Olive Rosemary Loaves

3 or 4 years ago (?) I checked an Italian cookbook out from the library and copied a few recipes out of it, including a recipe for "olive rosemary loaves." Today I made them for the first time, and OMG they taste just like that bread they bring you at Macaroni Grill! Only kinda better, because they have olive pieces in them, which is quite nice. 

First rise.

Second rise, brushed with olive oil, slit with a serrated knife.

 

I think a crow must have got hold of this one.

So supper came together quite nicely. Olive rosemary bread dipped in cracked pepper and olive oil (a la  Macaroni Grill), spaghetti tossed with some sun-dried tomato pesto I had left over from another thing, and a simple salad with Mary's salad dressing. 

I was needing a simple salad. I made mine huge.

{ quote of the day }

ME AT THE DINNER TABLE: "It's like we're at Macaroni Grill, only we have control over the pepper mill!"

~

Olive Rosemary Loaves

1 1/2 cup warm water (105-115° F)

4 Tablespoons olive oil, plus more for oiling your baking sheet

2 packages (4 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 cup kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

2 teaspoons salt

5 cups (680 grams) bread flour 

• In a large bowl, combine 1/2 cup warm water, 3 Tablespoons of the olive oil, yeast, and sugar; stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 cup warm water, olives, rosemary, salt, and 4 cups (544 grams) flour until combined.
• Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes, working in enough of the remaining flour (136 grams) just to keep dough from sticking.
• Shape dough into a ball; place in a greased large bowl, turning dough to grease top. Cover bowl and let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
• Punch down dough. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut in half; cover and let rest 15 minutes for easier shaping. Grease a large cookie sheet.
• Shape each dough half into a 7.5 x 4" oval; place 3" apart on prepared cookie sheet. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400° F. Brush tops of loaves with remaining 1 Tablespoon oil. With a serrated knife, cut three diagonal slashes across the top of each loaf. Bake until loaves are golden and have reached an internal temperature of 200° F or so, about 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Sunday Dinner

Today I made stuffed peppers and pasta. I also baked off half a dozen yeast rolls from the stash of dough balls that I made up and froze the other day.

I was feeling time-crunched, so I didn't really take any pictures until I was packing up leftovers for Josh's lunch.

The pasta is rotini in a creamy garlic sauce. I stirred in carrot, zucchini, and sun-dried tomatoes.

 

The pepper is stuffed with goat cheese, mozzarella cheese, pine nuts, and fresh basil.

I made 2 red ones, a yellow one, and an orange one.

{ Josh's super-awesome quote of the day: }

"That was excitingly good."

... best compliment ever :)

Culinary Capers Ingredient of the Week: Basil

I think my first Culinary Capers challenge was a flop. Only one person besides me made something with poppy seeds. And that was Michelle TL, the die-hard participator. Alls I can say is...

Someone could have made this and it would have been awesome.

Moving on, no one can accuse Carrie of making a poor choice. Basil is one of my favorite fresh herbs (rosemary and dill are the other 2). And so far, the whole group seems excited to have an excuse to get their basil on.

I love me some pesto, but you know... Been there, blogged about that. So, for this challenge I went with an intriguing recipe I ran across a while back. It's Giada De Laurentiis' asparagus lasagna.

I've had sun-dried tomatoes on the brain lately, so this seemed like the perfect thing to make. For the "sauce" you pulse the basil with 2 jars of sun-dried tomatoes in a food processor until combined.

 

 

{I saw a cute food photo montage on this post over at Salad in a Jar, and was inspired to make a montage of my own!}

 

This was an interesting recipe.

It would have been better had I not tried to "cheat" and use oven ready lasagna noodles. 

{The top layer of noodles didn't get cooked. :(}

But other than that, I think I like it. It's very flavorful. I'll have to make it again sometime, using the correct noodle procedure.

Culinary Capers Ingredient of the Week: Pineapple

Yes, I own The Sopranos Family Cookbook.

I used to cook from it way back in the day. I would make the baked ziti and the ricotta-pineapple pie. I took the Culinary Capers pineapple challenge as an opportunity to revisit this old favorite.

You can find the ricotta-pineapple pie recipe in the "Carmela" section.

But just in case you don't have this book lying around... I will type it out for you.

Ricotta-Pineapple Pie

from The Sopranos Family Cookbook

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup fine graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

One 15-ounce container ricotta

2 large eggs

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Topping

One 20-ounce can crushed pineapple in syrup

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

• Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Spread the butter over the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie pan or springform pan.  Add the crumbs, turning the pan to coat the bottom and sides.
• In a large bowl, stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Add the ricotta, eggs, cream, lemon zest, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
• Bake for 50 minutes, or until the pie is set around the edges but the center is still slightly soft. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack.
• To make the topping, drain the pineapple well, reserving 1/2 cup of the liquid. In a medium saucepan, stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Stir in the 1/2 cup pineapple juice and the lemon juice. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened, about 4 minutes. Add the pineapple. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.
• Spread the pineapple mixture over the pie. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs.

Lemon zest.

Bada bing!

Yous ah bettah make ah this pie!

 Just kidding, I don't care if you make it.
I just wanted to say "yous."

Okie-Dokie Artichokie

So, I recently joined "Culinary Capers," which is a fun Facebook group that challenges its members with a new ingredient each week. This week's ingredient was artichokes. I decided to go with canned, and I chose to make The Way the Cookie Crumbles' spinach artichoke pizza.

I'm into TWtCC lately. This girl has got some tricks up her sleeve, I tell you what. I tried out her pizza crust recipe, using her special technique for adapting any bread recipe to whole wheat. {I mean, she didn't make it up, but she was kind enough to share it.}

The basic gist of this technique is that you make a "pre-dough" the night before, using whole wheat flour, water, and a little salt. Letting the moistened whole wheat flour ball sit overnight softens the whole wheat fibers. When you incorporate the whole wheat pre-dough into the remaining ingredients of your desired bread recipe, you get a dough that is remarkably soft and pliable for whole wheat. Neato!

Pre-dough.

Going in.

Coming out.

Crust porn.

This was good!

What I liked most about this recipe:

1. It calls for fresh spinach instead of frozen.

2. The crust is hand-formed. {Bridget recommends not using a rolling pin.}

3. Béchamel. {Need I say more?}

Nativities and Creamy Pasta Bliss

I had fun taking down my Christmas decorations today. 

 

 I love this little nativity. Grandma Forga had one just like it when I was growing up, and I believe she had it when my mom was growing up as well. I was excited to find one for 25¢ at a thrift shop down the road.

 

Grandma Forga did this Christmas painting for me. Grandma has been quite a prolific painter since her move to the assisted living; but I am proud to have her one and only sparkly painting. Mom brought me the colorful tin nativity from her last trip to Santa Fe. 

It came with a pretty tin box.

Then I made one of my favorite recipes: creamy tomato-basil pasta with shrimp.

 

{ Those are stuffed mushrooms. }

This was the richest meal ever!!! It didn't hit me that this meal was going to be totally inappropriately rich until it was like almost done and there was no time to fool with making a salad to go with it. I told Josh to just pretend like he was a medieval king. 

Here's the recipe for the pasta (it is killer):

Creamy Tomato-Basil Pasta with Shrimp

adapted from kraftrecipes.com

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 cup red onion, thinly sliced

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

10 ounces uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/4 cup Kraft sun dried tomato vinaigrette

3/4 cup chicken broth

2 teaspoons garlic salt

4 ounces cream cheese

8 ounces farfalle (bow-tie) pasta, dry

1 cup (100 grams) freshly grated parmesan

cracked pepper to taste

8 fresh basil leaves, cut into strips

Additional basil leaves for garnish, if desired

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add tomatoes and sautee until browned, 5 to 10 mintues. Add red onions; cook and stir for about a minute. Add shrimp; cook and stir until done, about 4 minutes. Remove vegetables and shrimp from skillet. 
• Add vinaigrette, broth, and garlic salt to skillet; cook 2 minutes or until heated through. Add cream cheese; cook and stir 2 or 3 min or until melted. Add cooked pasta to skillet along with shrimp & vegetables, parmesan, and cracked pepper. 
• Turn heat to low. Cook, stirring frequently, until sauce has reached desired thickness, 10 minutes or less. Remove from heat and stir in basil strips. Garnish with additional basil if desired.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Calorie content: 1 cup (165 grams) = 300 calories

Note: On the page I've linked to for the original recipe, there's a great explanation of how to slice basil into lovely chiffonade strips.