The Art of Real Italian Cooking ~ Tantalizing Summer Pizza Recipe!

Sidetracked…again!  Here I was faithfully slogging away at ‘The Big List’ I mentioned on Monday.  Then Rebekah got home from work…and wanted to ‘get out’.  I virtuously justified this impromptu outing by shopping for my son’s  care package to be sent to Afghanistan…and a trip to the thrift store to get rid of a space hogging giant TV from our bedroom that couldn’t be sold.

This would all be fine if the cosmetology school weren’t located in the same parking lot as the Salvation Army. Drat her! The next thing you know…I’ve got a pedicure….  Good news? The school will do Jacob’s buzz for $2.00 on Wednesdays. (Buzzes are expensive to maintain!)

The bad news (or perhaps best news) is that we got to talking about Father’s Day on the drive which I totally forgot was coming up—THIS Sunday. Somehow it never made it on my ‘BIG List’. (Oops! Quick…what to do?) Ahh…Italian food. Hubby ADORES it.

One thing led to another…and the next thing you know..I’m covered head-to-toe in flour and spend the next two hours making the world’s best ever homemade pizza! And I happen to know for a fact..exactly what makes up the best pizza… (This did not help either my diet or the BIG LIST—but no one’s perfect! Tee-hee!)

Let’s assume for the moment, that you already know that the pizza you get at Domino’s, Ci-Ci’s, or even most of your fancy restaurants…is not REAL Italian pizza. How do I know? Only because Filippo, a 24 yr.old grad student from Southern Italy, lived in our home while working with my Dear Hubby for six weeks. That’s how.

One night, we ‘treated’ Filippo to a dinner at Buca De Beppo..which served supposedly authentic Italian food. He said the the food tasted great..but it didn’t even begin to resemble ‘real’ Italian food.

Turns out that American Italian food has as much to do with Italy as Tex-Mex has to do with REAL Mexican food..or maybe less..since at least we are actually neighbors to Mexico..and have plenty of experts to cook the real thing around here.

Don’t believe me that there’s a huge disparity between authentic cooking of various countries…vs. the Americanized versions? I have a cookbook from Harlingen, Tx (where I swear English is the ‘second’ language..not the first) and in the front of it are all the usual Tex-Mex style recipes…but the first ‘gourmet’ recipe I came across (in the back mind you) started with a goat. Ok..nuff said about that topic!

 

Apparently, our version of Italian starts with spices…and lots of them.  Wrong…  They don’t use tons of spices in Italy. Every food in America is over spiced…period.  We eat out way too much in my opinion and always need a new and bigger ‘taste’ sensation…so our restaurants oblige and add more spice (or fat, salt msg..etc).

Filippo, we soon discovered, loved to cook. A geologist/programmer grad student by day…he was a stunning cook by night…as well as other things which I won’t go into because I absolutely know nothing about the night life in downtown Houston..and I don’t really want to know..Hello?

Filippo thought our neighbors must be real ‘hip’..they got in at 4:00am too… right? No, Dear..those lights…and all that great music are coming from their chicken coop. Turns out if you keep chickens (meat chickens that is) up all night and day with music and lights (good ole’ Country tunes)…they will be WAY fatter at judging time for the local 4-H County Fair.  The neighbors won BIG..every year! (Meat chickens do only one thing when awake….EAT!)

All I had to do was buy the ingredients and Filippo would teach me ‘authentic’ Italian cooking. Sounds easy right? No….  Because I didn’t know that to have really good Italian cooking you will have to use fresh ingredients and these are not easy to come by in a rural Texas town.  That rubbery stuff we call Mozzarella, he thought might make a nice neighborly gesture, if I donated it to the neighbors’ chickens.

I discovered that downtown Houston’s The Market Place will sell you the good stuff…fresh mozzarella..in the whey..for a VERY hefty price and and an hour’s drive.  But the people working there made me a little nervous. Friendly..but not at all like my neighbors..LoL!  HEB rescued me! They not only had the cheese…but great fresh fruit…Barilla pasta (Filippo’s favorite brand.) and Hunt’s tomato paste. (Not Barilla..but close enough.)

Sam’s Club, it turns out,  sells prosciutto (I’d never even heard of it.) and big chunks of solid Parmesan (Oh heaven!!! We’re addicted now.)  And REAL Italian coffee, Lavazza,…well..I ordered that online…thank you Amazon.  Filippo warned me to take it easy on the Lavazza as I would be unlikely to sleep for the next 24 hours. Now the nightly runs to downtown Houston begin to make sense…

Every morning found our little newly transplanted country/urbanite family sipping Espresso (borrowed a machine from our friends from Willis-Thanks Debbie!) and munching on fresh fruit and croissants…a typical breakfast from home for Filippo. (I’d never even HEARD of espresso until Filippo came to stay.) I was giddy!! I had a REAL Italian person staying with us. We were all fascinated!

 

Lunch was always pasta…with a little sauce..and there are a LOT of ways to make a sauce..none of which require a can opener I might add. Chop a little bacon (minus the fat)…onion, fresh tomatoes, garlic cloves and just a touch of fresh basil or oregano…a few dollops of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and ‘Voila’ and of course, ground Parmesan…  Ahhh!!..heaven in a pan!

Sometimes heavy cream worked into the occasion…and one time crab. Marinara implies the ocean..duh? How come I never thought of that?  turns out that it’s perfectly Italian to mix seafood and tomato sauce. Being American and not entirely ‘cultured’ I had no idea.

Filiipo spent one entire day with his laptop in our kitchen working and simultaneously making real lasagna from a recipe his mother emailed him. It was all written in Italian so sadly, I can’t actually read it but, thank goodness, you can get it in English here.  It’s called Pasticcio Lasagna but to Filippo..it was just normal lasagna.

It was nothing like any lasagna I had ever tasted!  Several layers of paper thin noodles about six inches long (from Barilla) were divided by layers of béchamel sauce (white sauce) and a meat paste called Ragù alla Bolognese  ( a meat/vegetable sauce) that took most of the day to cook. No cheese…no discernible tomato taste…Ok..this was NOT like any lasagna I’d ever heard of. Case in point.

But heaven on earth…or something like it…came when Filippo made us Pizza Margarite. He told us quite a story about the origin of it, but for the sake of time, I will skip it.  It was the most simple…elegant and luscious pizza I’d ever tasted. The crust was a delicate bread…light and fluffy… We used plain Hunts tomato sauce because he said that was all he ever used.

 

I watched, mesmerized, while he poured in a couple of cups of warm water, stirred in the yeast..and then flour…and kept stirring and adding flour until he had a ball which he just squeezed a few times. Now that I think about it, I don’t recall him ever kneading the dough. I wished I’d paid better attention.

 

Every American recipe for pizza I’ve ever seen calls for 6-8 minutes of kneading..just like normal bread dough.  This is why I could never re-create Filippo’s pizza.

I had tried and tried to make his pizza. I remembered that we spread the dough..paper thin…onto the cookie sheet which is what he wanted to use.

Then we spread on the tomato sauce, sliced the circles of fresh mozzarella (tastes absolutely divine and NOTHING like normal American mozzarella…where are those chickens?!!) and spread them out on the dough.  That’s all there is to Pizza Margarite--No spices…just sauce, soft crust, and fresh cheese.

A more tantalizing version was the pizza he made when he sprinkled some gorgonzola cheese, which I’d never tasted before but is similar to blue cheese, on it (good in very small doses) and arranged pieces of fresh prosciutto on it.  On this pizza, we sprinkled some fresh basil leaves. It was just too good for words!

Sadly…I could never make his pizza…because I didn’t have a recipe for the dough..and he never used one. Drat. I tried and tried to make my dough lighter and finally gave up in despair…until last night!

Oh my goodness!! We had heaven for dinner last night! As I said,  Tim’s favorite food is Italian so I went hunting for some good recipes…like Filippo’s.  I’ve never been able to find anything..all these years…until I accidentally stumbled upon..of all things..Olive Garden’s website! They actually have 56 recipes of many of their dishes available for public use.

So I thought restaurants didn’t make authentic Italian food..but it turns out that at least Olive Garden’s pizza IS! I haven’t looked over the rest. I decided to try their Summer pizza recipe and lo and behold…it does not require ANY kneading!

This pizza was so reminiscent of the real thing…and the crust which is unlike anything you normally buy or make yourself..is just to die for.

We followed the Olive Garden recipe, Summer Pizza to a tee, including grilling the red and yellow bell peppers and green onions..except that I sprinkled some fresh Pecorino/Romano on it. It was so good that EVERYONE including me (sigh..) ate way too much! It was a lot of pizza and we were all stuffed to the gills. But the noises everyone made..including my stoic Rebekah..were music to a homemaker’s ears. Mmmmm!!! Ahhh…Ohhhh! My…  Wow!!

So you just have to try this pizza and tell me what you think. We have our recipes all picked out for Father’s day and hopefully, I can share our Italian cooking adventure next week.

Here’s our  Father’s Day Menu....

•  Chianti Braised Short Ribs
•  Asparagus with Lemon and Minced Onions 
•  Chocolate Ricotta Pie 
  
  

photo by Rebekah

If not..I’ll share Rebekah’s baked chocolate pots de’ crème. This is a deadly recipe not to be done within the vicinity of any dieters…  It’s now her specialty.

Wow..for someone who doesn’t ‘like’ to cook, I' certainly have waxed ‘eloquent’ today. LoL!  Maybe it’s just Rebekah’s cooking obsession rubbing off on me… Whatever it is…it sure taste’s good!

What is your favorite cooking genre?  Have you ever experienced the disparity between Americanized food and some actual ethnic food from other countries?

Linking with Raising Homemakers

WIP’s Graduation Photos, New Throw Pillow Covers, Antique Quilt, A ‘Bomb’ Cake, Dinner for 40, and a Pantry Re-Do

Is this face destined for greatness?? 

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Time will tell! LoL!  Can you guess what Jacob wants to be when he grows up?  Hmm…Green Beret…policeman..secret service…lawyer…preacher? 

These are photos that will be in Jacob’s senior collage which I ordered on line today. And I've just finished his diploma. It's ready to print on nice paper and sign. (It wasn't the actual diploma..but just a template. A reader pointed out that I had mispelled the word principal..as principal. Those typos do get me when I'm in a hurry. LoL!)   The graduation party festivities and planning are in full swing! 

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Getting the house ready…is part of what I’m busy with today…   I was really on a roll with the re-covering of my couch cushions. I’m trying to make them match this antique quilt of Tim’s grandmother’s. She gave it to us as a wedding gift and I think it will be perfect for the living room and our style of decor. 

It’s been waiting for the right time…since Christmas. With 40 guests coming, I decided to ‘bite the bullet’ and go ahead and repair the quilt. It’s not as hard as I thought it would be though finding the fabric was a chore. I’ll be sharing a tutorial next week. :o)

I’m also having a real fun time designing a ‘Yellow-cake Uranium Bomb Cake’ per request of my weapon crazy son. No..I didn’t have a pan in the shape of a bomb…or did I? 

 

Ah! What about the deep dish oval Corning-ware casserole…and the lid! It worked perfectly. Now…for the army green icing.

 

We’re using red and black twizzlers to stick in the middle where we will cut out a slice of cake to reveal the cut wires inside of the bomb. We wouldn’t want anyone to think it was about to ‘go off’. LoL!

photos by Christian..

I took several photos of our Sago Palms which we trimmed to the stubs a couple of weeks ago. They are growing beautifully as are the magnolia blossoms.  Christian took fabulous photos of them! I’ll be doing that post tomorrow. 

 

And I sure had to do some cleaning. I’m still washing dishes by hand…but the control panel has been ordered. In the meanwhile, I wash the dishes and load them in the drainer to air dry. It’s been working fine for four weeks now!

The fridge is sparkling and the pantry is finally re-organized. Rebekah and I have been wanting to do this forever and were really inspired at the IKEA pantry demo. But no way were we going to pay for their ‘units’. Ha!  Good ole’ Wal-mart to the rescue! 

At the moment though..I’m just cooking..and cooking and cooking!! Three giant pots of potatoes for potato salad (I used two crockpots) and three giant briskets which I managed to SQUEEEeeeeze in to the oven by cutting one in half and putting it into two smaller pans.

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Oh yeah…and I had to cook supper too. Can’t let the troops starve can I?

I haven't forgotten you! :o)   I was able to visit the first couple of days this week..but I may not be able to drop by until the dust settles for returning comments. However, be assured that I so appreciate your comments and read everyone…usually when I can’t stand up any more. Ha! 

Have a great week! What are your works in progress? It’s always fun to see what everyone is up to, I think. :o)

Old Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie

Last week, I took several chicken pot pies to moms with new babies. (I couldn’t help it! I figured if I was gonna make a mess..I might as well do it times three.)

I had a lot of fun decorating the crusts. There’s something about pie dough and cookie cutters that always distracts me! (Thanks Secret Sister if you are out there.)

Here’s the recipe from Better Homes and Garden’s Cookbook that  I use:

• 1 10oz pkg frozen mixed veges
• 1/2 c. chopped onion
• 1/2 c. chopped mushrooms (we leave those out.)
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/3. cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 t. sage (we skip the sage)
• 1/8 t. pepper
• 2 cups water (I use chicken broth from cooking the chicken.)
• 3/4 c. milk
• 1 T. chicken bouillon granules (if you don’t use chicken broth)
• 3 cups cubed cooked chicken
• 1/4 c. snipped parsley
• Opt.: We add a few diced potatoes – canned, baked, or boiled.
• Pastry for Double Crust Pie (see below)

So the way I do this is to start the chicken simmering in the pot first, or even better, cook it in the Crockpot the night before. Be careful not to overcook it in the Crockpot. This is one time you don’t want the meat falling apart tender. 

Chop it in bite size chunks and set it aside. Save the broth.  (You can substitute canned chicken meat.)

  Then start the frozen peas and carrots or mixed veges in the steamer basket or microwave. Set these aside when cooked.

 

Start a couple of potatoes in a small pot. Our family ADORES having diced potatoes in their pot pie. :o)

credit

Now make the sauce. In a saucepan, cook the onion and the mushrooms in butter until tender but not brown. Stir in flour, salt, sage, and pepper.  Stir until it is a smooth paste.

Add the water, milk, and bullion (or broth) all at once and cook and stir until thick and bubbly.  Cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes more. Don’t do this on high. It will burn!

Now stir in all the veges, meat, and potatoes, and parsley. Heat until bubbly. Put the whole mixture into a 9 x 18 baking dish or a casserole.

 

Now make the pie crust. Here’s the recipe for a double-pie crust.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 t. salt
• 2/3 c. shortening
• 6 to 7 TBs. cold water

In a mixing bowl stir together the flour and salt. Cut in shortening till the pieces are the size of small pieces. (I chill it for a few minutes afterwards.) The little pieces of chilled shortening covered in flour make little ‘pockets’ which makes the crust flaky.

Sprinkle 1 TB of the water over part of the mixture; gently toss with a fork and push to the side of the bowl. Repeat till it is all moistened. Then form it into a ball.

 

 

Now roll out the dough on a floured surface with a rolling pin into a rectangle shape. I think this works much better on a thin plastic cutting sheet or pie sheet. Then you can just pick up the dough and lay it over the pan.

But you can also roll up the dough very carefully and loosely over the rolling pin, then roll it back out. Don’t worry! I always have cracks and splits in my crust and I just patch it all up.

Then comes the fun part. Crimping the top edges. First pinch the dough all around into a vertical straight edge.

Then push with one finger tip from the inside of the crust edge into your thumb and forefinger pressed together on the outside of the crust and you will make a little divot or point.

Keep pushing points all the way around. It looks so pretty!

 

Now cut out whatever shapes you like in the left over crust to decorate the top and cut some slits to let out steam.

Pop it into the oven for 10 to 12 minutes and bake at 450. 

Or you can just leave it uncooked and freeze it to serve later or take to a friend.

I always think the little ones must have a fun time when they see their dinner all covered with fun shapes. My kids so looked forward to getting bits of cooked pie dough to nibble on while the casserole was cooking.

I even had two tiny pie tins that I used to cook leftovers in for them to eat :o)

(Just like Beatrix Potter’s The Pie and the Patty Pan.) 

Guess I’ll have to wait till the grandkids visit to do that again.

 (Pretty smooth how I worked that in..wasn’t it? LoL!)

Enjoy!