easter pie OR pizza rustica OR calzone

we call this dish calzone-- but we say ghav-uh-zoon-- and we pretty much live for easter so we can have it. we love it so much we'd make is other times of year, but you can only get basket cheese at easter, so we can't. because of the magnitude of this project, we have to do it at my mother's house where there are three ovens, and the occasional excitable teenaged brother willing to forgo book learnin' to get elbow deep in family tradition for an afternoon.

dough ingredients:

• 20 cups of flour (plus more for dusting)
• 2 tbs baking powder
• 2 tbs salt
• 6 cups vegetable shortening ("crisco: it's digestible!")
• 19 eggs
• 3/4 cup ice water
• egg wash (milk & 2 beaten eggs)

filling ingredients:

• 3 pounds sweet italian sausage, out of the case, browned
• 3 pounds ham, diced
• 1 pounds soprasotta, thick-sliced, diced
• 1 pound proscuitto, thick-sliced, diced
• 1 pound ricotta cheese
• 1 basket cheese, diced
• 20 hard boiled eggs, diced
• chopped fresh parsley
• 6 eggs

prep:

• hard boil 24 eggs, chop 20 of them and set aside
• brown sausage
• dice meats & basket cheese
• combine meats
  

• combine dry ingredients for dough

• blend in shortening
  

• add eggs & water
• blend thoroughly
• turn out and knead (or massagia)
  
  
  
• add basket cheese & parsley to meat
  
  
  
• preheat oven(s) to 375*
• break for a lovely lunch of egg salad sandwiches (those last 4 eggs!), carrots and limeade. it's traditional.
  

• add hard boiled eggs to meat
  

• add raw eggs & ricotta to meat
  

actual cooking:

• roll out dough into large circles

• paint egg wash around edges
• pile half with filling
• fold other half over
• crimp edges
• move to a greased baking sheet
• brush with egg wash
• vent

• bake at 375* until browned and bubbling
• cool for 5-10 minutes (depending on the size) on the sheet
• move to a rack to cool completely
• serve lukewarm or cold
  

this recipe made 2 extra larges (about 16"x8"), 7 larges (about 10"x5") and 6 smalls (about 8"x4"). that's a lot. but somehow, we always need as many as we make. they freeze so well that we usually have one in january to hold us over.

blue ribbon lamb cake

this is a molded easter lamb cake baked in a blue ribbon bakeware easter lamb mold using the blue ribbon bakeware lamb cake recipe. the mold belonged to my great grandmother, and she used this same recipe (which came with the mold). last year i tried to use a joy of cooking white cake recipe and it turned out really hard and dry, so this year i'm using the recipe that's worked for 60+ years because, to quote the recipe, "in all our testing and use there was no leakage of batter-- no breakage of the nose or ears and the cake was removed very easily."

ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1tsp vanilla
• 2/3 cup milk

prep:

• grease & flour mold
• preheat overn to 375*

actual cooking:

• combine flour, baking powder & salt, set aside
• cream butter
• add sugar
• add eggs & vanilla
• add dry mixture alternating with milk
• place mold on edged baking sheet
• pour batter into the front side of the mold
• place the back side on top
• bake for 45 minutes
• remove mold, back side first and allow cake to cool upright
• frost & decorate

because i hate coconut, i frost the cake with white frosting (after an attempt at boiled butter cream & regular butter cream yesterday, i settled on duncan hines fluffy white for this) and sprinkle green sweetened coconut around it. you could, instead, gently press the coconut into the frosting. i made the lips with 1/4 of a pink jellybean and the eyes with a split black one, but the traditional decorations are 1/2 a cherry and 2 raisins.

batter poured into the face side of the mold

back side of the mold on top

cake removed from mold (face-up)

the bow is at one end of the ribbon and secured to the other end with a dot of frosting

hearty banana muffins

this is a huge cheat of a recipe since the main ingredient is a banana bread mix. but, LO! some lady made a damn fortune writing books about making box cakes, so bear with me, k?

ingredients:

• banana bread mix (mine was trader joe's, naturally)
• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup apple sauce
• 1/3 cup egg whites OR 2 large eggs

prep:

• none, this recipe takes ten minutes
• oh, and preheat to 325*

actual cooking:

• combine ingredients in a bowl
• spoon into lined muffin tin (i did 12 regular-sized muffins)
• bake for 30 minutes

the recipe on the box (with eggs & oil) makes nine servings at something like 370 calories each. my recipe make 12 at 175 each. good deal, right? plus, mine have way more fiber since neither eggs nor oil have fiber, but applesauce and oat sure do. but i didn't do that math.

mu shu vegetables

mu shu vegetables is about my favorite meal currently, up there with veggie fried rice and veggie lo mein, so i had to take a stab at making it. in fact, i stabbed so close to the mark i just may have to stab and stab and stab until i get it right.

ingredients:

• 1 small shredded carrot
• 1 head of cabbage shredded
• (or a bag or two of cole slaw mix)
• 1 small onion in thin wedges
• (optional: handful of mung)
• (optional: sliced mushrooms)
• (optional: handful of chopped green onion)
• (optional: 2 beaten eggs)
• flour tortillas and/or rice
• hoisin sauce
• water

prep:

• slice & dice until everything is more or less the same size

actual cooking:

• (scramble eggs, set aside)
• (set rice to cooking. 1:2 rice to water, pinch of salt, bring to a boil, lower to a loooooow simmer and cover)
• saute carrots in a little water for 2-3 minutes
• add cabbage, continue sauteeing 2-3 minutes
• add mung, onions, green onions, mushrooms, whatever else (not egg), saute for 2-3 minutes
• allow liquid to evaporate
• add 2 tbs hoisin sauce, cook for 1-2 minutes
• add egg back in, stir
• warm tortillas in the microwave for 10 seconds each

we ate this with trader joe's chicken egg rolls (which you want to pierce all the way through before baking, and spray with oil), which are a staple in my asian cooking and will probably stay that way since last week's spring roll experiment was a massive FAIL.

it was a little sweet, and i'm thinking... soy sauce? garlic? i don't know. maybe i just need to use bok choy instead of the pre-shredded cabbage. it was still good enough that the leftovers are my lunch today.

fastnachts: mardi gras pennsylvania dutch style

mardi gras, fat tuesday, fatty/fattening tuesday, shrove tuesday, pancake day, fastnacht day or paczki day is the day before ash wednesday when, depending on your language and tradition, you use up all the "luxurious" ingredients in your pantry before lent starts and they all go to waste, by making doughnuts, pancakes, crepes or parade floats. you know, those luxuries like eggs, butter and sugar.

the pennsylvania dutch call their doughnuts fastnachts (yeah, that means "fast night" as in "fast and abstain" not "i blacked out!" that's more mardi gras...) and make them without holes and out of potatoes. i didn't really make fastnachts. i made doughnuts without holes. close enough.

i started with the black & white donut hole recipe from williams-sonoma. then i doubled it and cut the bullshit.

ingredients:

• 7 cups flour, plus 1/2-1 cup for dusting
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 eggs
• 4 cups sugar (2 for the dough, 2 for coating)
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1/4 cup (half a stick or 4 tbs) unsalted butter, melted & cooled
• vegetable oil for deep frying

prep:

• sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon & salt
• beat eggs until frothy
• add 2 cups sugar to eggs and beat until lemony-yellow
• add buttermilk & butter to egg mixture
• pour egg mixture into the center of dry mixture and combine to form a very soft, sticky dough
• roll out to 1/3 inch on a generously floured board
• cut out 3-inch circles & 1-inch circles
• refrigerate overnight

actual cooking:

• heat 3 inches of oil in a large saucepan or deep fryer if you can get your hand's on one (thanks mom!) to 380*
• fry doughnuts in small batches

• turning frequently until golden (about 5 minutes)
  

• remove from oil with a skimmer
• deposit on paper to drain
  
  
• put remaining sugar in a paper bag
• drop in warm doughnuts & shake to coat
  
  
• wake up your loved ones
  
  

i started frying at 3:45 this morning, had my doughnuts packed up for delivery (3 1/2 dozen regular ones + a few dozen little ones) by 5. i was eagerly greeted at the door by della, dottie & ginger (the dogs). ginger even mustered the strength to jump from the floor to the dining room table without a chair stop-over for the first time in her 12 years to snag a bite. everyone seems pretty happy with the results. as a matter of fact, the only person who got doughnuts that i haven't heard from today is anthony.

recession challenge: dinner for two all week from one pound of sausage

this week's dinners are: flatbread pizza with sausage, onion & brussels sprouts, sausage sandwiches with provolone & wilted spinach, macaronis with sausage & cheese served with sauteed zucchini & creamy tomato florentine soup with sausage.

ingredients:

• 1 pound sausage (cheating. my dad makes it, so i have no clue how much a pound of sausage costs. sorry.)
• 2 1/2 cups flour (pantry staple)
• 2 tbs psyllium husk* (negligible, but a canister of psyllium ran me ~$5)
• water
• provolone cheese (i'm not sure how much by weight cost us ~$4, but only about 5 slices will be used for dinners, so maybe $2 worth?)
• tomato gravy/pizza sauce (~$1)
• brussels sprouts (i paid $2.30)
• onion (i don't know, $0.50?)
• 4 slices good bread (we buy this anyway for bill's lunches, but maybe a third of a loaf will be used for dinners, so ~$1?)
• baby spinach ($2)
• 1/2 pound short, curly pasta like shells (~$0.50)
• scratch cheese (pantry staple)
• zucchini (i paid $2.30)
• veggie broth ($2)
• mirepoix ($3, but i'm using the some left from last week's soup)
• canned whole tomatoes ($2, but also leftover from last week's soup)
• butter (pantry staple)
• 1/2 pound ditalini ($0.50, also leftover from last week's soup)

i'm using more and more pantry staples, so the things i actually had to buy this week ran about $15. of course, i didn't buy sausage, so that could add, what, $5? $8? i really don't know.

*about psyllium. ummm, it's a milled seed thing... that turns into this gelatinous mass with water... it's the main ingredient in most fiber supplements... and also an egg replaces/stabilizer thing. i THINK that you could sub 2 eggs in the flatbread recipe, and obviously use less (or maybe no?) water. but no promises. yet.

prep:

• put 1/2 pound sausage in the freezer for 30 minutes
• remove it and slice it into thin rounds, remove the casing if you're weird like us
• chop mirepoix if you need to

actual cooking (meal 1):

• preheat oven to 400*
• combine 2 cups flour, psyllium, salt & fresh or dried herbs to taste & 1.5 cups water
• allow to sit for about 5 minutes
• with damp or greased fingers, press out the dough on a lightly greased baking sheet to desired thickness
• bake for about 20 minutes (see? easiest pizza crust ever.)
• while shell bakes, quickly cook sliced sausage on an ungreased frying pan (use only half for the pizza! refrigerate the other half), chop some onion, slice brussels sprouts & shred 3 or four slices of provolone
• top pizza shell with pizza sauce (or leave it white if tomato gravy isn't a staple in your pantry), cheese, sausage, onions & brussels sprouts (eta: i used wilted spinach. brussels sprouts are going in the pasta.)
• bake until cheese melts and bubbles lightly

actual cooking (meal 2):

• preheat oven to 300*
• quickly saute some (up to half) of the baby spinach in olive oil until just wilted (it will shrink when you cook it!)
• on 2 slices of bread, layer cold sausage slices, wilted spinach & a slice of provolone (eta: i added a bit of thinly sliced onion on mine. fab)
• toast all 4 slices
• make sandwiches.
• (eta: i also made some fries: cut 1 potato per person into 1/2 inch sticks, arrange on an oil-spritzed baking sheet, spritz with oil, season with salt, pepper & garlic powder, bake 20-25 minutes at 400*. and yes, i'm going to wait until AFTER i cook the meals to post them from now on.)

actual cooking (meal 3):

• boil water for pasta
• roast brussels sprouts, sliced or chopped as you prefer, with olive oil
• in a medium frying pan, out of it's casing, saute the rest of the sausage
• set half aside to drain
• add cooked pasta & brussels sprouts to the other half and remove from heat
• liberally add scratch cheese

actual cooking (meal 4):

• do the regular mirepoix thing, i don't have to spell it all out anymore, do i?
• add broth
• add drained sausage, spinach, ditalini & tomatoes with their juices (chopped up)
• while ditalini is cooking, make a roux (melt 4 tbs butter in a saucepan, quickly whisk in 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup milk)
• add roux to soup once the ditalini is cooked
• top with scratch cheese

the soup might need to be altered... check back in about 5 days once i've made it.

super-brownies

i made these in miniature cupcake pans for bill's office farewell party today. you could probably make them as regular brownies, but i think it would take longer... like 35 minutes? not sure.

ingredients:

• 1 1/2 sticks butter
• 4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 2 cups sugar
• 7/8 cup flour
• 1 tbs instant coffee powder
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 eggs
• baking spray, shortening or butter for greasing pan
• (about 1 tsp cocoa & 1 tsp powdered sugar for decorating)

prep:

• preheat oven to 350*
• grease pan (or use paper liners, but they stick!)

actual cooking:

• put butter & baking chocolate in a micro-wave safe bowl & nuke for 1 minute or until butter is melted (1:50 for me, but my butter was frozen)
• stir until chocolate melts
• add sugar, coffee powder & cocoa, combine
• add eggs & combine
• add flour & combine
• fill mini muffin tins about 2/3 (i put the batter in a heavy zippy bag & cut off a corner and pipe it in)-- makes about 48 which is TWO pans, so either have two pans or chill the first one in the fridge for 10 minutes in between batches
• bake for 15 minutes
• remove from tin after 5 minutes, allow to cool at least an hour
• (dust with cocoa & powdered sugar, or both)

next time i make these, i think i'll try some mini chocolate chips-- ideally dark chocolate! i don't have a report from the office yet, but bill, kevin & anthony agree that they're AWESOME.