Thursday, June 23, 2011

Help Sent, but Keep it Coming

I've received some great hot-weather ideas and recipes, so I'm posting them as they come in.  Here's another picture:

Cottage Lamplight, oil on paper 13"x20" 2006

First, a recipe from good friend and rock star extraordinaire Tom:
Mackerel, arugula and tomato sandwich 
"Halve some ciabatta rolls, toast or grill, spread with fresh roasted garlic all mashed up, top with arugula, red onion, tomato and mackerel. You can usually get the fish in a package, already smoked, in the fish dept."
  
Here's a Ligurian Tomato Salad from the wonderful Judith Greenwood.

And from fellow RFC foodie Serene:
Chinese Cabbage Salad
"Shredded cabbage and
chopped scallions tossed with a dressing of soy sauce, fruit juice (fresh-squeezed citrus juice or the juice from a can of mandarin
orange slices), sesame oil, a touch of brown sugar, fresh grated
ginger, and rice vinegar). Add optional mandarin orange slices and
optional almond slivers and optional crushed-up ramen noodles. Let sit
in the fridge for at least an hour unless you have no self-control, in
which case go for it unless there's ramen in there."

Thanks!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Uninspired. Send Help!

Open call for hot weather recipes. You will get writing credit and blogular gratitude. It's 100° here every day, has been for the last few weeks, will be for the next 2+ months. It's dry, dry, dry, so grilling is out, for now. 


I haven't posted in awhile. I haven't cooked anything interesting, so I figured I had nothing to offer. Also, my photographer has been on hiatus, giving me an excuse to slack off. After all, what is a blog post without a picture? Just a bunch of words, that's what. But that's lazy, so I'm adding a picture to justify my plea. Here's a painting:

 Repeat Sign, mixed media on paper, 26"x40" 2006




Friday, June 3, 2011

Easy Thin Crust Pizza

 thin crust pizza with broccoli florets and onion

I've tried several times to make a good, thin-crust pizza and mostly I've failed. This is due to my aversion to baking and my tendency to wing recipes (if I even follow them at all). Baking is different than cooking, for sure, and while there's chemistry in both, I find that I can put together a really nice meal much more easily than I can bake anything from scratch. I'm working on it, though, and I've found a good, thin crust pizza dough recipe that's difficult to screw up. I got the recipe from food.com and it's easy and quick; no rolling pin required, no overnight refrigerating.

I've used this recipe twice, and I think the secret is making sure the crust is thicker around the perimeter so it's nice and thin everywhere else. Also, it seems to be a good idea to pre-bake the crust for 5 (rather than 10) minutes. I haven't tried it without pre-baking, yet.

So far, I've only made veggie pizzas, which can make everything more soggy. My solution? Put down the cheese first, and don't overload it with veggies. A pepperoni pizza will crisp a lot more easily, and I plan to make one of those, soon. Also, I'm going to experiment with the crust a bit and see how it goes.

Sauce:
Saute 1 clove garlic (pressed or diced) in oil, on low heat for 5 minutes. Add a 15oz. can of plain tomato sauce, a few shakes each of dried oregano, basil and crushed red pepper, 1/4 tsp sugar. Cook on low for an hour or more.