Wednesday, April 14, 2010

pizza seems like a good place to start

Living on the West Coast, whenever I thought about coming back home, all I thought about was eating pizza- and TONS of it. It doesn't surprise me that our first blog post is about this amazing portable, delicious, and versatile food. We hit the Union Square Green Market the other day and grabbed some seasonal veggies. Although a little more limited from our usual California cornucopia, we found some really great gems. The early spring broccoli rabe, and the late winter fingerling potatoes were just amazing. We grabbed bunches of both while getting sprouts for our garden and spent the train ride home figuring out what we would do with them. The idea was obvious from the beginning. Pizza. Greens on pizza are amazing. Potato chips on pizza are superb (oh come on, you know you've done it). So we decided to make a pie. We almost ate the whole thing in one sitting it was so good. Katie made the dough while I was at work the day before, and then it rested until we made the dish for lunch the next afternoon. Our crust came out crispy, stiff, flaky, and moist; the veggies cooked to perfection; and the cheese was wonderfully caramelized.

Pizza Dough
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for table
3/4 cup 110-115 degree water, think hot tub
3/4 Tbsp. olive oil, plus more for bowl
1 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar

In a small bowl, combine the active dry yeast with warm water, olive oil, salt, and sugar. Stir and allow to sit for 5 minutes so the yeast can reanimate and get excited. Add wet ingredients to food processor first, followed by the flour, and give it a little stir to incorporate so you don't set off a flour bomb in the kitchen. Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until a solid dough ball forms (depending on your flour, humidity, or other factors you may need to add a little more flour to the food processor. Just make sure to add only a little at a time). Remove ball from your food processor and knead on a floured surface by hand for about 5 minutes, folding in half, squishing the dough, then turn 90 degrees and do the same. Then put about 1 1/2 tsp. of olive oil in a large bowl, roll the dough ball around to coat. Cover the bowl with a warm wet kitchen towel and let it sit on the kitchen counter to rise for one hour. The dough will rise to about twice its size. Wrap tightly and store for at least 24 hours. Dough will be fine in the fridge for up to 3 days. This recipe is easily doubled, tripled, quadrupled, or more. It is great to make in large batches, and the remaining dough can be separated into pizza sized balls and frozen in freezer bags for up to 2 month, just make sure the ball is coated with oil before placing into the bag.

Top with Sundried Tomato Pesto. We used Sauces 'n Love. Or you can pick your favorite pesto. Whatevs.

Sprinkle with 1/2 pound of shredded mozzarella, reserving about 1 handful.
Top with 2 cups of roughly chopped broccoli rabe, and 1/4 cup of shaved fingerling potatoes.

Finish the pizza off with the rest of the cheese, a sprinkle of olive oil, and some salt. Place into a 450 degree oven for 11 minutes on the middle rack.




Remove, cut, and get your grub on.
We're back!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

eating seasonally in brooklyn

Hi! Remember us? We've missed you! We just moved into our apartment on (a very cold and rainy) Tuesday. We're still getting our kitchen set up but we are absolutely going to be reviving our blog. We are still trying to decide on a CSA based in NYC that offers a decent amount of variety while still having somewhat easy to access a pick-up location. In the meantime we will be shopping the Green Market at Union Square Park (WHICH HAS RAMPS NOW!!!), and will begin getting back to blogging full-time as soon as we get some more furniture, and finish getting settled. We moved in to a really amazing apartment in South Williamsburg and have a MUUUUUCH larger and nicer kitchen than before! Thanks for hanging with us for so long, and we apologize for being gone for so long, but this move and our recent sublet have kept us out of the kitchen for a hot minute.

So... Look forward to more great recipes, silly anecdotes, and cooking tips from Katie and I. And while you are doing so, keep it local, and drink some good beer.

Any help on CSAs in Brooklyn would be amazing, even Southern Manhattan is doable since I (Kenny) work there. Also any help or tips for backyard gardens in NYC would be great as we plan to plant about 50 sq. feet of space with TONS of veggies!

Thanks for reading, and any advice you can give,
Kenny