New York-Style Pizza (America's Test Kitchen)

Growing up in North Jersey I was spoiled with good pizza...well, fabulous pizza I guess I should say! When we lived in Philly we found a couple decent places.  One of our favorites actually shut down after we moved!  I guess we were helping them stay in business :-)  After moving to the Hershey area we started making our own because we couldn't find anything that we really liked.  The recipe we had was OK, but it didn't really feel worth the effort because something about it missed the mark for me.  Three years after moving there we found a great place that was about 20 minutes from the house.  We were there at least every other week.  Sadly, our pizza search had to start again when we moved to Southern Maryland...and much like the Hershey area the pizza here is...meh!

Seth gave me the America's Test Kitchen cookbook for Christmas.  I had seen the episode where they made New York style pizza and it looked legit.  I was anxious to try it out myself.  The first run was OK...a bit too much flour on the bottom.  The second time was perfect!  It was pretty close to some of the pizzas I've had in Jersey and the kids both loved it.  Success!  The only problem is trying to remember to make the dough ahead of time!
 

Dough:
3 cups (16 1/2 oz.) bread flour
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 cups ice water
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt

Sauce:
1 (28 ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained (I use San Marzano with basil leaf)
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated fine (about 1/2 cup)
8 ounce mozzarella, shredded (about 2 cups)

For Dough:
Pulse the flour, sugar, and yeast in a food processor until combined, about 5 pulses.  With the food processor running slowly add the water; process until the dough is just combined and no dry flour remains, about 10 seconds.  Let the dough sit for ten minutes.
Add the oil and salt to the dough and process until the dough forms a satiny, sticky ball and clears the sides of the bowl, 30 to 60 seconds.  Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface and knead briefly by hand until smooth, about 1 minute.  Shape the dough into a tight ball and place in a large, lightly oil bowl; cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours or up to 3 days (I find it tastes better the longer it's been sitting in the fridge)

For the Sauce:
Process all the ingredients in the clean bowl of the food processor until smooth, about 30 seconds.  Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until ready to use. (I've stuck leftovers in the freezer and it's tasted fine when I've thawed it)

To Bake the Pizza:
One hour before baking, adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position (the rack should be 4 to 5 inches from the broiler), set a baking stone on the rack and heat the oven to 500 degrees.  Transfer the dough to a clean work surface and divide in half.  With cupped palms, form each half into a smooth, tight ball.  Place the balls of dough on a lightly greased baking sheet, spacing them at least 3 inches apart; cover loosely with greased plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour.

Coast 1 ball of dough generously with flour and place on a well-floured work surface (keep the other ball covered).  Use your fingertips to gently flatten the dough into an 8-inch disk leaving 1 inch of the outer edge slightly thicker than the center.  Using your hands, gently stretch the disk into a 12-inch round, working along the edges and giving the disk quarter turns (I use a rolling pin to try to flatten it out as much as possible).  Transfer the dough to a foil covered pizza peel and stretch into a 13-inch round.  Using the back of a spoon or ladle, spread 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce in a thin layer over the surface of the dough, leaving a 1/3-inch border around the edge.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the Parmesan evenly over the sauce followed by 1 cup of the mozzarella.  Slide the pizza carefully onto the baking stone and bake until the crust is well browned and the cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pizza halfway through baking.  Transfer the pizza to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.  Repeat with the second ball of dough (I usually make a double batch so we end up with leftovers!)

Pork adobo

1 to 2 pounds of cubed pork
oil
water
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
2-4 Tbsp. brown sugar

Heat a little oil in a pot and then brown meat.  Cover meat with water so that there are about two to three inches of water covering the pork.  Cook meat for 3 to 4 hours, replace the water as it cooks and then let it simmer until all of the pork is visible and falling apart.  Add garlic, vinegar, soy sauce and brown sugar and simmer for 20 minutes.  Serve with stir fried vegetables and rice.

Notes:
The pork cubes were on sale so I figured I'd try to make something with them.  The kids seemed to enjoy it.  The next week I made something similar with beef.  I left the apple cider out and added more soy sauce to make more of a teriyaki style beef.  They LOVED that and kept asking for more meat!  Looks like we have some else to add to our regular rotation!

Deceptively Delicious Muffins
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup butternut squash, carrot or sweet potato puree
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 large egg

Strudel topping:
2/3 cup oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsps. soft tub margarine

Mix ingredients and spoon into 12 greased (or paper lined) muffin cups. Top with strudel topping and bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.

My notes: My mom had sent me this recipe in an email. She made these for my nieces when she was watching them while my sister was cruising the Caribbean for her 10th anniversary. I try to keep a bunch of healthy muffins frozen for quick breakfasts for Levi. The last batch I did had zucchini in them and he seemed to enjoy them. My mom said that the girls gobbled these up so I decided to try them out. I used some white wheat flour for half the flour and some prune-applesauce. Since I was gonna stick them in the freezer I left off the strudel topping...maybe that's where I went wrong. Apparently Levi wasn't a fan of these. He's repeatedly spit them out...even when I've slathered them in apple butter. I guess I'll be sticking to the zucchini ones in the future!

Big Beautiful Muffins
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups lowfat plain yogurt
2 large eggs
8 Tbsps. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Raw sugar

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Generously coat a 12-cup muffin tin with vegetable oil spray. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk the yogurt, and eggs together in a medium bowl. Gently fold the yogurt-egg mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined. Fold in the melted butter.
Use a large ice cream scoop or measuring cup to divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Sprinkle tops with raw sugar. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then flip out onto a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

For blueberry muffins: Fold in 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries that have been tossed in 1 Tbsp. flour into the finished batter. If using frozen blueberried, rinse them in a strainer until the water runs clear, then drain on paper towels and pat dry before stirring (unfloured) into the batter.

My notes: I got this recipe from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook (one of my favorites!). A lot of their muffin and bread recipes use yogurt which make them nice and moist without using a ton of butter or oil. I always have vanilla yogurt in the fridge so I used that and decreased the amount of sugar to 3/4 cup. I also used 1 cup of the white wheat flour...next time I might use 2 cups, sometimes it comes out too dense if you use too much of it. The recipe didn't call for the raw sugar on top, but I thought it was a good addition. It gave them a nice crunch on the top. The muffin cups are very full before baking and make pretty big nuffins (I guess that's how they got the name!). I'm gonna make this my "go-to" muffin recipe from now on!

Cut-out Sugar Cookies
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Heat oven to 375. In large bowl, beat sugar and butter on low speed or with spoon until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla extract and egg. Stir in flour and baking soda. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. Dividen dough in half. Roll each half 1/4 inch on lightly floured surface. Cut into desired seasonal shapes with 2- to 2 1/2-inche coolie cutters. If cookies will not be frosted, sprinkle with sugar. On ungreased cookie sheet, pluace cutouts 2 inches apart. Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until edges are light brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Makes about 4 dozen cookies

Royal Icing
3 Tbsp. meringue powder
4 cups powdered sugar
6 Tbsp. warm water

Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes on low speed with heavy duty mixer). Place in pastry bag or speed on cookies with knife.

My notes: I made these cookies kind of by accident one Christmas. I had forgotten my regular cookie recipe when I went to NY one Christmas and wound up using the one on the back for the flour package and it turns out Seth liked it better! This past Christmas I asked a friend what icing recipe she used for her cookies. She told me that she uses meringue powder in her's...and it turns out it makes a big difference.

Gnudi

1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
1 pound frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 cup grated Parmesan
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
5 Tbsps. all-purpose flour, plus 1 cup for coating
1 jar store bought marinara sauce, heated

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
In a large bowl, mix ricotta, spinach, Parmesan cheese, eggs, and yolks. Stir in nutmeg, salt, pepper, and flour. Form mixture in to small, flattened balls.
Dredge the formed gnudi in flour to coat, tapping off the excess. Slide formed gnudi into the boiling water. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan; work in batches if necessary. Remove the gnudi using a slotted spoon after they float to the top and have cooked for about 4 minutes.
Arrange gnudi on a platter and lightly drizzle with marinara sauce.

My notes: Levi really likes ravioli, but I noticed that he's been spitting out the noodle part after eating the ricotta inside. I rememberd an episode of Everyday Italian. Giada made these things called "nudey", basically a noodle-less ravioli. I figured it was worth a shot. I made a batch this afternoon and frozen them on a cookie sheet. Levi gobbled them up! Something else to add to the mix.

Chicken and Dumplings
4-5 chicken breasts
3 cans of low-sodium chicken broth
3 packages of chicken flavored Herbox
Pinch of sage
Flour
Salt & pepper, to taste

Dumplings:
2 cups Bisquick
2/3 cups milk

Cook chicken breasts and cool. Shredded chicken into bite size pieces. Place chicken in a medium sized pot with the broth, Herbox and sage. Bring to a boil. Mix about 1/4 cup of flour with water until you have a very thin paste. Add flour mixture to the boiling chicken and stir continually. Simmer for about 10 minutes. If the broth is too thin add more flour. For the dumplings, stir ingredients until soft dough forms. Drop by spoonfuls onto boiling broth; reduce heat. Cook uncovered 10 minutes. Cover and cook 10 minutes.

My notes: This is Seth's mom's recipe. It's one of the first things that I learned how to make for Seth and I make it pretty often! It's good with the dumplings, on bread, over biscuits or with mixed veggies (kind of like a pot pie). I like making it for meals to take to people because they can freeze it if they have too many meals. It's also good because you can make a big pot of it and keep some for yourself. Perfect meal for a cool fall or winter day :-)