Watts Up Cocktail

Cocktails have been on my mind recently.  There's a long list of recipes I'm hoping to mix up.  And I may have just subscribed to Imbibe magazine (Oops. Though I swear I have valid reasons!).  With spring emerging in Ohio, I'm ready for margaritas galore.  In fact, I have another margarita recipe for you next week.  But for now, let jalapeno, citrus, and tequila wake up your cocktail tastebuds--surely, they're a separate category--and prepare you for a season filled with margaritas, mojitos, and all sorts of summer drinks!

For you own fun, check out these two marvelous lists of cocktails:
50 Cocktails from 50 States from TheKitchn.com (originally from the NY Times)
20 Summer Cocktails with Fresh Herbs from TheKitchn.com


Watts Up Cocktail
from Everyday Food/Martha Stewart media
Makes 1 drink

*A note in advance... While this drink is delicious as is, it would be even more drinkable should you swap the minced jalapeno for either jalapeno-infused tequila or a jalapeno simple syrup.  How to make these are below, in the "notes" section.

Ingredients:
2 oz. silver tequila
1/8 - 1/4 tsp. minced jalapeno (seeds removed)
1 tbsp. lime juice
3 oz. grapefruit juice
1/2 tsp. honey
dash of chipotle salt (combine 3 tbsp. coarse salt with 1/2 tsp. chipotle chile powder)

You'll have plenty of leftover chipotle salt.
Store it in an airtight container.
I use mine - with some additional chile powder!- on roasted sweet potatoes.

Preparation:

Combine the diced jalapeno and lime juice in a glass.  Muddle (a muddler with a flat heat, like the OXO Steel Muddler, or the side of a large spoon work best here) briefly to release some of the jalapeno's flavor and heat.  Skip muddling if you're not a fan of pepper heat.

Add the remaining ingredients, stir, and enjoy!

Notes:

--You'll have extra chipotle salt. Store it in an airtight container and sprinkle on sweet potatoes or meat. It's a good thing.  Or continue to use it as an impromptu "sour mix" for your cocktails.  You can guess which one I went with...

--The chipotle salt takes the place of the ubiquitous and typically disgusting sour mix.  Here, against lime juice and grapefruit juice, the chipotle salt is amazing and balanced.  If you don't like sour mix in your margaritas, give this salt a chance.

--It turns out, I, like most other people, don't enjoy chunks of jalapeno in my cocktail.  Next time, I will skip the chopped jalapeno and swap in some jalapeno simple syrup (about 1/2 tsp. to 1 1/2 tsp. per drink).  Or better yet, made a stock of jalapeno-infused tequila.  There will be plenty of cocktails begging for its use!

To make jalapeno simple syrup:

• Wash and slice a jalapeno into rounds.  Remove the seeds and white interior ribs if you want less heat;  keep them if you're a hot-head like me!
• In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm equal parts of water and granulated sugar.  Stir occasionally, until the sugar is fully dissolved.
• Add your jalapeno slices to the simple syrup, cover with a lid, turn off the heat, and remove the saucepan from the burner.  Allow to sit for 10-20 minutes.
• Pour through a strainer to remove the jalapeno slices and store in the refrigerator for approximately 2 weeks.

To make jalapeno-infused tequila:

• Wash and slice 1-2 jalapenos into rounds.  Remove the seeds and white interior ribs if you want less heat; keep them if you want lots of heat.  Remember, the heat level varies greatly between individual jalapenos.....so choose wisely!  I'm a spicy food fanatic, and even after I removed most of the seeds and ribs here, I was still surprised by how spicy my tequila was.  The next batch, however, had a lot less potency.
• Place the jalapeno slices in a glass container and add between 1/2 cup - 1 cup tequila blanco (white tequila).  Allow the mixture to sit for 20 minutes (moderately spicy) to 40 minutes (very spicy, may be almost painful).  Pour the tequila through a mesh strainer to remove the jalapeno slices.
• Store your infused tequila in a sealed glass jar to prevent it from picking up any wonky flavors from the container.  

Pies and Pints | Brussels Sprout Pizza

The tradition continues in week two of Pies and Pints!  My roommate turned me on to the glory of roasted Brussels sprouts, for which I am quite grateful.  Usually I'll saute some thinly sliced Brussels sprouts up with some bacon, dried cranberries, candied pecans.  Or--a newly discovered and newly beloved preparation from the blog Five and Spice--I'll pan roast sprout halves, adding kimchi in the last minute.  I seriously can't get over Brussels + kimchi.

But back to the pizza.  With our shared love of roasted Brussels sprouts, we thought it'd be a great idea to put them (along with some cheese) on top of a pizza.  As for the crust, we wanted to continue testing different recipes in our search for the Best Crust Recipe(s) Ever.

This week's Pies and Pints selections...

• Toppings:  Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Provelone Slices, Apple and Onion Slices, and shaved Parmesan

• Crust: Spelt Crust, adapted from Ancient Grains for Modern Meals by Maria Speck

• Beer:  Sierra Nevada's Ruthless Rye

Spelt Crust
from Ancient Grains for Modern Meals by Maria Speck
Makes 2 pizza crusts

Ingredients:
2 cups whole grain spelt flour
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. fine sea salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
1/4 cup whole milk
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 large egg
coarse cornmeal for dusting the peel and pan

Preparation (by hand):
Whisk together spelt flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.  Make a well in the center.

In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, milk, oil, and egg.  Beat with a fork until smooth.  Pour the ricotta mixture into the well you made in the dry ingredients.  Combine with a fork, stirring from the center and gradually incorporating the flour from the sides until a fairly moist dough comes together.

Transfer the dough to a well-floured work surface.  Lightly flour your hands and briefly knead 5 to 7 turns to get a smooth yet slightly tacky dough.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 30-45 minutes to allow the brain in the flour to soften.

To roll out your dough, see Assembly instructions below.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Preparation:

Wash and halve each Brussels sprout, cutting it so that each half remains attached at the "base" part of the sprout. Heat about 1-2 tbsp. (depending on the amount of Brussels sprouts you are roasting) of peanut oil over medium-high heat (so a drop of water sizzles when added).  Place the sprouts in the pan, cut side down, and cook for several minutes until deeply brown.  Stir the sprouts and cook for a few more minutes (4-5), until the sprouts are just beginning to be tender and easily pierced with a knife tip.  Remove from heat to limit any additional cooking.

Assembling the Pizza:

Place your pizza stone or an upturned baking sheet in a cold oven.  Next, preheat to 400-450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Meanwhile, unwrap your dough, transfer to a lightly floured work surface, and cut into 2 equal pieces.  Lightly flour your hands and briefly knead one piece until smooth, about 7 to 10 turns.  Roll or pat your dough out until it is between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick.

Generously dust an upturned baking sheet or pizza peel with cornmeal, so your dough doesn't stick to it and will transfer easily to the preheated stone/sheet.  Lay your dough on top of the cornmeal.

It's time to assemble the pizza!  On top of your dough, brush extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle minced garlic. Place a layer of provolone slices, then apple slices and onion slices (both made with a mandolin or very thinly sliced with a knife).  Next, add your roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted side up.

Generously dust the hot pizza stone or upturned baking sheet with cornmeal, so you prevent your pizza from cooking onto the stone/sheet.  Carefully transfer your assembled pizza onto the hot stone/sheet.  We've found that using a combination of lifitng the front edge with a spatula + sliding the remainder of the pizza onto the stone/sheet to work best.  And after a few times, you'll scatter a lot less cornmeal around the oven and floor, I promise!

Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the crust is done and cheese is browned.  Carefully slide your pizza from the pizza stone/upturned baking sheet onto a pizza peel (or wood cutting board or another upturned baking sheet), using the spatula + slide technique.  Sprinkle liberally with shaved Parmesan, cut, and dig in!

Our thoughts on this week's selections...

• The Toppings:
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Provelone Slices, Apple and Onion Slices, and shaved Parmesan
• Loved the Brussels sprouts. Roasted, almost charred...but practically flavorless without additional seasonings. Alas, none of the other toppings did much to help in this area, so I can't even say this was my favorite part of the pizza.
• Provelone, apple, and onion....not much flavor here either. Sigh.  Total bust in the flavor department.

• The Crust:
• Not something I'd ever like to revisit. I like my pizza crusts to have both a crispy, crunch crust and a chewy interior.  This spelt crust had absolutely no crunchy crust or chewy interior. Just a lot of soft and crumbly bread, almost like a very dried out quickbread (blurgh!).  
• However, the fact this dough didn't use yeast meant it came together incredibly quick, thanks to no rise time

• The Beer:
• This is one of my first opportunities to try a rye beer, and I must admit to enjoying it! 
• There's a slight tang from the rye that makes this brew different and interesting.  Paired with its medium body (not too light or heavy) and generally balanced flavors, Ruthless Rye would go well with a variety of savory foods. One I'd be happy to drink again.

Guess we failed in the toppings and crust department...but there's always next week!

Pumpkin and Pineapple Cocktail

Alright, you probably think I'm a bit of a nutter for suggesting pumpkin plus pineapple. Maybe even for suggesting pumpkin be consumed outside it's traditional fall season.  Well, give me a chance!

It's spring, that transition between dreary winter and sultry summer.  So we need an app a drink for that (obviously).  And the Pumpkin and Pineapple Cocktail is just the ticket. It's got the warmth of spices, the slightest molasses note of dark rum, and the comforting depth of pumpkin puree.  Then a little something extra comes to the party in the form of pineapple, transporting you to sunnier days and a cabana on the beach.  In other words, pumpkin + spices are lightened up and taken to a whole new realm by tropical pineapple....and the tropical pineapple is likewise altered by the earthy flavors of pumpkin + spices, which prevent it from turning into a sickly sweet bomb.

As you're sipping this cocktail, you might find yourself thinking Woah. What is that? I need another taste... And another... Okay, I like this. I really like this.  Must. Have. More.   At least that's what I did, because the flavors were so unexpected yet so fun and delicious.  Give non-fall pumpkin and unexpected flavor combinations a chance!

Pumpkin Pineapple Cocktail

from Cookie + Kate

Makes 2 drinks

Ingredients:

7 oz. pineapple juice

3 tbsp. pumpkin puree

1 tsp. honey (add more or less to taste)

1 large lemon, juiced

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground ginger

dash nutmeg (freshly grated for the best flavor)

dash allspice or cloves

3 oz. dark rum (not spiced...dark rum, like Mrs. Meyers or Gosling's)

Preparation:

Pour all ingredients into a blender and blend well.  Into two glasses, pour over ice and, if you're feeling fancy, garnish with a dash of cinnamon on top. Cheers!

It's an unusual pairing, pumpkin and pineapple, so I have to admit, I was a bit nervous this might not be something I wanted to finish drinking (the horror!). But each sip was delicious! I was intrigued by how the slightest hint of molasses from the dark rum and the spices brought two very disparate players together.  I  loved trying a combination fresh and new to me, so much so that I couldn't put my glass down!

And if you're thinking pumpkin should only be consumed in the fall, I strongly disagree.  Make some pumpkin waffles/pancakes or a pumpkin milkshake (bonus for adding pumpkin cream liquor). Stir some pumpkin puree into your smoothie or  your yogurt.  It is so good and it should be seen more outside of fall!

This and That | March 2013

St. Patrick's Day...in food and drink.
If I can make something specifically for a holiday, like Irish soda bread for St. Pat's or pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, I'm going to go overboard.  And I'm going to love it.  Soda bread has been a St. Pat's tradition, as have car bomb shots, for several years.  The potatoes baked with dill and corned beef are a newer tradition, making an appearance last year and this year with approval from the boys.

whole wheat soda bread with raisins

Guinness sausages and onions cooked in stout

baked potatoes cooked with dill and corned beef
(well, actually pastrami...but close enough)

Great Lakes Brewing Company's
Conway's Irish Ale
A favorite tradition for St. Pat's

car bomb shots

my mini-beaker shot class was too light to sink to the bottom

so it floated on top of the thick Guinness foam

This cranberry dressing and these salad greens

My new found love of brussels sprouts led me to try a raw brussels sprouts salad...which wasn't quite my favorite.  But the dressing! Easy to make (just use your blender!), a beautiful color, and that perfect mix of tangy-sweet flavor. Even though I omitted the basil in the original recipe, I was quite happy with my dressing. I may have dipped apple slices meant for my salad into the dressing during assembly and loved it.

cranberry, honey, mustard dressing

make a batch in your blender and

store it in the fridge for a week or two

I'm not much of a salad person (yet).  But I've found myself eating a salad with these greens three times this week. They have a little more flavor and texture than your average iceberg or romaine lettuce, but they don't overwhelm with flavor.  When paired with the cranberry dressing and apple slices, it's so dang tasty.

A Penzy's Spices near my apartment?!?!

This means bad, bad things for my already overwhelmed spice shelf...  but good things for me! 

That sweet curry is destined for a curried carrot cupcake recipe.  The rest is just for fun...and because I can't resist.

A dinner party

Even though I was the one calling it a dinner "party" (it was just dinner), I was so excited to plan and make dinner for Eric's band.  It seemed like I wowed them, which felt pretty great.

Wedding things are moving along

My dress - check! 

(though no pictures until the big day, so I don't ruin the surprise for Eric.  He's been told my dress is multicolored, spangled and sparkly, with feathers, polka dots, and lots of ruffles!)

Save the Dates sent - check!

Linens, plates, chairs ordered for venue - check! 

(done while sipping mimosas and bloody mary's, thanks to Buckeye Vodka and Prime Time Party Rental!)

Bridesmaid's dresses - in process, but I'm going to give it a check!

My parents are even taking dancing lessons! How sweet!

Slowly moving my things in to Eric's house and organizing them in a way that works for both of us - in the process!  It's so much crazier than you'd expect! When did I accumulate so. much. stuff.?

Up next:
Photographer
Food tasting for reception venue
Meeting with the priest/church coordinator
Florist
Cake tastings!!! (I may be more than a bit excited about this one. I'm definitely going to employ Shannon's advice, asking for another taste because I just can't decide...)

The Shrimp Scampi That Changed My Mind

I've had a mental block against eating seafood since I was five years old.  It stems from eating Long John Silvers and my thought that I could actually see the fish's gills.  Apparently my young self was very, very good at setting up barriers to certain foods...because I didn't even try shrimp until recently.

Once I tried it, I realized shrimp weren't too bad.  I wasn't eager to eat a ton of it, but I might have a few pieces every once in awhile.  But, oh, I would never, ever cook seafood in my home because of the odor. I just hate that smell.  And I'm a super sniffer, sensitive to even the tiniest hint of seafood in the air.

But then...I broke down.  I bought a bag of frozen shrimp from Trader Joe's.  They're awfully good at getting me to try new things.  Plus I think I'd already lost all my willpower during that shopping trip, which seems to happen frequently at Trader Joe's.  In a good way, of course.

That bag of frozen shrimp languished in the depths of my apartment freezer for months, slowly creeping towards the back of the freezer where it would live out the rest of its days undisturbed.

Until I came across this recipe for shrimp scampi in a cookbook I'd become quite enamored with.  I'd tried several other recipes from this book, many of which brought new ingredients or new flavors into my life.  Most were resounding successes -- Soba Noodle Salad with Roasted Mushroom and Tofu Croutons, Roasted Parsnip and Leek Soup with Pumpernickel Croutons, Cumin Roasted Cauliflower with Yogurt and Lime, Baked Potatoes with Corned Beef and Dill...  It pulled me out of my winter doldrums and inspired a desire to Try New Things like never before.  Meaning I was going to make shrimp scampi with my lonely bag of frozen shrimp.

Oh, my...  So delicious.  So little time and effort.  So much sauce to savor!

Now that lonely bag of shrimp has a purpose.  And I have cooked seafood (admittedly not intensely fishy seafood) in my home. Two points to me!

Shrimp Scampi

from Cook This Now: 120 Easy and Delectable Dishes You Can't Wait to Make by Melissa Clark

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. unsalted butter

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup Pernod, absinthe, or an herbal (not floral!) gin (like Tanqueray original)*

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 - 3/4 tsp. salt (to your taste level)

Hearty pinch of red pepper flakes

1/2 lb. shelled and deveined shrimp (if using frozen, thaw to room temperature)**

2 tbsp. fresh fennel fronds (the delicate leafy green portion), minced

Juice of 1 lemon, freshly squeezed

*Pernod, absinthe, and herbal gins have an anise flavor similar to that of fennel.  Since the fennel fronds have a very minor anise taste, using these liquors will bring just a hint of that anise-fennel flavor to the party without overwhelming our tastes or textures. I'll personally vouch for that, since I'm not the biggest fan of in-your-face anise, like black licorice candy.

If you don't have these liquors or really dislike even the tiniest hint of anise, don't fear! Just swap in white wine, so you add 1/2 cup white wine in total.

**I keep a bag of frozen uncooked (but already shelled and deveined) wild shrimp in my freezer.  I just pull out a handful, seal them in a plastic bag, and let them hang out in a bowl of warm tap water, which I change frequently, until the shrimp are defrosted.  Trader Joe's has some delicious and very economical frozen shrimp, or, if you're not a seafood person (which I am very close to being), you could swap in some partially or fully cooked meat, like chicken.

Preparation:

Since shrimp cooks ever so quickly and overcooked shrimp is, well, not all that edible, prep all your ingredients before starting to cook.  Once you start cooking, this goes so fast!  Now is also a good time to get whatever else you might be serving with the shrimp scampi cooking (toast, rice, pasta, etc.).

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, but not yet browned, about 1 minute.  Add the liquor, wine, salt, and red pepper flakes and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, about 2 minutes.

Add the shrimp and stir frequently, until the shrimp are cooked through and pale pink, about 2-4 minutes, depending on the size of the shrimp.  This really does move quickly, so keep focused on your shrimp!

Stir in the minced fennel fronds and lemon juice. Cook for 30 seconds - 1 minute and immediately transfer your shrimp out of the pan to prevent additional cooking.  If you're using pasta or rice, now is the perfect time to toss the shrimp scampi with it.

Or you can do what I did and eat it straight out of a bowl, using toast to mop up every last ounce of the glorious garlic and butter sauce.  No shame, I promise!

Notes:

This recipe is so quick and easy to prepare, it's an easy weeknight meal.  Especially if you aren't thawing the shrimp, though that doesn't take too long either (less than 20 minutes).

It is so easy to overcook shrimp, making them tough and chewy and entirely unappetizing.  Removing the shrimp from the pan immediately after adding the fennel fronds and lemon juice will remove the direct heat source (the stove and the hot pan) and limit any additional cooking to the heat contained within the shrimp (the carry over heat/cooking).  

This recipe provides a generous amount of scampi sauce, which would be divine tossed with spaghetti or angel hair pasta.  But it's also incredible when sopped up with toast.  You decide...or try both!

Since this recipe only uses the fennel fronds, it is perfect for those times when you use the fennel bulb and have no idea what to do with the fronds.  My favorite ways to enjoy fennel?  Thinly shaved with citrus segments or slowly roasted and braised until it slumps into a barely anise flavored submission. 

I am absolutely in love with this cookbook.  It's full of flavor combinations I've never tried, many rather healthy (but still delicious) recipes, and a full spectrum of savory and sweet.  Plus each recipe has a notes section where Melissa Clark offers ideas for substitutions or alternative cooking methods or what to serve it with.  And I just love her writing style.  

Pies and Pints | Sausage, Fontina, and Egg Pizza

Last summer and fall, my dear roommate and I made a tradition.  We went to a marvelous weekly event called Burgers and Beers at our local liquor store, The Party Source, where we'd enjoy a gourmet burger (new toppings each week!) with stunning array of beer samples (a new theme with new beers each week!).  It was very much a tradition because we only missed a handful of these weekly gatherings over the course of 3 months.  We eagerly anticipated every Thursday, even the perilous part of the short drive from work to The Party Source, when you're fighting to merge across two lanes of traffic to the exit while those two lanes are, perversely, trying to merge onto the highway, directly into you.  And all this happens on a very short bridge.  It makes you wonder how traffic planners could be so dense at times...but that's another thing entirely.  The important thing is we made and loved this tradition of Burgers and Beers.

Since Burgers and Beers doesn't happen during the winter, we decided to create another weekly tradition -- Pies and Pints!  Inspired by another event at The Party Source, Pies and Pints was a chance to try gourmet riffs on pizza pies paired with different beers (hence the pints part, though I'm not sure if the samples were a full pint...).  We've never been to a Pies and Pints at The Party Source, so we have the freedom to make it entirely our own.  Each week, we're going to make a different type of pizza and enjoy it with a different beer.

It's quickly become our new favorite tradition. Especially since it immediately follows our boxing class where we get to pound out the week's frustrations.

Cheers to our inaugural session of Pies and Pints!

This week's Pies and Pints selections....

• Pizza:  Sausage, Fontina, and Egg, inspired by a dish from a local restaurant, A Tavola
• Pizza Crust:  Rushed dough recipe from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
• Beer:  Mt. Caramel Brewery's Amber Ale - A Cincinnati local!

Rushed Pizza Dough

from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
Makes one 12oz. dough (approximately 1 medium/large pizza)
Requires 10-15 minutes prep + 30 minutes to rise

Dough Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water (about 110 - 116 degrees Farenheit)
1 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast*
1 1/2 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for the counter
1 tsp. table salt
Olive oil

Dough Preparation:

Turn your oven on to warm (about 200 - 225 degrees Farenheit) for 5 minutes; then turn it off.

If mixing the dough by hand...
Pour 1/2 cup warm water into a large mixing bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the water, and let it stand for 5 minutes.  Add the flour, then salt, and mix with a wooden spoon until a rough, craggy mass forms. Turn dough and any loose bits out onto a lightly floured counter, and knead for 5 minutes or until a smooth, elastic dough forms.

If mixing the dough with a mixer...
Pour 1/2 cup warm water into the bowl of your electric mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the water, and let it stand for 5 minutes.  Add the flour, then salt, and mix with your dough hook at a moderate speed until the mixture starts to form a craggy mass.  Reduce thes peed to low and mix for 5 minutes, letting the hook knead the mass into a smooth elastic dough.

For either method...
Coat inside of a heat-safe mixing bowl with olive oil, place the dough back into the bowl, and lightly coat the dough with olive oil (adding a drizzle more if you need).  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the previously warmed (but now off!) oven for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.  Remove dough from the oven, turn it out onto a floured counter to roll it out for your pizza!

Before rising...

After rising...

Sausage, Fontina, and Egg Pizza

inspired by A Tavola restaurant in Cincinnati, Ohio

Ingredients:

Prepared pizza dough

Garlic, chopped

Extra-virgin olive oil

Italian sausage, casings removed and cooked

Fontina cheese, sliced thinly or shredded

Fresh sage leaves, washed and roughly chopped or torn

Eggs

Pizza Preparation:

Put your pizza stone (or a baking sheet with its bottom facing up) in the middle of your oven.  Then turn your oven on to 400-500 degrees Farenheit (or whatever the instructions for your particular pizza stone say).  This is absolutely critical -- pizza stone FIRST, oven turned on SECOND.  If you reverse the order, you can break your pizza stone.  So if you forget, forgo the pizza stone and use an upturned baking sheet.  Just preheat it in the oven too, so your crust gets extra crispy.

Saute the chopped garlic in a few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil over low/medium-low heat, until the garlic just barely turns golden-brown.  Remove from heat to stop cooking...or else you'll have some very burnt garlic!

Cook your sausage and convert it into pieces.  We poached the sausage in water (casings on) over medium-high heat until it was fully cooked.  We then removed the casings and cut thick slices of the sausage.

Work your pizza dough out into your preferred pizza shape - we just kinda went with oblong here.  Set up a pizza peel or another upside-down baking sheet as your assembly platform.  Dust it liberally with cornmeal.  Don't hold back, you need this for the dough to slide off the assembly platform and on to the pizza stone.  Brush the dough with your garlic + olive oil mixture, all the way to the edges to get a lovely golden-brown crust.  Top with cheese, sausage, and sage.

We also cracked an egg onto the center of the pizza before we began cooking...but....we're going to advise you to wait until your pizza is almost done before adding your egg.  Add your egg when you have 2-3 minutes remaining.

Dust your pizza stone liberally with cornmeal.  Don't be stingy, or else your pizza will be stuck on the stone!  (We don't recommend putting the cornmeal on the stone until this point, or else it burns quite a bit)  Transfer your pizza from the assembly platform to the pizza stone.  We use a spatula to help us guide the pizza as it slides (sometimes with a little shake of encouragment) off the assembly platform and onto the pizza stone.  Try to position the pizza on the stone during this transfer - it's not terribly easy to maneuver once it is on the stone, especially if your dough is thin, if you didn't use enough cornmeal, or if you have a lot of toppings.

Set your timer for 10 minutes.  When you check on your pizza, you can tailor its level of doneness to your preferences.  I like my crust deeply golden-brown and my cheese bubbling, so my pizza took about 14-15 minutes.  If you think your pizza is close to being done, add your whole egg in the center of the pizza, so it doesn't ooze off the crust.

Our thoughts on this week's selections...

• The pizza:
• A great combination of toppings.  Melty and mildly flavored cheese, spicy Italian sausage, the earthy flavor of sage and garlic, plus a delicious fried egg.  
• Sadly, our eggs were too far done to be the runny mess we were hoping for. Just imagine that velvety egg yolk oozing over the sausage and cheese....Mmmm!  Next time, we'll add the eggs a minute or two before the pizza is removed from the oven.
• The crust:
• Very quick and easy to make, thanks to warming the "room" where the dough rises.
• Good crunch on the exterior + good chew on the interior.  A winning combination in my book!
• The beer:
• Mt. Caramel's Amber Ale is my all-time favorite from this brewery.  It's a rich amber color with medium body and a great balance between roasted malt and hop flavors.  Perfect for pairing with foods, since it doesn't have any overly assertive flavors of its own but still tastes great.

Any suggestions for pizza combinations?  We're excited to try new ones!

Strawberry Rhubarb Banana Bourbon Bread

I'm officially done with winter.  The weatherman promises freezing rain and a few inches of snow tomorrow, which means all the Cincinnati drivers will flip out the instant they see or even hear about a snowflake.  It's bizarre and it happens.  They also turn into morons over rain, but that's a story for another day...

The story for today is this quickbread.  It's a banana bread, so it's super moist and flavorful, especially if you use bananas completely beyond ripe.  It's flavored with the spicy warmth of bourbon (or dark rum, if that's your thing) to fight the winter chill.  And it has jammy pockets of bright, summery strawberries and tart rhubarb to sing of summer to your sleepy tastebuds.

In other words, this quickbread is exactly what you need when you are at the end of your ability to deal with winter.  Or anytime you want something delicious and impossible to resist for your midday snack or your second breakfast.  I've made this bread too many times to count in the past two years, shortly after my addiction to reading blogs took off.  The source of this recipe, Sassy Radish, is a stellar blog with lovely writing and equally lovely recipes.  But this quickbread is by far my favorite recipe of hers.

If you, like me, were wondering what exactly is a quickbread, Wikipedia has our answer (of course) (yes, I'm getting a graduate degree and still turn to Wikipedia for quick answers.  It's usually spot on.).  A quickbread is any type of bread leavened with agents other than yeast.  This includes a wide array of our favorite baked goods, such as cakes, cookies, brownies, banana bread, biscuits, cornbread, muffins, pancakes, scones, and that darling of March, soda bread.

Oh soda bread! Get ready, I'm coming for you...

Strawberry Rhubarb Banana Bourbon Bread
Barely adapted from Sassy Radish (get the original recipe here)
Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients:
1 cup (about 5 oz.) rhubarb*
1 cup (about 5 oz.) strawberries**
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided into 1/2 cup and 1 cup portions
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg (Please, please, please just get whole nutmeg and grate it. It'll blow your mind)
3/4 tsp. salt
8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
3 very overripe bananas, mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)***
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. bourbon or dark rum

*For the rhubarb, I typically use the frozen sliced rhubarb found in the grocery store.  Just thaw it to room temperature and chop smaller, if necessary.
**For the strawberries, I often use the frozen whole or sliced strawberries found in the grocery store.  Just thaw it to room temperature and chop (or, ahem, smash slightly with the masher to get smaller pieces of strawberries).
***For the bananas, I use frozen peeled bananas that I stockpile in the freezer.  When the banana is way too ripe for me to eat, I peel it and store it with other bananas in an airtight bag in the freezer.  A quick tip on that:  stack the bananas whole in a bag (quart size works best for me) so you can break an entire banana off when needed.  Again, just thaw to room temperature if using frozen bananas.

A handy note:
Feel free to use frozen rhubarb, frozen strawberries, frozen (but still very ripe) bananas here.  They work very well, especially in the dead of winter when produce is scarce and flavorless.  Speed up thawing by microwaving (usually 70% power for 45 second bursts) until just barely frozen.  Create smaller pieces of the fruits using a potato masher.  Just keep your mashing of the rhubarb and strawberries to a bare minimum - you want chunks of these in the bread.

Preparation:

If using frozen fruit, thaw to room temperature (feel free to use the microwave to speed things up, but keep your fruit slightly frozen/chilled).

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees Farenheit.  Generously butter a 9x5 loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.  I recommend forming a sling out of the parchement paper to help with removal later on.  To do this, cut a piece of paper to fit the pan...but leave extra paper on both sides, so the edges of the parchment paper extend higher than the sides of the pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together the rhubarb and strawberries with a 1/2 cup of sugar.  Set aside while you prepare the rest of the quickbread.

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry goods (flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt) until well-combined and fluffy.

Use an electric or stand mixer to beat the butter and the remaining 1 cup of granulated sugar until light and creamy.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Scrape the sides of the bowl down, then add the bananas, sour cream, vanilla, and bourbon (or dark rum) and mix well.

Add the dry goods mixture to the wet goods in two parts, stirring until just barely combined after each addition.  Less mixing here = less gluten formed = more tender crumb. Gently fold the sugar-rhubarb-strawberry mixture in until evenly distributed.  Folding (instead of using the electric mixer) will help keep gluten formation to a minimum, maintaining the tender crumb you've been working towards.

Transfer the batter to your prepared loaf pan, smoothing the top with a spoon or spatula.  Bake for 70 minutes, or until the top is a deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (no crumbs or wet batter).  If you tap the top of the bread, it will offer a bit of resistance...meaning it won't collapse under your touch.

Allow the bread to cool for 15 minutes in the pan, but remove it to a cooling rack immediately after that.  Running a knife around the edges of the loaf will help loosen it, and now is the time to deploy the parchment paper sling were you wise enough to use it.  

Store the bread loosely wrapped in a kitchen towel or wax paper to preserve your deep golden crust.  Wrapping it tightly in plastic wrap or safely storing inside an airtight container will create a gummy and thoroughly unappealing crust.  Eat within 3-5 days, though you shouldn't have any problem with that.

Notes:

--I just can't get enough of this bread in winter.  I'm not entirely sure why I make it in winter, but I suspect it has to do with the comfort factor and the remind-me-of-summer factor.  Plus it keeps my oven on for an hour, and there are times when that helps heat my apartment.  

--Anything cooked in a loaf pan seems to require a sixth sense in knowing whether it is done or not.  In my opinion, the variability in doneness is related to:  1) quality of your loaf pan and 2) the heat of your oven.  I use a heavy non-stick loaf pan made by Baker's Secret, which I found at Target.  When I switched over from the thin, flimy, aluminum loaf pan I had been using, I saw an immediate improvement in my breads.   Likewise, knowing whether your oven runs hotter or cooler than the set temperature will help you know when to check on your bread.  And check often!

--For an irresistible extra crunch, sprinkle granulated sugar or turbinado (raw) sugar on top of the loaf immediately before baking.