Midnight Snacks

This is a post that would be much better with pictures. But I wasn’t thinking about pictures when I went ravaging through my fridge at midnight looking for food. Again. No. You’d think I was pregnant. But no. Just nocturnal. And breastfeeding. I’ll go with that explanation.

Regardless of the reason – midnight found me hungry for snacks. And one of my favorite late-night snacks is eggs and toast. I’m very partial to the over easy egg with sourdough and any permutation thereof.

The movie Spanglish glorified this sort of midnight snack to an art form, with a special DVD feature showing how to make that fried egg, bacon, tomato sandwich. I should have guessed but this recipe was developed by Thomas Keller (of French Laundry), who also created the amazing Ratatouille recipe for that adorable, rodent-filled movie.

In a similar vein, when I was a kid, I had this really old (like 1950′2 era) Betty Crocker cookbook for young girls and in it were tons of retro recipes. My favorite was a recipe for “Eggs in a Frame.” Basically, you butter both sides of a piece of bread, toast it in a pan, cut a circle in the middle (save that toast round for later!). Break an egg into a cup or bowl and lightly salt, drop a little more butter in the center of the “frame” and gently slide the egg into the frame. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes on medium heat, then gently flip over. This will yield an egg with a yolk that is thickened but still a little runny. That’s how I like it…you can also cook it through on one side until the egg white is set and serve it sunny side up.

Anyway, tonight, lacking bacon and lettuce to make the Thomas Keller version – I just ate my eggs in a frame with an extra slice of toast and some sliced, salted cold tomatoes. So yummy.

Addicted to Bread

There’s a little plaque hanging in my kitchen that says “Home Baked Breads.” My husband bought it for me after he realized (oh.my.gosh.) that I knew how to make focaccia. Sadly for our waistlines, he and I both love bread, especially when it’s homemade and definitely when it’s covered with tomato sauce.

If I haven’t mentioned it before, I have to give major credit to my favorite cookbook in the world – The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. It is the best cookbook I have ever owned (thanks mom!) and I have yet to try a recipe from it that I do not absolutely love. That is why, last night, when I had a major craving for pizza-ish carbs, I went straight to my Test Kitchen book to sniff out a recipe for Pizza.

It requires some planning ahead (total rising time is about 1.5 hrs), but if you follow the directions, it’s pretty much fool-proof. It makes three 12″ pizzas, or in my case, it make two 12″ pizzas and three deliciously fluffy 4″ mounds of tomato-covered  flat bread (flat-ish, they were pretty fluffy).

Dough:

• 4 1/4 c. bread (or all-purpose, I used King Arthur’s Organic All-Purpose)
• 1 packet rapid rise yeast (or 2.25 tsp)
• 1 3/4 c. warm water
• 1.5 tsp salt

2 TBSP olive oil

In measuring cup, combine yeast and water, proof for a few minutes. [Note: the actual recipe skips this step, combining the yeast with the rest of the dry ingredients, but I always prefer to add my yeast wet, just in case.] In large mixing bowl, combine 4 c. flour and salt, add in olive oil and then water/yeast mixture. Mix for until dough forms a ball, then let it rest for 2 minutes, then mix again for 30 seconds. At this stage, my dough was REALLY sticky. Pour dough out on to a heavily floured surface and begin kneading, adding the remaining 1/4c. flour as needed. Knead for a total of about 5 minutes, then place dough (shaped into a nice neat ball) in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic (also oiled) and let rise in a warm place for 60-90 minutes (mine only needed 60) or until doubled in size.

Turn dough out on to floured surface and divide into three, equal-sized balls. Wrap each in plastic and let them rest another 20-30 minutes.

In the meantime: place your pizza stone (a must have!) in the oven and preheat to 500 degrees. Let the stone heat up in the oven for at least 30 minutes. This is the perfect time to assemble all your toppings.

After 30 minutes, you can begin building your pizzas:

On a large sheet of parchment (you’ll use this during baking) sprinkle a couple TBSP of cornmeal and begin to roll out your first ball of pizza dough. I didn’t need a rolling pin, just gently push and shape the dough until it’s about 13-14″ in diameter. Now it’s time to decorate!  I topped our pizza with Muir Glen Organic Pizza Sauce (delicious! I highly recommend!), minced garlic, thinly sliced bell peppers, red onions, tomatoes and chicken apple sausage.

Now comes the most tricky part: Turn a large cookie sheet upside down and gently slide your pizza, on the parchment paper, on to the upside-down cookie sheet. This is your substitute for those big paddles they have in pizza kitchens. Slide the pizza, parchment and all, on to your hot pizza stone and back for 10-15 minutes until done. Repeat with your other two balls of dough and you have pizza night! Preservative free and delicious!

Retro Night – Turkey Meatloaf

When I’m craving old-fashioned, stick-to-your ribs food, this is at the top of my list. I serve it with mashed yukon gold potatoes and broccoli sauteed with garlic.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a loaf pan with olive oil or butter.

In large bowl combine:

• 2lbs ground turkey (I use 1lb breast meat, 1lb thigh meat – they’re sold separately at my grocery store)
• 1/2 – 1 cup bread crumbs (since most store-brand varieties have milk in them, I make my own by toasting day-old sourdough and then blitzing in the food processor until very fine)
• 1/2 finely chopped parsley
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce\
• 1/3 c. ketchup (I like Heinz organic)
• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder (not salt!)

Mash all ingredients together until thoroughly combined. Press into loaf pan and round the top. Spread another 1/3 cup of ketchup. Bake at 375, uncovered, for 45-50 minutes or until browned on top and cooked through.

You can easily make a gravy to go with this by making a simple roux (equal parts flour, butter – I usually need about a TBSP of each) and adding chicken broth, ketchup, a little tomato paste and salt and pepper to taste. My family likes the meatloaf with just ketchup. They’re big ketchup fans. Especially my one year old. The dentists will scold me for this, I’m sure.

Enjoy!