Pizza, over easy, please!

May 21, 2011

Sometimes ya just need a good slice of pizza. For me, I prefer to make mine at home. Pizza dough can take a while to make, since you have to let it rise, beat it down, then let it rise again...but it is worth it!

If you do not have the time to make an awesome pizza crust, get some dough from the grocery store, or just order a pizza!

My favorite place to get a pizza in Beaufort is at Panini's Cafe. They have a great selection, and a true thin-crust flatbread-style pizza. The guy that throws their pies into the brick oven always wears a shirt that says: "Never trust a round pizza." My experiment this evening with pizza did end up with an oblong-ish shape...but more on that later.

They also put "non-traditional" toppings on their pizza like preserved lemon, chorizo, and mustard aioli. My favorite is the "Palermo," which has preserved lemon, roasted chicken, peppers, pesto, and mozzarella cheese.

This is my attempt at making this pizza at home, minus the chicken. I did not have any chicken on hand tonight, even in the freezer. The only chicken available is in a form that is unacceptable and harvesting said chicken is considered murderous cannibalism in these parts. So instead, I used eggs as a topping.

This is my "Pizza Palermo a la SBC."

Ingredients:

2-3 tablespoons of Pesto (make it from scratch or from out of a jar, Classico makes a decent one)

1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

Thin sliced sweet red pepper

1/4 of a preserved lemon, sliced into thin strips* I made my own, see note below

2 large eggs, organic or from your own stupid baby chickens is best

Pizza dough

fresh cracked black pepper

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 500 F

Put your baking stone into the oven while the oven pre-heats

When the oven comes to temperature, you must work fast, lest you end up with an ugly oblong-shaped pizza like mine.

If you are really good, and have a pizza peel or wooden cutting board "lubricated" with semolina or corn meal, you can build the pizza there, and then attempt to slide it into the oven, atop the stone. My attempt at this failed miserably tonight, hence the ugly pizza pictured below. It did not want to slide!

Roll out your pizza dough to desired thickness, take care that it doesn't stick to the board.

Get your ingredients chopped, grated, and ready to build the pizza.

When your stone is hot, remove it from the oven and place on the stove top.

Place your pizza dough on it, then the fun begins.

Quickly: smear your pesto onto the dough, then sprinkle the lemon, red pepper, Parmesan cheese, and then crack the two eggs onto the desired locations on the dough. Sprinkle a little cracked black pepper directly on top of the raw eggs.

* Some members of your family may be grossed out by this, so place the eggs where the pizza can be cut around them into single servings.*

Carefully put the stone + pizza back into the hot oven for 8-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of your crust.

Remove when the eggs are cooked (they will look like fried eggs sitting on top of the crust). Let the pizza cool slightly, cut and serve!

No preserved lemon on hand? You can find them at Whole Foods, international markets, and Indian/Middle Eastern grocery stores. You can also make them yourself! If you are a fan of this blog, you are aware that every winter my Aunt Susan gives me gorgeous Meyer lemons from her back yard. I make some of them into limoncello, some into lemonaid, some into Meyer lemon pies, and some into preserved lemons.

Here is an excellent recipe for making preserved lemons. It is really super easy, and takes about 1 month from lemon to preserve.

These really are a good way to put a salty-sweet note on the pizza. The "pickling" process takes away the sourness of the lemon and leaves a nice tang that works well with pesto.

Don't just think that making preserved lemons limits you to making pizza with them. Go online and look up some Moroccan recipes that call for preserved lemon. YUM!

I hear that the Russians really like eggs on their pizza. I wonder if this is also true in Poland? There is only one way to find out.......but in the meantime, we should ALL make eggs on pizza at home!

The courgettes are coming!

May 14, 2011

Summer is upon us here in Beaufort, South Carolina!

The roses are in

full bloom!

And....The courgettes are also in full swing, both with their blooms and delicious fruit!

Why am I calling regular old summer squash "courgettes"? Well, in Great Britain they call zucchini "courgettes"....and I was trying to trick my husband.

You see, Doug HATES squash. I mean, he HATES the stuff with a passion!

So, this is how bad he hates squash!

Anyways, I had watched an episode of "Jamie at Home" on the Cooking Channel, and he was doing recipes on summer squash. I decided that since my CSA box is bursting with all types of "courgettes".....pati-pans, crook-neck, cannon-ball and regular small zucchini...that I should try some new recipes!

The most classic way I've seen squash cooked in the deep South is the Squash Casserole. It is a favorite at our Thanksgiving and Christmas tables. My Mother makes hers with Vidalia onion, yellow crook-neck squash, butter, salt, pepper and sharp cheddar cheese. She tops the casserole with crushed Ritz crackers.

I prefer to steam mine with Vidalia onion and a little salt and pepper. They cook quickly, and still retain some nutrients.

The recipe I tried tonight is a little different from how most Southerners cook their squash. It is a raw dish, and is delicious! It is an excellent side dish, and I think I'll take the leftovers and spoon it over grilled fish tomorrow night.

Raw Courgette Salad

Serves 2-4

3-6 small young zucchini and/or crook neck squash

1/2 of a sweet red pepper, chopped into slivers

Handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons of fresh mint, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons of basil, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

pinch of sea salt

pinch of black pepper

pinch of cayenne or red pepper flake

Method:

Wash the squash and dry them. Using a mandolin or a veggie peeler, peel them into very thin strips, including the very outer skin. When you reach the seeds, stop and discard the seedy portion.

Toss the rest of the ingredients with the thinly sliced squash slices. Taste a bit of it and adjust the acid, salt and pepper. Serve as a side dish, or on top of chicken or fish.

I took a page from my Cousin Buddy's book tonight and garnished mine with basil flowers. They were delicious!

I urge you to take advantage of the squash-a-plenty in your summer garden. Get online and try some new recipes! Don't just feed it to your chickens (mine won't eat it anyways....they must take after their Father!)

Bavarian Invasion!

April 30, 2011

Wait.....those aren't Germans...scroll down!

What better way to spend the last day of my 30-day local eating challenge but with my friends Susanne and Klaus Kries of Gröbenzell, Bavaria! Gröbenzell is a charming little village near Munich. I have such fond memories of visiting there in 1998!

Susanne and Klaus are such vibrant, fun people!

They have been friends of my grandparents since the 1960s. They are visiting the South for two weeks, and they chose to come visit me in Beaufort! We went to the 2011 Beaufort Air Show, the beach on Hunting Island, ate incredible fresh seafood, and I got to make a 99% local breakfast for them on Sunday morning!

I have also made a great discovery this week about the history and peoples of South Carolina!

Did you know that there are actual monks in Monck's Corner, South Carolina? They are part of an order of Trappist monks, to be exact. This monastery was established in 1949 on the site of the Mepkin Plantation on the banks of the Cooper River, near Charleston.

You may ask yourself, what is a Trappist monk? As many of us in the South are Protestant, what do we know about monks? They make beer in Europe, they lead a life of prayer and celibacy, and they tend to be pretty cool cats.

Trappist monks are most well known because in Europe, they make incredible beer. These guys kept Europe alive for centuries when the water was so contaminated with coliforms that only the brewing process could make the water safe for drinking. Louis Pasteur would later discover that this was actually due to the boiling process that beer goes through, but, ethanol is also a mild antiseptic!

These Trappist monks at Mepkin Abbey do not brew beer (the Bavarians were disappointed), but they do farm, produce organic eggs and oyster mushrooms! I bought this "crate" of mushrooms at the Mount Pleasant Whole Foods.

Oyster mushrooms are delicious and can be used in any recipe that calls for mushrooms. Just be sure not to cook them into mush!

My breakfast for Klaus and Susanne on Sunday morning was to be "light," as Klaus requested. The menu:

Scrambled fresh SBC eggs with parsley and chives

with caramelized Mepkin Abbey Oyster Mushrooms

on fresh mixed salad greens from my garden

Sweetgrass Dairy Thomasville Tomme slices

Dempsey Farms fresh picked strawberries

South Georgia Pecan halves

Thompson Farms Hickory Smoked Bacon

Bush River Jerseys Skim milk

Charleston Tea Plantation Governor Gray

Bonnie's Garden Beaufort Honey

Many thanks to my Dad and to N5589R for making the Kries' trip possible. It was a very quick trip, but very enjoyable! I hope that I get to see all of them again very soon.

Doug is already planning a trip to Gröbenzell for Oktoberfest 2012!......after all.....we will be just across the border in Poland!

Berry College and Pics along the way

April 27, 2011

Just some meals I've had along the way.........lots of salad, even with Georgia pastured, hickory-smoked bacon, will make your waistline a little smaller.....so far, so good!

Rainbow carrots, cucumbers, radishes, and the first of the purple beans from my garden!

I'm also really proud of my alma mater: Berry College! It has been named one of 311 U.S. Green colleges in the Princeton Review!

On a sadder note: Berry lost many, many of their 100+ year old oak trees on campus to the huge storms that have marched across the South today. Tonight.....more storms.

Berry College Storm Damage. On a lighter note....I think I've driven that bobcat!

Poutine

April 26, 2011

Does anyone south of the Mason-Dixon know what poutine is? And no, I do not mean you guys from Ontario who flood Hwy 278 on your way into Hilton Head every October, running from the snow as fast as you can. Have any of my Southern readers ever heard of or had a dish called poutine?

I'm sure some of you have, since some of us have Canadian family members and watch the Food Network on the regular. I had never heard of poutine until I attended the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. My first taste of poutine was at a snack stand at Whistler. Doug and I were on our "honeymoon" there, and we got hungry before the Women's Luge. The selections were typical for event food....if you're in Canada....Cheese sandwiches, poutine, sausages in a bun, and french fries. Doug became very excited about this poutine thing, which I had never heard of.

Poutine is classic Canadian (ok, ok, FRENCH Canadian) hangover food. This is Canada's version of smothered and covered hashbrowns at the Waffle House at 4 AM and you've lost too many electrolytes from your system along with your cell phone.

I decided after watching a Rehab Recipes episode of Bitchin' Kitchen to try and make a local version of the dish. Fortunately, I was not hung over when I made this. I don't think anyone would want to MAKE this in their kitchen when experiencing a hangover. I think that such a person should go down to their local greasy spoon or Canadian McDonalds and have someone else just dish it up for you!

This is my full-meal version of Poutine, Southern Style! I call it......

Southern Sweet Potato Cheese Fries

This recipe is enough for 2 people. If you live with a Marine or a teenage son, double the recipe!

Stuff you need:

1 large sweet potato, skin on, cut into 1/4 inch fries (they cook faster if super thin!)

1 pound of grass-fed local ground beef (I used 90% lean)

Handful of shredded Sweetgrass Dairy Thomasville Tomme, or, sharp cheddar--If you can FIND some cheese curds, just use those! I looked at Whole Foods AND Fresh Market and could not find these mystical cheese curds that is classic for poutine.

2 cups of beef, chicken or veggie stock

1 tablespoon fresh or dried thyme

1 tablespoon fresh or dried parsley

2 tablespoons of unsalted butter OR, 1 tablespoon COLD bacon fat

2 tablespoons of flour

1 clove of garlic, minced.

1 medium Vidalia onion, chopped fine

Fresh ground black pepper

Sea salt or Fleur de sel, for that extra French flair

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Method:

First, heat your oven to 450 degrees. Lightly coat the sweet potatoes in olive oil, and put them into a thin layer on a baking sheet or stone. Bake for 20 minutes, turning them every 5 minutes or so, making sure they don't burn!

In a cast iron skillet, cook your onion in the olive oil until translucent, then add your ground beef until brown and cooked through. Add the garlic in the last 2 minutes of cooking. Take the beef mixture out of the pan and set aside, but keep the rendered fat in the pan.

Add the tablespoon of bacon fat into the pan on medium heat, and add your flour. You will whisk these two together until you get a light brown roux, about the color of peanut butter.

Slowly start adding the 2 cups of stock into the roux, constantly whisking to dissolve clumps. Once integrated, add in your onion/beef/garlic mixture. Add the herbs in at this point. Reduce this "gravy" until it coats the back of a spoon. Once thick, add salt and pepper to taste.

Once your fries are semi-crispy, put them on a cooling rack and dust them in sea salt or the salt of your choice.....a little smoked salt might not be bad here.

On a plate, put down your fries first, then ladle on the beefy gravy. Next, add the grated tomme/cheddar/cheese curds to your liking, and then garnish with fresh chopped parsley.

YUM!

You can't eat my version with your fingers. :)

Now that is something that all the meat 'n potatoes guys can get into....no matter where you're from!

My downtown Charleston adventure

April 16, 2011

Last night, after work in Goose Creek, I decided to go out to dinner and spend the night with a friend in downtown Charleston. The best part about this little adventure is that I didn't have to go off of my "local eating" commitment! I got to spend an evening as a "local" south of Broad on the Charleston peninsula.

My friend's family is renting a historic home on Church Street, and she gets to live there until late May. The home was built in 1812 and was originally a grocery merchant's house, then was a slave hospital, and then again was a private home. There is a ghost in the house, and funny enough, I stayed in the room right next to where the person met her demise. YIKES! There were no weird bumps in the night to disturb me, and I slept like a rock! You would have too if you had taken a scenic walk to dinner and eaten what we did!

A ten-minute walk took us to a new Charleston restaurant, Husk. Husk opened in November 2010, and was voted 2011 "Best New Restaurant" in Southern Living.

Their menu changes DAILY and is based on what is seasonally available in the South. Their rule is that if it's not produced east of Texas, and south of the Mason-Dixon line, it does not come through their doors!

We shared an appetizer, their tasting of southern hams with local pickled vegetables (ramp, green beans, green tomato, garlic).

For the main course, I had the Smoky BBQ Chicken from Keegan Filion Farms with Anson Mills Farro and Field Peas, and bacon braised Kale.

Their sweet tea comes from, you guessed it, the Charleston Tea Plantation.

And....for dessert, the Pecan praline bread pudding.

YUM!!!!!

I tried to take pictures, but it was too dark for my little iPhone. I did get a good pic of their excellent beer list. I really enjoyed the Kind Belgian Red Ale.

The next time you are taking a little adventure, either in a foreign country, or in your hometown, check out these neat little eateries that are riding the wave of the local food movement. I know you will enjoy what you try, and enjoy helping to support the local economy and artisan food makers.

FINALLY new produce

April 13, 2011

I was starting to get a little worried about this eating local thing. I knew that I would have limited things to work with here at the beginning of spring....I had visions of me eating salad, herbs, eggs, cheese, and more salad...but things are looking up!

This has been a challenge so far, and I'm only eating 80% local! I did have some good pasta the other day, with a nice homemade marinara sauce (local home canned tomato & basil) and south Georgia grass-fed beef; and that was a nice change.

I joined a local farm's CSA program, which stands for Community-Supported Agriculture. This means that I pay a fee, almost like buying a "share" in the farmer's crop, and then I get the produce at harvest time. The farmer takes the money in advance to buy seeds and finance the farming, and then pays his "investors" back in produce and product.

Farming is always a risk, especially lately as it has been getting into the upper 30s at night, even along the coast. Part of the fun and gamble of being a member of a CSA is that you are relying on the farmer's skill and mother nature........you don't know which crops will make it or not!

I will routinely post my baskets as they come in!

The First CSA basket from Rest Park Farm!

This week's basket: Radishes, bok choy, mesclun salad mix, romaine lettuce, sweet potatoes (harvested in the fall and stored), and strawberries from Dempsey's farm.

Holy cow! That's a LOT of veggies for one person! I did give 2 heads of romaine and 2 heads of bok choi to my neighbor in thanks for her taking care of my chickens when I'm out of town.

I plan on blanching any bok choi I have left at the weekend and freezing it for stews. I have used it in minestrone soup and spicy thai soups.

Tonight: The last of the leftover grilled tempeh, and sauteed bok choi in cayenne, garlic, cilantro, and baby Vidalia onion. I used the last of my hickory smoked Maine sea salt, and it is a delicious addition!

I promise I will add some good meat recipes here soon, despite all the vegetarian/vegan recipes I've posted recently. I am, after all, still a member of PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals). :)

Next time......Beef, sweet potato poutine, and soft shell crab season!