Category Archives: vegetarian

Tzatziki, because there’s nothing cooler

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It’s been hot here in Boston for the past week, like July hot with humidity you can see in the air and pavement full of mirages. I don’t even want to turn on my oven or stovetop and in general have been avoiding heated foods like the plague that they become in the summer time. I want something refreshing, something that that makes me swoon with the freshness of it. A while a go one of the many food blogs I read posted about Tzatziki – which I had never really had and had certainly never made, but it sat there niggling the back of my mind until last week.

Last week, if I wasn’t clear, was hot. The heat was making me want to cry with the lack of cooking, so I drove to Russo’s – I realize that this doesn’t make much sense, but consider it as a haven of fresh vegetables to be rinsed and eaten as they are at prices a girl paying back scads of money in education loans can afford. At Russo’s I found tomatoes for a steal, european cucumbers in need of chopping, and fresh dill.

A side note about dill – I am in LOVE with dill, it always makes things taste better for me while at the same time reminding me of childhood and weeding in my mother’s garden in the sunshine. Dill just tastes like summer, with the idea of canning jars covering the kitchen table full of garlic cloves and dill blooms. It’s rich and decadent and proliferates itself wherever you plant it, I love that about it.

When I got home from Russo’s with the good intention of writing my yearly assessment for my job in my mind I went to the kitchen and chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, dill, and green onions until my head swam and I was starving. The heat in my kitchen was getting to me and THAT DILL SMELL was something that I couldn’t get enough of so I did what any sensible person would do – I made Tzatziki..

Tzatziki is what everyone is talking about right now, I’ve been wanting to make it for blog it forever with the intention of letting it get out for the summer heat and keeping us all cool.  It is now June.  I haven’t posted up here in far too long and this tzatziki is still delicious and well worth the chopping, cross-my-heart-and-kiss-my-elbow.

Tzatziki

A Note: if you find yourself not wanting this much tzatziki adjust the recipe accordingly it can be made for anyone – singles or large groups, it’s really one of my favorite parts about it, also the tomatoes don’t really NEED to be seeded it’ll just be watery if you don’t seed them.  Also this recipe is flexible – don’t like raw tomatoes? add more cucumber.  Just want it as a sauce? skip the tomato and cucumber all together.

1/4 cup Green onions, scallions, or chives (or some combination) chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1 vine ripe tomato chopped into half inch sections with seeds removed (1/2 -3/4 cup)
1/2 English cucumber chopped into half inch sections (1/2 – 3/4 cup)
2-3 Tbs of finely chopped dill, add more or less depending on your fondness for dill
1/4-1/2 cup of Greek Yogurt
1/2 tsp Garlic powder or use garlic chives and just skip this step (more if you want it garlicky)
Salt to taste

Chop the onion, tomato, and cuke so it is about the same size and put it in a big bowl with the dill.  Sprinkle your garlic powder on top and fold in the greek yogurt.  Serve it in little rice bowls with a sprig of dill across the top and a dash of salt.  SERVE IT IMMEDIATELY.  I know that there are a lot of food blogs that tell you otherwise, you can drain it in cheesecloth overnight or let it sit for a bit.  I like it better freshly made because I don’t drain mine.

I love Tzatziki and now you will too, I promise.  

Chicago Style Deep-Dish Pizza

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So let me preface this by saying I only make this pizza on weekday evenings, I realize that sounds insane to most people – what she is cooking a yeast risen dough on her evenings does she have no life? And of course the answer to that my dear friends is why would I bother to have a life when I have FOOD. I understand that to all of you this is a trifle non-sensical. We subsist on food but why revel in it? Why go to beach if you don’t like the sand in your toes, I reply.

This pizza is A-MAZING. For real. It makes me swoon – every time. It is perfect dough covered in cheese and rich delicious tomato sauce and then more cheese. The crust is flaky and fresh from the oven this pizza is a delight (it isn’t too bad cold either… you know because you get two whole pie pans of the pizza following this recipe).

Boyfriend and I will almost always consume one of the two pizzas this recipe makes for the dinner it has been intended for then use the rest as lunch and dinner for the next day. The cheese firms up and the sauce becomes closer to ketchup then anything else without actually becoming ketchup – its a sauce that only has a slight variation to my 3 Ingredient Tomato Sauce. I’m in love with it. Pair the whole thing with a salad and well, basically it is LOVE. And the scents as they permeate the air as the dough rises, the sauce thickens, and the pizza bakes… well let’s just say you’ll want to devour the pizza the INSTANT it comes out of the oven (PS not something I recommend, unless you are NOT overly fond of your tastebuds – in which case HAVE AT IT).

This pizza is awesome as a low-work (I know you’re thinking yeast can’t be low work you crazy person) no fuss recipe on those gross rainy spring evening that tend to sneak up these days. Have fun. And try it, be surprised. It’s delicious.

Chicago Style Deep-Dish Pizza
Adapted just barely from Cook’s Illustrated
Note: This is a pretty forgiving yeast dough – most pizza dough is if made correctly, and DO NOT get intimidated by the length sometimes its just easier to be wordy. Also if you can’t figure it out leave me a comment!
Make 3 Ingredient Tomato Sauce with grated or finely chopped onions instead of just half onions and let it simmer until it has reached a thick almost pudding like consistency (an extra 20-30 mins).
3 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup cornmeal (either yellow, white or blue)
1 1/2 tsp Table Salt
2 tsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast (1 package if you use those)
1 1/4 cup tepid water (a little warmer than room temp but not more than 115 degrees)
3 Tbsp Melted butter plus 4 tbs softened and set Aside
1 tsp plus 4 Tbs Olive oil set aside
Mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, yeast and cornmeal) in the bowl of a stand mixer until even, this takes 1-2 mins with a dough hook, by hand with a wooden spoon it would probably only take a minute. Add the water and melted butter and mix to fully combine on low speed another 1-2 mins scraping the bowl occasionally to check for pockets! Increase your mixer speed to medium and knead the dough until it is smooth and glossy, I can never get the glossy quite *that* glossy, until it looks even and not lumpy really 3-5 mins (by hand I think it would be much the same kneading time). Coat a large bowl with the 1 tsp of olive oil and stick the dough in there and let is rise somewhere warm until doubled, 45-60 mins.
Make your sauce now!
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
After your dough has risen to the appropriate size turn it out onto a dry (NOT FLOURED) work surface and roll it out into a 15×12 inch rectangle. Spread the 4Tbs of softened butter (remember that butter I had you set aside, hell-o let’s use it ALL) over the dough, using your hands is easiest, leaving a border of about 1/2 inch overall. Roll the dough up into a tight cylinder (but not tight enough to squeeze out the butter, that would be bad). Flatten the cylinder out and halve it with something sharp. Tuck the ends of both halves into the bottom of the dough so you get a ball, add both balls to the greased bowl and toss that in the fridge while you go watch an episode of Buffy (about 40 mins). This is called lamination, fancy right?
Ok, you watched Buffy – was it the Hush episode?, that’s one of my favorites. Right laminated dough. Your dough is laminated (which means we let the gluten calm down) so roll out one of the balls so it will fit into a pie plate of a 8 inch round cake pan and press that dough into the cake pan. Sprinkle 1/2 pound of grated of finely cubed Mozzarella cheese on the dough and cover it with half of the sauce you made earlier. Grate a little bit of Parmesan on top and stick it in your now blisteringly hot oven (so watch your fingers) for 45 mins to an hour, until the Parmesan is lightly browned and the crust is golden.
Let it rest for ten minutes and ENJOY. The leftovers of this ROCK!
Sprinkle

3 Ingredient Tomato Sauce

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All of the cooking blogs that I read have been raving about this tomato sauce, it is the simplest sauce and even a non-cook can cook it (case in point my boyfriend did). From SmittenKitchen to The Amateur Gourmet to Sassy Radish I found this recipe everywhere and it is insanely pleasant because of its simplicity, there’s no chopping to be done and no babysitting needed. Three ingredients, 45 minutes and you have dinner for two, instant gratification.

When I found this recipe back in January I bookmarked it and thought I would look at it later when I was feeling lazy, it turned out that later meant in two days. As I worked late and thought about dinner and the things in my cabinet this was the only thing that came up as an option, simple fast and effortless. I liked it. I pulled out my butter, canned strewed tomatoes, and the last onion in the kitchen when I got home, thinking I was going to end up with something bland and boring. I was wrong. The sauce was rich and creamy, velvety almost with a smoothness I will forever associate with tomatoes.


We liked this sauce so much that I have made it twice since the initial find and the boyfriend has made it once, it is just that good. It hasn’t been adapted much from any of the guidelines I found online so Here it is, more or less as I found it/have remembered it over the past couple of months.

3 Ingredient Tomato Sauce

Adapted from SmittenKitchen via The Amateur Gourmet
Serves 2-3 people

Note: Crushed tomatoes work fine in this recipe but the cooking time should be decreased or else they burn a bit. Also this is one of the few sauces where I would recommend staying away from the parmesan or asiago cheese, it’s got enough flavor already and the cheese actually detracts from it.

1 28oz Can Whole Stewed Tomatoes

4Tbs unsalted butter
1 Onion cut in half

Add the tomatoes, onion and butter to a medium sized saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Once the tomatoes are soft enough (10-15 mins) using a wide potato masher break the tomatoes up so that the sauce is evenly smooth. Simmer for another 20 to 30 minutes or until you can smell the onion throughout your apartment (or in the next room). Take out the onion halves (make sure you hold them over the pan to drain a couple of seconds) and remove the sauce form the heat.

Pour liberally over pasta and enjoy!