So as you may remember, pizza is not exactly a new challenge for us, but even so I was excited that a new pizza dough would be the recipe for this month, hosted by Rosa at Rosa’s Yummy Yum Yums. I’m always interested to try different takes on pizza crusts, and while my mom has gone through several iterations, I’m still not sure she’s found the perfect recipe.

This dough, from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart, was decidedly different from the other pizza crust I or my parents have made in the past, not so much in the ingredients or proportions, but in its method. Instead of letting the dough rise after mixing all the ingredients together, it’s formed into balls and refrigerated for 1-3 days, then rested at room temperature for “exactly” 2 hours before forming into crusts. The result was a dough that we found very difficult to work with — as soon as we tried to lift up one of the disks, it just kept stretching and stretching and stretching, so that it often tore, and was very hard to get even. I tried doing the traditional “tossing” method, but for the most part, the dough just stretched too thin for that as soon as I picked it up, so it was more a game of picking it up as quickly as possible and laying it on the pizza peel before it got any holes in it. (My parents came over for dinner the night we made this, so I put her to work shaping dough as she’s much more practiced at it than I am. I’ll try to see if she’ll let me take some instructional pictures at some point.)

Even though it was hard to work with, though, this dough had a really excellent flavor. I think it might’ve been from the tablespoon of sugar, but it just seemed like it had a little more flavor than our normal dough recipe, and it was a nice balance between crispy and chewy. So I’m not writing it off yet. Next time I think I might try letting it rise a bit before refrigerating it to develop the gluten a bit more. I also think it needed more flour — the dough seemed kind of shaggy even after sprinkling a fair amount on top, so that might help as well.

On the topping front, we tried a new potato pizza inspired by this one at Smitten Kitchen, but changed around a fair amount. We also made a couple of our familiar favorites — caramelized onions with blue cheese; feta, bacon, pesto, and pine nuts; and margarita — tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil. For more topping ideas try here or here.

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If there’s one person outside my family — which, not to brag, includes numerous excellent cooks — whose cooking I really admire and am inspired by, it would be our good family friend Kelly Branson. She can do everything from comfort food and cookies to fancy party food, always making it look easy and elegant — and everything is always delicious.

When Matt and I got married, Kelly and her daughter Meg, who I’ve been friends with since I was about 8, hosted a Bridesmaids Brunch for me. With the invitations, they enclosed recipe cards for the guests to fill out, so now I have a wonderful box of recipes from my family and friends. Kelly filled out several cards, and one of them was for her baked ziti with these roasted vegetables. Someday I’ll pass along the recipe for the baked ziti, too, which is delicious, but last weekend I just made these roasted vegetables. As Kelly says, “I could eat these roasted veggies all day – spread on crackers, pizza – cold, hot, yummy, yummy, yummy.”

Recipe after the jump….

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Matt and I had a delicious, though perhaps not all that balanced or healthy, meal of steamed mussels and artichokes the other night. We first started eating mussels while we were studying abroad in France, where they are often served with French fries as “Moules Frites.” There, mussels are eaten not with one of those silly little shellfish forks as I’ve seen them served here, but by using one of the shells as little tongs to pull the meat from the other shells. (Sorry for the blurriness in the picture, but I thought it was worth including for purposes of instruction.)

We’ve cooked them a couple times since then, and they are very easy to prepare. A recipe in this months Cooking Light inspired us to make them again. This time, we simply steamed them with chicken broth, lemon juice, and some spices, and served them with some butter for dipping.

We also steamed an artichoke, which was originally planned as an appetizer but ended up being finished about the same time as the mussels. We also had some dipping sauce for the artichoke — as I said, not very healthy, but certainly delicious! If you’ve never eaten whole artichokes before, as we hadn’t until moving to California, they may require some eating instructions too. Basically, you pull off the petals, dip them in the sauce, and scrape the little bit of pulp off with your teeth. I didn’t take pictures of that part, but Elise has a nice tutorial. Also, you want to stop eating the petals when you get to the purplish ones in the center. This part is called the “choke.” It should be scraped out, leaving the delicious “heart” of the artichoke underneath.

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This is the recipe for butternut squash soup that I mentioned in my last post, but I decided it deserved its own so it could be found more easily later. It comes from our good family friend, Kelly Branson. It’s deliciously smooth and rich. The goat cheese, pine nuts, and chives garnishes are optional, but I highly recommend including them, especially the goat cheese and pine nuts.

Butternut Squash Soup
Recipe from Kelly Branson

2 lbs butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks
4 c chicken stock
1 1/4 c crème fraîche or sour cream
2 T butter
salt and pepper
pinch of cayenne
1 T sugar
several chives, chopped
goat cheese
toasted pine nuts

Combine squash and stock in a saucepan and bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes, or until squash is tender. (Puree can be made a couple days in advance). Cool a bit, and puree the mix in a blender. Return puree to saucepan, and turn heat to medium low. Stir in crème fraîche and butter. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste. Cook, stirring until heated through. (Do not allow to boil.) Add sugar. Keep warm over low heat. Garnish with goat cheese, pine nuts, and chives.

These are a tradition in our family, and especially one of my Dad’s favorites. Even better, they’re super easy, and only have a few ingredients that you’re likely to have on hand. I made some tonight as a little different holiday gift than the usual cookies, but they make great appetizers or snacks, too, and they never stay around too long at our house.

I didn’t have a cookie press, but I managed to find a cheap one at Bed Bath and Beyond for $6, so I enjoyed using my new toy. A cookie press makes these more fun, but I expect they would taste just fine made like drop cookies too. Or, I think a pastry bag with a star tip would make a fine substitute as well.

As a side note, I made another 101cookbooks recipe tonight, Heidi’s recent Hazelnut and Chard Ravioli Salad, except I used spinach, pumpkin ravioli, and acorn squash, and I added a bit of pancetta too, although it definitely didn’t need it. It was absolutely delicious, and I highly recommend it.

Here’s the recipe for the cheese straws:

Ingredients:
8 oz. Sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated
1 3/4 stick margarine
2 c flour
1/2 t Cayenne pepper

Cream margarine and cheese. Add flour and pepper. Mix well. Fill cookie press with desired shapes on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes.