Author: arielleclementine

White Pizzas with Soppressata

arielleclementine5 Comments

Believe it or not, dear reader, this pizza is easy enough to be classified as a week-night dinner. And that includes making the dough from scratch! I love this recipe, because if I just pick up a couple kinds of cheese and 6 slices of soppressata from the deli, I can usually make this for dinner using only ingredients from the pantry (plus lemon thyme from the garden).  Ina, classy lady that she is, serves these pizzas topped with an arugula salad.  Andy and I choose to forgo this step.  Please to enjoy!

White Pizzas with Soppressata
Adapted from Ina Garten
Makes Two Pizzas

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm (100 to 110) water
  • 1 package dry yeast
  • 1/2 tablespoon honey
  • Good olive oil
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
  • Kosher salt
  • 2 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 3 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 1/2 cups grated Italian fontina cheese (4 ounces)
  • 3/4 cups grated fresh mozzarella cheese (3.5 ounces)
  • 3 ounces creamy goat cheese, crumbled
  • 6 slices good soppressata, spicy if available

Directions

  1. Combine the water, yeast, honey and 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. When the yeast is dissolved, add 1.5 cups of flour, then 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and mix on medium-low speed. While mixing, add up to 1/2 more cup of flour, or just enough to make a soft dough. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until smooth, sprinkling it with the flour as necessary to keep it from sticking to the bowl.
  2. When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured board and knead it by hand a dozen times. It should be smooth and elastic.
  3. Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl and turn it to cover it lightly with oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.
  4. Make garlic oil. Place 1/4 cup of olive oil, the garlic, thyme and red pepper flakes in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook for 10 minutes, making sure the garlic doesn’t burn. Set aside.
  5. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees
  6. Dump the dough onto a board and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Place the doughs on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and cover them with a damp towel. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes. Use immediately, or refrigerate for up to 4 hours.
  7. Press and stretch each ball into an 8-inch circle and place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (If you’ve chilled the dough, take it out of the refrigerator approximately 30 minutes ahead to let it come to room temperature.)
  8. Brush the pizzas with the garlic oil, and sprinkle each one liberally with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the pizzas evenly with fontina, mozzarella and goat cheese. Cut the soppressata into quarters and distribute over the cheese. Drizzle each pizza with 1 tablespoon more of the garlic oil and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the crusts are crisp and the cheeses begin to brown. Happy pizza time 🙂

El Naranjo

arielleclementine4 Comments

This is big news.  This food truck, El Naranjo, will blow. your. mind. It is, unbelievably, headed up by chef Iliana de la Vega who, until recently, ran what many considered to be the best restaurant in Oaxaca.  I cannot be more emphatic in my urging you to stop what you’re doing and go here right now.  You will not be disappointed.

Andy and I started with the molotes (shown above), cigar-shaped light and lovely fried masa. We tried both varieties on order- the oaxaquenos, stuffed with chorizo and potatoes, and the veracruzanos, stuffed with plantains, black beans, and cheese. The oaxaquenos were simple and delightful, with that perfect salsa verde, but the molotes veracruzanos were truly extraordinary- the sweet plantains with the cheese and beans combined to make the best. snack. ever.

I ordered the cochinita pibil tacos, because I can’t get enough of this stuff.  This version, on their lovely tortillas with pickled onions was a soupy, spicy dream.  This cochinita somehow managed to be much lighter and tangier than most others I’ve had, while still being flush with clove and cinnamon.  A beautiful dish. 

Andy ordered the daily special, the tacos al pastor.  This was, without question, the best al pastor either of us had ever had. Perfectly balanced- the charred pork and fresh pineapple played off one another beautifully.  If this is on order when you go, you have got to try it.

I’m going to go ahead and say it.  Best Mexican food in Austin.  Please give it a try and tell me what you think- I can’t wait to go back.

El Naranjo
512-474-2776
Mon-Wed 5pm to 10pm / Thur-Sat 5pm to 12am

Note: this fantastic little spot doesn’t have a website, so I took a picture of today’s menu for you (click to enlarge).

Crispy Latkes and Pink Applesauce

arielleclementine3 Comments

Oh man, oh man.  April is busy.  I would like to sit down and not move for six hours. I really like sitting.

Feast your eyes on our Passover table! We celebrated late, but had an absolutely wonderful Seder.  I was particularly pleased with how my brisket turned out (braised with rhubarb and honey from the All About Braising cookbook).  I’ll share that recipe with you guys later because it’s feeling more and more summery here, and you’re probably not in the mood to braise five pounds of beef for three-and-a-half hours.

What I do want to share are my favorite latke and applesauce recipes. Do you have a food mill? You need one to make pink applesauce.  And don’t you want to make pink applesauce?  It’s oh so pretty.  (Food mills are also totes awesome for making baby food.  You can food mill anything!) Anyway, the pink applesauce is so lovely and pink because you cook the apples in their skins. Then you put the quartered apples into the food mill and zip it through, and the food mill magically keeps all the skins while spewing out the applesauce. Delicious!

Oh, and latkes! I hope you’ve all had them- they are one of life’s great pleasure.  Light and crispy potato and onion pancakes- what’s not to love?  Here’s a picture of some of the 48 (!) I made for Passover:

The key to a really crispy latke is to squeeze the water out of the grated potato and onions really thoroughly.  Oh! Oh! And when you serve them, you have to have little bowls of sour cream along with the applesauce.  It is impossible to eat latkes without both applesauce and sour cream.  Trust me on this one.

Crispy Latkes
from Smitten Kitchen

  • 1 large baking potato (1 pound), peeled
  • 1 small onion (4 ounces), peeled 
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • Peanut oil, for frying
  1. In a food processor or on a box grater, coarsely shred the potato and onion. For longer strands, lay the potato sideways in the chute of your food processor. Transfer to a colander or wrap in a cheesecloth sling, and squeeze as dry as possible. Let stand for 2 minutes, then squeeze dry again.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, egg, salt and pepper together. Stir in the potato onion mixture until all pieces are evenly coated.
  3. In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil until shimmering. Drop packed teaspoons of the potato mixture into the skillet and flatten them with the back of a spoon. Cook the latkes over moderately high heat until the edges are golden, about 1 1/2 minutes; flip and cook until golden on the bottom, about 1 minute. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining potato mixture, adding more oil to the skillet as needed.

Do ahead: Latkes are a do-ahead-er’s dream. You can also keep latkes warm in the oven for an hour or more, if you’re waiting for stragglers to arrive. Cooked, they keep well in the fridge for a day or two, or in the freezer, well wrapped, for up to two weeks. Reheat them in a single layer on a cookie sheet in a 400 degree oven until they’re crisp again. Bonus: If you undercooked them a bit or didn’t get the browning on them you’d hoped for, you can compensate for this in the oven.

Pink Applesauce
from Martha Stewart (of course)

  • 1 1/4 pounds red apples (about 4), such as McIntosh or Macoun, unpeeled, cored and quartered
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  1. Cover, and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until apples are very soft, 15 to 30 minutes. Pass apple mixture through a food mill fitted with a medium disk. Applesauce will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 1 week.