GARLICKY CAESAR SALAD … PASSIONATE PIZZA STYLE

This is the Caesar Salad recipe we served in our artisan  pizzeria, PASSIONATE PIZZA in Vancouver,British Columbia.   We tossed every salad to order.   It is the same salad we served in our French restaurant; ROXY’S BISTRO in Regina, Saskatchewan.   PASSIONATE PIZZA was voted Best Pizza in Vancouver and Best  Pizza in the Pacific North West.

This is the salad to make to  enjoy with your Passionate Pizza!

 

GARLICKY CAESAR SALAD  … serves six

1/4 cup Hellman’s Mayonnaise.  Health concerns dictated we use mayonnaise in this recipe.

3 tablespoons freshly grated parmigiano reggiano, pecorino, or grana cheese (plus thin shavings of cheese for serving  – optional)

2-3 anchovy fillets, drained, plus more fillets for garnishing if you wish

2 generous tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 – 3 garlic cloves, smashed

a good  dash of Worcestershire sauce

a good dash of a Tabasco

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard and 2 tablespoons of capers

Freshly ground white pepper

One very large head of romaine or 3 chilled large hearts of romaine

Freshly ground black pepper and  garlic croutons (recipe follows)

1. In a blender, combine the mayonnaise with the cheese, anchovies, lemon juice, garlic, Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce and Dijon Mustard.  process until smooth.  Season with white pepper.

2. In a large salad bowl toss the roughly chopped romaine with the dressing, capers,  croutons  and season with black pepper.  Garnish with cheese shavings and anchovy fillets (if desired) and serve right away.

garlic croutons

In our pizzeria we would bake enormous trays of garlic croutons.  You could do the same but at home I prefer to saute the bread.   Slice  country-style  bread in thick slices  then roughly tear into large croutons.  Pour a generous amount of olive oil into a large skillet, toss in a few crushed garlic cloves, and over a low heat let the garlic cloves brown and flavour the oil.  Remove the garlic.  Increase the heat under your pan then add  your croutons.   Brown quickly on one side, then turn them over and continue browning.  It is this heady  aroma of garlic and the rich olive oil flavoured croutons that make this an outstanding salad.  The croutons taste best made fresh so indulge and nibble on any croutons left over.

Recipes for PASSIONATE PIZZA’S await you in MRS.BUTTERFINGERS kitchen.

PASSIONATE PIZZA … voted best pizza in Vancouver. Make it at home!

Six months after we opened PASSIONATE PIZZA it was voted the best pizzeria in Vancouver,  British Columbia  We introduced artisan pizzas to Vancouver.  Pizza’s with a  billowing crust, and toppings so intriguingly delicious and so very different; pizzas they participated in romance (an engagement ring nestled in a bed of basil,  fed a political campaign,  nourished actors and rock bands, and became more than just a pizza in a box to our customers.  It was pizza made with passion;  roasted tomato sauce, marinated eggplant., spicy Italian sausage, smoked salmon, cream cheese and red onions, and always, always fresh basil growing in the window waiting for the finishing touch.

If you use a pizza stone you can bake amazing pies, and say good-bye to cardboard crusts and oily cheese.

You must start with a good crust.  Make your dough very slack.   Dough that sticks to your hands.   Have a light hand with your toppings –  just a few.  Buy good quality cheeses, season with salt and pepper.  You’ll never order take-out pizza again.

DO NO SUBSTITUTE ANYTHING in this recipe for dough.  Especially do not use  whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour.  If you only bake with whole wheat flour just this once give over.  You don’t make pizza everyday.

ALL-PURPOSE PIZZA DOUGH (with some pizza-making suggestions)

MAKES TWO TWELVE PIZZAS

This is a simple bread dough, which you can mix by hand or in a stand mixer.   Roll out small pizzas if you have trouble making the big ones.

2 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast (l packet)

1 cup warm water (105F to 115F)

1 tsp. honey

1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional for brushing the pizza crusts

3 cups all-purpose flour in total.  (put 2 1/2 cups in bowl and set aside 1/2 cup flour for kneading) NO SUBSTITUTION

1 tsp. salt.

In a bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bread bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water.  Add the honey and stir together.  Let sit for 3-4 minutes, or until the water is cloudy.  Then stir in the olive oil.

If you are using a stand mixer combine the flour and salt and add it to the yeast mixture all at once.  Mix together using the paddle attachment, then change to the dough hook.  Knead at low speed for 2 minutes, then turn up to medium speed and knead until the dough comes cleanly away from the sides of the bowl and clusters around the dough hook , about 5 minutes. Hold on to the machine if it bounces around.  Turn out onto a clean work surface and knead by hand for 2-3 minutes longer.  This is when you  may (if needed) add the 1/2 cup flour you’ve set aside.   Remember it’s a very slack dough that makes a grand pizza crust.  The dough should feel silky and smooth and elastic.  When you press it with your finger it should slowly spring back.

If you are kneading the dough by hand mix together the yeast, honey water and olive oil as directed in a large bowl.  Combine the flour and salt.  Fold the flour in a cup at a time using a large wooden spoon.  As soon as you can scrape the dough out in one piece, scrape it only a lightly floured work surface and knead it for ten minutes, adding flour as necessary.

Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, rounded size down first, then rounded side up.  Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and leave it in a warm spot to rise for at least one hour.

Dive the dough into two to four equal balls,   and shape each ball by gently pulling down the sides of the dough and tucking each pull under the bottom of the ball, working round and round the ball 4 or 5 times.  Then, on a smooth, unfloured surface, roll the ball the ball around under your palm until it feels smooth and firm, about 1 minute.  Put the balls on  a tray and cover with a damp towel, and leave them to rest for at least 30 minutes.  At this point, the dough balls can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for l to 2 days.  You will need to punch them down again when you are ready to roll out the pizzas.

Place a pizza stone in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 500F.   Do this at least an hour before you bake the pizza.

Form your pizza, either  by spreading the dough with the heel of your hand, or using a rolling-pin to get an even circle.  Form a slightly thicker raised rim around the edge of the circle.  Brush everything with a little olive oil.  You can transfer the pizza to a lightly oiled pizza pan, or you can bake it directly on the stone.

Now get creative .  Spread the dough a little marinara sauce or pesto sauce,   or simply top with a mozzarella cheese.  Add a couple of toppings, sprinkle with a little fresh or dried herbs.  Now dust a pizza paddle with semolina or cornmeal and slip it under the pizza. Slide the pizza onto the baking stone or into the pizza pan.    You can place the pizza pan on the stone-the heat from the stone will help it achieve a crisp crust.  Bake until the cheese topping is bubbling and the right of the crust is a deep golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Using the pizza paddle to slide the pizza out of the oven and onto a cutting  board.  Use a pizza cutter or a sharp knife to cut the pizza into slices and serve immediately.  Enjoy.

PIZZA TOPPINGS:

Two of our favorite pizzas have the following toppings.

#l  home-made tomato sauce,  mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese,  baked then topped with prosciutto and arugula and generous grinds of black pepper.

#2 mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, blue cheese, caramelized onions with fresh thyme and pitted Greek olives.

We have been retired from the world of pizza for more than a few years.  But, we still make pizza.  We use our domestic stove oven and a pizza stone, and toppings that change with the season.  It has become our tradition –  Thursday night is pizza night.  We always make extra pizza for frequent unexpected guests.

CHICKEN TAGINE WITH SWEET POTATOES AND PRUNES . . . EXOTIC, ENTICING MOROCCO IN YOUR KITCHEN TONIGHT

When we lived in Amsterdam my favorite place to shop was the Albert Kuyp Market.   A little edgy. Completely exciting.  And, absolutely out of this world for those wanting the finest in fresh foods.    For over one hundred years Albert Kuyp has filled the most discriminating shopper’s grocery basket. 

I had my favorite stalls; the grower from France with forty different kinds of potatoes, the tiny black ones roasted sweet and delicious.  The herb and spice merchant’s shop with intoxicating  aromas of exotic spices and seasonings.  The “vishandelaar” fish monger with the loud voice hawking his seafood displayed like precious diamonds on beds of  crushed ice.  He introduced me to my favorite Amsterdam street food.  Fresh herring with thin slices of onion on a crusty bun. 

On the edge of Albert Kuyp sits a North African shop.  Their window filled with tagines in every size and design, shelves of fragrant spices, and a variety of meat my sensitive Canadian eyes learned to deal with (whole baby goats and lamb).  I have  been cooking various tagines for years.  Tagine is both the name of the  food and the earthen ware container it is baked in.  I bought the largest tagine and that night the kitchen was filled with the delicious aromas reminiscent  Marrakesh and Morocco.

This is the kind of dish that works well any time of year.   I use either or both chicken thighs and drumsticks.  They respond well to a dish that is slowly simmered into something glorious.    It’ s a great dish for entertaining  when you want to serve your friends something different.  I like to make it early in the day and then gently reheat it. You can back this in any heavy casserole with a lid.    The recipe is in Mrs. Butterfingers. 

IS THIS GOOD BYE TO CHOCOLATE? Talk to a rabbit.

Cocoa prices hit record high! And, right before Easter. These headlines chill the hearts of chocolate aficionados. The word is out. The iconic Easter Rabbit will become smaller and more expensive. Some have suggested a magnifying glass in the Easter basket to help find the diminished chocolate bunny.

Bakers are waving their wooden spoons and flapping flour covered aprons. No more chocolate dulce de leche tart. Forget chocolate cakes. What in the wonderful world of chocolate is happening?

It has been said climate conditions have stressed out crops in West Africa. I need to discuss this with Oswald, the gentleman rabbit who resides in a cedar burrow just outside my kitchen door.

“Oswald, sorry to disturb you when you are napping but I would like to discuss the apparently outrageous increase in the price of chocolate.” Oswald turned his back away from me. He was not a happy rabbit.

“Miss Virginia, I know you love nibbling the chocolate ears off the Easter bunnies. But, the answer is both complex and simple. We have very large companies who produce a great many chocolate items. We have people who are responsible for growing and harvesting cocoa beans. We have those who love all things chocolate. And we have undeniable climate conditions. I am a small rabbit with many important thoughts in my head. I would say – you might want to follow the money. ”

“It is time for a my nap, but may I give you a little rabbit advice about this chocolate debacle. Stop baking with a chocolate for a while. Your gingery ginger ginger cookies are addictive, and as far as I know few companies globally has control over the ginger market.”

Oswald tucked his head into have favorite pillow, so I left him in peace. Dear friends, I will be baking delectable, delicious cakes, cookies and desserts WITHOUT chocolate. The world wont come to an end if we wait for cocoa beans to flourish again and prices to become reasonable.

ALMOST OREO COOKIES . . . CHOCOLATE CREME SANDWICHES

This is not the Oreo cookie of your childhood. It’s a little less crisp, a whisper less sweet. The squishy filling is a sophisticated, rich buttery vanilla flavoured layer of wonderfulness. The cookie rich, tender and dark as midnight.

CHOCOLATE CREME SANDWICH is an adult cookie. One to reach for when involved in a long and difficult project; an intellectual cookie for the book-worm. A cookie that will sustain you as you wade knee deep in snow through War and Peace; when you think you will never get to the end of Atlas Shrugged, or a reward for actually finishing reading Ulysses.

The dough is pure joy to make. It’s easy, forgiving and simple to roll out, and holds its shape if you wish to use a scalloped cutter. Make this cookie with the very best cocoa you can find. For a darker cookie use a combination of black cocoa and Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Don’t use all black cocoa as it lacks the rich chocolate flavour your cookie requires.

Because of the butter icing this ephemeral cookie, once baked and filled, is best served that day. It’s a great cookie to share with friends and neighbors. However, it can be wrapped well and refrigerated for up to two days.

This recipe has been adapted from Dorie’s Cookies. Dorie Greenspan’s cookbooks top my list of cookbooks to own.

MRS.BUTTERFINGERS has the printable recipe.

 

OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES . . . the cookie that gladdens the heart and nourishes the soul

OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

There is simply nothing more wonderful than to smell the sweet aroma of cookies baking;   it heals all wounds.  it gladdens the  heart,  lifts the spirits, and restores the tired soul.  It is why we bake and why your kitchen is the heart of your home.

We cookie bakers, who cream the butter and sugar and all the ingredients that make up  cookies,  believe the ultimate sweet treat is cookies and milk.  Make the cookie crispy rich with the perfect amount of old fashioned oatmeal,  bittersweet and milk chocolate chips and you have an  oatmeal chocolate chip cookie that dreams are made of.   Bake with the best chocolate chips you can find or be creative and  chop a bar of good chocolate into coarse chunks.  But bake you must.

  OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES simply click on the name .   Bon Appetit dear friends.

EASY TO MAKE TOMATO BASIL SOUP …. ALL YEAR ROUND!

Of all the soups we made at ROXY’S BISTRO in Regina, tomato basil soup was our favourite.    This  soup tastes like the glorious days of summer.  The tomatoes  enhanced with basil and a whisper of oregano.    The very best part of this tomato soup – you  make it twelve months of the year.   The secret is  canned tomatoes (but you must use top quality Italian canned whole tomatoes).  The chicken stock should be a rich,  home-made stock.   You do your culinary magic with onion, garlic, seasonings and dried basil (when fresh is not available).

In a generous sized stock pot –  over medium heat  –  saute the onions with  oil, a good sprinkle of salt, more grinds of black pepper than you think you need, and around 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes.  When the onions become translucent (don’t brown them please) add the chopped garlic and saute for a couple of minutes.

Add the basil and oregano, canned tomatoes and the tomato paste and lower your heat to simmer.  Let this cook away while you are preparing the roux.

In a medium sized saucepan melt the butter.   Add the flour and cook for a few minutes.  Use a wooden spoon to mix the flour as it cooks.   Increase the heat a little.   Add the chicken stock and using a balloon whisk stir the sauce until it thickens.  Make sure your sauce is lovely and smooth with no lumps.

Add the roux  to the hot tomato mixture and mix well.   Stir in the cream.  Mix well and pour into your soup bowls.  Garnish with a spoonful of sour cream and fresh basil or flat leaf parley.

Printable recipe   MRS.BUTTERFINGERS

 

 

 

SPICY SAUSAGE ROLLS WITH HONEY MUSTARD DIP . . . one bit of utter bliss for Super Bowl Sunday!

 

Ignore guacamole.  Bypass the chips.  Don’t even consider the dips. This spectacular appetizer takes the traditional sausage roll to one bite concoctions of utter bliss.    The filling is spicy Italian sausages fragrant with  fennel and oregano.   The pastry is easy pre-rolled puff pastry sheets.  The heavenly combination of Dijon mustard, honey and a dash of Sriracha  is the perfect and unusual touch to this more than perfect appetizer.

It is easy to make.  Remove the filling from the sausages and pipe it in long rolls on the puff pastry sheets. Fold the pastry over the filling.  Cut into bite sized portions and bake.   The dip takes seconds to make.  Combine Dijon mustard, honey and Sriracha sauce and stir.  You can make the sausage rolls ahead of time and then reheat the for the game.  The unbaked sausage rolls can also be frozen and baked just before game time.    

Step by step photographs guide you through the steps required to make this game winning nibble.  Join me,   MRS BUTTERFINGERS for the easy how-to-cooking tips and recipe for SAUSAGE ROLLS WITH HONEY MUSTARD DIP.

NOT FOR CHILDREN GINGERSNAPS AND OMAR KHAYYAM

When you are in the midst of an Arctic Vortex, you stay home and bake. You admire the brittle blue skies etched with sugar sparkling snow covered mountains, but from your kitchen window. A suggestion – this highly spiced gingersnap may not appeal to young children. 

This cold weather cookie comes together quickly and quietly, no stand mixer required. It is a grown-up ginger cookie warm with spices, and rich with memories of tall glasses of milk. The secret that take it above and beyond other cookies is the generous spoonfuls of powdered ginger, plus freshly grated ginger, orange zest, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, and a pinch of cayenne. The spices are bloomed in melted butter and sugar, and whisked until a simmer, then set aside to cool. Add a beaten egg, the flour mixture, and pop the dough into your refrigerator for a two hour nap.

These grown-up gingersnap cookies bake wafer thin, and snap when you break one in half to nibble with coffee, a glass of wine, or child-like- dip into a cold, glass of milk. Then the moment, when your home is filled with the heady fragrance of baking, you close your eyes and remind yourself of the Rubaiyat and Omar Khayyam: BE HAPPY FOR THIS MOMENT. THIS MOMENT IS YOUR LIFE.

Dear Friends: this delightfully simple, easy printed recipe awaits you at MRS.BUTTERFINGERS.

This recipe was adapted from Milk Kitchen’s cookbook.

Christmas, Cook books, Desserts, Sweets

EMMA LAKE AND THE SEARCH FOR ANGEL WINGS

A great many years ago I returned to a lake where I had spent my summers as a child. Emma Lake. One of the thousands of lakes scattered across Northern Saskatchewan. I followed a dirt road through the pines. It ran parallel to the lake and I caught brief shimmering glimpses of the lake. The road was overgrown with wild roses and their fragrance, the smell of pine needles and lake water evoked Proust like memories.

I saw a log cabin sitting squarely facing the lake. Moss covered the roof. A tangle of vines and bushes crowded the windows and walls. A faded FOR SALE sign with a phone number was tacked to the cabin wall. I picked my way through the brambles and rubbed the dust from a window. Brass beds covered with quilts. A kettle sitting on a wood-burning stove. A teapot and cups waiting for tea. Every thing covered with the dust of many years. 

The door faced the lake. It’s stoop a massive slab of stone. Over the door a hand-painted sign read ALWAYS WELCOME STRANGERS FOR THEY MAY BE ANGELS IN DISGUISE. I bought the cabin that night – without ever stepping inside.

When I picked up the cabin keys I learned the cabin had been built in the l920’s using trees felled on the site. World War Two was declared. The owner’s son enlisted. He never came home and his parent never returned to the cabin. Twenty-five years later I opened the door and walked back in time. 

I aired the beds and washed the patchwork quilts. The carefully folded Union Jack flag was hung from the flag pole. I polished the age away from two large brass hooks that hung behind the door. Hooks just the right height for angels to hang their wings. Most important I cleaned and rehung the sign over the door. Angels were always welcome in my cabin.

My fascination with all things angels, especially angel wings, continued through the years. I yearned for angel wings I could hang by my front door. For special occasions like Christmas or Tuesday or even Thursday.

There is a caring store in my village that accepts almost everything that is cast-off, out grown, forgotten or unwanted. And, it was there I finally found my angel wings. Big, beautiful, feathery white angel wings hanging on a rack of children’s costumes.

At Christmas or on a Tuesday or perhaps a Thursday I hang my angel wings by my front door.  I will always welcome strangers for they may be angels in disguise 

Dear Friends, the caring store in Ladner Village is the Delta Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Shop. Perhaps I will meet you there one day.

The cabin photograph was taken years ago when the area was called Guy’s Beach. I was living in Prince Albert, Saskatachewan - a 30 minute drive from door to door.