Pizza Dough

Better than delivery, making your own pizza is rewarding because it saves you money and you can personalize it as much as you want. Making the pizza dough is rather easy if you are familiar with making bread. Pizza dough flour is available rather easily, but regular flour would be just fine. To be honest I don't know what the difference with the pizza dough flour. But I've used both and never noticed the difference.

Spinach and Artichoke Lasagna

This is one of my favorite recipes. I've made it more times than I can count, but I'm always making small modifications. The basics are always the same, spinach and artichoke, but sometimes I'll add olives, or use red onions instead of yellow.

8 sheets lasagna

2 cans crushed tomatoes

1 tbs tomato paste

250 grams spinach

250 grams artichoke hearts drained, quartered or roughly chopped, liquid reserved

250 grams shredded mozzerella

1 cup cottage cheese, drained

1 red/yellow onion, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, crushed

olive oil

1 tbs each rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil (or whatever you have/like)

salt, pepper, crushed chilli pepper (optional)

parmesan cheese, grated

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and onion, spices and cook until softened and fragrant.

2. Add the artichoke hearts and spinach and and cook until softened.

3. Add tomatoes to the skillet, turn the heat down to low, and simmer for as long as you have time for, with the lid on, stirring occassionally. The longer the more flavor infuses. If the mixture thickens too much, add some of the reserved liquid from the can of artichokes.

4. Layer a small amount of the sauce on the casserole dish, then two of the lasagna sheets, a quarter of the sauce, a quarter of the mozzerella, a quarter of the cottage cheese, and repeat, until the everything is used. Sprinkle with parmesan.

5. Bake for 30 minutes uncovered at 175C, and then another 15 minutes covered with aluminum foil.

6. Let cool for several minutes before cutting and serving.

Serves 6 (a large casserole dish full)

Asparagus & Mushroom Risotto

Happy Mother's Day!

I would have loved to make this recipe for my mom, who will be visiting me later this summer. This was the best risotto I ever made. I was a little disappointed, though, that the package of Carnaroli rice said that the cooking time took only 14 minutes. I used to use Arborio but saw this as a new and interesting option for risotto. I thought, 'hey, now I can make myself risotto in a jiff, whenever I want!' but of course I was wrong. I suppose the lesson was, the best things in life take time and patience.

Overall the cooking time was about 45 minutes. I was starving when it was finished and I didn't have any more time or energy to go on a run like I planned. There's always tomorrow!

4+ cups water

1 vegetable boullion cube

6 stalks fresh asparagus, cut thinly on the diagonal

1 small can of sliced mushrooms, about 125 grams

1 onion, diced

2 gloves garlic, crushed

1 cup risotto rice, such as Carnaroli or Arborio

2 tbs olive oil

2 tbs butter

1/2 cup dry white wine

grated parmesan

salt and pepper to taste

1. Blanch the asparagus slices in the vegetable broth. Since they are already cut thinly, they won't take long to make al dente. Maybe 5 minutes maximum.

2. Drain the asparagus and set aside. Reserve the broth.

3. In a large sauce pan or pot, heat oil and butter. Add garlic and onion and stir until translucent on medium heat.

4. Add mushrooms and stir for a few more minutes.

5. Add the rice and coat with the butter and oil, stir for 1 minute.

6. Add the white wine and stir until absorbed.

7. From the reserved brother, stir about 1/3 a cup at a time. Waiting between each interval until all the liquid is absorbed, stirring constantly.

8. More water may be needed, check the consistency of the rice after you have added all cups of broth and continue adding HOT water if more cooking is needed.

9. Stir in a few tbs grated parmesan, or to taste, and stir the asparagus in last. (This preserves the look and taste of the asparagus and doesn't over cook it).

10. Garnish with more grated parmesan and serve hot.

This, like most risotto recipes, is not as good leftover. It will thicken quite a bit more in the refridgerator. I suggest this as a good recipe to make to impress guests, because though easy, it is time consuming. This recipe serves only about 2.5 (1.5 for dinner last night and 1 for lunch today). And so it can be doubled or tripled quite easily.

Leftover Ratatouille

I had so much ratatouille leftover from my dinner with A the other night, that I needed to find something to do with it. I am still getting used to cooking for 1, but I like the idea of saving individualized portions of meals and freezing them for later, lazy days. Or, finding new ways to use them all together.

Since I had already some pasta and pesto on hand (I always have these on hand for a simple and satisfying fix), I simply sauteed the ratatouille, threw in some leftover olives and cherry tomatoes from my Italian Salad and added it all to some whole wheat rotini with pesto rosso.

Easy, healthy and delicious in a snap!

Italian Dinner for Two

Since I have the last chance to cook for A for a while, I wanted to make something special as a sendoff. I'm sure once he's in Berlin he'll be in donerkebab heaven, but for now I wanted him to enjoy some nice Italian.

My menu was a little off season, since I made a Southern Italian Ratatouille inspired by the Food network, and I really wanted to use a little zucchini. The multitude of different vegetables really hit the spot.

Italian Salad

• Head of lettuce (arugula, or romaine, or a mixture)
• Handful of black or kalamata olives, pits removed
• approx. 1o cherry tomatoes
• 1 roasted red pepper (I used jarred to make my life easier)
• olive vinaigrette (recipe follows)

1. Tear lettuce into forkable bites.
2. Toss in other ingredients.
3. Mix in the vinaigrette.
   

Olive Vinaigrette

• 3 tbs green olives with pimento and juice
• 3 tbs red wine vinegar
• handful of basil leaves
• fresh bunch of parsley leaves
• black pepper
• 4 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs grated Parmesan

1. Mix all ingredients in the blender, adding oil and Parmesan last.

Southern Italian Ratatouille

• 1 zucchini, sliced on the horizontal
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 can of mushrooms or one pound fresh button or cremini mushrooms thinly sliced
• 2 onions, diced
• 3 tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup spinach, frozen
• handful of basil leaves, torn
• 2 tbs thyme or rosemary (or both)
• 4 cloves garlic, diced
• 4 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 3 tbs Parmesan cheese, grated

1. Heat half of the olive oil in a large saute pan. Add 1 onion and half of the garlic and saute until golden and aromatic. Add zucchini slices and saute on medium low until soft. Remove from the pan to another plate or oven dish.
2. Heat the other half of the olive oil in the same pan as before. Add the other onion and the rest of the garlic and saute. Add the mushrooms, spinach, red bell pepper, thyme or rosemary and salt and pepper. Saute until softened.
3. Mix the mushroom and zucchini together, add the chopped tomatoes and basil and toss.
4. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
5. Keep warm in oven if necessary, while preparing the rest of the meal.

This makes a lot of ratatouille, or 4 servings. However, the leftover ratatouille is versatile for use in leftovers! I used some the next morning in a delicious egg omelet. I plan to use the rest for an appetizer, on top of say, bruschetta. Or, it can be served over rice, with potatoes, or tossed into some tomato puree and vegetable broth to make a delicious soup!

Shrimp Pasta with Herb Cream Sauce

• pasta for two servings, I used whole wheat rotini, about half pound for two very hungry people
• half pound shrimp
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 cup cooking cream
• 1 can crushed peeled tomatoes
• 1 tbs oyster sauce
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)
• 1/2 cup torn basil and parsley leaves

1. Set water to boil with a pinch of salt and a splash of oil. When boiling, add pasta and cook to instructions.
2. Heat olive oil in a saute pan. Add the diced garlic and and shrimp. Cook until shrimp are just cooked, turning from grey to pink. Remove shrimp from pan. I bought frozen raw shrimp, so I was not able to peel and devein until after this step.
3. Peel and devein shrimp at this time if you have not already.
4. Add the tomatoes, basil and parsley to the pan and simmer for a few minutes.
5. Add oyster sauce, cream and white wine and simmer for another 4-5 minutes.
6. Add basil and parsley leaves and season with salt and pepper to taste. (For a little heat, add some crushed red pepper flakes.)
7. Strain pasta and return to pot. Add sauce and shrimp to the pasta and toss thoroughly.

Wahlah! Yummy and easy, but still tastes so gourmet.

Bon Appetito!

Cheesy Baked Polenta

Polenta is another fine comfort food for me. It's kind of peasant food, simple grains, fine cornmeal boiled into a gelatanous mush. Sound appetizing? It can be baked, grilled, fried or served plain, and it goes with a plethora of other ingredients quite easily. It's known as grits in the States, or mael pep in the Carribean, or many other names in Eastern Europe, but no matter how you serve it, it's still good ole comfort food.

In this case, I used instant polenta, as it's the only I've been able to find from even the bigger of the chain stores in Helsinki. It's quite fine, so it works better as the molded and baked or fried variety than the porridge type variety. It's so quick and easy to make!

I first prepared the polenta, with about 2:1 water:polenta ratio, but each variety may call for different cooking times and water ratios. Instead of plain water, I used vegetable stock, and before the gelatanous polenta could harden, I mixed in about 3/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

Then, I spread the polenta thinly on a baking sheet, smoothing evenly with the back of a spoon, wetting the spoon if necessary to avoid sticking. The polenta should be about 1/2" to 1" thick. Let this cool, and put it in the refrigerator if there is room enough. Once chilled, it can be easily sliced into triangles or sticks for whatever you plan to do with it next.

For this, I used four cheeses to make a nice and rich dish. In a casserole dish, I layered a row of polenta slices first, topping with blue cheese, Koskenlaskija cheese (perinteinen versionn of the Finnish favorite), grated mozzerella and repeating a second layer, then topping the whole dish with about 1/2 cup of grated parmesan. I then baked at 175C for 3o minutes. The baked dish should cool a little, but then slices easily to make a simple but pleasant presentation.

Sorry in this case there are no exact measurements, as polentas vary from type and brand, and many different kinds of cheeses are suitable! I would also recommend using mascarpone instead of Koskenlaskija if you don't have any of that available. Crumbled feta might also give a nice salty flavor to add.

Buon Appetito!