so let’s talk pizza.

in the usual fashion of me watching the calories, i starved myself all day – and then began making mario batali’s pizza dough recipe. or at least the one from ’03 that i found over at food & wine. and in keeping with the magazine/website concept, the dough actually had wine as an ingredient (mario you sly fox you) – and i quite liked that idea. because i like a pizza dough with character – as in flavor and i’ve not been having the best luck finding the dough of my dreams.

mario not only uses wine in his dough, but also chooses to use cake yeast which i converted to 18 grams of active dry yeast using my trusty yeast calculator. as called for, i used mostly 00 flour, the perfect flour for pizza making insuring a crisp crust and a soft crumb. but it’s a very soft flour, making it hard to manuever the dough, so a bit of all purpose gets added – if only for insurance. judging from the above photo, the 1:6 ratio was not enough… at least for me. next time i’ll add a bit more ap flour. the pie got mangled upon being placed onto the 550 degree pizza stone. but hey, looks aren’t everything…

really the story goes something like this. chris was coming over with some of his home-cured venison prosciutto and i had one fennel bulb and a big bunch of shitakes in my fridge. for some reason i felt unsure of the vegetable combo so i called my friend laura wilson, formerly the chef at ombi restaurant and she said – pizza. and i thought to myself, why did i not think to make pizza? and then i realized it’s just that well, i don’t think of so many things…

i caramelized the fennel and shitakes in some olive oil along with about half a dozen roughly chopped garlic cloves, then chris showed up with the prosciutto (check out his december 2 post about the doe that he butchered) which got sliced and added to the top. the pie was then hit with a generous amount of fresh thyme and at the last moment i thought EGG and well, maybe i do think of things sometimes…..

sadly, the pie got folded onto itself which affected nothing but my pride. and the yoke broke too but you know, it was all really just so much more than good.

did i mention that the prosciutto was AMAZING? the smell alone was absolutely intoxicating.

meat + salt + patience = delicious. my kind of math.

a wonderful cheeseless pizza. it can be done.

just simply fabulous stuff…

i used tilapia. o’charley’s perpetual "catch of the day". and really,  it’s a nothing kind of fish. farmed. not terribly exciting, yet i buy it all the time. tilapa is inexpensive. you can’t seem to overcook this fish. it crisps up with minimal oil. and it goes well with almost anything and everything. it’s definitely not the fish you have a fling with, it’s the one you marry. i have flings with, say, chilean sea bass – expensive and rich. but tilapia is your everyday fish. you can totally count on tilapia.

so my latest greatest is to chop up a fennel bulb and throw it in a pan with 2 teaspoons of oil and get it all browned up. i added minced garlic and some capers – an anchovy would work nicely too, and then a minute later some chopped fresh tomatoes (good canned are an option). and oregano. i love oregano. it’s right up there with thyme as my favorite herb. and rosemary. and basil. anyway, just season that up, add a bit of water, cook it down for a few minutes and put it on top of whatever’s going. fish. chicken. pork chops. pasta. italian sausage, giant lima beans… then add a few good olives. the fennel frond garnsh was for you – because i care. especially after the beige food assault of ’09.

while adhering to ‘the plan’, not only do i count every calorie but i weigh everything. because i am neurotic that way and because i secretly kind of like it. i realize this eccentric ‘production’ isn’t for everyone but i can’t impress upon you enough how effective it is. i am trying to set myself up for success. because failure is just not an option. speaking of which, do you remember when wynonna went on oprah, all "i need to put myself on my list because i do sooooo much for my fans and family that i have no time to eat right even though i have a personal chef and trainer on staff"? it just wasn’t pretty on so very many levels. (personally, i think she left oprah’s studio and her first stop was shoney’s… bless her heart. (fyi – this is what they say in the south.))

i often make this for dinner even with fennel at $4 a bulb. and hey, by the way, is it me or are ‘whole foods’ produce prices out of control? anyway, the good news is that you get everything on that plate for in the neighborhood of 375 calories – and that right there is a caloric bargain. and c’mon. you gotta admit. that’s awesome…

UPDATE!!! THIS JUST IN:

Farm-raised tilapia has very low levels of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids, but high levels of omega-6 fatty acids, new research shows. Researchers say this combination could be dangerous for some patients with conditions including heart disease, arthritis, asthma and other allergic and auto immune diseases.

The study is in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Senior study author Dr. Floyd H. Chilton is quoted in the article: "If you’re in a vulnerable population such as a heart disease patient, you need to be very careful with what you’re eating, and that includes everything. But when it comes to fish, there’s not a more important thing you can do for heart disease than eat the right type of fish or take dietary fish oil. There is evidence that you may harm yourself by eating the wrong kind of fish, and [farmed] tilapia and catfish are the two that fall into that category."

and now 2 complimentary puppy pics of grace at 10 weeks old on her 7th day at home. because she is just too damn cute not to show off.

we’ll be flying to nyc to celebrate thanksgiving with my mom. so this year i don’t have to cook a thing.  ok, i am bringing lupini beans that were soaked in a brining solution for 5 days, but that hardly counts (just add olive oil and fresh black pepper). and really, the ‘not cooking’ thing is totally fine with me. after all, i cook quite a bit. so i’m more than happy to relinquish control. plus, last year was quite the scream…

but while everyone is going turkey crazy, i decided to have a little early sunday celebration of my own and so my bff angela came over with her husband, and this was our dinner. well this and some of that smoked mullet roe, and cannellini beans cooked with the pig jowl skin sliced from chris’s guancialle. and speaking of chris, the doe that the venison came from was shot by his step-father in leipers fork, just 30 minutes from my house. chris had offered me some of the meat and i somehow had the nerve to request the best cut – the tenderloin, and he kindly obliged.

chris butchered the deer himself, and brought me both of the choice tenderloin strips. i aged them in the refrigerator for 10 days, soaked them overnight in milk and then they were salted for about 7 hours before they hit my grill. i’m not saying that this is the way to do it. it’s just the way it transpired over here. and i’d do it again. yes i would. like as soon as possible.

and it was beyond excellent. the venison was perfectly cooked on a very hot (900f) grill with nothing but some olive oil. i had feared that it might overcook before i got much of a char but because of the leanness of the meat, it was just as i’d hoped.

i simply sautéed some chanterelles in some of my danish butter that i’ve grown quite fond of, and then there was the cherry mostarda. it’s a mixture of cherries, sugar, balsamic vinegar and mustard powder.

see? simple… i mean really, really…

yes, a touch of parsley crossed my mind, but it felt just too lame…

so, just a quick post before i fly up north. and a huge and grateful thank you to my ceF readers. you’ve just no idea how fond i’ve grown of you, and how i have come to sort of rely on the fact that you’re all out there. it makes my life richer and rounder, in so many ways.

a very happy thanksgiving to all of you…