it has thickened and has lots of little pea shells floating on top.

Serving

October pea soup is easy to serve. Bake a loaf of homemade bread during the last hour of simmering, and serve that while it is still warm enough to melt the butter. Have several large bowls of soup with lots of bread and butter. I also suggest adding some Louisiana Hot Sauce to each bowl. Open a bottle of California Merlot and you can enjoy dinner. Ripe red pears make a nice dessert. I find that it takes  three or four bowls of soup, before I can leave the table.

Burritos made with chicken thighs

When I was cooking last night, I used my last onion. As I wrote onions on to my shopping list, I remembered the time last year, when my neighbor offered me an onion in a similar situation. This was just about a year ago. I still had the family, from the house next door, living with me after the Great Lisle Flood Of 2013. 

This day, I went to the grocery store, and bought a package of chicken thighs and was planning to make burritos. When I arrived home, my housemates were having a beer with my neighbor from down the street. I sat down and had a beer with them, then got up to start dinner.

As I pulled out my ingredients, I noticed I only had one onion, and I needed two. I was going to run out to buy some onions, when my neighbor said he’d go to his house and grab an onion for me. Oh good, I thought. I forgot, that my neighbor hates onions. He brought me this little onion, which was barely bigger than a pearl onion. I looked at him, and said, “Really?”

Buy now, I had already started cooking, so I had to use what I had. I took the onion and thanked my neighbor. Here’s how I put dinner together. Even with the onion deficit, it turned out good.

1 lb. chicken thighs, cut into strips

Grape seed oil

Cajun seasoning

1 tbs. dried minced onion

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. smoked paprika

3 green and 2 bell peppers

1 medium and 1 tiny onion

Adobo seasoning

Soy sauce

1 lime, cut into wedges

1/4 cup white wine

Whole wheat tortillas

Canned jalapeños

Preparation

Get a very large cast iron pan real hot. Add enough grape seed oil to coat the bottom. Add the chicken strips and stir. Sprinkle them with lots of cajun seasoning. Add the dried minced onion and the thyme, paprika and oregano. Stir and sear the chicken until it starts to brown.

Add the pepper strips and stir. Cook that, stirring frequently until the peppers start to soften. Add your paltry amount of fresh onion and stir. When the onion begins to soften, sprinkle on some adobo seasoning and a little soy sauce. Squeeze on the limes and stir in the white wine. When the liquid is sizzling, turn off the heat and serve.

Serving

Heat a large cast iron griddle, for your dinner guests to heat their tortillas. Spoon on the pepper and chicken mixture. Slice some of those canned jalapeños in half and add a few of those to your burrito. Roll it up and wolf it down with lots of beer. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat until you are ready to burst.

Chicken ragú for tortellini

Last night, I was reading through some of my recipes, and I found this one. This was back about a year ago, when my neighbors from the house next door, were still living with me as a result of the Great Lisle Flood Of 2013. In the freezer I had four bags of frozen tortellini that my housemates bought, and some frozen chicken that I bought. That sounded like a plan.

I remember I told my housemates, that I was making a pasta sauce with chicken and peppers. One of them warily asked, “W-w-what kind of peppers?” I answered that the peppers were bell peppers and I saw the worry dissipate from their faces. During the time they lived with me, they’ve come to know my fondness for hot peppers. Well, I guess their hesitation was justified. I admit, I’ve tested their tolerance levels more than once. I’ve left the hot peppers out of this recipe, so you have no reason to worry either.

1 lb. frozen chicken, cut into strips

Olive oil

1 large red bell pepper, diced

1 large green bell pepper, diced

1 medium onion, finely chopped

5 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced

1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

Cajun seasoning

Adobo seasoning

1 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. marjoram

1/2 tsp. thyme

1/2 cup Marsala

1 28 oz. can of San Marzano tomatoes

1 6 oz. can of tomato paste

Frozen tortellini

Preparation

Heat a large braising pan which has a tight fitting lid. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom and add the chicken strips (you don’t have to thaw them first). Sprinkle the chicken with cajun and adobo seasoning. Cover and let that cook for about five minutes. Turn the chicken over and add the peppers, onion and garlic. Add the black pepper, basil, marjoram and thyme. Cover and let that cook for fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the Marsala and the San Marzano tomatoes. Break them up with a knife and fork. Add the tomato paste and rinse out the cans with a little more Marsala and add that to the sauce. Stir to dissolve the paste. Cover and simmer, stirring often while you put water on to boil the tortellini. Cook the tortellini and you’re ready to serve.

Serving

We served this very simply. Pile on a big bunch of tortellini. Smother it in the sauce. Sprinkle on some grated parmesan cheese. Now add some homemade garlic bread, a salad, a bowl of olives and open a bottle of Italian red wine.