Archive for March 2009
Hand-Tossed Pizza and a Simple Salad
Nothing like a homemade pizza dinner on a Sunday night. I love making my own dough now (though it’s still somewhat soggy in the center, not as clay-oven crisp as I’d like it to be) though it does take time and make a mess in the kitchen, what with flour and cornmeal thrown everywhere. With whole wheat flour instead of the high-gluten Italian one she recommends, I made dough from Melissa McCart‘s recipe, which appeared in The Washington Post’s Food section (I carted the hard-copy all the way out to Oregon with me:). Sauce was from 101 Cookbooks (fresh lemon zest really brightens it up!) but with pureed tomatoes, instead of crushed, for that smooth pizza sauce texture. We topped the pizzas with feta and mozzarella, roasted garlic, rosemary-sauteed potatoes and spinach. No complaints here:)
For a light salad accompaniment, I drew inspiration from Mark Bittman’s recent post on this refreshing fennel-celery salad, with the sweet addition of a crisp, thin-skinned Asian pear.
Eating for Zimbabwe
Greens with spicy peanut sauce
We had a Zimbabwean feast Friday night at an informal benefit dinner to raise money for Ancient Ways, a local non-profit that supports education and development projects in the economically ravaged country. The meal, prepared by Chef Intaba of Fireworks Restaurant and a corps of volunteered, featured spicy stewed chicken and lamb, downy sweet potato rolls and most memorably, a brilliant collard greens with dish bathed in a light, tangy peanut sauce (the Zimbabwe name escapes me, but it began with an “m.”) I hope to recreate it. Maybe use the recipe for the “Cooked Greens Zimbabwe Style” found in this book?
There was lovely live Zimbabwean music, too, though I have to say they must have been the whitest African music band (see below). Oh well, such is life in Oregon.
The whitest Zimbabwean marimba band.
BaltimOregon to Maine 