Chocolate Chip with a Peppermint Twist

Let me first say, humbly, that this year's Cookie Parade has been a huge hit. I am just so touched that so many of our tour merchants, partners, and friends loved the gifts we offered last week, with such joyful passion. Several requests were made for more cookies, please, as in, encore! More than one suggestion was made to have our own cookie shop. Wouldn't that be nice??

All of this hoopla has actually made me quite introspective, and filled with joy, to think about how really, really happy people are to receive cookies. I would just love to share, that whether you ever make any of my recipes or not, just know that the offering the gift of homemade cookies is almost powerful enough to make people (especially doubters) believe that we do in fact live in a kind, loving, and benevolent Universe. I just love being an agent of that.

My sisters and I were on the phone to each other yesterday, comparing baking notes from our respective kitchens. Lisa finally got on board which is why that call wasn't made until Dec 20; she has finally come out under from the heaps of work in her office. We anxiously await the first taste of her signature spritz cookies. Suz and I never really wanted that job, I think the spritz cookies have always only been on Lisa's list.

Before I get to one recipe which has made a big splash on my own hit list this month, I appreciate your allowing me to reminisce about some of the most special cookies we grew up with. They came from across the street, from our neighbor Mary Mendes. She has since passed away, for many years now but, I know that we can all still remember her special paper plate of homemade cookies that we received every year as a family. The tag always said "from Mary Mendes", as if we might confuse which Mary made the best cookies on Cordova Street.

Mary was like the neighborhood grandma. She called all 5 of us, and all the other neighborhood children, her "little chickadees". Right up until the time she passed away, in her 90s, she would still recall how she took care of all of us at one time or another. Her husband died when she was 59, and she learned to drive their classic 1965 mustang with my mom as her instructor. The day she passed her driving test, my father made her a cocktail to celebrate and she giggled with excitement. She was an absolute darling, and this Christmas my thoughts keep returning to her memory.

The 'return' of my cookies seem to be having the same impact on my gift recipients, as her cookies had on my family. I am so touched that bakery owners and gourmet chefs and shopkeepers are thrilled beyond measure to receive my homemade cookies, when we all know LA's best products are right at their fingertips 7 days a week. Growing up, we made batch after batch of homemade cookies and, to receive those from "Mary Mendes" was still like receiving a bountiful treasure chest each Christmas. We especially loved that the cookies were usually the same varieties each year. What an incredible gift she offered ... it was like you could taste the love in every bite of her simple, beautifully crafted cookies.

I feel like her spirit nudged me this month to add some peppermint to my chocolate chip cookies. Her chocolate chip cookies (the BEST) always seemed to pick up the flavor of something peppermint on the plate. This year, I added a chopped peppermint bark bar from Trader Joe's, (which is made with both white and dark chocolate I believe) to the dough. It makes a fantastic cookie! If you can't find this bar, peppermint bark is seasonally available at many stores, including Cost Plus, Crate&Barrel, Williams-Sonoma, Sur La Table, and maybe even grocery stores right now.

My chocolate chip cookie recipe is basically the original Toll House one, the first recipe I ever learned with my mom. I gently recommend using the best vanilla extract you can find, pure butter, and even cage-free or organic eggs to yield the absolute, most delicious cookies.

If those high-grade ingredients are not handy, adding a healthy dose of loving feelings while you mix and bake the dough, will suffice. I love listening to my favorite music while I bake. I do everything by hand without an electric mixer so I can focus on how yummy the dough looks. I really think, if you take the time to have all of your senses engaged - sight, sound, touch, smell, taste (the last two can kick in even before baking) - your cookies can't help but be spectacular.

Please, try it and let me know!

Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Peppermint Twist

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup flour, sifted with 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp salt)
12 oz (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 Trader Joe's Peppermint Bark Bar, chopped or, 1/2 cup chopped peppermint bark

Preheat oven to 375F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream butter and sugars, blending well before adding eggs and vanilla, combine well. Add dry ingredients and combine well. Stir in chocolate chips and peppermint bark.

Drop by teaspoonful, two inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned on edges. Cool on wire racks, store in airtight container.

Yields 50-60 cookies.

Spicy Ginger Snaps

Welcome to post 2 of my promised Holiday baking series of recipes, and the lore that goes with.

These spicy ginger snaps have lots of stories associated with them, not the least of which is about them resonating with a beautiful Italian cousin of ours. Linda loves to eat them when we are all very full at the end of our mom's annual Christmas Open House, because "they're ginger, they settle your stomach, right?"

Yes, Linda, I have promised her. Especially if you eat 2 or 5 or 10 of them!

The original recipe is from the Dahlia Lounge in Seattle, Chef Tom Douglas's first success story in the Pacific Northwest. It was in Fine Cooking magazine, alongside a Pineapple Sorbet recipe. More on the pairing of sorbet with these in a minute ... for now let me just say, YES, for that concept. This recipe was clipped and has been resting in my Christmas cookie file for many years. Each December it is the first to come out. I love the freshly grated ginger in these (I use more than the original recipe), and have added fresh nutmeg because I love it and, nutmeg makes people happy.

Please know that of course, they are delicious the other 11 months of the year as well. They were on the esteemed menu in October of 2002 when my friend Jan and I were committed to "red food" during the LA Angels' run toward the World Series. We believed that if we lit red candles and ate red food each time we were together to watch a postseason game, the gods of baseball would be pleased and, favor the Angels. We ate these cookies alongside (red) Cabernet Sorbet (an incredibly delicious idea and pairing, by the way) during the American League Championship series. The Yankees went home. The Angels went on to play in their first World Series ever and, they won.

The ginger snaps' next claim-to-baseball-fame was in June 2005. It was Derek Lowe's birthday, he was pitching that night, and it was the first time we catered sushi for the LA Dodgers in their clubhouse. He asked us to please not serve him too much of the sushi because he either had, or would get, an upset stomach. I made him a plate of cookies that the guys put by his locker with a Happy Birthday note on a yellow post-it that they had handy. I wrote, "the ginger snaps will settle your stomach". (I learned that from my cousin Linda.) The plate of cookies got a mention in the LA Times the next morning. I still have the clipping!

Later on in life, they became the favorite of one of my beautiful Roman friends, Riccardo. Our friend Bruno was living in LA at the time, and was off to New York to spend New Year's with our friends from Rome, by way of Colorado for Christmas. Bruno and I had breakfast at Philippe's the Saturday before Christmas. (Little sidebar advice here: Take a Roman to Philippe's some time; it's tremendous fun!) I gave Bruno about 6 or 8 containers of homemade cookies to share with Francesca, Diego, and Riccardo in New York. He promised me they'd stay fresh in the Colorado cold. I learned later, that Riccardo's favorites were these ginger snaps when the cookies came out every morning with their espresso. When I visited them in Roma the following spring, I had every intention of baking them while I was there - I'd even brought my own nutmeg grater - but never got the chance to do that. But I was consoled to meet Diego for the first time, and be introduced to him accordingly:

"Remember those cookies in New York? This is THAT Diane!"

It gives me great joy and pleasure to share this recipe. My wish for you, is that they garner new, delicious fame each time they come out of your kitchen. Don't forget to mix in the love!

Riccardo's Favorite Spicy Ginger Snaps
12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/2 cubes), softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Cinnamon sugar, for dipping before baking

Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg, molasses, ginger, combine well. Sift dry ingredients and add gradually, stirring until a smooth mixture results. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Using about 1 Tbsp dough, roll into balls; roll each ball in cinnamon sugar. Place about 2" apart on baking sheet and bake until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Cool completely and store in airtight container. Yields about 4 dozen cookies; recipe is easily doubled in direct proportion.

Ricotta Sugar Cookies: 1st of Best Cookie Recipes!

My sisters and I grew up baking Christmas cookies, and I am the first of us three to admit that the mindset of Holiday baking 'sets in' immediately after Thanksgiving dinner.

That is, right after we consult with our mom - or like this year, take over on her behalf - to decide on the menu for her annual Christmas party in early December. Suz just about had her clipboard handy this year to make sure my mom knew our take on her menu this year. The most important thing to note, is that our mom is to do none of the baking. We will handle that.

December's blog posts, which I will try to keep coming fast and often, will be dedicated to Christmas cookie recipes, and the stories that inspire them. I cannot promise that my sisters' recipes will get any days in the sun here, but hopefully those I do share from my own files, will be warmly, and deliciously, received.

The first one is for Ricotta Sugar Cookies, and this is one of my favorite stories ever.

In 2004, I volunteered to demonstrate Italian recipes on the Cooking Stage at the Feast of San Gennaro in Hollywood. The stage was managed by volunteers extraordinaire, Dolores and Johnny, two of the kindest, most fun, young&beautiful people I have ever met. I told Dolores, when we were planning the menus for each chef, that I wanted to make dessert, since the other chefs were all featuring savory recipes.

She gently suggested I make her mother's Ricotta Sugar Cookies, which simple, delicious recipe was shared in that year's cookbook. I was honored that she had offered something so special and I agreed to the idea in a heartbeat. I even made a double recipe. There were more than enough cookies for our audience that night, all of the volunteers and then some, and then the village after that. But everyone knows Italians don't know how to prepare small portions of anything.

What I didn't know, was that Dolores' mom had passed away several years before. When her father tasted the cookies that night, I believe with tears in his eyes, he said he was touched that they tasted so good, he had almost forgotten ...

Suddenly I knew that Dolly's cookie recipe is probably one of the most precious family heirlooms they had. It made me all the more humble to have prepared them, both for her and her father, and for so many others who all agreed they were so incredibly delicious.

Dolores and I reconnected a couple months ago. I told her that I make these cookies every Christmas, and I send a prayer of love and gratitude to her mom, and to her whole family, for such a precious (and I said incredibly delicious, didn't I??) gift each year. To prepare them each time, is still an honor and, a joy!

In December 2005, I brought a ton of Christmas cookies to the managers of the LA Dodgers' Clubhouse, because I wanted to stay connected with them after having been their caterer during the previous season. When one of them tasted this cookie, he looked at it with such wonder and said, "Oh my god, how did you make these?"

I just smiled. No-brainer, Mitch, come on.

With love.

In that same spirit of Holiday wonder, it gives me tremendous joy to share this recipe with you.

Dolly Tersigni's Ricotta Sugar Cookies

1/2 lb. butter, room temperature
2 c sugar
3 eggs
4 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 lb. ricotta cheese (I usually use SIENA or the Trader Joe's brand)
2 tsp vanilla

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Alternately add this mixture and ricotta to batter. Add vanilla. Drop 1 teaspoon of batter on greased cookie sheet and bake for 15 mins at 350.

Icing:
1 1-lb box granulated sugar (per original recipe; I use about 1 lb. powdered sugar)
2 tsp soft butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
milk as needed

Mix together and add milk until you obtain consistency to your liking.

(I tint the icing red and green, then drizzle it over the cookies. The cookies are also delicious and quite perfect just sprinkled with powdered sugar!)

Yields about 4-5 dozen cookies.

Really good Clean-out-the-Fridge recipes

OK now this is only the story for you, if you:

• don't have any science projects going on in there
• buy fresh produce regularly
• have some meat, cheese, or other protein in there (tofu, for instance) OR
• have nuts or nut butters available
• have some pasta, rice, or grains on hand, preferably cooked OR
• you're OK with some kind of bread as a 'mop' to be your starch 'side'
  

Or at least some of the above are true.

Years ago, I went with my best friend to her aunt's home in San Clemente for the weekend, and from the leftover beef roast we ate on Friday, our hostess made the best taquitos on Saturday. I was in awe, and thought it would be a dream come true if I could work that kind of magic one day in my own home - alchemizing leftovers into completely different and delicious meals.

Well the last however many years have been very kind to me, and now we see that I ought to be careful what I wish for. Granted, taquitos are not my strong suit, but throw-together meals are. For me personally, when I'm ready to eat I prefer to do so as soon as possible, so dinner especially needs to be prepared quickly since it's usually been a while since lunch. For me, 30 minutes is quick because I do not own a microwave.

I typically buy enough of whichever sausage, chops, burger blend, etc., Jim recommends when I do my weekly grocery shop at Huntington Meats on Saturdays.

When the weather is not too warm, I positively love the following for dinner. This you can make with any fresh vegetables you have. You don't need to add a lot of seasoning unless you want to, because the protein is already well-seasoned just by its own virtue. I recommend that all vegetables be cut in pieces that are about the same size, and that an ovenproof skillet (preferably cast-iron) or casserole be used. Recipe is easily multiplied in direct proportion.

Oven-roasted sausages and vegetables with wine, for 2
2 fresh uncooked sausages, spicy or uniquely-seasoned are my favorites
about 4 cups fresh vegetable chunks
Extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
Red or white wine, or chicken/vegetable broth, if non-alcohol is preferred
Place sausages in large oven-proof skillet or casserole in 400-degree oven. Roast for 10 minutes while vegetables are prepared. Toss vegetables with a little oil and vinegar, salt and pepper. Place around sausages, and return skillet to oven. Roast entire mixture for about 25 minutes. Pour some wine or broth over roasted mixture, and toss pan contents slightly. Return to oven for 5-10 minutes. Serve over cooked pasta, mashed potatoes, or on its own, with warm bread to mop up juices from the plate. Yields 2 servings.

I made a similar meal with lamb shanks the other night, only I slow-roasted everything after searing the shanks in olive oil before placing them with vegetables in the oven. Use 325 for oven temperature, and roast for about an hour. This was a good Friday night meal for me, I could allow the hour between prep and eating to finish up work, take a cool shower, and enjoy a well-deservered glass of wine at the end of the day (just as I doused the lamb&vegetables in red wine to finish the dish. It tasted very 5-star, I promise you!)

If you prepare a meal without animal protein, those can be quickly whipped up too.

I love pasta with tofu and vegetables, and now that there are whole-wheat and whole-grain varieties out there, it feels even more virtuous to indulge in a pasta meal on a whim.

Asian-inspired pasta with tofu and greens
1/2 lb. pasta of choice
1/2 lb. firm tofu, cut in cubes
Desired amounts of broccoli, baby bok choy, zucchini or other favorite vegetables, cut in small pieces
Finely chopped celery, green onion, garlic, ginger
Sesame oil
White wine or chicken/vegetable broth
Equal parts pure maple syrup combined with soy sauce (about 1/4 cup each)
Peanut or other nut butter, optional
Cook pasta in large stockpot of boiling water, as directed. When pasta is just about cooked, add tofu cubes and chopped vegetables to cooking water. Drain all contents in large colander once pasta is al dente or cooked to desired doneness. In large skillet, cook celery, onion, garlic, ginger in sesame oil until soft and fragrant. Pour in a little wine or broth and stir to deglaze pan. Add maple-soy mixture and cook until boiling over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and stir in a little nut butter if desired. Taste and adjust seasoning with more syrup or soy sauce. Toss pasta mixture with sauce in skillet (preferred method) or in large serving bowl. Yields 2-4 servings.

You are warmly invited to submit comments here and share ideas for your own healthy made-at-home meals. I will be offering sequels to this story as the weeks whir by!

With autumn arriving officially next week, the 'nesting' season begins again and amazing seasonal ingredients start to lure more of us back to the kitchen.

Wishing you the joy of amazing flavors at the table!

Your Tour Maestra,
Diane Scalia

Ode to Tour Guests

A few months ago, it occurred to me that it wasn't really possible for me to review my tour guests. It didn't seem fair.

By now all of those feelings have passed, and the only thing that seems unbalanced now, is that up til this moment, I haven't been able to sing the praises of my tour guests.

Melting Pot Food Tours officially celebrated its first birthday in July. We are very, very flattered by the reviews we've been receiving and, I promise that a lot of that credit deserves to be passed back to the guests who really, really add to the joy the tours have rendered ... especially in the last couple weeks.

Quite honestly, when temperatures soar to a steamy 112 degrees and, for 3.5 hours at least one of us is required to be Miss Mary Sunshine, it's tricky business! And, for weeks now, I have been blessed beyond measure, to host some of the loveliest people, truly, in the world...considering they have vacationed in LA from Australia, Wales, Washington DC, Canada, Iowa, and beyond! And many of them have joined us to play tourists in their own city! They have made my job so incredibly pleasurable, to express my gratitude here seems like such a small token of appreciation.

Take my group a couple Saturdays ago, for instance. Some of them were from 'the (San Fernando) Valley' and humorously reminded me more than once that 112 was "cool" compared to their neighborhood. They came equipped with mini- and not-so-mini- spray misters, and kept all willing guests 'misted' and cooled off, and extended that free, generous service to me as well. As usual, we sat outside, we were sometimes welcomed indoors, we were in the sun, we were in the shade, and devil-may-care ... everything was more than fine with them. What a fabulous group!

Same deal this last weekend. It was a little cooler, but not much. Groups of 12 and 13, each person more enthusiastic, kind, complimentary, patient, cool-and-collected, than the last. We waited a long time for the bus at the end of the tour, postponing what relief I thought they'd be craving. No problem. We laughed and chatted more, they eagerly asked for what else there was to do in LA that would be this much fun.

Blew me away!

A lovely couple from Las Vegas joined us last Friday. She was a wringer for Serena Williams (and, we all liked her better). The first question he couldn't wait to ask me right at the beginning of the tour, was if I had a restaurant where they could go and eat, after the tour!? No, I was sorry to say, but I suggested that if they still liked me after the tour (I wasn't sure I'd even like me, lol!), and some of my recipe suggestions, maybe they'd like to come to my home for dinner!

Another wonderful young man was visiting LA for the very first time and told me this was one of the very best experiences of his entire visit. He can't wait to come back to LA because now he loves it so much.

Another young lady from the East Coast got very badly lost on buses trying to find her way, and didn't catch up with our tour until it was nearly over. When I told my group to kindly take care of her while I went to order another sample for her, by the time I returned they had broken out all of the leftovers they were toting and shared them all with her, telling her all the stories she'd missed. Afterward she and I spent one-on-one time around Farmers Market and I made sure she had both the Bob's donut she missed earlier, and everything she needed to carry on and enjoy the rest of her time in LA...which she ended up extending another 4 days.

There was the beautiful young woman earlier this year who told me the story of how she was named for Racquel Welch.

There was a four-generation family who all came to town for a graduation and made my tour a party of their own!

Another big Irish family, whose members had flown in from all over the map (Ireland, Scotland, France, NYC), enjoyed the tour immensely and, because they were staying at a big beach house, they stocked up on all the groceries I recommended for their family bbq that night. Their menu included a big box of Bob's donuts for dessert!

An adorable couple from Perth, Australia, also endured intense heat and smiled, laughed, and were profoundly grateful for the experience from beginning to end.

It would take a very long time to cite everyone who joined my tours and touched my life over the last 14 months, even in a mere blog post. So kindly forgive me if you are reading and I have appeared to overlook you because in truth, I have not taken any of this for granted.

I love to say that my work is really about meeting the angels in LA and introducing them to each other. As a native and now an ambassador of my great city, it is a post I take very seriously, responsibly and, with gratitude and great joy.

LA is a big city and it can be overwhelming to find one's way, it's true. But just because a place is big, doesn't mean its visitors don't deserve old-world, authentic, sincere hospitality.

Wouldn't it be nice if everyone who came to visit felt like the young man who can't wait to return to our City of Angels because he felt so welcomed and just loves it here so much?

I think it would.

Til next time, I remain your Tour Maestra,
Diane Scalia

Don't cry, Julie. Julia trashed me too!

Even before I worked with her personally, I was a fan of the fabulous Julia Child. And, like young Julie Powell in the movie, I was left confused when the very elderly, revered, gourmet icon allegedly made an unkind comment about me.

My story backs up to 2001, but first let me explain the means to my madness regarding this article.

Some of our lucky email subscribers joined us Tuesday night in West LA, to enjoy an advance screening of Columbia Pictures’ “Julie&Julia.” Julia Child was born in Pasadena, and this was a brilliant coup formulated by our own Marla Dennis, to celebrate the launch of our Old Pasadena walking-tasting tour.

The film was fantastic - very funny, romantic, and incredibly delicious! With food in nearly every scene, we were very happy we ate a little something before. Afterward it was easy to talk each other into splendid desserts at Junior’s Deli (free cake with Landmark movie ticket stubs, just a little heads up; I recommend the blackout cake)! It was a great evening all around.

In the film, our young heroine has a very sad moment she learns that Julia apparently made a negative comment about her; her dreams of their ever meeting fade into hopelessness. I felt for her because I could liken it somewhat to my own personal experience. Except that I did get to meet Julia Child, at her home, where I spent truly some of the most blessed hours of my life.

Once upon a time, there was a lame GE “speedcook” oven called Advantium, that Julia Child had purchased. As such an esteemed buyer, she was promised that GE experts would come to her home in beautiful Montecito, California, to personally teach her to use the oven.

I was one of those experts. The other was a wonderful spirit named Bridget, who came out from GE headquarters in Kentucky, to be with me for this very important post.

We drove to Santa Barbara, we bought groceries. We met Julia the next morning at her pretty, small condo that had a tiny, but perfectly organized, kitchen.

She wanted to be shown how to roast a chicken. The oven didn’t do that, we were sorry to advise her.

“Why don’t we try it anyway?” Julia offered, kindly, hopefully.

Some short time later, we had a roasted chicken, to all of our delight. Who knew?

When our little lesson was over, just as Bridget and I were debating whether to invite our lovely client out to lunch, Julia spoke up.

“Well, you’d better cut up that chicken so we can have lunch, don’t you think?”

Oh yes, OK. And suddenly, I was forced to face my worst demons. Cutting up a chicken is not my strong suit. And I am in Julia Child’s kitchen with this dilemma. Maybe Bridget could do it? She could not.

“Oh fine! Get me some scissors!” I laughed and while Julia set up her patio for our meal, I hacked up the chicken and presented it as elegantly on the platter as possible.

The pleasure of one yummy roast chicken, a Julia-prepared vine-ripened tomato salad with vinaigrette, baguette, and French Champagne, lasted a good hour. We had the most wonderful, sacred time with the world-famous Julia Child, one of the most gracious human beings we’d ever met, for certain.

She sent us off with autographed copies of her latest (and last) cookbook, hugs, gratitude, all good things. A few days later I received a beautiful note in the mail from her, thanking me again.

So imagine my shock a few months later when I received a phone call from my agency through whom I had this job. They wanted to know if 90-year-old Julia was a ‘little off’ that day at her home? She was not, and I told them so - why?

An article in the NY Times had quoted her saying that GE had sent two people to show her this oven, “and they didn’t even know how to use it.”

What could I make of that?

Bridget emailed me, "Did you see that Julia trashed us??"

I think I just laughed.

I have photos (see a few more on Facebook) of us together, her kitchen, that Champagne lunch, her autographed book, the unforgettable memories.

What can I say?

Never mind Julie, she was probably only misquoted. I still love her too.

Handmade Pizza and Red Salad, per request

It is with tremendous joy and pleasure that I share my handmade pizza recipe. Having gently boasted (lol!) on Facebook about the 'pan pizza' prosciutto-arugula masterpiece I whipped up last night, some interest - even from Italy - popped up, so here we are. I will tell you what I did, I hope you will try it, and report back to me how that all worked out.

The recipe isn't really mine, it is an adaptation of Giada's but, maybe don't tell her. I tried making it last night for the first time with the fresh yeast I bought at Monsieur Marcel, and I think it's a keeper. I'd recommend using fresh yeast from now until forever! It's more likely they use it in Europe (and they probably think our dried yeast is a joke).

I also tried baking the pizza in my cast-iron skillet for the first time and, another keeper for certain. Up until now I've been using my well-seasoned metal baking sheets that I've had forever. I was about to throw them out until I visited Marche, Italy (see my friend Ashley's site for where to cook in Marche!). My incredibly lovely hosts made pizza after pizza after pizza one night for dinner, using their well-seasoned metal baking sheets...and each was more amazing than the next. (I had a pizza stone in another life but it broke one morning all over the kitchen floor when I was in a very very bad mood...whole separate story.)

I roast tomatoes for pizza by chopping tomatoes (even underripe ones will work, or cherry tomatoes that do not need to be chopped), placing them in a heavy ovenproof pan or skillet, drizzling them generously with extra-virgin olive oil, and roasting them for about 25 minutes in a 400F-degree oven. After that time, I pour in a little red wine and roast for 5 minutes more. Stir and press pieces gently to create a fresh sauce.

For this pizza last night I used grated Italian Bel Paese cheese (very mild and creamy) from Marcel. You can use any cheese you'd like. The ricotta or mozzarella from our new friends, cheesemakers Angelo and Franco would be sublime, also available at Marcel.

Now your pizza is ready to prepare, once you've made the dough with my recipe below.

Coat the bottom of whatever pan you're using with extra-virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with polenta (or cornmeal) to prevent sticking.

Roll or press pizza dough to desired thinness, and place in or on pan. Top with fresh roasted tomato sauce and cheese. Bake in preheated 400F-degree oven for 18-25 minutes. Crust will be browned on edges and cheese will be bubbly.

You can stop there if you'd like, but I topped mine with thinly sliced prosciutto and arugula, which is my favorite in Italy (well, besides porcini or Margherita or primavera or 4 stagione...).
If you hurry, Prosciutto di Parma is on sale at Marcel I believe through tomorrow, Friday - $15.98/lb instead of $22.

On the side of my pizza, I made a Red Salad of radicchio, grated beet, and red onion, tossed with balsamic vinaigrette. It all looked amazing on the plate, and when I have a good digital camera and more patience for posting fotos, you'll be the first to see them in a new gallery!

Buon appetito!!!

Handmade Pizza Dough
1 package yeast, stirred well into 2/3 cup warm water
OR, if using fresh yeast, use 2 tsp; stir into warm water
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sea salt
1 Tbsp sugar
Additional olive oil

Stir olive oil into dissolved yeast. Combine flour, salt, sugar in large bowl and make a well. Pour liquid into well and mix quickly and thoroughly by hand until ball is formed. Knead briefly, then turn into clean bowl coated with olive oil. Place in warm, draft-free setting covered with cotton towel for at least one hour. Gently punch dough down before preparing pizza, or store in
plastic zipper bag in refrigerator. Yields about 1 pound of dough; usually enough for 2 pizzas.