Best Pizza Ever

NOTES from THE TABLE

The best foods are usually simple, uncomplicated, accessible, and reliable. This pizza dough and sauce is an evolution of a recipe that began many years ago with a great dough recipe from Canal House and sauce made up on the fly. It’s become family staple and community legend.

Crowd your tables,

Megan

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BEST PIZZA EVER

INGREDIENTS (DOUGH)

One 1/4-ounce envelope active dry yeast (2 ¼ t)

3 T really good extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the crust

4 cups bread flour, plus more for kneading

2 t salt, plus more for crust

Cornmeal (opt.)

Garlic clove (opt.)

STEPS

Dissolve the yeast in ½ cup warm water in a Pyrex measuring cup.  Stir in 1 ¼ cups water and 2 T of the EVOO.  Pulse the flour and salt together in a food processor.* Pour the yeast mixture into the feed hole of the processor with the machine running.  Process until the dough comes together and forms a sticky smooth ball, about 1 minute.  

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead it five or six times until you have a smooth ball.  Pour the remaining 1 T EVOO in a large bowl.  Invert the dough into the bowl and move it around to cover the bowl and the dough with a nice layer of oil.  Cover tightly and let sit in a warm place until it’s doubled in size, about 2 hours. 

*You can adapt this for use with your standing mixer and bread attachment if you don’t have a food processor.

On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into four equal parts.  Shape into balls.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a clean dish towel.  Allow the dough to rest for 1 hour.  While the dough rests, place two pizza stones in a cold oven and preheat to 500 degrees.  This is a great time to start making your sauce, if you’re making your own.  You can also pour a few tablespoons of EVOO into a small bowl and add a sprinkling of salt and a crushed garlic clove for the last step, if desired.

Once dough has rested, cut four equal pieces of parchment, large enough to fit on the baking stones.  Spray two pieces of parchment with cooking spray and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal (if desired.)  With lightly floured hands, press a round of dough out to about a 10 inch circle on a prepared piece of parchment.  Repeat with the other round.  (Keep the other two covered so they don’t dry out.)

Add your sauce, cheese, and toppings.  Carefully remove the stones from the oven to the counter; slide the parchment directly onto the baking stones and return to oven.  Bake pizzas until the cheese is nicely browned, about 5-6 minutes.  Prepare the other two pizzas while the first two bake.  When pizzas are done remove the stones from the oven and slide the parchment onto the counter, repeating the baking process with the other pizzas.

If desired, brush the hot crust with more EVOO or EVOO infused with garlic.

INGREDIENTS (SAUCE)

2 cans Muir Glen Organic NO SALT ADDED Diced Tomatoes

Basil, fresh or dried 

1T EVOO

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ t red pepper flakes

Salt and Pepper

STEPS

In a cold pan with sloping sides, add EVOO, minced garlic, pepper flakes, and about ¼ t salt.  Turn the burner on medium high, constantly stirring the EVOO mixture as the pan heats up.  When the garlic begins to sizzle and turns amber in color, add the tomatoes.  If using dried basil, add it now, otherwise, toss chopped fresh basil in at the end.  

Bring the mixture up to a simmer, stirring often.  As the tomatoes cook, break them down using a wooden spoon or spatula to create a uniform sauce.  The sauce will begin to thicken as it simmers, usually after about 10-15 minutes.  

When sauce reaches the desired consistency, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Buttery Chocolate Chip Cookies

NOTES from THE TABLE

I started cooking in college. One of the first recipes I mastered was Betty Crocker’s Buttery Chocolate Chip Cookies. These cookies are everything a classic chocolate chip cookie should be. When they’re just right, they are chewy, but a little crisp on the outside, full of butter and love.

When I worked with college students, I spent a lot of time in dorm rooms. One night, I brought a batch of these cookies to a bible study at the start of a new semester. After one bite, a freshman girl said to me, “Mmm. Are these Betty Crocker Buttery Chocolate Cookies?”

“Yes they are.”

“My mom makes these.”

This is, simply, the best chocolate chip cookie recipe. You’ll never need another one. These taste like home.

Crowd your tables,

Megan

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BUTTERY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Find this recipe online here.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 eggs

4 cups Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 package (24 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (4 cups)

STEPS

Heat oven to 350°F.  Mix butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs in large bowl using spoon. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until light brown. Cool slightly. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack; cool.

Alice Waters' Lemon Curd

NOTES from THE TABLE

It’s the start of a new year, so let’s begin with a recipe you’ll love to make for the very first meal of the day.

Of course, beyond breakfast, it’s good at tea time, snack time, and dinner, too. This lemon curd is bright, clear, and stunning. Eat it on biscuits or on french toast with berries. Slather it on cake. Eat it in small ramekins with whipped cream on top. Eat it out of the jar. Eat it by yourself anytime you want. But of course, eat it with your people, too.

Intimidated? It’s much easier than you think, and much better than anything you’ve ever had from a jar.

Crowd your tables,

Megan

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ALICE WATERS’ LEMON CURD

This recipe is shared from Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food.

Wash and dry 4 lemons*

Grate the zest of one of the lemons on the small holes of a grater.**

Juice the lemons; there should be about 1/2 C juice.

Beat until just mixed:

2 eggs 3 egg yolks

2 T milk 1/3 C sugar

1/4 t salt (omit if using salted butter)

Stir in the lemon juice and zest and add 6 T butter, cut into small pieces.

Cook the mixture in a small nonreactive heavy pan, stirring constantly, over medium heat until it is thick enough to coat a spoon. Do not boil or the eggs will curdle. When thick, pour into a bowl or glass jar to cool.

Cover and refrigerate.

* If you’d rather not juice all those lemons, 1/2 C lemon juice can be substituted. Just remember you’ll still need one lemon for zest. Either way, the result is identical.

** A microplane grater will change your life.

Rustic Tomato Stew

NOTES from THE TABLE

It’s December. It’s a month of treats and parties and eating every imaginable thing, usually all in one sitting. The holidays are wonderful, and complicated, and generally, over-stuffed in every way for many of us. This recipe came straight from our house; it’s simple, inexpensive, uncomplicated, and good for you. We made this up several years ago in the dead of winter and return to it often. I’ve passed it on too many times to count.

You may not think you are a tomato person, but perhaps you just haven’t met the right recipe yet. Try out this stew on your own, then try it with a crowd. I’ll give you the proportions to make soup for one (this is a wonderful alternative to canned soups if you’re looking for a quick lunch option). But just increase the cans of tomatoes to match the number of people you’re serving, and amend the other ingredients to taste to serve a group. This multiplies easily; you can’t mess it up. Also, your house will smell amazing.

Have friends bring a green salad with a tangy vinaigrette, some crusty bread, good parmesan cheese, some wine, and something sweet, and you’re all set for a cozy winter night.

Crowd your tables,

Megan

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RUSTIC TOMATO STEW

Serves One

NOTE: California Olive Ranch makes a great everyday EVOO. And getting no salt added diced tomatoes truly is a game changer. Muir Glen’s Organic No Salt Added Diced Tomatoes really are excellent for this soup, but you might love another brand. The point? No Salt Added— you won’t regret it! They’ll warm up to a nice and sweet, savory soup, and taste like tomatoes should.

1/2 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Dash Maldon Sea Salt Flakes

1/4 t Red Pepper Flakes

2 Garlic Cloves, minced

(1) 14.5 oz can Muir Glen Organic No Salt Added Diced Tomatoes

Basil to taste, fresh or dried

1. Add EVOO, garlic, salt, and pepper flakes to a cold skillet. Set the burner to medium high heat and stir constantly as it warms. This allows you to heat the garlic slowly, to avoid scorching. Stir until the garlic is simmering, fragrant, and deepens to a nice golden color, about 2 minutes.

2. Add tomatoes and basil. Bring to a simmer, stirring often, until the tomatoes cook down a bit and start to thicken, about 5 minutes, or as long as it takes to look broken down and just right for you.

3. Transfer to a bowl and garnish with Parmesan if desired.

Pork Ragu

NOTES from THE TABLE

We all need a recipe like this one in our back pocket: weeknight easy, dinner party perfect, leftovers for days.

Jenny Rosenstrach’s recipe for Pork Shoulder Ragu follows through with all its promises. It’s simple to prepare, makes your house smell amazing, and brings a classic list of ingredients together in an unexpected way.

Serve this with a good salad (perhaps with a vinaigrette with a sweet zing), a hearty wide pasta like pappardelle or egg noodles, and lots of good shaved parmesan or pecorino romano on top (spring for the good stuff).

The leftovers are amazing, and you can shake them up by eating this the second night on good rolls instead of pasta.

Crowd your tables,

Megan

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PORK RAGU

This recipe was created by Jenny Rosenstrach for her blog, Dinner, a Love Story, and is also published in her cookbook of the same name. Here is the recipe straight from Jenny’s blog, in her husband Andy’s own words:

Originally published at Dinner, a Love Story. Find the full, excellent cookbook here.

Because this is pork, it goes well with a salad that has a little sweetness to help cut the porkiness. (That’s Jenny’s word.) Greens with pear, blue cheese, and pine nuts? Greens with pistachios and pomegranates? Either would be good with our standard vinaigrette.

Also, this serves about six normal-size people. If you are cooking for more than that, cook another pound of pasta, up the meat to 3 pounds, and add few more tomatoes, and another 1/2 cup of red wine. Like the other braised pork recipe we ran recently, it’s nearly impossible to get wrong, so don’t get too hung up on the exactness of measurements. But if you use 3 pounds of pork and keep the liquid at a third of the way up the meat, that will be enough to feed four parents and four kids. With leftovers. A few of you have reported back that it benefits from an extra splash or two of diced tomatoes at the end to loosen it up. I have done this many times.

2 to 2 1/2-pound boneless pork shoulder roast

1 small onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small pat butter

1 large can whole tomatoes, with juice

1 cup red wine

5 sprigs fresh thyme

5 sprigs fresh oregano

Small handful of fennel seeds

1 tablespoon hot sauce, for smokiness (I used Trader Joe’s Hot Chili Sauce)

Pappardelle

Freshly grated Parmesean

Preheat oven to 325°F. Liberally salt and pepper the pork roast. Add olive oil and butter to large Dutch oven and heat over medium-high until butter melts, but does not burn. Add pork roast to pan and brown on all sides, about 8-10 minutes in all.

Add the onion and garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, wine, thyme, oregano, fennel, and hot sauce and bring to a boil. Cover, and put in oven. Braise for 3-4 hours, turning every hour or so. Add more liquid (water, wine, or tomato sauce) if needed. (The liquid should come to about 1/3 of the way up the pork.) Meat is done when it’s practically falling apart. Put on a cutting board and pull it apart with two forks, then add back to pot and stir. Cook 1 to 2 pounds pasta according to package directions. When it’s is ready, put into individual bowls and top with ragu and lots of Parm.

Simple Focaccia

NOTES from THE TABLE

Baking bread is a very real act of faith. Whether it's your first try or a daily ritual, you're going to look at the meager pile of ingredients — flour, yeast, water, salt— and think, "Really? This?" But every time you trust the process, every time you take the simple steps and let time do it's job, you're going to get bread. Yes you. You might not think you're a person who bakes bread, but you are.

We're going to make focaccia. You'll cut through its hot, crisp exterior to find a tender, light interior. It starts out as a humble pile of mush in a bowl, what we call a biga. Many recipes for Italian bread begin with a biga because it will build complex flavor and ideal texture (tender but with lots of open pockets). The biga will actually even help preserve the bread. You'll begin with a bit of lumpy biga, then you'll wait. For a long time. Like overnight or a whole day. Then just a few more simple steps, and by dinner time, you'll have hot, fresh bread, perfect alongside soup (or anything else). People who don't even like you will accept dinner invitations to get this bread.

It will start as a simple, humble mess. You will give it time. You'll trust the process and obey the steps, and you'll make something beautiful. Let the life lesson not be lost on us.

Crowd your tables,

Megan

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SIMPLE FOCACCIA

This recipe is adapted from America's Test Kitchen's recipe for Rosemary Focaccia, which you can access for free here.

STEP 1: BIGA

In a large mixing bowl, use a rubber spatula to combine 1/2 C Flour, 1/3 C Warm Water, and 1/4 t Rapid Rise or Instant Yeast.

The water should be warm to the touch, but not hot, or you'll kill the yeast.  The mixture will be sticky and lumpy.

Cover with plastic wrap and tuck away on your counter overnight, up to a whole day.

STEP 2: ADD-INS & KNEAD

2 hours before mealtime, into the biga add 2 1/2 C Flour, 1 1/4 C Warm Water, and 1 t Rapid Rise or Instant Yeast.   With your spatula, mix to combine.  Cover with plastic wrap, and let it sit for 15 minutes.  This gets the yeast going.

Next add 2t of Table Salt and use your spatula to combine.

Cover with plastic wrap and set a timer for 30 minutes.

When your timer goes off, uncover the bowl.  You'll notice bubbles are starting to form.  Be gentle with the dough.  You want those bubbles.

Take your spatula and gently grab underneath one side of the dough, and sort of scoop it up and stretch it over the top, tucking it in on the other side.  This doesn't have to be perfect.  No fear.  Just take one end of the dough, and move it over to the other side.  Just don't crush your dough.  Keep the bubbles.

Rotate the bowl 1/4 turn, and repeat the same stretch and tuck method. Do this 4-6 more times.  Then cover the bowl and set a timer for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, repeat this stretching and tucking process again, 6-8 times, and set another timer for 30 minutes.

STEP 3: PREHEAT & BAKE

While you wait that last 30 minutes, place 2 baking stones in your cold oven (or one if that's all you've got.)  Heat your oven to 500 degrees.  

Prep two 8 or 9 inch cake pans by placing 1 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil in each, swirling it around to cover the bottom.  Sprinkle the bottom of each pan with about 1/4t Kosher Salt.

When that timer goes off, lightly flour a space on your counter and turn the dough out onto it.  Use a pastry scraper or a chef's knife to cut the dough in half.  Be gentle.  

Shape each half into a round by carefully cradling it in your hands, tucking the cut end underneath.  Place each round in the prepared cake pans upside down, swirling them around to cover the tops of the rounds with oil and salt, and to evenly coat the pans with oil.  Flip them over and cover with plastic wrap.  Wait 15 minutes.

Use your fingers to gently press the dough outward more toward the edges of the pan- it's ok if it doesn't go all the way.  Poke any very large bubbles with a fork-  just the really big ones.

Turn your oven down to 425 degrees and place your cake pans on top of the pizza stone(s).  The hot stones are going to make the bottom of that bread crispy and beautiful.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, just until the top is golden brown.  Swap the pans around and rotate them halfway through your time for a more even bake.  Cool on a wire rack 10-15 minutes before slicing however you'd like.  
 

The leftovers make delicious toast the next day, especially for sandwiches.