two big announcements

So, it's been quite a while since my last post, I know. I'm going to try to get better about that. In the meantime, however, I've got two big announcements:

1. My story "Genesis" has been published in Issue 014 of Luna Station Quarterly (who previously published my story "The Marriage of Ariadne"). You can buy the issue here and support art and artists! Or you can read the story online, for free, here.

2. After five years, Daniel and I are leaving DC! At the end of June, we'll be heading to Indian Lake for a little while. After that, we'll be flying out to Los Angeles and traveling up the West Coast. To celebrate our big adventure, I'm offering 10% off anything in my Etsy store. Just enter the code WEST10 until June 28.

a familiar feeling

It's convenient that I post recipes here on Tuesdays, because Mondays - successfully reclaimed, also known as party Mondays - have become a time when we experiment with new food.

(Well, mostly. Last night it was this fettuccine dish again. I love it so much. It has definitely managed to become a dish we make frequently. Please try it. It's so good.)



Here is a confession: most of this is Daniel's doing. He, after all, is the cook out of the two of us. (I am the baker. This may be obvious from reading this blog.) It's become a familiar feeling, to be standing at my counter chopping vegetables while Daniel stands at the oven sauteing something. We make a fair amount of stir-fries, so we also strive to make them new and exciting.

Those are the ones that make it to the blog.



Daniel's Peanut-Ginger Stir-Fry
adapted from Daniel's scrawled notes

SAUCE
3/4 c. vegetable stock
1/8 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. white wine
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. white vinegar
1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 3 tbsp water
3 tbsp minced ginger
2 hot peppers
4 cloves garlic
minced green onions

STIR-FRY
chicken-style seitan
peanuts
broccoli
pepper
onion

If you are eating rice with this, start preparing that now. If, however, you are going to eat cous-cous with this, as we did, save that until the end. Cous-cous takes startlingly little time to prepare.

Combine the stock, soy sauce, wine, sugar, cornstarch, and vinegar. In a pan, heat up some oil and toss in the ginger, hot peppers, and green onions. After a little while, add the stock mixture and cook on high heat until done.

In a separate pan, saute all of your stir-fry ingredients and add the sauce. Make your cous-cous. Serve the vegetables and sauce over your rice or cous-cous.

a good feeling

Monday has changed. It used to be a day of dread, the start of the work-week, not something to be enjoyed. It's only been a few weeks since we first reclaimed Monday, but the changes were immediately apparent.

Mondays are still the beginning of the work-week, obviously, but now we look forward to what will happen when the day is done. Namely, making delicious food and drinking some wine with dinner and - now - watching the new episode of The Walking Dead. (Note: probably a good idea not to eat and watch at the same time.)


The story is basically the same: Danielle and Daniel decide on a delicious thing to make, and make it. What I like about this story is that it keeps happening, and because it keeps happening, the food we make gets better. I think we started out being pretty good at making food, but we are getting even more awesome at it the more we keep at it. Which is a good feeling.

So last night we made risotto, which neither of us had made before, and which was simple (albeit time-consuming). It was a comforting sort of food, thick and creamy, and probably better suited to the depths of winter instead of the surprisingly warm night on which we ate it. Our original idea was to have the veggies as a side, but we quickly abandoned that because they tasted so much better together.



Sun-dried Tomato Risotto with Asparagus and Bell Pepper
adapted from The Pioneer Woman

4 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 c. arborio rice
8 whole sun-dried tomatoes
1 c. white wine
7 c. veggie broth
white pepper
cumin
fresh basil, chopped

1 bunch asparagus
1 bell pepper
3 (more) cloves of garlic
cayenne pepper

Heat your broth in a pan and set it aside. In a large pot (or wok, like we used), heat the butter and the oil together. Add in the diced onions and the minced garlic - you'll want these to be chopped pretty finely, since the goal is for everything to meld together deliciously - and cook for a few minutes on medium-low heat. Add in the rice, stirring gently for another couple minutes until the rice is covered in the butter-oil mixture. Pour in the wine and mix until the liquid is absorbed by the rice. Toss in the chopped tomatoes.

One cup at a time, add in the broth. After each cup, stir until the liquid is absorbed. It's insane how much liquid the rice takes in, but keep going. Pretty much you keep doing this until the rice is done. You'll know when it still has a toothsome quality, but is not crunchy. You can add in the spices (cumin, white pepper) really at any point during the broth process. Stir in the basil when finished.

About ten minutes before the rice is done (you'll have to guess on this - and probably the veggies will be done before the rice), start preparing this veggie dish, with only one bell pepper. We didn't use cumin in these this time because it went into the risotto itself.

Serve together. Yum!

reclaiming monday

We were seduced by taco night.

It's just - that taco filling is so good! And tacos are so easy! And we get two or three entire meals out of them! And did I mention how good they are? So good. But yesterday Daniel lamented, "We have been corrupted by tacos. I miss culinary adventures already."

Which is how we wound up reclaiming Monday.



It wasn't exactly something we set out to do. We were at the supermarket, hoping to find all the ingredients for our meal, since even though we discussed it we did not have a back-up plan - and the next thing you know, Monday night feels like the weekend. The bottle of wine helped with that, but it was also simply the attitude with which we approached the evening.



It wound up being a really good night: we made delicious food (which I promise I will tell you about in a second), drank some okay wine, took a short walk, and hung out until midnight! On a weeknight! I know, we are pretty crazy.

So, this food. The recipe we started from called it pasta alfredo, but let's face it. This dish is delicious, and vegan, and also not fettuccine alfredo. I think it might actually be better than most of the fettuccine alfredo I've had, because it involves way more interesting ingredients. Some of which, granted, are kind of weird and may take a little snooping around in your supermarket to find. (A hint: nutritional yeast can be found in the bulk aisle of Whole Foods.)

It was so good that I went back for seconds while Daniel was finishing up his first bowl. I kind of want some right now, just writing about it. The weird ingredients are worth it, trust me. Make this. It is super easy and so g.d. delicious.



Fettuccine in Bianca
adapted slightly from here

1 c. rice milk
1/3 c. raw unsalted cashews
1/4 c. nutritional yeast
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp margarine
1 tbsp tahini (heaping)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp paprika
a couple shakes of nutmeg
a couple cloves of garlic

Add all the ingredients to a blender. Blend until smooth. Done.

Prepare some fettuccine. Drain. Put back in the pot you used to cook the noodles. Pour the sauce over. Use medium heat and cook until warm.

We also added some broccoli, which was the right decision.

pumpkin gnocchi

October is here, and that means sweater weather and pumpkin dishes. (You know, like, pumpkin cheesecake...mmm.)

I'm not sure where the idea for pumpkin gnocchi came from, exactly, but once it did, I sort of fixated on it. Which was a problem, seeing as I couldn't find pumpkin puree in the stores and didn't want to mash up a pumpkin on my own. So we had taco night. Problem solved!



...Except that I was still fixated. I wanted to make that pumpkin gnocchi. Pumpkin was finally found in the store, a big 29-oz. can of it, but it still took us a while to actually get around to make it. (There was a pretty awesome home-made General Tso's stir fry in there, too, but my contribution to that was really just chopping.) But make it we did, and then we gobbled it right up.



Pumpkin Gnocchi with Sage Butter Sauce
adapted from here

15 oz. pumpkin puree
2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
dash of nutmeg
dash of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper
1/3 c. melted (vegan, in this case) butter
about 7 minced sage leaves
3 cloves garlic, minced

Combine the pumpkin, flour, nutmeg, cayenne, salt, and pepper, until everything is incorporated. Take about a handful of the dough and, on a lightly floured surface, roll it into a rope about an inch in diameter. Cut the rope into pieces about an inch wide.

Get some lightly salted water boiling in a large pot. When they are ready, pop the gnocchi into the water. As they cook, prepare the sauce by melting the butter in a small pot. Add in the sage and the garlic; let simmer for a bit.

The gnocchi will be ready when the float at the top of the boiling water. Remove promptly and mix with the butter. Serve - with parmesan if you're not vegan!

a big claim

Sometimes it's hard to tell a story; here, on this blog, usually because it boils down to "Danielle and Daniel hang out and make delicious food," and while I enjoy that story, I feel like I've told it many times.

So let's begin somewhere else: taco night. Taco night has always been one of my favorite nights, and aside from ordering tacos at local chains, I haven't had one in a long time. Becca and I talked about it once, I seem to remember, but it never came to fruition. I thought about just having one myself, but taco nights are not really a solo activity.


Dear reader, I actually wanted to be telling you about pumpkin gnocchi right now, but alas and alack, the supermarket was out of pumpkin puree (and I really didn't want to go through the effort of pureeing my own pumpkin). There we were, in the supermarket, trying to figure out what to do for a delicious dinner.

We finally wound up in the Mexican food section, deciding on tacos, and gathered our ingredients. Later, in the kitchen, Daniel asked if I wanted to take pictures, "in case you want to blog about it." I didn't think I would be here telling you about tacos. I mean, they're just tacos, right? Wrong. In this case. The filling for these tacos surpassed my wildest expectations, as well as - I know this is a big claim - any previous taco nights.


Seriously. It was that good. Because we made a huge batch, a second taco night needed to be arranged. Immediately. (It's tomorrow. What a good birth-week!)

Daniel's Amazing Taco Filling

1 package veggie "beef" crumbles
1 can refried black beans
1 bell pepper
1/2 white onion
about 1/2 can chipotle peppers
a couple cloves of garlic

First, chop up the bell pepper, onion, and garlic. You'll want fairly small pieces so that they incorporate into the filling. You can chop the chipotle peppers now, too, but you'll want to throw in some of their juices once you start mixing everything together.

Next, pour some oil into a pot that will be able to contain all the ingredients. Start by browning the "beef" crumbles slightly, then add the onion and the bell pepper. When the onion and bell pepper are almost done, add in the chipotle peppers and the garlic. After a minute or two, add in the refried beans. Cook until hot.

Now all you have to do is grab your other taco condiments (we used salsa, guacamole, and both regular and vegan cheese) and you're ready to make your tacos! Yum.

starting to change

Change is on my mind a lot, lately. It's autumn, first of all, so even though the forecast for tomorrow is 90F (ugh), the breeze is still cool and the leaves are starting to change. Autumn is a good season for change, after all - but then again, what season isn't?

There are plenty of changes happening within my circle of friends, but the one that concerns this post is really Daniel's veganism. See, I have long had plans for making ice cream. These plans have never really come into fruition for one reason or another (usually my own laziness, let's be honest) - and technically they still haven't.

I found the recipe below on a blog I read regularly, and promptly sent it to Daniel, figuring he'd be interested in it. And he was, along with the suggestion that around this we create an elaborate vegan meal. This meal was to include plantain empanadas with refried beans, chipotle mashed potatoes, and some sort of stir fry.



Well, dear readers, there's a reason you're not reading about any of those today. I mean, they were all fine - and the latter two were certainly very spicy - but the empanadas, which were the most complicated, aren't really worth the complications. They basically caused Daniel and I to swear off baking with plantains, especially after they nearly destroyed my (tiny, granted) food processor and actually destroyed one of my spatulas with the frying.

(Note: the chipotle mashed potatoes were pretty awesome. To make these, simply make mashed potatoes and then stir in as much of a can of chipotle peppers as you'd like. Easy!)



The dessert, though - that turned out pretty much perfectly. Granted, it is a little weird: all the flavors go together, but the fact that it's frozen is just, well, weird. Don't let that stop you from trying this, however, because it's still quite tasty!

Avocado Ice Cream

Recipe

a stable foundation

Dear readers, it is time for me to admit what may have been obvious for some time: I am severely uninspired right now.

I'm not sure if it's that I've been doing this blog thing for over a year now, or that with the onset of summer I don't particularly want to turn my oven on, or maybe even the fact that this Thursday marks two years since I moved to DC. It's funny to think that two years have passed since I came here with only a duffel bag, relying on the generosity of friends. So much has changed since then.



Cooking is certainly one of those things, but luckily for me, my friends haven't really changed. The ways we interact with each other, sure; our relationships have not been static and continue to grow and change. It's just that underneath that we have a stable foundation. I know that I will be friends with these people for the rest of my life.

So when Daniel called me on a Friday night and said only, "Pot pie," I knew what to do. Well, okay, I knew what to do once we decided whose apartment to cook at (his, since he had all the veggies). It took us a while to actually get started, which meant we ate dinner around nine, but that sort of epitomizes summer, for me.



Here is another thing that hasn't changed in these two years in DC: I still get nervous when baking something new. Right up until we started eating, I was fretting that maybe the crust would be awful, or too buttery (I mean, there are two sticks of butter in that thing, which is kind of a lot), or just plain bad. It was not. It was pretty delicious, if I may say so myself. We even had it the next day for lunch.

Rustic Veggie Pot pie
adapted from Ruhlman's Ratio and a couple recipes from Joy of Cooking

for the dough
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 sticks butter
1/4 ice water (approx.)
pinch of salt

for the filling
(all of these should be about the same size)
1 medium-sized potato
carrots
broccoli
1 bag frozen peas
onion
garlic

for the sauce
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp a-p flour
1 cup milk
1 cup grated cheese (we used cheddar)

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

To make the dough, mix in the butter with the flour in a medium-sized mixing bowl, rubbing it in with your fingers. If you carefully read directions, you would have cold butter cut into small pieces. If you are like me, however, you will make small pieces with your fingers while mixing it in. And the butter will not be as cold as you realize it should be. Even if you are like me, this pie dough will turn out fine. Trust me. You should have pea-sized balls of butter, much like making scones. Slowly add the ice water, just a bit at a time, working the dough just until it comes together. Add the salt and work just a little bit more. Separate the dough into two equal pieces and refrigerate.

Because we're making a potpie, you'll need to blind bake your crust. Take one of the dough balls out of the refrigerator and roll it out. Place the dough in your pie tin, then line with aluminum foil and something to weighted - we used another, smaller pie tin, but you could use pie weights (which are made for this) or dried beans. Bake the crust for about 20 minutes. If you time it right, the other parts of the equation should be ready to go as well.

We did a quick saute of the vegetables, throwing them in based on how long they need to cook. So, in this order: potatoes, broccoli, carrots, peas, onion, garlic. You'll need a pretty big pot (or wok, which is what we used) to contain all of these, or I suppose you could use a couple different ones. Whatever works for you!

For the Mornay sauce, you'll start by making a roux, which just means you will melt the butter in a saucepan, then add in the flour. Stir the roux until it has blended together - this shouldn't take too long. Remove from heat and add in the milk, slowly. Once you add the milk, bring the pan back to a simmer, stirring constantly to prevent lumps from forming. Turn the heat down and slowly add the cheese in, while still stirring. When the cheese has melted, remove from heat.

Roll out the second ball of dough; this will be the top crust. Pour the vegetables into the bottom crust first, then the cheese sauce, and finally top with the crust. Carefully trim the edges of the top crust and make some slits for steam to escape.

Bake for about 30 minutes. Let cool, and enjoy!

going back south

Well, dear readers, I don't have much of a post for you today (but there is something of a recipe, don't worry). This is mostly because I am trapped in a barrage of trip-planning - I'm going back South for the weekend!, among other trips this summer - and that is, well, a little stressful.

So for right now, just have this little guide to avocado quesadillas. (Because apparently two other quesadilla recipes aren't enough. Duh.)



Daniel's Avocado Quesadillas

2 large avocados (or 3 medium ones)
1 medium onion
shredded cheese - we used pepperjack and cheddar
minced garlic - as much as you desire
tortillas

Prepare the avocados by basically making guacamole. (And let me amend: lime juice is key for tasty guac. It just is.)

Dice the onion, and slightly carmelize them. Throw in the garlic for about a minute and then pull off the heat.

Pour a little oil into a frying pan. Using low heat, warm the tortilla and sprinkle the cheese on top of it. When the cheese has melted a little bit, transfer to a plate. Add some of the onions, and spread the guacamole, before folding.

You will need a knife and fork to eat this. It's a little messy, but also absolutely delicious.

still unaware

It's been a year, dear readers!

Well, just about, anyway. A year ago tomorrow I made my very first post here. I had just started getting into cooking, still unaware of the hold it would get on me. I had no idea how much I would love kneading dough and pouring batter. I had no idea I would read a book on cooking ratios in a night.


A year ago I never imagined Daniel and I would be cooking fancy meals together, much less that we would go into the supermarket and buy what we needed with our good looks. I mean, that we would go into the supermarket without a plan, and make up a menu as we went.

It started with that pinnacle of spring produce, asparagus, to which we added a variety of colorful bell peppers. Dessert also came together in the produce section; first we thought dessert should just be a simple bowl of fruit. Me being me, of course, I saw little dessert cups and got inspired.


I've been wanting to cook with rhubarb, the darling of food bloggers everywhere, for some time. We had already grabbed some strawberries, so, really, how could I resist the pinkish stalks of rhubarb? I had no plan, just the knowledge that strawberry-rhubarb is a classic combination.

We kept everything a secret from our fellow diners until serving time, so forgive me if, um, I keep some secrets for a little bit. (Though my pictures may give it away.)

My favorite high school teacher, Doc, once told our AP Language class that "every meal is a communion." He was talking about literature, of course, and how everything an author chooses to include in the narrative should have importance - hence every meal being shown having the importance of Communion. The same is true in life, though, or at least has the possibility to be true.


It took a while for me to get from that statement to actually preparing and eating a homemade meal with friends (though college potlucks came close, even with their boxed macaroni and cheese). And let's face it, friends are why I do this. I don't imagine that any more than a few readers are people I don't know. But there are only a few people I'm able to cook and bake for, because of distance, so this is a nice way to share my newfound love of baking with them, too.

Don't get me wrong, our entire meal was not homemade. We bought local, fresh pasta and tweaked some of Newman's Bombolina sauce to go with it. (We made it spicier, obviously.) I did not make the ice cream - though that's on my list of things to challenge myself with. That's not the point. The point is making delicious food and sharing it with friends.


Asparagus with Peppers, Cumin, and Cayenne

There aren't a lot of amounts here, I know, and that's partially because Daniel made this (and isn't online to chat about how much he used) and partially because a lot of this is to taste. For instance, we are really serious about garlic. I think I minced half a head of garlic.

1 bunch asparagus
3 bell peppers (red, orange, yellow)
butter
garlic
cumin, to taste
cayenne, to taste

Chop all of the asparagus in half, making sure to also cut off the ends. Then chop all of the peppers into comparable slices. Mince garlic - as much as you want!

Start sauteeing the asparagus in butter. After a few minutes, add in the bell peppers. When the vegetables are nearly done, throw in the garlic and season to taste. Keep sauteeing for a few minutes more.



Rhubarb Compote
cribbed from Bon Appetit

You could eat this plain and I'm sure it would be good, but really, you owe it to yourself to pour it over some vanilla ice cream. It's kind of perfect. I've also seen similar dishes with ricotta cheese or yogurt. But really, who can pass up ice cream?

1/2 lb rhubarb
1/4 c sugar
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Cut the rhubarb into 1/2-inch slices or chunks. Toss in a saucepan with the sugar. Add butter and vanilla. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves, then cover and let simmer until rhubarb is tender. (Don't forget to stir occasionally while it simmers.) Transfer to a bowl and chill for about 2 hours.

Serves 4 perfectly, when served over ice cream.

The Nectar of the Gods

Danielle is out of town today, and she's asked me to fill in for her. I plan to revolutionize this blog with my single post! Observe, as I capitalize the title of my post! Cower, as I...

Okay, all I can really think to revolutionize is the capitalization of titles thing. I guess Danielle's blog is already pretty rad.

I want to talk to you about a special passion of mine. I learned a very important lesson at a very young age, one that I still hold as sacred truth today: There is just no substitute for pure maple syrup. If you are still putting some kind of syrup on your pancakes/waffles/french toast/whatever that is not pure maple syrup, you are making a major breakfast error. This is not just an opinion. Pure maple syrup is less processed than most other syrups. It's less processed than most other sweeteners, even. It's also more delicious. Okay, that last part may just be an opinion.

While there is no substitute for pure maple syrup, pure maple syrup can be a fantastic substitute for all sorts of other sweeteners. It brings a unique flavor all its own to anything you might otherwise flavor with sugar, honey, or agave nectar. Try it in your tea. Use it in your granola recipe. Put it on Danielle's french fries recipe from last week! Admittedly, my passion for maple syrup might run a little higher than yours.

Here's a favorite of mine, enhanced by the subtle deliciousness of maple syrup:

Peanut Maple Dipping Sauce (Or stir fry sauce)

This is ridiculously easy. We're really just going to take all the ingredients and mix them until the result is spectacular. Taste as you go. Quantities are approximated, and individual tastes should be catered to in terms of the sweetness, spiciness, and garlickyness. All of these are real words.

Mix the following in a bowl:

4 heaping tbsp of peanut butter (Preferably fresh ground, chunky, and unsweetened. You can get this in plastic tubs at most health food stores.)

2 tbsp pure maple syrup (The word pure is very important. If it doesn't say pure, it's probably not as delicious.)

2 tbsp hot sauce (I use Sriracha, but anything similar should be fine. If you've got a favorite, give it a shot.)

2 tbsp soy sauce (I don't really need to add a note here, but I have for every other ingredient, and I didn't want soy sauce to feel left out. Oh, I've got one! You can read about how soy sauce adds umami to a dish on Alex's bog here!)

2 cloves of garlic (I always just mix fresh garlic right into the sauce. You could cook it some, but that would make it both less delicious and less good for you. Garlic is really a miracle food.)

Now there's really just one more step. Add vegetable stock if you have it, or a little water if you don't, until the consistency is a little thinner. You could add a little sesame oil or something similar, but I usually don't. You want the end result to look something like this:

Now you've got a variety of options! You can dip things in it; I recommend dumplings, kebabs, or anything that typically comes on a stick. You could also make a stir fry with it, which is what I did. I was pretty happy with how this batch turned out, though I probably would have gone spicier. My friends will tell you that this is unsurprising. Some might even express their opinion that I cannot taste the things I make because I make them way too spicy. They are wrong about that.

If you try my dipping sauce and think of any fantastic ways to improve it, please let me know! Recipes should always be viewed as a work in progress.

daniel(le): starting the new year off right

Here is something I've learned about myself: I am much more of a baker than I am a cook. Scones? No problem. Cookies? Easy. Cake? Sure, except at midnight after yoga. Bread? Conquered.

Now, this isn't to say that I'm awful at cooking, like I previously thought. It's just that I am usually cooking only for myself, and at the end of a workday, I don't want to get much more labor-intensive than pasta and some fake-meat sauce. (I do have Judith Jones' The Pleasures of Cooking for One on my reading list, though, so we'll see if that changes anything.)


It's just that, I don't know, I prefer working with flour and sugar and eggs, I guess. I even like kneading. I like feeling the dough take shape under the wooden spoon, and then in my hands. There is something very satisfying to me about baking. I love watching things rise - either from yeast working its magic or just from the heat in the oven.

So Daniel and I make a pretty good team, as I've probably mentioned before, seeing as how he is really quite good at all of that cooking stuff. And when we get an idea into our heads, we make it happen.


And, if I may say so myself, usually to outstanding success.

This time it started with na'an. I suggested that I might try my hand at it to Daniel, and the beginnings for a fantastic Indian dinner were underway. We picked a day, gathered ingredients, and set to work. Na'an can be a little tricky - it requires a baking stone, or at least a baking sheet standing in for one, and very high heat. It took a deal of teamwork to get the dough into and out of the oven. (Big props to C.T. and Johanna!) The end result, however, really does pull the meal together - plus, who doesn't love fresh-baked bread of any kind? (Monsters, that's who.)

Garlic Na'an
adapted from Joy of Cooking

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
3/4 cup yogurt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp butter, melted
garlic

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, salt, and yeast. Add in the yogurt, olive oil, and water. Mix well until a ball of dough starts to form. Turn out onto a flat surface to knead for 10 minutes. If the dough has problems coming together or staying together, knead in a teaspoon or two of yogurt. This should help - if not, add a teaspoon or two of water. Transfer the dough to a slightly oiled bowl and let rise for 1 1/2 hours.

Move one of the oven racks to the lowest rung. Preheat oven to 475°F. If you're using a baking stone, go ahead and throw that in. If, however, you are like me and are using a baking sheet, wait until five minutes before you place the na'an in to put the sheet in on the lowest rack, upside down.

Punch down the dough and split into four pieces. Roll each piece into a bowl and let rise another 10 minutes. Use a rolling pin to flatten each piece into an oval. Brush the melted butter over them and sprinkle the chopped garlic on top. It's time to place them in the oven! I did two at a time, since that's as many as I could fit on the sheet without them touching.

Carefully remove and let cool before enjoying!

second installment

Part of what I love about baking (or cooking, in general) is sharing what I make with others. This contributes a lot, actually, to why my solo meals are often uncomplicated things like, uh, cheese and crackers and olives. That, and cooking for one person always, always involves reducing recipes. But that's neither here nor there.

But I also like cooking with other people - and, well, Daniel and I make the perfect team because our names are the same. So here comes the second installment of Danielle & Daniel Make Dinner. This time our inspiration was twofold: a pizzeria in Greensboro that made all sorts of delicious pizza variations, and my own focaccia recipe. Throw in my rapidly expanding cookbook collection and it is really just a recipe for greatness.


We had the perfect set-up for making this pizza too - namely, a captive audience. Jo, of course, was there for the first installment of Danielle & Daniel Make Dinner (we are thinking about "daniel(le)" - which we figure is just pretentious enough), but this time Andy decided to join us. About three years ago, Andy's Christmas present to me was a lovely pizza dinner, made from scratch, so I was excited to present my own offering.

And well, Daniel said it best: "Sexy people make sexy pizza." (Which was, of course, followed with: "put that on your blog!" And so I have.)


Because there were four of us, we made two pizzas. The first had a tomato sauce base (Newman's bombolina, which I highly recommend), mozzerella, and sun-dried tomatoes. It was pretty good, but could have benefited from cutting up the sun-dried tomatoes and spreading them out more. Also, dousing them in olive oil before putting them in the oven, since baking made them even chewier.


And then there was our masterpiece.

Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza

There are different kinds of gorgonzola (which we did not realize until last night) - we used piquante for this, but dolce would work too. Piquante, though, adds a nice variety of taste and stands in contrast to the sweetness of the pear.

For the pizza crust (makes two):
1 1/3 cups warm water
1 package active-dry yeast
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar

For the toppings:
1 pear
gorgonzola (see above)
carmelized onions

Combine the yeast and the water in a bowl, letting it sit while the yeast dissolves, or about five minutes. Mix in the flour, olive oil, salt, and sugar for about a minute with a wooden spoon. Knead by hand for about 10 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough, flipping it to make sure the whole thing gets oiled. Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and let rise for 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 475°F.

While the oven preheats and the dough rises, carmelize onions. To do so, just splash some olive oil into a pan and - on low heat - put the onions in. This is just about it - you'll want to keep an eye on them and move them around to make sure they evenly carmelize. You may want to put a pinch of salt and sugar in there (we did). This is a good time to prepare the other toppings, too!

When the dough has risen, split into two sections and transfer each to a baking sheet. If you have space, you may want to roll them out first, but it can be done by hand once on the sheet. On one, place sliced pears, chunks of gorgonzola, and the carmelized onions, making sure to evenly distribute the flavors. Brush olive oil onto the crusts.

Bake the pizza for about 15 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

returned

Well, dear reader, I am back.

I'm not sure I would even be back now if not for my dear friend Daniel, who said to me last week, "Let's make dinner together sometime this weekend!" So we tossed around a couple ideas, like pasta with pesto and sun-dried tomatoes, except I dismissed it as not quite complicated enough. I know, I know, I haven't cooked anything more complicated than boxed macaroni in the past two weeks, and I'm complaining that making pesto isn't complicated enough. Humans are funny creatures, what can I say?


We decided on Alex and Lindsey's honey broasted tofu, with red bell pepper and onion. You should probably go make this meal right now, actually, because it is that good. We pretty much followed the recipe there, except we let it marinate for a little bit while the potatoes were baking (and we used white wine instead of sherry). And the potatoes are actually what I'm here to tell you about, but I really can't pass up an opportunity to talk about how good that tofu was. It was amazing. I was tempted to go back for thirds, which never happens.


So, anyway, the potatoes. Daniel, you may remember, was one of the reasons I even started experimenting in cooking, and has himself been cooking for quite some time now. This is pretty beneficial to me, as I get to eat a lot of this food, but it also means he's really into experimenting with different combinations of food. And so, without further ado...


Daniel's Identity Crisis Potatoes

These came entirely from Daniel's brain box, though let me tell you, the name seems pretty fitting for my mental state the past few weeks. But that's neither here nor there. These potatoes are fairly simple to make, and maybe the most delicious way to eat potatoes I've tried yet.

1 Russet potato
1 sweet potato
brown sugar
garlic
parmesan cheese
butter
olive oil

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Roll the Russet potato in olive oil and salt, and the sweet potato in olive oil and brown sugar. Bake for about an hour and fifteen minutes, or until the skins start to be crispy* and a fork passes through cleanly. Take them out of the oven and turn the heat up to 450°F.

Scoop out the insides of each potato into separate bowls, leaving the skins as intact as possible. Mash the Russet potato with garlic, parmesan, and butter (to your taste), and the sweet potato with butter and brown sugar (again, to your taste). Here is where the "identity crisis" part of these potatoes comes in: scoop the Russet potato mash into the sweet potato skin, and the sweet potato mash into the Russet skin. I know, it sounds crazy.

Put the potatoes back in the oven for about twenty minutes. Serve!

* Daniel tells me the sweet potato skin was not as crispy as he would have liked, but I can assure you this does not affect how delicious it was.