Easy Pizza for Tough Times

Back to Apron Anxiety.  Back again in NY but feeling miserable, Alyssa has exiled herself from the kitchen, only to find her way back again while on the mend from being sick.  She's regained her appetite and instinctively knows that nothing can quell her hunger pangs more than her own cooking.  What does she make?  Pizza, of course!  Since she's just recovering from the flu, she decides to "cheat a little" and gets some dough and marinara from a nearby pizza shop.  She then caramelizes some onions, shreds mozzarella and cheddar, grabs a handful of basil leaves from her parents' window box, and adorns the dough with all of it.  Twenty minutes later, she pulls the pizza out of the oven; it is exactly what she needed.  She names the recipe "Easy Pizza After a Tough Time."

I'm sitting at my kitchen counter, feeling a bit melancholy.  And tired.  My tea (I am sipping almond cookie rooibos) is helping.  (How can it not?  It's quite literally a cookie in liquid form.)  The slice of apple pie I just ate is helping, too.  Then I think back to last weekend, when I tried out the pizza recipe, and that helps, too.

I've never made pizza before, so despite the simplicity of the recipe, I am excited to try my hand at it.  I caramelize some onions and chop up some basil leaves.  To give the pizza my own flair, I also roast some eggplant and slice some chorizo and salami that I have on hand to serve at my New Year's Eve party.  Along with some shredded mozzarella, I have its rich, luscious, cream-filled cousin burrata (it aptly translates to "buttery" in Italian).  When all of the ingredients are assembled, I roll out some ready-made pizza dough.  Preferring less sauce to more, so as not to have it overpower the other ingredients, I ladle only a few small spoonfuls of marinara onto the dough.  (I cheated too; I got my dough and marinara from FreshDirect).  Then I top the dough with everything but the basil and burrata.  These I add at the very last.

The pizza looks and tastes amazing.  Rustic is the first word that comes to mind.  The crust is golden, the veggies and meats are cooked to perfection, and the burrata has coated everything with a rich, creamy layer.  The only slight disappointment is the basil, which is wilted, although not burnt.  I decide it only needs to be in the oven for 1-2 minutes at most.  It is a simple, hearty meal.  Even thinking about it makes a tough time easier to get through.  I think Alyssa is onto something.

Easy Pizza After a Tough Time
Adapted from Apron Anxiety.  Serves 2.

1 ball pizza dough
1/4 cup flour, or enough for dusting the surface
3 tablespoons tomato sauce (or more, if desired)
1 ball of fresh burrata cheese (you will only need about 4 oz.)
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 small eggplant
a few slices of cured meats of your choice
1/2 cup fresh herbs (such as basil leaves)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to broil.

Peel the eggplant, and slice into 1/2-inch thick rounds.  Sprinkle with a bit of salt and allow to sit for at least 20 minutes.  (This is done to draw out the eggplant's moisture.)  Rinse and gently pat dry.  Place eggplant slices on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Brush each slice of eggplant with olive oil.  Broil for 4-5 minutes.  This can be done a few hours ahead or even the day before.  Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Grease a non-stick pizza pan, or line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and dust with flour.  Roll out the dough with a rolling pin.  Transfer the dough to the pan or cookie sheet.

Heat a skillet over medium heat, then add 2 tablespoons olive oil.  Saute onion slices until very soft, about 10 minutes.  Set aside.

Slice the burrata.  Set aside.

Ladle the tomato sauce over the dough.  Spread it evenly with the back of a spoon.  Scatter the cured meats on top of the sauce, then layer the onion and eggplant slices.  Season with salt and pepper.

Place the pizza on the middle rack in the oven.  Reduce the oven temperature to 450 degrees.  After about 10-12 minutes, before the crust gets to be a golden brown, add the burrata slices to the pizza in the oven, so that it gets just melted.  A minute afterwards, sprinkle some basil leaves onto the pizza.

Remove the pizza from the oven, and let rest a few minutes.

Serve hot.

Easy, Asian-inspired Fish

the fish (cod), and side of zucchini

I devoured Alyssa Shelasky's memoir Apron Anxiety in a matter of hours over the holidays.  On the face of it, it's a fun, juicy read about dating and messy love affairs.  Below the surface, it's a candid recounting of the author's adventures (and misadventures) as she learns to cook, and how in her quest to master the kitchen, she unearths a passion for cooking and embarks on a journey of self-discovery.

I couldn't help but feel a certain kinship with the author.  Some of my sweetest days have been spent in the kitchen, cooking up simple treats, elaborate meals, or something in-between.  Cooking is how I express my love to friends and family.  It's also how I nurture myself.  As Alyssa similarly discovers for herself, there is nothing I find more soothing than cooking, and nothing I find more comforting than eating a home-cooked meal.  Through the ups and downs of life and relationships, the joys of cooking (and baking) have been a constant for me.  The kitchen is where I find both inspiration and solace.

In one of the final chapters of her book, Alyssa writes about her time in Los Angeles, where she takes care of a friend and nurses her own broken heart.  That same, dear friend shares with her a simple recipe for baked fish, which she entitles "Easy, Asian-Inspired Fish."

I am always on the look-out for a good fish dish, as I love eating fish but don't make it often enough.  What also drew me to this recipe were two of its ingredients: panko (Japanese-style bread crumbs) and mustard powder.  I often associate panko with deep-frying.  While I love deep-fried foods, I have an aversion to deep-frying in my own kitchen (I picture the oil splatters and mess I would have to clean up).  Panko, as I discovered with this recipe, is much more versatile than I gave it credit for: it gives even baked dishes a great crunchy texture.  While I've cooked with mustard seeds before (mainly Indian dishes), I'd not come across a recipe calling for mustard *powder*.  Thinking that simply grinding the mustard seeds I have on hand wouldn't yield a fine enough powder, I went ahead and purchased some mustard powder, adding to my already bulging spice collection.

The recipe also calls for wasabi paste.  Being half-Japanese, I am almost embarrassed to admit I am not a fan of wasabi.  So I omitted it.  And I actually think the mustard powder yielded enough heat to the fish.  The taste of ginger was barely discernible, so I would add a bit more ground ginger the next time I make this dish.  Not having a lime on hand, I substituted a splash of lime juice for the lime zest.

Easy, Asian-Inspired Fish

Adapted from Apron Anxiety.  Serves 4.

1 cup panko 

2 tablespoons wasabi paste

4 tablespoons mustard powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon lime zest (a splash of lime juice may be substituted)

4 tablespoons canola oil, plus more if needed

salt and black pepper to taste

vegetable oil spray

4 fish fillets (cod or mahimahi)

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the bread crumbs, wasabi (if using), mustard powder, ginger, and lime zest or juice in a medium bowl.  Mix until everything is well incorporated.  Drizzle in the canola oil and mix again.  The crumbs should just barely hold together when squeezed.  (Use more oil as necessary).  Season the crumbs to taste with salt and pepper.

Coat a rimmed baking sheet with vegetable oil spray and lay down the fish fillets.

Lightly coat the tops of the fish fillets with the hosin sauce.  Top each fillet with the bread-crumb mixture, covering the tops entirely and gently patting it down.

Bake the fillets in the oven for 15 minutes or until the fish flakes when poked with a fork.

The results: delicious fish with layered flavors that belie the simple recipe.

Here's what's on the table for New Year's Eve weekend

I think about food.  A lot.  At any given moment I can be recounting many a delicious meal I've indulged on (Greg is always remarking on my incredible "food memory").  When I'm not recollecting, I'm looking ahead.  There are few questions more delightful to ask myself than what to eat for breakfast/lunch/dinner or serve at the next party I throw.  The sole thing to top that question is where to spend my next vacation.  Only my love of travel trumps my love of food.

So, naturally, the first thing that came to mind yesterday when I deplaned for a layover en route to NY was what foods to prepare during the long weekend.  I have four glorious days to spend in the kitchen before I return to work.  Far away from my stash of cookbooks and magazines, I headed to the nearest newsstand for some inspiration.  I picked up Food & Wine Magazine, and together with a copy of "Apron Anxiety" (part memoir, part cookbook, it's a fun and engaging read for foodies and memoir-lovers alike) which I was traveling with, I settled into a comfy couch and contentedly did some meal planning.

In the course of just an hour, I cobbled together a menu that I'm excited about.  From Food & Wine magazine I chose Hippie-Style Egg Salad Sandwich; Asian-Brined Pork Loin; and Stir-Fried Noodles with Roast Pork (to be made with the left-over pork).  From Apron Anxiety: Easy, Asian-Inspired Fish (the name doesn't do it justice: this recipe calls for bread crumbs, ground ginger, hoisin sauce, and mustard powder); and Easy Pizza after a Tough Time (I'm thinking of using rich, buttery burrata).  Add to the menu Banana-Bacon-Stuffed French Toast with Hazelnut-Chocolate (a recipe I squirreled away last month for a special treat), I think I'm set for a few days at least!

Now onto what desserts to bake ...