My favorite low-fat night cap.
The cookies are a work-in-progress. I’m trying to maintain the taste and texture of a full fat cookie with 1/2 or less of the fat. I’m very close. The taste is perfect, but the texture is a bit cake-y when it should be chewy. Delicious, none the less. I’ll post the recipe as soon as it’s right. For now, enjoy the teaser.
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I wanted pizza. I’ve wanted pizza for weeks. I live in the city where having a pizza craving is easily remedied by calling one of the greats… Pat’s, Lou’s, Riccobene’s, Gino’s, Edwardo’s, Giordano’s… Those are just the big gun stand by’s. I can’t even begin to list the amazing small mom and pop shops here that are doing great pizza too. But I didn’t want legendary pizza. I wanted good pizza. Not just any pizza would satisfy the kind of pizza craving I was having, I wanted that thin, crisp bottomed, chewy edged pizza I fell in love with when I lived in Nice. Pizza that had the exact right amount of sauce, was not over loaded with too many toppings, usually just one or two applied in a way to compliment the cheese and sauce and in no way detracted from the other star of the show, the crust. I craved the kind of pizza that was served to me whole, spilling over the edge the plate beneath it with a requisite bottle of olive oil loaded with bird chiles and garlic. I stood there for a minute and wondered if I could make that crust but with a sourdough. At two am Friday morning, I was standing my kitchen wanting a pizza I was starting to realize that I was going to have to wait at least 36 hours to make, let alone eat. It’s a good thing I have developed patience.
A real sourdough starter takes some time, a week at the low-end and 100 years at the high-end. In a real starter, you combine flour and water in equal parts and let it hang out pulling in natural yeasts from the air, if you keep your starter in a place where there is a lot of wine, your starter will grow faster because the natural aeration of the wine releases yeast into the air. There are stories about sourdough starters that were kept in jars in turn of the century farmhouses and cellars that were passed down from generation to generation, starters that have survived fires, natural disasters, family tragedies and it’s the survival of that starter that is credited for maintaining the family unit, saving the family business or providing the start of a new one. I had no intention of waiting a week to satisfy my need for pizza so I set up what I call a “fast ferment.” A yeast cheat, if you will. (the following dough recipe makes 8, 8 oz dough balls)
Starter:
2 envelopes dry yeast
12 oz water
2 oz organic whole wheat flour
5 oz organic all-purpose flour
4 TBS raw sugar or turbinado
mix together in a bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let it sit, undisturbed for 18-24 hours
After 18-24 hours, uncover and add 1 oz organic all purpose flour and 1 tsp sugar and stir gently, cover with damp cloth and let sit for another 8 hours or until ready to use.
Crust:
To the starter add:
12 oz water
2 TBS good quality olive oil
4 tsp sea salt
4 TBS organic raw honey
1.75 pounds all-purpose flour
.5 pounds whole wheat flour
Combine the starter with the above in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. and mix until dough is smooth and warm to the touch.
Turn out and tuck outer edges in to form a smooth dome top ball and put in a lightly olive oiled bowl. Cover with a damp towel and let sit for an hour.
Turn out on to floured surface re-tuck edges inward, squeezing out air pockets.
Divide into 8, 8 oz portions and tuck outer edges inward. Set aside under a damp towel for 30 minutes. Press out dough into a round, then roll with a rolling pin to about 1/2 inch thick and round. Pick up and gently stretch over the back of your hands and knuckles, turning and stretching until you reach your desired dough thickness. If you get a tear, pinch it together. (Any left over dough can be individually bagged in “ziplocks” and frozen for use another day. Simply, thaw and let sit at room temp until ready to use.)
If you want to skip the starter part and get to the good stuff faster:
Combine in a bowl:
2 envelopes dry yeast
24 oz water
4 TBS sugar
let that hang out until it’s frothy
then add:
2 TBS good quality olive oil
4 tsp sea salt
4 TBS organic raw honey
2 pounds all purpose flour
.5 pounds whole wheat flour
Mix well until dough is smooth and warm to the touch. (follow same as above)
Basic sauce:
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
2-4 cloves garlic (depending on your taste)
3 TBS good olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
5-6 fresh basil leaves torn
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (depending on your taste)
Buzz with a blender until as chunky or as smooth as you like
Home Made Lean Beef Italian Sausage:
1 pound of lean beef, cubed
1-2 oz beef fat
In a spice grinder, combine:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/4 tsp dried oregano
5-7 bird chiles
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
Grind, add to ground meat and mix well. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use
Bake on a pizza stone at 375-400 degrees until crust is lightly browned and crisp to the touch.
Pour your self a good glass of wine… and enjoy a healthier than delivery, better than store-bought, made it yourself European-style pizza. This one has: home-made lean beef Italian sausage, Boar’s Head pepperoni, spicy cappicola ham, shaved garlic, mozzarella, provolone, and parmesan.
I will never order pizza delivery again… this was too good and too cheap to make. For the same price as 1 delivery pizza… I was able to make two and I have enough left over to make at least 6 more pizzas.
My students have progressed to handling proteins and are learning to make complete plates that include a protein, starch, vegetable and a sauce however simple that may be.
I was feeling a bit brain-dead and witless so I conducted my demo in silence and prefaced it be saying I was throwing down a challenge. They had to recreate the dish I demoed, like on any popular chef showdown tv show. It was time for them to learn it’s not your food…it’s the chef’s food. You cook what the chef tells you to cook, the way the chef tells you to cook it. This was more an exercise in how to follow directions, how to learn consistency and see how closely they can mimic a dish from a demonstration.
I started my demo by heating a pan, giving it a shot of oil, seasoned then dusted my veal scallopes with a bit of flour. I placed them in the pan, counted to 45 in my head, flipped them over and counted to 45 again. I quickly set them on a plate and started the sauce by adding veal stock, Marsala wine, cream and finished with a touch of butter. One of my students, before invited to do so and before I was able to finish adjusting the seasoning, stuck his spoon in my sauce and quickly shoved it between his lips. I was slightly stunned, tried not to show it and moved on. I spooned the sauce around the veal cutlets and placed a sprig of parsley on top. I cut them open to show them that there was a slight tinge of pink in the middle. I presented the plate, reminded to them to note the plating, to taste the sauce. Some of them pulled out their phones and snapped pictures to make sure an exact duplicate. I moved on the to next dish, a grilled NY strip, gratin dauphinoise and sautéed green beans with cherry tomato. I moved with ease through the steps, grilling my steak making sure that I had strong grill marks. I sautéed my beans while my steak was resting and plated the potatoes, stacking two layers of the gratin on top of each other for a little height and drama, neatly piled the green beans next to the gratin and placed the NY strip on the plate in front with the fat cap facing away from the customer. I gathered a small bunch of parsley and laid it on top the gratin and presented it them for their photo opp and tasting.
I dismissed them to prepare their mise en place and reminded them plating had to be exactly what I presented to them. Plates started showing up and I took a deep breath and started tasting….garnishes were missing, veal was over cooked, green beans were over cooked, wrinkle-y and brown, over seasoned, under seasoned, steaks were rare when I asked for them medium-rare or medium. One student prepared a perfect plate until I found parsley leaves in his gratin and pointedly asked him if there was parsley in my gratin. No, chef. Then why did you put parsley in your gratin? But, chef… No. No but chef. You were asked to duplicate a plate as it was demoed. This was not an exercise in your creativity or your ability to use parsley. It was about how well you can follow directions, how well you paid attention to details and how well you can recreate the chef’s vision.
As a cook you are not getting paid to cook your food, you are getting paid to make the chef’s food. In my experience working the line, the chef shows you a new plate or special once and you have to keep pace to learn it, taste it, know it and be able to reproduce it, not once, but hundreds of times a night. The same taste, look, plating, garnish. In some instances, the Chef moves so fast you can’t ask questions and just have to hope you can remember it all just by reliance on your eyes, senses and taste buds. I remember one line job I had where I got yelled at for cutting a tomato on a salad in wedges not slices. I was told the customer was expecting slices and got wedges. I got yelled at for changing the chef’s plating without his permission or consent and I got yelled at, called stupid and told point-blank that i “could not do that.”
I want my students to be able to express themselves creatively and explore all the world of food has to offer. I love being able to let them go and play in the kitchen and use what’s available to them. But at the end of the day they have to remember that the time will come when they can call the shots, make the plates and decide what garnish to use. In the mean time… it’s not your food… yet.
When I’m home alone, I cook like a four-year old lives in my house. Well, a four-year old with a very sophisticated palate.
As a restaurant chef, I cooked complicated food all day (or at least I thought about cooking complicated food between meetings, phone calls, interviews, updating order guides, monitoring the cooks, tending to basic maintenance and repair, doing someone else’s job who failed to show up for work and making sure the coolers were clean and organized). I was under pressure to keep the menu fresh and interesting; seasonal and creative. I would have to think about textures of certain varieties of fish, what kinds of flavors will compliment or contrast them. I had to make sure that the 8 oz steaks I ordered don’t take more than 12 minutes to cook and more importantly that my grill guy can cook a steak to medium with out going over. I took note of what was fresh, in season, available at the local markets, what cool things my vendors have and how I can work them into my menu in a way that makes sense or will sell to my crowd of regulars. Or worst, figuring a way to incorporate on to my menu some hair-brained idea the owner has, usually some “really cool thing” he ate out the night before and he wants me to copy (which I would never do; be inspired by, yes.) Once in a great while I was asked to pair an entrée with a wine which almost always by default was a Sauvignon blanc just because it’s my go to wine at home. It goes with just about everything… well, everything I cook at home.
My home kitchen is the place I can be without having to answer a thousand questions about where this product is or why that product out; I don’t have to stop and explain why I’m using sea salt over kosher or have someone get grossed out because I tasted something twice with the same finger. (No one else is eating it but me, who cares if I double dip?) I don’t have to maneuver around two guys and a low-boy to get to the stove. I can dirty as many dishes I want or none at all, eat straight from the pot or eat off a paper towel folded into fourths as a makeshift plate. I always know what I have in the pantry, in reserve and in the freezer for when I get the urge to cook or need to out of necessity. At home this chef can eat whatever suits a passing fancy, shielded from public scrutiny. I’m going to let you in, let you see behind my kitchen curtains…But, I have rules for cooking at home….
Rule Number 1: No more than seven minutes of pre-cooking prep. (other items can prepped while main items are cooking)
Rule Number 2: Entire cook and plating time cannot exceed 30 minutes (unless it is a planned day of slow cooking)
Rule Number 3: Must be delicious and satisfy whatever craving I’m having at the moment be it textural, salty/sweet, spicy/savory… the combinations are endless.
Rule Number 4: Not including seasonings, or herbs no more than 5 ingredients
Rule Number 5: hors d’oeuvres, snacks and tiny food count as dinner.
When I do finally get hungry enough to cook, I want something fast, easy, simple so I limit prep time to the basics. No one is going to care if I chop or concasse, my home knife skills become relaxed and rustic.. country-style if you please. I tear my basil with my bare hands and not roll it tightly and shave it into fine green hairs. Garlic fries better when it hasn’t been minces to a fine pulp and just smashed with the flat edge of my knife. Avocado smashed into a piece of sourdough bread with a fork tastes just as good as if it were sliced thin and fanned out. At home I cut corners I would never think to in a restaurant (or in front of my students).
If I’ve waited to the point of absolute starvation because I couldn’t decide on what to eat I make what ever I can fast. In and out of heat (if needed) as quickly as possible. I’m hungry. Unless it’s Sunday, when I seek out the cheapest and usually the toughest piece of meat I can find, season it, sear it, toss in whatever vegetables I think will survive 4-5 hours in the oven at 300 degrees, cover it with some liquid (beer, water, stock if I have some in the freezer) and let it go until that meat is falling apart. Tender enough to be cut with a plastic fork, if I used plastic forks. I slow roast pork butts for 13-15 hours at a low temperature and use the meat for everything from sandwiches to pork curry over rice. At home I never worry about pleasing anyone other than my palate, my taste sensations, my ideas… I’m free to take the risks that “the owners” would never support… not that I would ever want to share, preserving all its pure goodness to myself. These are the foods I would hesitate to make for someone in fear that it was not “fancy” enough. or it was just a bit too weird. I’m not coking to please masses.
I eat breakfast at midnight, loving how the toast with jam mingles with the corned beef hash which has mingled with the still warm egg yolk making for a climactic sensory overload. I snack on oil cured olives and sharp parmesan cheese. I make salad nicoise with Starkist pouch tuna, an over easy egg and cram it all on a toasted french roll and eat it as a sandwich. I make steel-cut oatmeal with apple cider topped with apple sauce and orange cranberries. Bacon pancakes, Alaga syrup and an old-fashioned make a sublime late night meal. Some nights, it’s cookies and milk, crackers and extra sharp aged Wisconsin cheddar topped with leftover bacon. I grill cheese and ham slices on sourdough bread on a George Foreman Grill. I smear soy nut butter on toast with grape jelly and pour my self a glass of ice-cold milk. I make pasta with garlic, toasted breadcrumbs, sliced tomatoes and frozen peas. Tomatoes are sliced with salt, pepper and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Eggs are softly scrambled with pickled jalapeno, onions, topped with cheese and wrapped in warm corn tortillas.
Some days I will make a meal out of tiny food you’d expect to see at a cocktail party… I eat olives out of the container, standing in front of the fridge, Ritz crackers with cheese and spicy mustard. When I feel like a ‘project’ I make lumpia and pot stickers by the sack full to keep in the freezer. Chicken drummettes broiled with hoisin sauce and ginger, toasted bread with garlic, parmesan, olive oil, basil and heirloom tomato slices … all heavenly.
One last rule for the home kitchen… simple.
What do you eat when you are home alone?
