two hundred and forty-one

Growing up in a vegetarian household, I didn't really "get" the love that many Americans profess for burgers.  Though tasty enough, they were mostly just vehicles for enabling mass consumption of cheese.  (Land'o'Lakes American, thank you very much.)  Then, as most of my stories go, I met my husband.  The second the weather began to warm for the year, my father in law would go into a primal trance and spend every weekend manning the grill producing enough meat for every man, woman, and child within smelling distance.  At first, all of that grilled meat was kind of off putting, but it wasn't long before I was sitting at my mother in law's kitchen table and making towers of burger patties for whatever gathering was happening that weekend.

Though I still consider the cheese a highlight of a burger, I now appreciate the patty's charred outside and juicy inside about as much as I appreciate a good steak.  Even more than the taste, I appreciate the frugality of a homemade semi-gourmet burger, so I try to make them at least once a month in the summer.  I bake challah rolls, think up interesting mayonnaise flavors, and try to work out a mathematical equation to calculate the maximum number of different toppings any given burger can hold (that number is known as the MTR or Maximum Topping Ratio).  Usually, it's great.  Sometimes, meh.  Rarely, a choir of angels having a rave in my mouth.

The burger I'm about to share with you is one of those angel raves, therefore I recommend you make it as soon as possible.  Preferably yesterday.  (Make extra patties for lunch, too.)  Oh, and not having a grill is no excuse; this recipe is apartment-friendly.

two hundred and three

I know that pizza is technically an Italian food, but over the years it has become ubiquitously American.  Whenever there is a gathering of people, complete with their varying food preferences, you can almost bet on the presence of a pizza.  It's simple enough for the pickiest of eaters, but can be jazzed up for those who prefer something with a little more texture or variety.  But the best part about pizza is that the "same old" cheese pie can become crave worthy by simply using quality ingredients.

No matter how much people may crave the "gourmet" pizzas, most of us routinely choose the sub-par delivery pizza over the fancypants wood-fired crust with artisanal* ingredients.  Why?  Because it's cheap and easy, and do you have any idea how long it takes to make a pizza???

45 minutes (even less if you buy your dough at the store.)  Seriously.

But what about the variety?  What if everyone wants something different?  Two words: white pizza.  Those who like "plain" invariably enjoy it, while it serves as the perfect base for those of us who prefer our pizzas a little less naked.  A base for what?  Why, a tasty arugula salad, of course--which just so happens to be the exact thing you need to make a plain white pizza into a memorable and almost-healthy meal.

Oh, and to you pickypantseses who aren't satisfied by either of those two options: just throw some pepperoni (or whatever you prefer) on top of half of the white pizza before baking--but don't ask the rest of us to share once you realize pepperoni is no match for arugula.

*Homer Simpson taught me how to spell this word.  No joke.  "artis-anal"

White Pizza with Arugula

 Crust :

2 1/4 tsp yeast

1/4 tsp sugar

3/4 cup warm water

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

Toppings :

1 cup Alfredo sauce

  2 cups Italian or mozzarella cheese

4 cups arugula or spring mix

1/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

freshly ground pepper

Make crust : Mix yeast, sugar and water in a medium bowl; allow to stand until yeast is foamy.  

Stir in flour and salt, then knead on a floured counter until dough forms a smooth ball, about 5 minutes.  Cover the dough with a moist lint-free towel or plastic wrap and allow to rest about 20 minutes (or while the oven is prehreating.)

Roll the dough out into a large circle or rectangle and position on a pizza stone or on an upside down cookie sheet (seriously, it works).  Make sure the crust is thin or it won't be crunchy.

Preheat the oven to 500 F.

Top crust : Spread the Alfredo sauce on top of the prepared and stretched pizza dough.  Top evenly with the cheese.

Bake at 500 F for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is browned and bubbly.  Allow to cool on pan about five minutes, then remove to a wooden cutting board or pizza peel before slicing.

While the pizza is baking, whisk the olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper in a large bowl until well combined (you're making a vinaigrette.)  Toss the arugula with the vinaigrette.

Serve the pizza topped with the salad (and a sprinkling of Parmesan, if desired.)

eighty-five

 Have you ever noticed that some people are just lucky at life?  In high school, my husband and I knew a kid that won every luck of the draw contest that he entered, especially those random phone-in radio contests that would give away tickets to shows and concerts.  He would be barred from entering contests for a period of time, only to seemingly win yet another one the very day he was allowed to participate again.  If that wasn't frustrating enough, his other family members had similar luck!

It's probably needless to say after that incredulous rant, but I am not one of those winny (new word!) people; that's one of the reasons I don't gamble or enter any contest that costs me anything more than 30 seconds of my time.  Well, imagine my surprise when I checked Google Reader this morning and found that I had won a giveaway from one of my long-time favorite blogs, Home Ec 101!  It certainly brightened up my rainy, weekend's-finally-over morning.  Thanks to Heather@Home Ec 101 for providing the web with years of near-encyclopaedic knowledge that I can always refer to when I don't know the best way to get something cooked or cleaned!

While on our quest to save money (especially on food in a disturbingly delicious part of the country), we have done a lot of our eating out at the Momofuku family of restaurants.  How is this decidedly not inexpensive food even close to a frugal option?  Because we have gift cards leftover from our wedding, of course. ;-)  That means we've eaten for "free" every time we've been since April!  Unfortunately, the cards' values are starting to dwindle, meaning I'm faced with a sad choice, indeed: pay real money for Momofuku or learn to make my own homemade version of Noodle Bar's pork buns (sans pork belly, because I have this thing about textures--especially fat that isn't crispy).  Since six billion pounds of slow roasted pork shoulder were staring me down when I opened the refrigerator yesterday afternoon, my answer was obvious...

seventy-two

Over the past few weeks, between going out of town, having multiple appointments in the city, and having company, I've managed to eat approximately 9,753 meals, drinks, and snacks at various restaurants.  Okay, probably not that many, but for the first time since my wedding, I found myself unable to remember the last meal that I actually cooked.  I could, however, tell you about the awesome Momofuku Ramen I ate in NYC or the insanely delicious pan fried noodles I devoured at Big Wong King in Chinatown or the prison-grade breakfast I kind of ate in Connecticut.

You'd think that with my love of cooking and my dislike of spending money and all, I'd dive headfirst back into cooking actual, not-so-sodium laden meals, and I did... until I volunteered to cook a steak dinner for my mother while she was in town and remembered how freaking hot it is outside!  Since then, I've been a lazy bum about cooking (except for desserts, naturally).  Don't get me wrong, I still get hot, homemade meals on the table and Mr. N enjoys/pretends to enjoy them, but I've been left kind of uninspired by the heat--that is, until my husband reminded me of the awesome leftover steak that we have rocking out in the fridge.  I pondered a use for cold steak and was reminded of a super delicious appetizer that Mr. N and I ate at The Long Room in New York City (using a Groupon, natch)...

fifty-eight

I know, I know, I didn't write a make-up post today, but at least I have a regularly scheduled post!  That has to count for something, right?  If it doesn't, I'll blame my lack of the promised post on the fact that I'm a newlywed--or on the hurricane that's supposed to be blowing right over New Jersey this evening.  Your choice of excuses!  How's that for service?

As I've gotten older and have become a better cook, I have been faced with a frustratingly depressing reality in which restaurant food ceases to be worth the exorbitant prices listed on the menu.  And since both my husband and I have been students for a majority of our adult lives, we've always viewed going out to eat as a Special Treat that we have to save up for and/or use a coupon to be able to comfortably afford (and thus enjoy).  Obviously, these two facts don't really go hand in hand, so I've found a way to make them work together: copycat recipes.  Nine times out of ten, when I go to a restaurant I come out able to recreate both my and Mr. N's entrees and the appetizers, and, nine times out of ten, I come home and test my skillz.  The recipe I'm sharing today is one I've enjoyed for years now, but is also one I've felt guilty about spending around $10 on for equally as many years: Panera Bread's "Sierra Turkey" sandwich

thirteen

I totally broke my own rule of posting every day; I had to go to see my doctors, and that's an all day excursion (that, admittedly, also includes lunch and dinner with my husband).  For my last post of the week, I'm going to leave you with a delicious biscotti recipe.

On New Year's eve during one of the years my husband and I lived in Maryland, we went up to southern New Jersey to visit my his aunt and uncle.  Of course, a good housewife never visits without bringing a treat, so I chose to make my first ever batch of biscotti using a recipe from the cookbook that my mother-in-law had gotten me for Christmas that year.  When we arrived, everyone was ooh-ing and aah-ing about how brave I was to make biscotti.  I was baffled, but I soon found out what I had been missing.  I had wrongly thought that they were just Italian a few generations back and were into their heritage; I had no idea that they were actual, for-real, children of immigrants, Italian!  I heard nothing about the biscotti in the weeks to follow and I soon forgot about having ever made them.

Fast forward a year and a half to the night before my wedding...  I was sitting in the hotel lobby chatting with family when my husband's aunt came up to introduce me to someone I'd never met.  "This is Michele.  She makes the best biscotti.  It was so good, I sent it to my Italian* daughter-in-law in California!"  I should have been pleased, but all I could wonder was What on Earth have I gotten myself into?

*the "actually from Italy" kind

eleven

There is something about me that I am embarrassed to admit.  I feel like I need to get past this in order to be anywhere near "good" at this whole blogging thing.  *deep breath* Okay.  So...  I was raised vegetarian.  I ate disgusting Nasoya veggie dogs, spaghetti and wheat balls (to this day I still have no idea from which form of wheat the balls were made), barbecued tofu and lots and lots of lentils. My classmates dined on Dunkaroos and those weird crackers with cheese spread while I  ate sandwiches of peanut butter that had to be stirred before use and bread so grain-laden that it fell apart when it hit your mouth.  From what I understand, this isn't so abnormal these days, but when I was in school, it was downright weird.

You'd think that growing up eating such healthful food, I would've developed a taste for it and a dislike of meat.  Au contraire, mes aimes!  Now that I get to choose my own food, I love steak tartare, goat curries and duck breast.  Nothing delights me more than eating the crispy skin from a fresh-from-the-oven chicken.  Nothing, that is, except for the supremely delicious, horrendously bad for you, recipe that is about to follow...

Perfect Rare Steak with Herbed Butter

1-16 oz. thick cut ribeye steak

1 stick butter, softened and divided

salt and pepper, to taste

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp dried rosemary, crushed

Dry the steak using paper towels.  Season with salt, but don't pepper until after it cooks.

Preheat a heavy skillet or grill pan over medium-high heat (The pan I use is nonstick but still allows you to sear; if you don't have one, a cast iron skillet works well).  Melt two tablespoons of butter in the pan and allow them to melt, then brown.  Once the butter smells and looks nutty, place the steak in the pan, wiggle it a tiny bit to prevent it from sticking and then DON'T TOUCH IT for 3 minutes.  Flip the steak, wiggle, DON'T TOUCH for an additional three minutes.  Remove the steak from the pan, grind some pepper over it, then tent it with tin foil and allow it to rest for about ten minutes while you make the...

 Herbed Butter

Mix the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter with the garlic powder, rosemary and additional pepper, to taste.  Refrigerate any leftovers and use on bread or bagels.

 

Cut the rested steak into two servings.  Top each steak with 1/2 to 1 tbsp of the butter.  Serve with salad.