Tag: Comfort food

Pizza dough recipe

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This basic, easy pizza dough recipe is a standard in our house. I’ve been using this recipe since my college years, when my friend Cindy shared it and I wrote it down on a small note card. The card’s spent some time on our kitchen counter over the years, not hiding from pizza sauce and other ingredients as it fulfilled its culinary duty. (See the scan of the card below.)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour (our standard is 1 cup whole wheat + 1/2 cup unbleached white flour)
1 tbsp yeast
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp honey or sugar
2/3 cup warm water
dash of salt

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 400°
  • Mix the yeast and honey/sugar in the warm water, cover and let it sit in a warm place for 5-6 minutes (the yeast will become bubbly).
  • Add the olive oil and salt and mix well.
  • Add the flour, mix well, and gently knead for a minute or so.
  • Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover and let it rise in a warm place for 10-15 minutes.
  • Put the dough on an oiled pizza stone, spreading it evenly to the edges and leaving a bit of a ridge around the edge.
  • Cook in the oven for 6-8 minutes or so until the dough starts to lightly brown
  • Remove and add toppings.
  • Return to the oven and cook until the toppings look done and the cheese is melted with a bit of browning. This is usually another 6-8 minutes, but varies based on toppings.
  • Remove, slice, and enjoy!

Notes:

  • I’ve used different flour ratios and substituted some other flours (almond, garbanzo, etc) for 1/4 cup of the flour. The 2:1 whole wheat:unbleached white ratio above is our standard mix.
  • We often do a pesto base (Barrie makes great pesto) rather than a tomato sauce base, and occasionally make a white pie with ricotta. All have their charms.
  • Typically, I’ll do the base (pesto or tomato), then add grated mozzarella, then veggies, and then top it off with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.
  • It takes about 20-25 minutes to prep the dough and another 15 minutes or so for the two cooking stages. I get the dough started and prep the veggies while the yeast is bubbling and dough is rising. I can plan on having dinner on the table in about 45 minutes.
  • This is always better when listening to good music. Always.
  • And, of course, enjoy with a beverage of choice.

For years this handmade recipe card was stored in a little metal recipe file box. We later transferred it to a notebook where we kept our favorite recipes that weren’t in actual cookbooks. A few years ago we scanned lots of our favorites to a Dropbox folder, which is where the copy I now use digitally resides. You’ll note that the directions above have more steps. Recipes evolve, as did this one. 

Cindy & Gene's Pizza Dough

Cindy & Gene’s Pizza Dough

Butternut Piquillo Carrot Soup

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I threw this together because I happened to have all these ingredients, winging it as I went. The final addition of the vegan queso really made the dish and it was pure chance that I added it (“oh, we have some of this left from last night, let’s see how it tastes!”). I’m always ad-libbing in the kitchen in this fashion but this one was good enough to share on The Epicurean Librarian.

This took about an hour from prep to final soup. Of course, the smaller you chop the squash and carrots the quicker they’ll cook. I used a potato masher to smash things up a bit before using the blender. Don’t blend too long – be sure to leave plenty of chunky squash and carrots.

Butternut Piquillo Carrot Soup (vegan) 

      • 1 medium butternut squash
      • 6-8 large carrots
      • 1 14oz can roasted sweet piquillo peppers
      • 5-6 cloves garlic
      • 1 large sweet onion
      • 32 oz vegetable stock
      • 2  oz (1/2 can) diced mild minced green chilies
      • 5-6  oz (1/2 jar) Siete Spicy Blanco Cashew Queso
      • 3-4 tablespoons vegan sour cream
      • 1 tablespoon cumin, or to taste
      • 1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
      • salt and pepper to taste
      • olive oil

Veggie prep: Peel squash, remove seeds, cut into 1 inch pieces.  Peel carrots, chop into into similar size pieces. Chop onion and mince garlic cloves. Drain piquillo pepper, rinse and chop. Separate into two equal batches.

Saute onions in olive oil until nearly tender, add cumin, cilantro and garlic, then sauce 2-3 more minutes. Add stock and heat until nearly boiling. Add chopped squash, carrots, and half of the piquillo peppers, and enough water to cover.

Bring to boil, then simmer for 20-30 minutes. Add the rest of the piquillo peppers and the minced chiles.

Simmer until the carrots and squash are soft, then remove from heat. Mash the veggies with a potato masher, then puree with an immersion blender until it’s smooth but still chunky.

Add the queso and sour cream and stir until thoroughly mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Serve with a dash (or four) of your choice of hot sauce. We’ve had it with crackers and homemade biscuits – the biscuits were especially nice.

Enjoy!

Butternut Piquillo Carrot Soup

Butternut Piquillo Carrot Soup

Comfort Food: Quick Vegan Cream of Tomato Soup

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Cream of Tomato Soup with Fire Roasted Tomatoes

There’s something about cream of tomato soup that oozes comfort. When I was growing up my Mom would occasionally forgo our typical Southern meat-and-two-vegetables-with-ice-tea dinner and opt for something quick and easy. Often this approach involved her opening a can of cream of tomato soup, making cheese sandwiches, and suddenly we’d have dinner. Since I was a kid I probably missed the context of such a quick and easy meal (was Mom was stressed out? was she too tired to cook? was it was the end of the month and we were being frugal?) but such adult things didn’t really enter my pre-adolescent mind. I was just happy we were having tomato soup for dinner! The comfort element was further enforced do to the fact that Mom’s standard way to deal with an upset tummy was to serve saltines, ginger ale, and cream of tomato soup. Cream of tomato soup was a palatable panacea that was a cupboard staple in our house.

Thanks to Mom, I love cream of tomato soup. But as the years have gone by my taste for processed canned soup has waned. Enter this recipe – a quick and easy vegan cream of tomato soup. It satisfies my comfort food needs and is easy to make – I made a batch tonight in about 30 minutes. The leftovers are cooling as I write this blog.

Quick Vegan Cream of Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

1 medium red onion

Several cloves of garlic

Basil or herb/spice of choice

2 large cans of organic fire roasted tomatoes

1/2 cup or so of vegetable stock

Unsweetened almond creamer

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Optional: truffle oil, almond cream cheese

The cooking part: 

  • Chop the onion and mince the garlic, then sauté in olive oil. A dash of truffle oil adds some flavor.
  • Add the basil or herb/spice of choice to the cooking onions. When they are soft add the stock (you can use water if you want) and let this simmer for a few minutes.
  • Add the two cans of fire roasted tomatoes, bring to a boil, then let simmer another 5 or 10 minutes. I used one can of crushed and one of diced tomatoes.
  • Remove from the heat and purée with a blender. I usually leave it somewhat chunky. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Add the almond creamer to taste and stir it up.
  • Serve with a dollop of almond cream cheese. I also add a big dash or five of hot sauce. Tonight I used a medium chipotle and it was quite tasty.

Add a salad if you choose. Or some bread.

Enjoy!