Cozy Morning

I hope everyone is having a cozy morning, whether you are opening presents or perusing matinee times.


My latte and mom's cappuccino, and a lemony treat, at Joan's on Third.


Iced coffee and palmier at the new and lovely Greenpoint coffee spot, Milk & Roses.


Talk about cozy. Most beautiful breakfast spread at Old Inn on the Green in New Marlboro, MA.


Corn pancakes from Smitten, made in late summer.

The Classics in 3 Parts: Part 3 Pizza

I promised a three-parter and it took me a while to deliver, but here we go. After Burgers, and after Mac and Cheese, Deborah and I tackled pizza (for the first time). We made sauce based on the Pizzeria Mozza recipe in Saveur's LA issue, but added TONS of anchovies and we made this dough which worked like a charm.

As you see above, we started with a delightful cheese selection from East Village Cheese Shop and some Petit Jesus (aka "Baby J") from The Meat Hook.



We tried all kinds of toppings including and mushrooms, olives, red onion, and Meat Hook guanciale, but there's never anything quite like a pizza margherita.

Making Pizza

Last Friday night was pizza night at Jesse and Jim's. And as you can see from our empty sauce- covered plates, it was DARN good. Jesse made dough during the day (and I pulled some extra out of the freezer) and we shopped at The Garden for supplies. Jesse and Jim picked fresh herbs. It was an especially hot night so Jim manned the grill and grilled our dough. This is an amazing thing to do. I highly recommend it. The crust gets perfectly charred and it doesn't require special pizza equipment or a 600 degree oven which I love. I don't know all of his grilling secrets, but I know that Jim grilled both sides for mere moments, we topped, then he grilled again to melt the cheese.



Homemade dough is the best and worth the extra effort. Jesse's doughs were great - she made both whole wheat and regular.



Mike made a Mexican pizza with guac instead of sauce, topped with mozzarella, cilantro, tomato, and jalapeno.



The scene was cozy meets worker-bee in the kitchen. Pizza topping factory at the table and Jim at the grill on the fire escape.



Grilled crust. Rao's. Mozz. Salami. Red Onion. Penzy's Tuscan Sunset special spice. Basil from the window sill. Seriously.



We devoured everything and, many thanks to Winona, along the way we drank my favorite summer vinho verde from Dandelion Wine.



Happy pizza-makers.

P.S. GO LAKERS!!! And Go Slovenia!

Chickpeas, Spinach, Tomato Sauce, Fried Bread, and SMOKED PAPRIKA

How bad can that be? I will tell you. Not bad at all!



I'm in love with this Smitten Kitchen recipe for espinacas con garbanzos. The ingredients are wonderful, it's great to make, and it's very tasty. It also looks just beautiful.



Deb couldn't be more right about the smoked paprika too. (This is the one I bought at The Garden - so happy they had it - what would I do without The Garden??) You add the smoke at the very end, just before you squeeze lemon over the dish. (As she suggests, I also added a pinch to my eggs the next morning. I am all over it and it will be all over my food from now on!) I ate my espinacas con garbanzos over a piece of toast and with a tiny bit of feta. Also I put a can of tomatoes in the food processor, pureed, and used that instead of "tomato sauce." I thought the fried bread crumbs in the recipe made it decadent (without being too terribly naughty) and I wouldn't leave them out, though I suppose you could. I will definitely be making this again and again.

Cauliflower, Walnuts, and Feta Oh My!

Deb of Smitten Kitchen – I really have started to think of her as something like a guru – hits another home run. Deborah has been talking up this penne with cauliflower, walnuts, and feta she discovered on Smitten (an Alice Waters recipe) for a while now. So when I finally found some time to spend in my kitchen, I purchased some cauliflower and (French) feta.



Happily, I had walnuts from the Santa Monica Farmers Market left over from my most recent trip home. And I added fresh local ramps to the mix, care of The Garden, ever winning my heart by carrying the locally, seasonally grown. They also had some of the first spring asparagus, which we ate, roasted, on the side.



The meal is hearty and savory and even healthy. One thing I will note is that SK Deb talks about the use of whole wheat pasta, which she doesn’t like, which I also don’t like. I couldn’t bring myself to use it even with her high recommendation for this specific dish, but I found a multigrain penne by Barilla that I think worked just fine.