pizza night.

I never ever ever update this. My apologies, small world of followers.

In any case, tonight was pizza night. I recently got Scott a pizza paddle made by Zelda's partner, John Lynch. Attn all pizza lovers, hook yourselves up with this paddle. It is beyond beautiful, and if the sun hadn't gone down on me I would show you all a picture of it. Maybe later.

After picking up a delicious bottle of Gaspereau Vineyard's Petite Milo (a limited variety, small batch white from 2009) we got to work on the za's. Well, that's a lie. Scott made the dough last night, as he is the king of all that is pizza dough... but I digress. Tonight Scott decided to give Boston Pizza a run for their money and recreate their classic Spicy Pierogie Pizza, while I recreated a pizza I tasted (and ironically despised) in Italy about five years ago, when my palate totally sucked-- a margherita pizza topped with fresh arugula. Drool. I. Love. Arugula. (Now).

A Better Spicy Pierogie Pizza

** Note: double click pictahs to enlarge!

Ingredients
Cheddar cheese (we used Fox Hill old cheddar because it's delicious, but whatevs)
Small new potatoes, thinly sliced
Bacon, cooked and thinly sliced
Red pepper flakes (about 1 tbs or so)
Green onions
Canola oil (or olive oil if you aren't poor like me)
Pizza dough (sorry, no helpsies on this one! Ask Scott!)

*Preheat oven to 500. Remember to keep pizza pan / stone in oven to keep hot, this way your pizza won't stick to the pan!

1. Start with the potatoes. Heat a bunch of oil and along with the chili flakes in a skillet on the stove top till hot (I suck with measurements, so please don't expect any of those here). Add the potatoes and slowly fry em up till just softened all the way through.
2. Drain oil and set potatoes on paper towels to remove excess oil
3. Roll out pizza dough onto floured surface, then place atop pizza paddle
4. Place potato slices onto pizza dough, so that all but the edge crust is covered
5. Top with cheese and bacon
6. Slide pizza off the pizza paddle and onto a pizza pan or stone in the oven, cook for 1o minutes or until brown and bubbly.
7. Add sliced green onions to top immediately and enjoy!

Margherita & Arugula Pizza

Ingredients
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
2+ tbs pesto
2+ tbs goat cheese, crumbled
Fresh oregano (or dried! we just happened to have some fresh... yeeeah c'mon summer!)
Large handful fresh arugula
Pizza dough

1. Roll out pizza dough a place on pizza paddle, if using
2. Spread thin layer of pesto over surface of pizza, so only the edge crust is showing
3. Arrange tomato slices over pesto layer
4. Add crumbled goat cheese and oregano
5. Slide off pizza paddle and onto pan / stone, cook for 10 minutes or until delicious
6. Top with fresh arugula immediately and EAT IT UP.

Old Standard

Ah, winter. It goes without saying that during this time of year I generally spend a lot more time indoors (reading, cooking, crafting, and oh, reading...) save the necessary snowventures and winterwalks. Why? Because this is what it looks like outside, and even though I don't mind bearing the cold, more often than not I'd rather cozy up indoors with a pot of something or other brewing away on the stove.

That being said, I thought it would be nice to update this little bloggie of mine by showing off one of my favorite home cooked meals: breakfast.

Breakfast is a pretty broad term, but around here I like to keep my morning meal pretty simple. Today I woke up lazy and slightly hungover, and decided that "Old Standard" would be the best route to take with my brunch.

Oh god, my mouth is watering just looking at the photo, and I literally just devoured that entire plate. Farm fresh eggs (special thanks to mom and dad) and a crusty sourdough loaf were the real award-winners here, complimented by three slices of bacon (my theory here is that when you combine meals, it's okay to go all out) and roasted potatoes.... heaven. Pure heaven.

And who better to eat this delicious brunch with than Antonio Gramsci himself? He schooled me on the classification of intellectuals, how they came to be, and what we should make of their role in society. Wuddaguy!

"Old Standard" Recipe (single portion)

Ingredients:

3 slices of bacon

2 eggs

1 medium sized potato

crusty bread

1 tbs olive or canola oil

1 clove garlic

thyme

salt & pepper

1. Start by heating a cast iron pan thoroughly. When hot, turn down to low and add strips of bacon. Keep pan at the lowest possible temperature, turning the strips of bacon every so often

2. While the bacon cooks, turn the oven to 350 degrees (F)

3. Wash and dice the potato (Annapolis Valley red potatoes shown above)

4. Place a casserole dish in the oven, greased with the 1 tbs of oil. This step basically makes it so that the potatoes don't stick to the bottom of the pan when roasting

5. When casserole dish is heated through, add potatoes, salt, pepper, thyme, and garlic clove to the dish. Return to oven, checking once or twice to turn potatoes and test for tenderness

6. Whisk eggs

7. Add a small amount of bacon grease to a separate pan (I like to use nonstick) and heat through on medium-high heat. Add eggs and turn pan to medium heat. Gently fold the eggs until cooked through.

8. Turn oven to broil and heat a slice or two of crusty bread by the potatoes for 3-5 minutes, or until bread is heated through and potatoes are crisp on the outside but tender on the inside.

Enjoy!

homemade grape jelly?? but of course!

Ok Ok Ok. I need to get a decent camera. Not having one prevents me from taking glorious photos of my glorious food to show off to my glorious friends and family. My beloved Scott, however, happens to have one o' them newfangled cell phones with a pretty high quality camera built right in.

Earlier this month, Scott and I discovered that our backyard was covered in concord grape vines. And what else does one do with five pounds of backyard grapes but to make homemade grape jelly? No, we had never made jelly before. And no, I did not have a canner. Yet. I did my research, bought a canner, some Certo gelatin, a whole bunch of sugar, and went to work.

This is pure, 100% fresh grape juice, boiling down before I add the Certo & sugar to the mix. The smell was intoxicating.

So, a few steps later... the filled jars are plunged into boiling hot water to both seal the cap and kill all dem germs! Yay, canning!!

The end result was a smooth jelly absolutely BURSTING with grape-y goodness!!!

And just like that, I discovered the ultimate Christmas presents for all of my loved ones!