My first shells!

Let’s talk about something quickly that has confused me over the years: the difference between yams and sweet potatoes.

Here’s the thing. It’s actually hard to find real yams in grocery stores. They aren’t popular in America. But, there are two kinds of sweet potatoes that are sold: ones with a lighter skin and light yellow flesh and ones with a more orange tint to it.

Unfortunately, a lot of grocery stores label the more orange sweet potatoes as yams even though they aren’t. They are still sweet potatoes but just a different variety.

My grocery store actually had these labeled as “Sweet Potatoes/Yams” as if they were the same thing!

Real yams have a dark skin and are even sweeter than sweet potatoes. They are popular in Caribbean cuisine, but are actually a bit hard to find in most grocery stores in the states.

So let the record show: These wonderfully delicious baked shells are stuffed with sweet potatoes and definitely not stuffed with yams.

Sweet Potato Stuffed Shells

Yield: Serves 5-6.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 large yams, boiled and mashed
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 fresh sage leaves, minced
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1 28 ounce can tomato sauce
6 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced
16 ounces pasta shells, cooked al dente
Salt and pepper
Fresh chives (garnish)

Directions:

1) Peel and cube yams and boil them in salted water until they are very tender, about 12-15 minutes. Drain yams and mash in a bowl.

2) You can cook shells in same water. Cook until al dente and then remove and drain shells.

3) Dice onions, sage, and garlic and saute in butter over medium heat until onions are soft, about 5-6 minutes. Don't brown the onions. Add red pepper flakes and a pinch of salt.

4) Add onion mixture to mashed yams with greek yogurt, cream, and walnuts. Stir together and season with salt and pepper.

5) Add half of the tomato sauce to the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Working with one shell at a time, fill shell with a few spoonfuls of filling. You can stuff them pretty full. It's also okay if they rip a bit.

6) Arrange stuffed shells in baking dish. Once the dish is full, top each shell with extra sauce and a slice of mozzarella.

7) Cover dish loosely with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Then uncover and bake dish for another 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

8) Serve shells garnished with fresh chopped chives.

Making the Filling

This is really a perfect winter filling. You could do a lot of things with it actually besides stuff it in shells. You could layer it in a lasagna or put it in manicotti. You could put it in ravioli or add some cheese and extra cream to it and make a kind of baked dip out of it.

It all starts with sweet potatoes though. Two large ones should do the trick. Just peel them and dice them into pretty large cubes.

Peeled and cubed

Boil these cubes in salted water until they are very tender (about 15 minutes) and then mash them up in a bowl. It’s okay if they aren’t completely smooth. Some lumps are just fine.

No need to be perfectly smooth.

Filling Flavors

Sweet potatoes are a good start but we want to add a lot more flavor to this filling. I really like the onion/sage flavor profile that the polenta I posted on Thursday had, so I decided to use similar stuff for this filling.

Good winter flavors.

Dice up the onion, mince the garlic and sage, and saute the veggies in butter over medium heat until the onions are soft. Be sure not to cook them on high heat or the veggies might brown which isn’t what you want.

You just want them to soften a bit so they turn slightly sweet. It should take about 5-6 minutes.

Then add in your red pepper flakes and add this mixture to the mashed sweet potatoes. You can add your yogurt and cream at the same time!

Yogurt... or sour cream.

I stirred this all together and tasted it.

Very Important: Any time you are coming up with a filling like this, it’s very important to taste it as you go.

When I tasted this, I liked the flavor, but I thought the texture was a bit mushy. So I went rummaging through my pantry and landed on some walnuts that I thought would give this filling some great texture.

Great add-in.

Just remember… if the filling tastes good on its own (which this did) then it’s going to be even better when it’s baked and covered with cheese.

The Pasta

Like I said, I wanted to use shells for this dish just because I don’t use them very often. You could use almost any baked pasta thing though for this filling, so go crazy!

Whatever pasta you choose, just make sure you don’t over cook the stuff. Pull it out while the pasta still has a very tiny bite to it. It will continue to cook in the oven later.

Be careful not to overcook these guys!

Prepping the Shells

These shells are actually really easy to stuff assuming that you don’t overcook them. Just add a few spoonfuls of filling to each shell! You can really stuff them pretty full.

Easy as that.

In a large baking dish, add about half of your tomato sauce to the bottom of the dish and then start stacking these shells in the dish.

You might have some leftover filling or shells depending on a few things, but it’s better to have leftover filling then not enough!

Might have some leftovers...

Add the rest of your tomato sauce to the top of the shells and top each shell with some mozzarella cheese.

I’m always inclined to add a large amount of cheese to dishes like this, but I would really recommend keeping the cheese light in this instance. The filling is really the star of the show and very delicious and rich on its own. So just a small amount of cheese should do the trick.

No need to go crazy with cheese.

Baking the Pasta

Cover this dish loosely with foil and bake it at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Then crank up the heat to 400 and remove the foil. Bake it for another 15 minutes just so the tops of the pasta gets slightly browned.

Baked!

Serve these suckers with some fresh chopped chives!

Really great meal!

These were a delicious winter dinner and the leftovers were perfect also. Betsy and I ate these shells for a few days and I never got sick of them.

So remember: These are sweet potatoes, not yams.

And also remember to try this as soon as possible!

Steak?

You guys are sneaky. I honestly didn’t think in a million years that cauliflower steak would win the poll. It not only won, it crushed all other options!

You guys really want to see a steak made of cauliflower!

I guess I’m happy to oblige.

For me, does this replace a wonderfully marbled and juicy medium-rare steak? Abso-freaking-lutely not.

But honestly it turned out a lot better than I was expecting. The cauliflower is really filling and has a good texture.

All the flavor comes from the tapenade on top. That’s the highlight of the meal for sure in my book.

Cauliflower Steaks

Yield: Serves 2-4.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

1 large head of cauliflower
2 tablespoons olive oil

Tapenade:
1/2 cup cauliflower florets, chopped
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup kalamata olives, diced
2-3 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 lemon, juice only
Salt and pepper

Tomato Sauce:
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
A pinch of sugar
Salt and pepper

Helpful Equipment:
Mini food processor

Directions:

1) Slice cauliflower head down the center and cut off all of the leaves. Slice off four 1/2 inch "steaks" of cauliflower. If your cauliflower head is very small you might only get 2-3 steaks out of it. Make sure they are a nice thickness.

2) Some florets will fall off as you cut the steaks, reserve them and chop them. Add enough florets to this until you have 1/2 cup of chopped florets.

3) Dice olives and sun-dried tomatoes and mix with chopped florets. Mix in parsley, lemon juice, and a dash of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and set aside for later.

4) To start steaks, add a good drizzle of olive oil to a large skillet and get it hot over high heat. Sear cauliflower steaks on both sides until they are nicely seared, about 3 minutes per side. You will have to work in two batches to sear all the steaks if you have 4.

5) Add steaks to a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Flip the steaks once halfway through roasting.

6) Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a medium pot. Add garlic and cook for a minute.

7) Add in diced tomatoes and continue to cook until simmering. Season with a pinch of sugar and salt and pepper.

8) Pulse tomato sauce in a food processor until smooth then return to pot and keep warm until needed.

9) Cauliflower steaks are done when they are tender in the thickest stem parts.

10) Serve steaks on the tomato sauce with a drizzle of good olive oil. Top with tapenade.

Adapted from Bon Appetit Jan. 2012.

Let’s Talk Cauliflower

I’m a big fan of cauliflower actually even though I don’t make it too much for Macheesmo posts. One of my favorite ways to prep cauliflower is to roast it with some balsamic and parmesan cheese. That’s good stuff.

Of course, for this we are keeping it really simple. The key to making a steak out of cauliflower is slicing it pretty thick. If you don’t slice it thick, it’ll just fall apart.

Bon Appetit says to slice it at least 1/2 inch thick, but I would maybe lean even more to 3/4-1 inch thick. You have to flip this thing a few times and you want it to stay in one nice piece.

Here’s my first steak!

Custom cut steaks.

You should be able to get 2-4 steaks per head of cauliflower depending on how big your hunk of cauliflower is.

One this is for sure though, as you cut the steaks, you’ll produce lots of what I call cauliflower schrapnel.

You’re going to want about 1/2 cup of this schrapnel for the tapenade later so if you don’t have that much just chop up a few florets to make more.

The florets.

The Tapenade

Like I said, I thought the best thing about this dish was the tapenade. Even Betsy said it was okay and she despises olives.

In fact, you could just make the tapenade and put it on crostini or something and that would be a very delicious appetizer.

Finally some flavor!

To make it, just dice up everything pretty finely and stir it together. If you can, make this first so it sits together for a few minutes.

The flavors need a chance to mingle.

Season the tapenade with salt and pepper but be careful with the salt. The olives and sun-dried tomatoes are already a bit salty so you won’t need much.

This is really tasty actually.

A Basic Tomato Sauce

The original recipe calls for real tomatoes, but I’m just never really all that impressed with December tomatoes so I just used a can of diced tomatoes to make my version.

This sauce is about as easy as sauce gets. Just dice up a few cloves of garlic and toss them in a pot with a drizzle of olive oil. Cook them on medium heat until they are soft (about 2 minutes), then add in the tomatoes and bring to a simmer.

I went ahead and blended mine up so it was smooth. You could leave it chunky though or use tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes and you would be all set.

Season the sauce with a pinch of sugar and salt and pepper. If you wanted to get crazy you could add in some dried marjoram which goes really well with cauliflower. Totally optional though.

About as simple as sauce can get.

Cooking the Steaks

I must say, cooking these cauliflower steaks are a lot easier than real steaks. For one, they are cheap. So if you mess up at least you aren’t out $20. Second, while you can technically overcook them, it’s a lot more difficult. There’s a pretty wide range of acceptable finished temperatures for these guys. Not true (in my opinion) for real steaks.

To start cooking them, add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a large pan and get it hot over high heat. Once it’s hot, add in the cauliflower steaks. I followed Bon Appetit’s advice and didn’t season my cauliflower at all. I just tossed them in the pan.

If I were to make these guys again (possible) then I think I might spice up the steaks a bit with some cumin or marjoram or just some salt and pepper. If you do add something, go light on it. The tapenade has a lot of flavor.

Sear the steaks for about 3 minutes per side on blazing high heat. This creates a nice sear on them.

Nice crust on that steak.

Then transfer the steaks to a 350 degree oven for about 18 minutes to finish cooking. Take them out and flip them once about half way through just to make sure they are cooking evenly.

If your pan isn’t oven-safe that you seared them in, you can transfer them to a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake them on that.

Serving is pretty straightforward: sauce, cauliflower, drizzle of olive oil, tapenade. Pile it high!

Not too bad actually.

I was very skeptical of how this would turn out. So was my loving wife.

We were both pleasantly surprised with it though! It’s much more filling than it looks and has some good flavors.

The steak on its own is kind of just a vessel for the sauce and tapenade.

The cauliflower has great texture though and if you’re feeding vegetarians, it’s a fun change from the portabella steaks that they are probably most used to.

Who doesn't like brussel sprouts?!

I’ve never really had a problem eating vegetables. In fact, I can’t think of a vegetable that I don’t like. I’m sure they are out there (durian fruit probably – but that’s a fruit!), but I’m usually pretty happy with almost any vegetable dish.

I’m not a normal eater really though. Most people have a problem with at least a few veggies and it seems like, to me, that most people have a problem with brussel sprouts!

Honestly, I think this is due to two causes:

1) Sprouts have some weird cultural stigmas and are frequently mentioned as the hard-to-eat veggie.

2) Most people have no earthly idea how to prepare them.

So this is the brussel sprout recipe for people who don’t like brussel sprouts. Think of it as an intro to the sprout. Because what could be a better way to eat something than to put it on a pizza?

Brussel Sprout Pizza

Yield: 2 Pizzas

Prep Time: 20 minutes plus time for dough

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

2 pizza doughs (homemade is good)
1 Cup pizza sauce, below
10 ounces low moisture mozzarella cheese, grated
10 brussel sprouts, sliced thinly
8 ounces bacon, crispy
6 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
Fresh basil, chopped
Salt and pepper
Cornmeal, for peel

Homemade Pizza Sauce (adapted from American Pie)
1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 Cup water
1/4 Cup olive oil
2 Tablespoons garlic powder
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
2 Teaspoons dried basil
1 Teaspoon red pepper flakes (opt.)
Salt and pepper

Homemade Napoletana Dough (Again from American Pie)
5 Cups (22.5 ounces) bread flour
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Teaspoon instant yeast
2 Cups (scant) cool water

Helpful Equipment:
- Stand mixer (for dough), but you can make it easily without
- Pizza Peel
- Pizza stone

Directions:

1) To make dough, combine water, oil, salt, and yeast in a mixing bowl. Stir together and let sit for 5 minutes to make sure yeast is active. It should bubble.

2) Stir in flour until it’s well-incorporated and forms a ball. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Then mix either with your hands or with a stand mixer. If using hands, repeatedly dip one hand in water and work the dough vigorously until it’s smooth, about 8 minutes. If using a mixer, mix with dough hook until smooth, about 6 minutes. If at any point, the dough is very sticky, mix in more flour.

3) Cut dough into 6 even pieces, coat with olive oil and add to a large plastic bag. Let rest for 20-30 minutes.

4) Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but ideally overnight.

5) Remove from fridge at least 90 minutes before making pizza.

6) For sauce, mix together ingredients and set aside until needed.

7) Grate cheese, cook bacon, and roughly chop sprouts.

8) Preheat oven to 550 degrees with pizza stone for at least 20 minutes.

9) Roll out dough to form a 12 inch pizza. Place dough on a pizza peel lightly dusted with cornmeal. Add sauce and spread it smoothly over pie. Top with mozzarella, sprouts, bacon, blue cheese.

10) Slide pizza onto stone and let cook for 10 minutes.

11) Take out pizza and top immediately with fresh basil.

12) Slice and serve!

Making the Dough

I’ve talked a lot about making homemade pizza dough, so I’m going to do the abbreviated version in this post. If you want a full run down, this post has a great run down on the method that I used for this dough.

I really like making pizza dough. It’s actually one of the easier doughs to make in my opinion. It’s very wet so it’s actually pretty easy to work with once you get the hang of it.

The key thing to remember about homemade dough is that you want to give it at least 4 hours to rise in the fridge (overnight is great) and then you want to take it out at least 90 minutes before baking your pizza.

Beautiful things.

But there are a good number of store-bought doughs out there if you want to make this recipe even easier.

The Toppings

There’s really only a few toppings for this pie, but each of them is packing a lot of flavor.

Mini cabbages really...

This a great beginner brussel sprout recipe because you don’t need to know how to prepare them perfectly. Basically just chop off the stem-end of the sprout and then dice up the sprouts.

I sliced each sprout in half and then just sliced the sprouts roughly.

Get it?

Besides the bacon, sprouts, and blue cheese, you need a good sauce and mozzarella as well.

One thing I’m not a fan of is most store-bought sauces. Similar to my homemade trial with pasta sauce, pizza sauce tends to be pretty flavorless and too salty. So take the time to stir a few spices into normal tomato sauce. You don’t need to cook it or anything. You’ll end up with a much better sauce. Trust me.

Essentials.

Making the Pizza

Assuming you have a pizza peel and stone, making homemade pizza becomes pretty straightforward. Just make sure you heat your stone up as much as you can. I crank my oven up to 550 and let it preheat with the stone in the oven for at least 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, roll out your dough into a rough circle. Mine usually ends up slightly more rectangle in shape, but whatever. If you use the homemade dough recipe in this post, you should get about a 12 inch pizza out of each dough ball.

Than transfer the dough to your pizza peel that’s been dusted with cornmeal and ladle on a bit of sauce. I don’t like a lot of sauce on my pizzas. About half a cup per pizza is usually enough for me.

No need to over-sauce.

Spread out the sauce, then top with mozzarella cheese. Follow that with your bacon, sprouts, and blue cheese layers.

This guy is ready for the oven!

High and deep!

Slide the pizza right onto your hot stone and let it cook for about 10 minutes.

The crust should get nice and crispy and the cheese should be bubbling hot.

I snuck a peek at mine at about minute nine.

Bubble Bubble.

When you pull the pizza out, immediately top it with some fresh basil. You wouldn’t want to bake the pizza with the basil on it because it would just shrivel up and lose a lot of flavor. Fresh is best when it comes to basil.

Fresh basil. Key.

Let the pizza cool for a minute or so and then slice it up!

It's really good, people.

I usually judge most pizzas by crust alone, but I have to say that toppings on this guy surprised me. They were really flavorful. The brussel sprouts just give a light veggie flavor to the pizza. It’s really not an intense flavor and I think most people would like it.

Homemade pizza is one of my absolute favorite things to make and this recipe is a keeper for me.

Did I just one-up Rachel?

I’ve been known to give Rachel Ray some grief, but in reality, it’s just because I’m jealous of course. She’s made quite a name for herself coming up with inventive and fun dishes. And, without a doubt, she convinced more people in America to cook which is definitely a good thing.

But for some reason I have a hard time following her recipes. Maybe it’s pride. Maybe it’s that I’m pretty sure I can improve them. So it went with these peppers.

I was kind of shocked that they won the poll last week. But, clearly you guys were interested so I did my best to make them and even, I think, improve them a bit.

Southwestern Stuffed Peppers

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

4 large poblano peppers, halved, cleaned, roasted.
1 1/2 Cups white rice
3 Cups vegetable broth
1 Cup strained tomatoes or tomato sauce
1 Tablespoon cumin, lightly toasted
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 Serrano pepper, minced
1 small onion, diced
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Avocado
Sour cream
Cilantro
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1) For rice, add stock, tomatoes, spices, and rice to a medium pan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, covered, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Be sure to check your rice for exact cooking times and liquid amounts.

2) For peppers, chop off stems, slice peppers in half and remove seeds. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes per side. They shouldn't be soggy, but should be flexible. Some scorch marks are good.

3) Chop onions and Serrano pepper and add to a medium pot with olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook for a few minutes, stirring, until onions are soft. Stir in cooked rice.

4) Season rice mixture with salt and pepper. Spoon it into pepper halves.

5) Serve with avocado, sour cream, and cilantro.

Seriously adapted from a RR Recipe.

Making the Rice

While this recipe is in the spirit of the original, it’s really different on almost every level. For starters, Rachel uses a canned enchilada sauce to give her rice some flavor, but I’m a big fan of using real spices instead. It’s not like it’s that much more work to add a few spices and some tomato paste instead of a can.

That said, I did keep mine pretty simple.

The basic stuff.

Add the veggie stock (you could use chicken also) along with the tomato sauce (or strained tomatoes) to a medium pot along with a pinch of salt and all the spices.

Add in the rice and you’re ready to cook!

Good rice.

This will need to simmer, covered, on medium-low heat for about 20 minutes. You should check your rice cooking time though as it might vary a bit depending on what kind of rice you use. Whatever you do though, don’t use the instant stuff. It won’t really hold up to the flavors.

The Peppers

Again, I changed a lot from the original recipe, but I liked all my changes if I do say so myself. For starters, the original used cubanelle peppers, but I subbed poblanos. I think they have a bit more flavor and are a lot easier to stuff.

Just chop them in half and clean out all the seeds.

Easy prep.

When it comes to cooking these guys, Rachel says to grill them in a grill pan. I don’t have a grill pan and the idea of firing up the grill for some stuffed peppers seemed a bit ridiculous. So I just roasted my peppers in a 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes per side.

You don’t want them soggy, but they should be flexible. Some scorch marks on the outside are nothing to be afraid of. They add great flavor.

After a quick roast.

Finishing the Rice

In a separate pan, add the olive oil over medium-high heat and toss in the diced onion and Serrano pepper. The Serrano is optional, but it gives the dish some nice heat.

Let this cook for a few minutes until the onions are soft and then add in all the rice. Stir it all together, season it with salt and pepper, and you’ll be in rice heaven.

Steamy!

Once your rice is done just add a good amount of it to each pepper half. Don’t worry about over-filling.

In fact, I encourage over-filling.

Fill 'em up!

I suggest serving these guys with some sour cream and fresh avocado.

They can be a side, but we ate them as a meal and what a good meal it was!

Avocado and cream is key!

I’m not really positive if my version was better than hers because I didn’t make hers, but mine was good enough for me. That’s for sure.

You’ll probably have some leftover rice after this dish which is great. The rice is delicious in burritos or just on its own.

Maybe the best thing I've ever made?

A few weeks ago, Betsy’s mom came to visit from Nashville. We spent a lot of time hiking and playing with our new puppy, but when we weren’t doing that, we were eating really well.

I asked Betsy what she thought I should make when her mom was in town and she immediately responded, “Short ribs.”

I thought this was weird since short ribs are kind of more of a winter dish. When I thought back on it though, I think every time I’ve asked Betsy what I should make for an occasion, she always very quickly replies, “Short ribs.”

What can I say? I guess I have a way with them.

Short Rib Ragu

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 4 hours

Ingredients:

4-5 pounds beef short ribs
Kosher salt and pepper
2 Tablespoons oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 bottle red wine
14 ounces canned tomatoes
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard (optional)
1 ounce dried Porcini mushrooms (soaked for an hour in 2 Cups of hot water)
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme (or 1 Teaspoon dried)
1 Tablespoon fresh oregano (or 1 Teaspoon dried)
1 large rosemary sprig
2 bay leaves
Water or stock
Egg noodles or polenta (for serving)

Gremolata:
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 large lemon, zest only
1/4 Cup flat leaf parsley, minced
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 Teaspoon olive oil

Helpful Equipment:
Dutch oven or any sturdy large pot that's oven and stove top safe.

Directions:

1) Add oil to large dutch oven and brown ribs (seasoned with salt and pepper) over high heat. Work in batches so ribs brown nicely. Remove ribs.

2) Add veggies to pot and cook for a few minutes. Scrape up any pieces of rib in the pot. Add tomato sauce and cook for another minute.

3) Add wine, tomatoes, spices, stock from mushrooms, mustard to pot. Stir and add ribs back in. Add enough water or stock to barely cover ribs.

4) Bring to a simmer, then cover, and braise in a 350 degree oven for 3 hours.

5) Remove ribs and let cool. Then shred rib meat off bones.

6) Once sauce is cool, blend until smooth and then strain. Spoon off any large fat pools. If you have time, refrigerating for a few hours will make it easier to remove grease and also intensify flavors. After blending and straining, you can add the shredded meat back to the sauce.

7) For gremolata, mix ingredients in a small bowl and let sit at room temp for at least 30 minutes.

8) When ready to serve, bring ragu to a simmer and thicken for a few minutes.

9) Serve over egg noodles or polenta topped with some gremolata.

Adapted from a Food52 recipe.

Preparing the braise

While this recipe does take a good day to make, most of it is completely hands off. The ribs are either braising in the oven or cooling in the fridge for 95% of the time. If you plan your day well, you can start these on a Sunday morning and the house will smell awesome all day.

Then you’ll have a fantastic meal ready at night!

To get the short ribs ready to braise, season them well on all sides with salt and pepper. Then add your oil to a large heavy dutch oven or similarly heavy pan.

Once the oil is hot, add the short ribs in batches so they brown really nicely on all sides. This is an important step so be sure to take your time and make sure the ribs are nice and browned.

Meat!

When you pull them out, add all your veggies to the pan. You can chop them pretty roughly since they are going to cook for hours.

As they cook over medium heat, try to scrape up any little bits of ribs that are stuck to the pan. Then add in the tomato paste and continue to cook for another minute or so.

The aromatics.

Next add all your spices, tomatoes, red wine, and the stock from your Porcini mushrooms (you can chop up the mushrooms and add them also if you want). Then add your ribs back to the pot and add enough water or stock (beef stock works well) to just cover the ribs.

If a few of them poke up a bit, that’s okay.

This was my pot, ready for the oven!

Get your braise on!

Bring this pot of deliciousness to a simmer on the stove top and then cover it and move it to a 350 degree oven to braise for about 3 hours. The ribs should just fall apart basically if you pick them up.

Finishing the Ribs

When your ribs are done braising, pull them out of the pot and set them aside to cool off. After 15-20 minutes they should be cool enough to handle. Then you can pull all the meat off the bones, discarding any huge pieces of fat, and shred all the meat.

This is really good stuff.

Shredded!

As for what’s left in the pot, I recommend letting it cool a bit, picking out the bay leaves, then tossing it all in a blender to puree down.

If you want to get really technical, you can strain the sauce also to remove any chunks so you have a really smooth, rich sauce.

At some point, try to skim off any big pools of fat also so the sauce doesn’t get too greasy. If you have the time, the easiest way to do this is to put the sauce back in the pot and stick it in the fridge for a few hours. The fat will solidify and then you can just scoop it out.

Serving Options

The options are pretty endless honestly. Two of the most classic options are to serve the ragu with a creamy polenta or with egg noodles.

I choose egg noodles which I made from scratch. I’m not going to go into huge detail on how to do this for this post just because I don’t want to be forty pages long, but check out my other homemade pasta posts to get some good tips on how to make pasta from scratch.

Fresh pasta is worth it.

After some kneading, resting, and rolling, I ended up with these beautiful noodles. Some of the best I’ve made I think!

Fresh egg noodles!

The Gremolata

This was new to me with a ragu, but I think it completely made the dish. Basically, just mix up the gremolata ingredients in a small bowl and let them sit at room temperature for a few minutes before you serve the ragu.

Adding a spoonful of the mixture to the top of your ragu really brightens the flavors.

It’s an awesome touch and definitely worth the extra chopping/zesting.

Very important actually.

When you’re ready to serve the ragu, add the shredded meat back to the pot with the sauce and bring it all to a simmer.

I recommend letting the sauce reduce down for 15-20 minutes but it should be pretty thick already. No need to let it simmer for hours or anything crazy.

The final version should be very rich and luscious.

Ready to serve!

The egg noodles kind of absorb all the sauce and just make for a perfect meal.

Even in summer time, I would eat this anytime it’s in front of me!

I could probably charge $20 for this.

I think I can say without a doubt that this passed the mother-in-law test, which, as I’m sure some of you may know, is one of the hardest tests around!

I like my pizza over easy.

I’m pretty sure that I could count on one hand the things that aren’t good on a pizza. Ok. Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration (or Nickxaggeration as Betsy would say), but it’s not too far off.

I had some pizza dough left over from my grilled pizza this week so I figured I would use it with a fun pizza idea I’ve been carrying around in my back pocket for a while.

It’s pretty basic: Take all your standard breakfast ingredients. Stick them on a pie. Add cheese and sauce. Consume immediately.

As it turns out, I like my pizza over-easy.

Breakfast Pizza

Yield: 2 pizzas

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes + dough time

Ingredients:

Dough: (From American Pie)
This is enough dough for four pizzas actually, but you can freeze any leftovers.
5 Cups (22 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Teaspoon instant yeast (or active dry yeast, dissolved)
3 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 3/4 Cups room temperature water

Other Stuff:
1 Cup Tomato Sauce
1 Teaspoon red pepper flakes (sauce)
1 Tablespoon dried oregano (sauce)
Pinch of salt and pepper (sauce)
6-8 ounces bacon
2 Russet potatoes, cubed
6 eggs, 3 per pizza
10 ounces pepper jack cheese (you could use more or less to your tastes)
Handful of spinach, roughly chopped

Helpful Equipment:
Pizza Stone
Pizza Peel

Directions:

1) To make dough, combine water, oil, sugar, salt, and yeast in a mixing bowl. Stir together and let sit for 5 minutes to make sure yeast is active. It should bubble.

2) Stir in flour until it’s well-incorporated and forms a ball. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Then mix either with your hands or with a stand mixer. If using hands, repeatedly dip one hand in water and work the dough vigorously until it’s smooth, about 8 minutes. If using a mixer, mix with dough hook until smooth, about 6 minutes. If at any point, the dough is very sticky, mix in more flour.

3) Cut dough into 4 even pieces, coat with olive oil and add to a large plastic bag. Let rest for 20-30 minutes.

4) Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but ideally overnight.

5) Remove from fridge at least an hour before making pizza.

6) Wash and cube (or shred) potatoes.

7) Slice bacon into chunks and cook it over medium heat in a large skillet. After about 10 minutes or when bacon is just turning crispy, remove bacon.

8) Cook potatoes in bacon grease for 10 minutes until they are cooked through and slightly crispy.

9) Prepare other ingredients: chop spinach, shred cheese, mix sauce.

10) Roll out pizza dough an add it to a peel lightly dusted with flour or cornmeal. Add a thin layer of sauce.

11) Add ingredients: cheese, potatoes, bacon, spinach leaving small holes for the eggs in the center.

12) Crack eggs onto the pizza being careful not to bust the yolks.

13) Bake pizza for 12-14 minutes in a preheated 500 degree oven on a pizza stone.

14) Remove and let cool for a minute before slicing and serving.

The Dough

I’m not going to go into detail on the dough in this post because I just used leftover dough from my grilled pizza dough. It’s a pretty standard pizza dough though, but you could use any pizza dough for this guy really.

Besides some dough, you’ll need some breakfast ingredients!

Breakfast!

I knew that I wanted to pre-cook the potatoes and bacon a bit because they won’t have time to get really crispy on the pizza.

I just roughly cubed up my potatoes to make for easy cooking. Nothing special. In hindsight, I realized that it might have been fun to shred them and do a kind of hash brown pizza thing.

Makin' hash...

I also roughly chopped up the bacon and cooked it in a large skillet for about 10 minutes over medium heat until it was just turning crispy. Then I removed all the bacon and cooked the potatoes in the same pan using the bacon grease.

Here’s all my ingredients ready to go!

All set for some pizza!

Making and Baking

I did my traditional oven cooking for this pizza which meant heating up my oven and pizza stone to 500 degrees. I let it preheat with the stone in for about 30 minutes normally to make sure it’s good and hot.

Then I rolled out my dough, put it on my pizza peel dusted with cornmeal, and added a thin layer of sauce.

Gettin' sauced!

Next, all the toppings: cheese, bacon, potatoes, and spinach.

Notice that I kind of made three little holes using the toppings. I bet you can guess what’s going in these guys.

Notice the holes...

I was worried that if I didn’t leave little spaces for my eggs, they would overflow and run all over the place which I think is right.

As is though, they kind of just nestled right into the holes perfectly.

If you want runny eggs on your pizza (good idea), then try not to break them. If you break a yolk, it’ll cook completely in the oven.

I know this because I broke one of mine!

Try not to break them...

When you’re sliding this guy into the oven, be gentle. The eggs will want to slide right off the pizza which would be very bad. I found that it helped to use a spatula in my free hand to kind of lift the pizza a bit as a slid it off the peel. If you’re careful you should be able to get it safely on the hot pizza stone with minimal issues.

Bake it at 500 degrees for 12-14 minutes. The eggs will take the most time to cook. They should be set, but still runny in the center.

Then pull it out and let it sit for a minute before slicing and serving!

Pretty!

Here’s the thing about this pizza: It’s delicious. But it doesn’t keep for anything. It’s basically awesome right when it comes out of the oven and an hour later it’s not so hot.

It doesn’t store well and doesn’t microwave or reheat well. So it breaks a lot of the normal pizza benefits in that respect. But as long as you have a few people to help you eat on it, it’s a fantastic breakfast dish!

Good crust.

Someone once told me:

“If it can be made on a grill, it’s probably better on a grill.”

That was a very wise person who I can’t remember at the moment. I swear I’m not making it up though. Even if I am, it’s true. So whatever.

Grilled pizza won the poll by a long shot last week and I was happy to see that because I figured pizza is probably better on the grill, like most things. I’ve only grilled pizza once before and I was excited to try it again.

Grilled pizza is kind of a dish that requires a bit of faith. It doesn’t make sense at all that you should be able to toss dough on a grill and have it hold up. So there’s this moment where it’s kind of a leap of faith. I mean… not Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade leap of faith, but still.

But even though it seems a bit strange, it isn’t actually that hard. In fact, it might be a bit easier than oven pizza.

Grilled Veggie Pizza

Yield: 4 pizzas

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes + dough time

Ingredients:

Dough: (From American Pie)
5 Cups (22 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Teaspoon instant yeast (or active dry yeast, dissolved)
3 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 3/4 Cups room temperature water

Toppings: (Enough for 4 pies)
2 pounds mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 large bell pepper, chopped
1 large red pepper, chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
2 Cups sweet corn
4 scallions, diced
Fresh oregano or basil

Simple sauce:
2-3 Cups tomato sauce (depending on how saucy you like your pies)
1-2 Teaspoons red pepper flakes
2 Teaspoons garlic powder
2 Teaspoons onion powder
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
Big pinch of salt and pepper

Helpful Equipment:
A grill (of course you can get one on Amazon)

Directions:

1) To make dough, combine water, oil, sugar, salt, and yeast in a mixing bowl. Stir together and let sit for 5 minutes to make sure yeast is active. It should bubble.

2) Stir in flour until it's well-incorporated and forms a ball. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Then mix either with your hands or with a stand mixer. If using hands, repeatedly dip one hand in water and work the dough vigorously until it's smooth, about 8 minutes. If using a mixer, mix with dough hook until smooth, about 6 minutes. If at any point, the dough is very sticky, mix in more flour.

3) Cut dough into 4 even pieces, coat with olive oil and add to a large plastic bag. Let rest for 20-30 minutes.

4) Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but ideally overnight.

5) Remove from fridge at least an hour before making pizza.

6) Prepare other ingredients. If you're using any meat or large veggies, pre-cook them.

7) Mix sauce and shred cheese.

8) Heat grill to high and clean it well. Rub the grates with some oil.

9) Roll out two pizzas and lay them directly on the grates. Most grills should be able to fit too pizzas at once.

10) Cook dough for about 2 minutes or until bubbles start to form on the surface of the dough.

11) Remove from heat and flip pizzas over on a baking sheet that's been lightly oiled.

12) Top pizzas with sauce, cheese, and toppings.

13) Slice pizzas back onto grill. Turn heat down to medium-high. Close lid.

14) Cook pizzas for 8-10 minutes, turning pizza 90 degrees half way through. The crust should be a deep brown and very crispy.

15) Remove from grill and cool for a minute before serving!

Making the Dough

This is a pretty standard pizza dough and is very similar to some other pizza doughs that I’ve used. At the end of the day, I’m pretty sure that most doughs would work fine on a grill. I think it’s more technique than recipe honestly.

But, this one works for sure!

Start by combining all your liquid ingredients, yeast, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Let those sit for a few minutes until your yeast starts bubbling. Then either mix in your flour with a dough hook attachment on a stand mixer, or with a big wooden spoon.

Once the flour is incorporated well, let the dough sit for a few minutes to relax, then continue mixing until you end up with a smooth ball of dough. If you’re using your hands, dip one hand in water and use it to vigorously work the dough.

By hand it’ll take probably 8 minutes of kneading. By dough hook, it should only take around 6. If your dough is particularly sticky (like sticking to the bottom of the bowl) add more flour.

Eventually you should end up with a nice smooth ball.

Hands or mixer... don't matter to the dough.

Cut this into quarters and coat them all with some olive oil. Add them to a large plastic bag and let them sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes, then move them to the fridge.

Ideally, you could let them sit overnight, but I was super-rushed on this day so I pulled them out of the fridge after just two hours. The dough worked fine, but the flavor will be better if you can give it overnight in the fridge.

Same day...

You’re ready to grill some pizza after these guys come back to room temperature, probably an hour at minimum.

Other Stuff

The key to this recipe is to make sure you have all your ingredients ready before you cook. You don’t want to be chopping while your dough is on the grill!

I mixed up a quick sauce with some tomato sauce and dried spices. Feel free to customize it to your liking.

As simple as sauce gets...

I also chopped up a bunch of veggies to throw on the pizza. I did a meatless version but you could 100% add pepperoni or anything else that you would add to a pizza to a grilled pizza.

Various goodies.

NOTE: If you’re using big pieces of veggies like this, it’s a good idea to pre-cook them a bit (on the grill maybe) before adding them to the pizza. You’ll see why soon.

Not pictured here is a pound of shredded mozzarella.

The Technique

On a normal grill, you can probably do two pizzas at a time. Roll out your dough into a large circle, or if you’re me, into a random shape of the day.

Then heat your grill to high. It needs to be hot. Clean it off well and rub it down with some oil. I used olive oil, but you could use whatever you have available.

Then the moment of truth. Toss on the dough! Just try to get it evenly on the grates.

You don’t want to top the pizza at this point, just pre-cook it a bit. If your grill is hot, two minutes should do the trick.

If you see bubbles forming on the top of your dough, it’s done.

Bubbles means done.

Use a big metal spatula or pizza peel to pull the pizza off the grill. Lightly oil a sheet pan and invert the dough on the sheet pan. The oil just makes it easier to get the pizza off when we put it back on the grill.

This is the side you add your toppings too!

Ready to top!

Now, if you’re incredibly confident in your abilities, feel free to just flip the pizza on the grill and top it quickly. I like to take my time with pizza toppings so I took my off.

When your pizza is topped like you want it, you should be able to slide the pizzas back onto the grill. Again, a pizza peel or big spatula is pretty key.

This time when the pizza is on the grill, turn the heat on the grill down to medium-high and close the lid so it can heat evenly.

It’s a pretty thing though!

Pretty things.

The Snag

Sometimes, when cooking something new, a little improvisation might be necessary to avert disaster.

So, if you’re grill is really hot, like mine was, your crust will be done after about 8-10 minutes once you’ve topped it and put it back on the grill.

But if you don’t pre-cook your veggies, they won’t be. I was shocked to find my veggies almost raw after 10 minutes even though my crust was done.

The problem, of course, is that a grill isn’t as insulated as an oven so even though the grill itself is very hot, the area around the grill isn’t as hot as my 500 degree oven. Especially because I kept opening it to take photos!

So you have two options:

1) Pre-cook your toppings a bit. You could grill them for just a minute and then chop them up and that would do the trick. Obviously, the bigger the veggies the more important this is. I should’ve pre-cooked my peppers and ‘shrooms for sure.

2) OR you could do what I did and rig a small raised area in your grill. I set a baking tray on the grill, supported by a small tray. This kept my pizza off the direct heat so I could close the lid and cook them for another 5 minutes or so until my veggies were finished cooking.

Option 1 is easier obviously.

Improvise!

The Finished Product

The best thing about improvising is when it works. And my method definitely worked.

I’m telling you, grilled pizza makes some of the best crust I’ve had. Very crispy and delicious. Just look at this crust!

SO crispy!

It’s very hard to get that kind of crust in an oven honestly.

So, if you’re a pizza fan, take a leap a faith and hit up the grill next time you’re in the mood for your favorite pie.

Made from scratch. Nuff said.

I’ve made a fair amount of homemade pastas over the years. It’s actually one of my favorite thing to make in the kitchen (homemade spinach pasta for example). For some reason though, I’ve never gotten around to making lasagna from scratch which is totally silly since it’s technically the easiest pasta to make!

Before I get into the nitty-gritty on lasagna making, let’s talk about why I don’t love lasagna. While most dried pastas are pretty good, I find that dried lasagna noodles are a bit too pasta-y. If that makes sense. They tend to be really thick and you end up with these big masses of carbs.

This isn’t to say that I don’t like this kind of lasagna. It’s totally fine. But I knew before I even got started that homemade would have an edge just because I knew I could make the noodles super-thin which would lead to lots of layers.

Is it more work? Of course, but it’s a perfect dish for a Sunday dinner with the family and one that will leave plenty of leftovers for the week.

Homemade Lasagna

Yield: Makes a 10x14 lasagna pan

Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Homemade Pasta:
2 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
Pinch of salt

Sauce:
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
2 Cups strained tomatoes
1 large shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tablespoons butter
1/2 Cup red wine (just guess)
1 Teaspoon dried oregano
1 Teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 Teaspoon dried marjoram (optional)

Filling:
1 1/2 pounds ricotta cheese
2 bunches spinach
1 lemon, juice and zest

Other stuff:
1 pound fresh mozzarella
Salt and pepper
Fresh basil (optional)

Helpful Equipment:
Pasta roller (manual or kitchenaid attachment). Or you can do it by hand but you won't be able to get it as thin.
Lasagna Pan

Directions:

1) To make dough, mix salt and flour then make a well out of the flour on a clean counter. Add eggs to well and us a fork to lightly beat eggs. Continue doing this until the flour slowly gets incorporated with the eggs. Eventually they should come together in a dough. It's okay of the eggs break out of the well. Just do your best.

2) Knead the dough for 10 minutes until it's smooth and not sticky at all. If it's sticky at any point, knead it more flour.

3) Cover dough tightly with plastic wrap and let rest for at least an hour.

4) For sauce, add butter to a large pan over medium-low heat. Once melted add shallots, pepper flakes, and garlic. Cook until fragrant, about 3-5 minutes. Add red wine, followed by tomatoes and other spices.

5) Simmer sauce on low for 20-30 minutes until sauce is fairly thick.

6) For spinach/ricotta mixture, blanch spinach in boiling salted water for 30 seconds. Remove spinach to a few paper towels and once cool enough to handle, wring out spinach to get out as much moisture as possible.

7) Chop spinach and add to other filling ingredients in a bowl. Stir well to combine.

8) To make noodles, cut pasta dough into at least 4ths, but 6ths is good for beginners. Slowly work the dough through the pasta maker on the widest setting, kneading it and add more flour if you need to. Do this until the dough is smooth and the width of the roller.

9) Crank the dial down one number at a time until the pasta roller is at 8 or 9. 9 is very thin, but delicious.

10) Once all your noodles are done, cut them into large rectangles. Add them to salted boiling water for 30 seconds until they float. Then add them to an ice batch drizzled with a good amount of olive oil. (You'll have to do this in batches)

11) Remove the noodles from the ice batch and let them dry on a few paper towels. You can stack them up, they shouldn't really stick to each other. If they stick a bit, it isn't a big deal.

12) Make lasagna in a large deep dish, layering sauce, noodles, filling, and fresh mozzarella until you fill the dish. You should be able to get 7-10 layers out of the ingredients. Be sure to leave enough mozzarella to top the dish. It's okay to have some layers that are just sauce also.

13) Bake dish covered in foil for 30 minutes and then uncovered for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Lasagna should be bubbling and crispy golden browned on the edges.

14) Let cool for a few minutes before serving!

Making the pasta

Before anyone notices, I was making slightly more pasta than the recipe above because I wasn’t sure how many noodles I would need. I had way more than I needed though so you can just go with the recipe I posted.

Pasta always starts the same way. Mix a pinch of salt into a good amount of flour (I don’t really even measure anymore). Then make a big well in the flour and add all your eggs.

The well.

Use a fork to start mixing the flour into the eggs. One of two things will happen at this point:

A) You’ll work too quickly, break the wall of the flour and the eggs will spill out all over your counter. If this happens, don’t fret. Just do your best to mix the eggs in with the flour until it forms a sturdy enough dough so that you can knead it.

B) You’ll have way more patience than me and be able to perfectly incorporate the flour into the eggs until it forms a dough that you can then knead.

I got pretty close this time.

Careful...

But eventually my eggs escaped (sorry no photo because I was controlling escaped egg you see). But like I said, just keep mixing and eventually you’ll get a solid ball of dough.

The workout

Pasta dough is a lot stiffer than bread dough. It’s pretty hard to work with until it softens up a bit. But knead it you must. You want to knead it for probably 10 minutes until it’s smooth. If at any point the dough is sticky, knead in a bit more flour. You should have plenty all over your counter!

Eventually you’ll end up with a beautiful ball of pasta dough in the middle of a big mess of flour.

Not to hard really.

Wrap this guy in plastic wrap very tightly and let it relax at room temperature for about an hour while you work on the sauce and filling.

Get Saucy

I didn’t do anything fancy this time around with the sauce or the filling really. They are both simple, but totally delicious.

Keep it simple.

If you can’t find jarred strained tomatoes, you can use any tomato sauce. I do like the difference in texture between the crushed tomatoes and the sauce though so try to add some of both.

To start the sauce, just melt the butter in a large pot. Then add the diced shallot, garlic, and red pepper flakes.

Once this has cooked for a few minutes over low heat, add a few glugs of wine. I never measure this honestly, but I’d guess I add about 1/2 a cup.

Artsy.

Let that cook for a few seconds, then add all the tomatoes and spices. Bring the sauce to a simmer and simmer it for about 20-30 minutes to bring all the flavors together.

Then turn off the heat and let it cool a bit before making the lasagna.

The Filling

The only tricky part about this filling is preparing the spinach. You could use baby spinach I guess, but the adult spinach is usually cheaper and you can’t tell the difference in the finished version.

So if you’re using the adult stuff, clean it off well and break off the long stems. You just want the leaves. Then dunk all the spinach in boiling salted water for about 30 seconds until it just starts to wilt. Then remove it all from the water and lay it out on a few paper towels.

Let it cool for a minute or two and then press out as much water as possible. Really press it out.

You’ll be left with what looks like a small amount of spinach but once you mix it up it’ll be plenty.

Once your spinach is as dry as possible, chop it up roughly and add it to the other filling ingredients.

You can do this.

Rolling and Cooking Pasta

Your pasta dough should be nice and relaxed now. Take it out of the plastic wrap and cut it into manageable pieces. I find that sixths is perfect. You could go with fourths if you’re feeling ambitious but be ready for some really long pasta pieces.

I only used four of these.

Take one of these and work it through the pasta machine a few times. Add flour if it sticks at all. Use the machine to knead it on the widest setting. When the dough is a fairly even width, start cranking the pasta roller to thinner settings, one number at a time.

I finished my pasta on the absolute thinnest setting, 9, but you could stop at 8 if you want a slightly thicker pasta.

I could seriously see through mine it was so thin.

I could see through the stuff.

I actually thought about not cooking my pasta at all because it was so thin, but decided to do it.

I’ve tried a few different methods of cooking lasagna noodles to make sure they don’t stick, but the best method I’ve found is one I read on a 101 Cookbooks recipe.

Start with very salted water and add a few noodles (you can add more as you get the hang of it). After about 30 seconds, remove the noodles with some tongs and add them to a bowl of ice water drizzled with olive oil. This will cool them off, stopping the cooking, and the oil will make sure they don’t stick together.

Brilliant.

The noodles are surprisingly strong.

Once your noodles are cool, you can lay them out on a few paper towels and they shouldn’t really stick together. If they stick a bit, it’s fine. You should have more than enough noodles to finish the dish even if a few get sacrificed.

When all your noodles are cooked, you can finally…

Make some lasagna!

I’m not going to tell you an exact method on how to do this except that I always start with a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of my pan. Then basically just layer noodles, sauce, filling, and pieces of fresh mozzarella all the way up.

I did only one layer of mozzarella in the lasagna and saved the rest for the top.

You should be able to get a lot of layers since the noodles are so thin. I think I got about 7 or 8 layers in my version. Some I just did with sauce.

It’s a beautiful thing though when it’s finished.

Finally!

Bake this guy at 350 degrees, covered with foil, for about 30 minutes. Then uncover it and bake for another 30 minutes to get the top browned nicely.

This is well worth your time. Trust me.

The edges are heavenly.

See all those layers of crispy noodles around the edges? Those are the best part by far and really hard to get with thick noodles.

Some will think that this is too much work and obviously you can use the same filling and sauce recipes with store bought noodles if you’re short on time. The homemade pasta though is an added touch that I think kicks this standard dish up a notch.

Can't go wrong with tacos!

Let me blow your mind: You do not need cheese to make good Tex-Mex.

I know that sounds kind of crazy, but some of the best tacos are cheese-less tacos. If done right, all you need is a flavorful, spicy filling with some light toppings and you’ll have some of the best tacos out there.

Even though I’ve made a bunch of different tacos on Macheesmo, I’ve never made chicken tacos which is shocking considering that it’s probably one of the most used fillings for tacos. My problem with chicken is that it just doesn’t have that much flavor on its own unlike say, beef tongue, which makes some of the best tacos around.

To give the chicken some flavor, I thought I’d try shredding it and adding it to a spicy chipotle sauce. Turns out that if you simmer anything in a chipotle sauce, it gets pretty darn flavorful!

Chipotle Chicken Tacos

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

Chicken:
3 pounds chicken thighs or breasts, or some of both
4 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery
1/2 onion
Small handful of peppercorns
2 dried chile peppers
Handful of cilantro

Sauce:
2 Cups tomato sauce
1/2 Cup stock from cooking chicken
2-4 whole chipotle peppers, with seeds
2 Tablespoons Adobo sauce, from Chipotles
3 cloves garlic
1 Tablespoon fresh oregano
1 Teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 Cup cilantro
1 lime, juice only
Salt and pepper

Tortillas
Radishes, diced
Cilantro
Limes
Red onion, sliced

Helpful Equipment:
Blender

Directions:

1) Add chicken ingredients to a large skillet with high walls or just a pot. Add enough water to just cover the chicken and bring to a simmer. Simmer, covered, until chicken is cooked, about 20-30 minutes.

2) Remove chicken and let cool for a few minutes. Strain stock and save for later! Once chicken is cool enough to handle, remove skin and excess fat and shred.

3) For sauce, combine all ingredients in a blender and pulse until combined.

4) Add sauce to a large skillet and bring to a simmer. Simmer for a few minutes until it starts to thicken.

5) Add chicken to sauce and continue to simmer until sauce is really thick and sticking to chicken well.

6) Serve tacos with a variety of toppings including red onion, radishes, limes, and cilantro.

Cooking the Chicken

I decided to simmer the chicken in some shallow water with a bunch of aromatics which would hopefully give it some extra flavor and also keep it tender so it shreds easily.

Very roughly chop all the ingredients for the chicken and toss them in a large high-walled skillet or just a pot.

Basic stock stuff...

Add enough water to just barely cover the chicken and bring it all to a simmer.

Simmer simmer.

Let this simmer, covered, for about 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked.

Then remove your chicken pieces, take off any skin or fat from the pieces and roughly shred them using two forks. You can also just kind of chop them up. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

You’ll probably want to let your chicken cool for a few minutes before you try to do this.

Cooked and shredded.

Making the Sauce

While your chicken is cooking, you can get your sauce started. The sauce is pretty flexible, but the one thing that’s definitely not optional is the chipotle peppers.

If you haven’t cooked with these guys before, you can find them in the latin section of your grocery store. They come in a can and they pack a punch.

Star of the show.

I used four full peppers with seeds in my sauce and Betsy said it was too spicy. I thought it was really good though. You might start with two or three and work up if it isn’t spicy enough for you.

Basically, just add all your sauce ingredients to a blender and give it a whirl!

A blender works best.

Finishing the filling

While you’re shredding your chicken, pour the sauce into a large skillet (yes you can use the same one). Bring the sauce to a simmer and let it start to reduce down a bit.

When your chicken is shredded, add it to the sauce and continue to cook it until the sauce is nice and thick and sticking to the chicken.

Awesome stuff.

Toppings

Some people think that a taco isn’t a taco without toppings like cheese, lettuce, tomato, etc. You could do that with this taco, but I went with some slightly more subtle flavors that are also a bit more traditional.

These toppings give the tacos some acidity that’s definitely needed. They really brighten up the flavors nicely.

I normally just prepare a big plate and people can kind of help themselves to toppings of their choice.

Good flavors!

I used corn tortillas for these tacos on day one and they worked great.

Betsy and I also made burritos out of some of the leftover filling and they were equally awesome. Bets thought I over-cilantro-ed some of these and she was probably right. I’m a cilantro fiend though so I loved them.

Yum.

The only other thing I’ll mention about this meal is that the stock that you end up with from cooking the chicken is basically a very light chicken stock. After pulling your chicken out of it, strain out the veggies and you can store it for later use in soups or for risotto!

This is a great traditional taco preparation that doesn’t require the time or effort of some of the other tacos I’ve made and the flavors are really solid. Give it a shot if you want to experiment with some fun tacos and flavors!

WINNING!

I’m not really sure why it never dawned on me to make pizza in my cast iron skillet. After all, Chicago pizzerias use cast iron to make deep dish pizza and it has qualities that are sure to make for good pie. Namely, it gets really hot and stays really hot.

So, I was very happy when it destroyed all the other options in last week’s poll. I guess you guys want to know how to make pizza in a skillet!

Well, I’m happy to oblige. There’s just one or two tricks that I discovered along the way. It’s pretty straightforward though and the pizza came out AWESOME.

Cast Iron Pizza

Yield: 1 pizza

Prep Time: 20 minutes + dough time

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

Crust:
2 1/2 Cups bread flour
1 scant Tablespoon sugar
2 Teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 Teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 scant Cup warm water

Sauce:
1 1/2 Cups tomato sauce
1 Teaspoon dried parsley
1 Teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 Teaspoon onion powder
1/2 Teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 Teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Big pinch of salt and pepper

Toppings:
- 1/2 pound sausage, browned
- 1/4 Cup scallions, chopped
- 8-10 ounces mozzarella cheese
- 2 Tablespoons fresh basil, minced

Helpful Equipment:
A cast iron skillet obviously!

Directions:

1) To make dough, add water, sugar, salt, and yeast to a bowl and stir. Let sit for 5 minutes so yeast dissolves and starts to foam. Add flour and stir well to combine.

2) Use a hand dipped in water to vigorously work the dough until it forms a ball. Let the dough rest for a few minutes and then continue to work it until it is really soft and pliable, about 5-6 minutes of mixing.

3) Coat the dough with olive oil and store it in a plastic bag. Let it rise at room temp for an hour, then punch it down, reshape it into a ball, and store it in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Remove it an hour before you intend to make pizza.

4) Prepare all your ingredients: brown sausage, chop basil and scallions, and grate cheese.

5) Stir together sauce ingredients and adjust to your tastes.

6) Roll dough out into a large circle and place it in the center of your cold skillet. Trim off excess dough, leaving about a inch of dough up the side of the skillet. Use your fingers to fold the dough over itself, making a crust.

7) Add sauce, sausage, scallions, and cheese to pizza.

8) Cook the pizza ON THE STOVETOP over high heat for 3-4 minutes to rapidly heat the pan up.

9) Move the pizza to a 450 degree oven until the pizza finishes cooking, about 18 minutes.

10) Remove the pizza and use a spatula to carefully slide the pizza out of the skillet.

11) Let it cool, slice it up, and serve it!

Making the dough

This is my standard recipe for a thicker pizza crust. You wouldn’t want a really thin crust for this pizza. It would just burn I think.

For the dough, mix together water, sugar, salt, and yeast in a bowl. Stir it together and let it sit for a few minutes until yeast is dissolved and foaming a bit. Then add in your flour and stir it together.

By hand is for winners.

Use a hand dipped in water to vigorously work the dough into a ball.

As you work the dough, you might notice that it’s too wet or too dry. For example, my photo above, top right, is too dry, I added a few extra tablespoons of water. The dough should be pretty moist and flexible. If it seems firm, let it rest and relax for five minutes, then continue to work it.

After about 8 minutes of kneading it, you should have a very soft ball of dough (bottom left). Coat the dough well in olive oil and place it in a plastic bag. If you’re using the dough the same day, let it rise for an hour at room temperature, then take it out and de-gas it. Reshape it and store it in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Then take it out of the fridge at least an hour before you need it.

The Toppings

I kept my toppings for this pizza pretty straightforward, but you could use any toppings that you would put on a normal pizza.

The sauce I used is just some dried spices stirred into tomato sauce. I kind of play with it every time I make pizza. It’s always good though.

The sauce!

I also chopped up some scallions and basil, browned some sausage, and grated a lot of cheese.

Not pictured: basil/scallions

Shaping the pizza

This was the part that I was kind of winging. While normally, I would heat up my pizza stone and just slide the pizza on it, I knew this wouldn’t work with the cast iron skillet. I didn’t want to be putting dough in a very hot skillet.

So I started with a cold pan.

This worked just fine.

Roll the dough into a large circle and just plop it in the center of your skillet. You don’t need to oil the skillet or anything. The dough shouldn’t stick to it at all assuming you have a well-seasoned skillet. Once the dough is in your skillet (top right), use a knife to cut off any extra dough, leaving about an inch of dough up the side of the skillet (bottom left). Then use your fingers to kind of just fold the dough over itself, forming a crust (bottom right).

Now we can make some pizza!

Add a light coating of sauce to the pizza. You probably won’t need all of your pizza sauce. Then add on the sausage and scallions.

Sauced and topped.

Next add on all that grated cheese! I also sprinkled on some freshly ground pepper just for extra flavor.

Lots of mozz.

The Heat Trick

So I had a problem at this point. I know that to get a good crust, the dough needs to be cooked at a really hot temperature. The hotter the better. But I have a cold pan which will take forever to heat up in the oven.

So I thought I’d just cook my pizza on the stove top for a while which would heat up the bottom of the pan really quickly without cooking the toppings.

This worked like a charm.

Quick heat.

Crank up your stove to HIGH heat and cook the pizza over high heat for about 3 minutes. You won’t notice any change in the pizza, but the pan should be really hot.

Then move it to a 450 degree oven and continue to cook it until the crust is browned and the cheese melted. This took my pie about 18 minutes.

Removing the Pie

When your pizza comes out of the oven, you should be able to get a spatula and just slide the pizza right out of the pan!

It’s a beautiful thing! (I also sprinkled on my chopped basil when the pizza came out of the oven.)

Slides right out!

Let this cool for a minute or two and then slice it up.

The real test for me was the crust and I thought this was a really good crust. Nice and crispy but still somewhat chewy.

The real test.

As I see it, this pizza was as good or better than a lot of pizzas I’ve made on my pizza stone! It was awesome.

The only downside to the cast iron method is that it’s kind of hard to make more than one pizza in a row. When you pull out your first pie, your pan will be way to hot to shape another pie in for at least 15 minutes. This probably isn’t a big deal unless you’re planning a pizza party or something.

Chalk this up to another incredible use for a cast iron skillet!