Best-Ever No-Knead Pizza Dough

No-Knead Pizza Dough

I’m the type of person who is, sometimes really annoyingly, resistant to change.  Even if it’s the kind of change that might enhance my everyday living, like trading in my old flip phone or upgrading my decade-old, leaky, stained $10 coffeemaker, I’ll insist that my old way is just fine.  So naturally, I never had much interest in trying Jim Lahey’s famous no-knead pizza dough recipe that has been sweeping the rest of the nation for the last couple of years.  What good was that for someone like me?  I like spending time in the kitchen, I like getting my hands dirty, and I like kneading my dough.

An unfortunate side effect of being resistant to change is the tendency to hoard.  My old magazines had finally stacked up to the point of bothering me, so I recently started weeding through old issues of Bon Appétit and came across the no-knead pizza dough recipe again.  Fine!  I gave in and decided to give this crust a shot.

Thank goodness I did–it’s amazing!  It’s like the pizza crust I seek out in restaurants, made at home, in my ordinary oven.  The center is thin and crisp, the edges chewy and bubbly.  Plus, if you make the full recipe, you can keep balls of dough in the freezer and have pizza whenever the mood strikes.  So daily.

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Orange, Anise & Sesame Seed Crêpes

Orange, Anise & Sesame Seed Crepes

Anise and sesame seeds may seem like unlikely additions to your next batch of crêpes, but trust me–it’s outstanding.  Together, the anise, sesame, and orange taste mysterious, somewhat exotic, and completely addiction-worthy.

I wish I could tell you that I just pulled this brilliant flavor combination out of my head, but, unfortunately, that’s not the case.  The idea came from the wildly delicious Spanish crackers that I’m totally obsessed with.  They’re awesomely olive oily, large, round crisps, dotted with anise and sesame seeds, and sprinkled with sugar.  Even the packaging is delicious; they come wrapped in beautiful wax paper printed with poetic-sounding blue type.  Legítimas y acreditadas.

Spanish Olive Oil Tortas

I could easily form-a-pack a day habit if they weren’t so danged expensive.  But it’s okay.  It’s okay because I came up with these crêpes.  These crêpes emulate the essence of my beloved crackers without the hefty price tag.  The flavors are subtle, but intriguing and craveable.  You’ll love them with coffee for breakfast, as an afternoon snack, or stacked into a torte for dessert.

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Farro Salad with Tuna, Cannellini Beans & Watercress

Farro Salad with Tuna, Cannellini Beans & Watercress
I was in the kitchen, patting myself on the back for being such a kind, thoughtful girlfriend as I put this salad together.  The boyfriend has been making an effort to stop buying so many lunches during the workweek and pack something healthy to eat mid-day and there I was, wonderful me, supporting his cause and making a salad to help out.

Then, as I smashed a couple cloves of garlic with a few anchovy fillets to mix with tuna salad, I saw the bigger picture: I’m turning my boyfriend into that guy that brings the world’s stinkiest lunch to the office.  You know the one.  It’s the guy who brings the lunch that funks up the shared refrigerator, the guy you want to avoid after lunch with the garlicky-fish breath, the dude that…

…doesn’t care at all because he’s got a satisfied belly.

This is the type salad that you’ll be dying to dip into come lunch time.  The farro, cannellini beans, and tuna are going to fill you up for the rest of the afternoon and the zesty watercress is bound to brighten even the drabbest workday.  Just bring a tin of altoids or enough salad to share with the person in the next cube over and you’re golden.

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Strawberry Almond Crumb Coffee Cake

Strawberry Almond Crumb CoffeecakeWeekends are so much more enjoyable when you start them with something amazing for breakfast. You suddenly have a reason to linger over the paper, make a second pot of coffee, and delay your trip to the hardware store.  What more could you ask for?

This weekend it’s an ultra-moist strawberry coffee cake smothered in a ridiculously good, I-want-to-pick-it-all-off-and-eat-it-right-now almond crumb topping.  It goes together quickly and depending on how many people you choose to share it with, it might be around long enough to perk up your back-to-reality Monday morning breakfast.

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Spring Vegetable Soup with Poached Eggs

Spring Vegetable SoupAfter single-handedly consuming almost a whole batch of potato, leek & artichoke soup last week, I thought I had soup out of my system for a while.  That was, until yesterday at breakfast.  As I flipped through the latest issue of bon appétit, I kept landing on the same few pages–a gorgeous spread of recipes featuring fresh spring produce and daydream-inducing photos of lush green farmland.

Of all the recipes in the article, it was the simple bowl of spring egg drop soup that really caught my eye. It looked so lovely, charmingly green and everything spring has to offer spooned into one bowl.  Seems I hadn’t quite had my fill of soup after all.

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