a basic pizza recipe

The story: The recipe for this one goes back a ways actually. Some time ago, three or four perhaps, I discovered this really simple pizza dough recipe. It truly is easy. I began to experiment with the recipe in various ways, ranging from my extremely well received bread sticks, to my messy but tasty calzones. I even use this recipe as a base for a garlic and za'ahtar loaf. Anyhow the dough takes a while to rise, despite its simplicity, but its totally worth it. I've never had a complaint with this dough. Despite all of my experimentations the original intent of the dough is one of the best, so here we go.

the dish: pizza
dough:
5 cups of flour
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of salt
2 packets of yeast
2 cups of water
Pizza toppings:
8-9 oz. of mozzarella
1/4 cup of Asiago cheese
1 large tomato
1/2 cup of red onion
1/2 cup of white mushrooms
1/4 cup of pineapple
1/3 cup of frozen spinach
1/4-1/2 cup of Di'Nicolla spicy marinara sauce
salt, pepper, and Italian spices to taste

The dough is the only part of this dish that requires much attention or thought. Take all of dry ingredients for the dough and mix them in a large bowl. You may want to proof the yeast before you mix it in, but its not really that necessary. Slowly add the water to the bowl, mixing until all of the water is in it. Now you kneed it. It may seem like the dough is a bit dry but if you keep kneading it, you will see that it works out just fine. If it doesn't seem right to you, which might happen due to ambient humidity or temperature, just add more water or flour till you're satisfied with it. After you've worked the dough for 10-12 minutes, spray the bowl and the dough with a little oil. Cover it with a wet cloth or paper towel, and let it sit in a warm place for 1 hour. After this hour, punch it down, and let it sit for another hour. After that hour, punch it down again and place it plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 1 hour. This will make the dough much easier to work with when its time to roll it out. When its time to roll it out, cut it into two separate pieces. This recipe makes two pizzas, or I guess one pretty big pie. Roll the dough out as thin as you can, even if it may seem a bit thin it will rise in the oven nicely. Place the rolled out dough onto a oiled baking pan. Now all you have to put on the sauce, veggies, and cheese. The only thing that you might want to do that is different, is only half defrost the spinach in a microwave. The extra moisture from the spinach will make the pizza quite delectable. Place in a preheated 450 degree oven for 20 or so minutes.

Eat and enjoy!

baby bella mushroom ravioli in a champagne cream sauce

The story: Over the summer I, that being Gabe, was living with my relatives in New Jersey, and taking a class over in Manhattan. It was during that time that I took to cooking nearly every night, and on occasion felt the need to expand my repertoire. This dish comes from one of those nights. My cousin mentioned that she really loved this particular dish from a restaurant and she asked if I could recreate it for her. And thus a series of food shopping trips ensued, including a trip to the local liquor store, and a recipe was found. This recipe is not quite the same; in this case, Kourtney and I created the ravioli from scratch instead of using store-bought ones. Store bought works just as well though, and if you're pressed for time, it less clean up and a lot quicker.

The dish: Baby bella mushroom ravioli in a champagne cream sauce

Ravioli: (makes 6-8 large ravioli)
2-2 1/2 cups of Baby bella mushrooms
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 pack of eggroll wrappers
1 egg

Sauce:
1 cup of white or button mushrooms
2-3 large shallots
1/2 cup of cream
1/2 cup of champagne ( A cheap bottle works just fine, just mind the cork)
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
3-4 whole scallions
2 tbsp of butter or margerine
1 tsp of mixed Italian herbs
1/2 tsp of powdered garlic
1/4 tsp of coarse ground black pepper
1/2 tsp of plain flour mixed with 1/4 cup of water

To begin, put up a pot of water to boil the ravioli in. Then clean and chop up the bella mushroom. . Quickly saute the mushrooms in a pan sprayed with a little oil on a high heat. When cooked, toss into a blender with olive oil. Blend until a creamy paste. Remove the paste from the blender. Nows the time to make the ravioli. Take the eggroll wrapper and place it on a plate. Take a good tablespoon or two of the mushroom paste and place in the center. Now its time for a quick egg wash. Give the egg a quick beating and LIGHTLY spread the wash on all the edges of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper, and use a fork to crinkle the edges together so it can be boiled. Repeat the steps till you've used up all the mushroom paste. You're gonna have a number of wrappers left over, so just bag them and use them another day.

Nows the time to begin the sauce. Melt the butter in the pan on a high heat. Thinly slice the shallots and add to butter when it begins to bubble and brown. Let the shallots sit for a bit and let them brown, stirring only ocationally. When they look done, toss in the white mushrooms and toss them with the shallots to coat them in the remaining butter. Add the spices. Lower the temperature to a medium heat, and let the mushrooms cook for 3-5 minutes. After add the champagne, and then the cream two minutes after that. Add the scallions, and then lower the heat to simmer. Once the temperature has reduced, add the Parmesan cheese. Stir it in and then leave the temperature as low as possible.

By this point the water should have come to a rolling boiling. Ease only one or two ravioli in the pot at a time. They cook very quickly, staying in water only for 1 1/2-2 a piece. When done, take them out of the water and plate immediately, as they tend to get sticky. Pour the sauce over, and enjoy!!