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pizza napoletana @ home

No way, right?  There's no way that you could replicate the intense heat of the wood-burning ovens of Naples, Italy, right?  I mean, Jeffery Steingarten tried:

Not long afterward, I slid a raw pizza into a friend's electric oven, switched on the self-cleaning cycle, locked the door, and watched with satisfaction as the temperature soared to 800°. Then, at the crucial moment, to defeat the safety latch and retrieve my perfectly baked pizza, I pulled out the plug and, protecting my arm with a wet bath towel, tugged on the door. Somehow, this stratagem failed, and by the time we had got the door open again half an hour later, the pizza had completely disappeared, and the oven was unaccountably lined with a thick layer of ash. I feel that I am on to something here, though, as with the controlled use of hydrogen fusion, the solution may remain elusive for many years.

That was just one of his attempts and his concluding advice really doesn't give a good, replicable method that anyone could achieve at home.

I had tried for a while to recreate the pizza I had in Naples.  Pizza stones, quarry tiles, broilers, grills, grilling then broiling, par-cooking the crust, you name it -- but nothing came close.  My oven gets to around 550F, which makes a nice pizza flavored casserole (I have actually turned out very, very good Chicago-style "pizza"), but it doesn't give you that charred and blistered bottom, bubbled and puffy crust, and puddles of melted mozzarella sitting atop a few dollops of very plain but transcendent tomato sauce.  You can't do it without the heat.

And then Comcast gave me about 30 new HD channels.

Green HD -- who even knew about this channel?  But as I was flipping through the channels, I noticed a program called "In Search of Perfection."  It features England's biggest name in cookery (sorry Gordon Ramsay), Heston Blumenthal.  This particular episode had him in search of the perfect Pizza Napoletana.  He investigated cheese, dough, tomatoes, basil, and, most interestingly, method.  He tried the old Weber kettle grill (with the addition of his wife's oscillating fan blowing fresh air in through the bottom), but that left him with a burned bottom and undercooked top.

Finally, he hit upon genius.  A 12" cast-iron skillet, heated over a full blast flame for 20 minutes, then inverted and placed under your broiler (maybe 3 inches from broiler to bottom of the pan).  You slide the pizza onto the pan bottom, close the oven, and 90 seconds later -- yes 90 seconds! -- your pizza is done.  Folks, I tried it and it works.  Charred bottom.  Bubbling cheese.  Crisp crust.  You couldn't want for a better pizza from your home oven.

I only made one pizza tonight, as my wife went for a "Mom's Night Out."  I wonder how well the second pizza would turn out had I continued?  My guess is that I would have had to refresh the skillet on the stove for a few minutes, but probably not 20.  Cast iron is an inefficient conductor and thus retains heat very well.

You probably have a recipe for pizza dough but here is mine just in case you need one (makes enough for one 10"-12" pie - double, triple, or quadruple as you need):

100 g bread flour
2 g instant yeast
1 g table salt
5 g honey
3 g olive oil
55 g water (room temp, about 72F)
1 TB olive oil for the rise

Mix everything but the last tablespoon of olive oil together in a bowl until the dough comes together and is no longer a shaggy mess.  Briefly knead on a counter (no flour necessary) -- maybe 10 turns.  Coat with the olive oil and place in a bowl, covered in plastic wrap.  Allow to rise for about 2 hours at room temperature.  It probably won't double, but that's fine.

About twenty minutes before you're ready to eat, place your empty 12-15 inch cast-iron skillet over a high flame and turn on your broiler (as high as it goes -- about 550F if you have a choice).

Just before you're ready, flip the skillet and place under the broiler.  The bottom should now be facing your broiler.  Quickly stretch your dough into a rough round shape, leaving about a half inch border that's thicker than the rest.  Add your toppings*, then slide on top of the skillet.  Close the door and set a timer for 90 seconds.  If you can see inside your oven, you should watch, because it's an awesome sight.

Timer goes off, slide the pizza onto a cutting board, wait a minute so you don't burn the roof of your mouth, cut into 4 pieces, and inhale.

*Toppings? Buy some good tinned tomatoes (I actually prefer Pomi in a tetra-pak), smear it on lightly and sprinkle with sea salt and olive oil.  Buy a hunk of buffalo mozzarella and tear into large shards.  A few leaves of basil.  But stray from perfection if you dare...fig/prosciutto/manchego cheese maybe? Yumm...

romaine lettuce soup

I recently had to replace my blender (a KitchenAid department store model) because its drive mechanism was made of hard rubber and just stripped totally bare.  I wasn't blending anything funky, it just all of a sudden died!  Anyway, I did some research and figured that I should aim a little higher.  I was having an internal debate about the virtues of the Vita-Mix 5200 vs. the BlendTec Total Blender.  Both get high ratings and do pretty much the same thing.  They're also both exceedingly expensive, which is why when I found the BlendTec on sale at my local Costco, the debate was settled.

I've run a couple of their recipes through the blender and they all turn out well, if a little sweet for my tastes.  The ice cream is not a bad healthy alternative, though I am going to experiment with freezing milk instead of using ice cubes as suggested.  I was a little skeptical of having so many pre-programmed buttons (the Vita-Mix just has a variable speed knob), but the programs do what they're supposed to.  It's loud, but that's to be expected.

Anyway, after using it for a week, I found myself standing in front of the fridge wondering what to make for a healthy snack.  I had a nice head of romaine lettuce, but wasn't really in the mood for a salad.  I had seen a lot of recipes for blended greens in the BlendTec recipe book, plus I'd heard Mark Bittman (NYTimes Minimalist) and Lynn Rosetto Kasper (APM's The Splendid Table) wax poetic about cooking various lettuces.  So, I decided to try a pureed romaine soup.

I wanted to keep it simple, so I just tore the head of lettuce with my hands and dumped it into the blender carafe.  I added a half teaspoon of kosher salt and poured on 2 cups of boiling water.

The BlendTec handles hot soups pretty well -- the lid has steam vents, though I think I was supposed to remove the center cap and cover with a towel to be safe.  Regardless, I had no issues with explosions, but your mileage may vary.  Back to the recipe.


After pressing the "Soup" button, the machine sprang into action and made a ridiculous amount of noise for 80 seconds.  You see, the soup cycle is designed to heat whatever is in the carafe by virtue of its high RPMs.  Since I already put boiling water in, I probably could have stopped it after 10 seconds, but I let 'er rip anyway.  I then dropped a tablespoon of butter into the soup and pureed for another 10.

The soup turns out creamier than it deserves to be and has a very comforting, vegetal taste.  I tried adding a squeeze of lemon to sharpen up the flavors and it was good, though I think I prefer the version without acid.  Maybe a dollop of greek yogurt and a sprinkling of chives?  Anyway, it's light and satisfying and makes good use of my expensive new toy!

my sous vide supreme has arrived

I just received my Sous Vide Supreme and am looking forward to cooking/experimenting/having lots of fun with my food.  If you haven't been watching Top Chef, Iron Chef, or any of the other food shows that have used this culinary technique before, I offer you these links to explore:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-vide
• http://amath.colorado.edu/~baldwind/sous-vide.html
• http://www.sousvide.org/

If you're interested in what other bloggers are saying about the Sous Vide Supreme, check here:

• http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?client=news&um=1&cf=all&hl=en&q=sous+vide+supreme

This article from J. Kenji Alt-Lopez (of Serious Eats and Cook's Illustrated) goes into great detail about what you can do with the SVS (I've provided the link to his extensive slideshow as well):

• http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/12/new-sous-vide-supreme-machine-review.html
• http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/12/new-sous-vide-supreme-machine-review-slideshow.html

To catch some video of  what others have done with the SVS, here's a link from YouTube:

• http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sous+vide+supreme

I've posted about trying sous vide at home (via a carefully monitored slow cooker) before:

• http://www.thezenkitchen.com/2007/10/sous-vide-steak.html

I'll be cracking open the package and blogging about my achievements soon!

biscotti base

I love biscotti in just about every form, from sweet to savory. This is my go-to base for a sweet biscotti dough; you can customize it to your liking with almost any mix-in you desire. Any type of nut, dried fruit, chocolate chip, or combination will work -- just keep it to the specified amount.

You may wonder why I choose to use olive oil instead of butter. It's simple -- this recipe makes so many biscotti that it takes me a while to eat them all. Using olive oil helps them to keep longer without tasting "off" while the butter slowly goes rancid. Olive oil is also heart-healthy and brings an interesting fruity/peppery flavor to the cookie.  If you're not into the flavor of EVOO, you could sub some or all of it with canola oil (or any other oil for that matter). You could also use melted butter, but up the amount to 4 TB (since it's only 80% fat). Try browning your butter - this, too, makes a spectacular biscotti.

This recipe is for a pretty hard - but not tooth-crushing - biscotto; intended for dunking, though I eat them out of hand without a second thought.

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