Mostacholi

My mom loved to cook to watch cooking shows. Paula Dean, Rachael Ray, and The Barefoot Contessa were her favorites. She would watch attentively and furiously copy down recipes onto little scraps of paper she fished out of the nearest trashcan. Every now and then I find a new 'recipe' of hers, written on half a discarded envelope, tucked into her address book (beats me, she was weird). I treasure all these little scraps; although, I don't actually remember her cooking any of these things. Most of her 'recipes' are just a random list of ingredients, no measurements, no title, and hardly any instructions.

Today I'll be sharing her Mostacholi--this one is special, I don't have a written recipe for it. I learned how to make it by watching her and helping her in the kitchen. 

Start with a pound of ground meat. Cook it thoroughly with some diced onions, then add a can of diced tomatoes

Now for the spices: Garlic, oregano, seasoning salt, and Italian seasoning

Like I mentioned before, I don't use a recipe with actual measurements. Add some garlic

 Then the spices

Then a few sliced olives

Now some Parmesan cheese--add enough to thicken up the consistency, making it a bit 'sticky'

Measure out your dry pasta to fit your baking dish

Cook the pasta-- take it out just a minute before its done

Drain it and return to the oiled baking dish

Spread the meat on top--btw, I've made this using ground turkey, it works nicely 

Sprinkle on some mozzarella cheese

 And a few olives

If you're looking for a meal that holds up for freezing, stop right here. The unbaked casserole keeps in the freezer for a couple months. Just defrost in the fridge for a day and let it come up to room temp for a couple  hours before putting it in a hot oven (to prevent your dish from cracking). Put it in the oven for about half an hour, or until golden and bubbly

Ok, not this golden. Mine is just a bit burned. After the timer went off, I turned on the broiler to make it pretty, but I lost track of time--oops. Sorry, Mom. 

Serve it with a side of veggies and a salad.

Ingredients: These are approximations, add more or less according to your preferences

• 1 pound Ground meat
• 2 Tbs diced Onions
• 1 can diced Tomatoes
• 2 tsp diced Garlic
• 2 tsp Seasoning salt
• 2 tsp Oregano
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning 
• 1 cup sliced Olives, divided
• 1/2 c Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups Mozzarella cheese
• Pasta

Directions:

1. Cook ground meat thoroughly with diced onions
2. Add in canned tomatoes, garlic, seasoning salt, oregano, Italian seasonings and most of the sliced olives
3. Mix in Parmesan cheese 
4. Cook pasta, remove just a minute before done
5. Put pasta in an oiled baking dish
6. Spread meat on top of pasta
7. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese, and top with remaining olives
8. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes

Pizza Night

The Captain showed me how to make pizza when we were first dating. Since then, I've been improving on his technique. We've moved beyond Boboli, and now I make the dough from scratch. It does require some work. Its probably not a whole lot cheaper than the pizza from Costco's food court. But, being able to declare I made it from scratch makes all the difference!

Gather your supplies: Flour, water, yeast, sugar, oil, salt

Either wait for the tap to warm up, or nuke it in the microwave for a minute (I prefer the microwave--saves water, probably electricity too). Add brown sugar--sugar gives the yeast something to feed on

Add the yeast--if you're thinking that looks a lot like a baby formula scoop, you're right. They are exactly 1 tablespoon. I keep them in all the canisters that I use frequently--sugar, starch, flour...it saves me from washing all those measuring spoons

Jostle the cup around a bit to get the yeast to submerge--don't bother stirring with a utensil, it will just get all gunky

We are 'proofing' the yeast. Back in the days before refrigeration people would do this to make sure the yeast was still 'active,' that is, alive and working--wouldn't want to waste the other ingredients to later find that the bread didn't rise. Some people skip this step, but its easy so I don't mind doing it. While the yeast is growing, mix the salt into the flour

The yeast should be getting foamy by now

Add the oil to it

Add the liquids to the flour

Mix on low until it starts to combine

Scrape the bowl and turn it to medium speed

Btw, don't feel like you can't make this without a stand mixer. You totally can. Mixing by hand, literally, is easy and it turns out fine. While the dough is mixing, line your baking sheet, spray with cooking oil, and dust with flour

After the dough has been kneaded for about 5 minutes it is balled up and ready to go. Turn out onto your sheet

Spray the inside of a large zip lock bag with cooking oil and reserve half of the dough for your next pizza night. It will keep in the freezer for a few months. Just defrost in the fridge for a day or so, then let it come up to room temp for a couple hours. Roll out your dough

Pierce the dough with a fork or it will bubble up when it cooks

Parbake the crust in a hot oven for about 10 minutes. 

While the crust is baking, start cooking the sausage

Cook it thoroughly--don't want anyone retching due to undercooked meat

Save half of that sausage in the freezer for your next pizza night. Now we can start assembling the meaty-cheesy-goodness. Any sauce will do

Layer on the cheese

Half a bag of pepperoni is plenty--save the rest for next week. Btw, turkey pepperoni meets with our standards

Olives, mushrooms, and another light sprinkling of cheese

Give it another 10 minutes in the oven

Way better than delivery

  

And, the kids get a kick out of customizing their own mini-pizzas

Pizza Dough Ingredients: Enough for 2 XL Pizzas

• 5 cups flour
• 1 cup water
• 2 Tbs brown sugar
• 2 Tbs yeast
• 2 Tbs oil
• 2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Combine warm water, sugar and yeast, put aside for 5 minutes
2. Combine flour and salt
3. Add oil to water/yeast
4. Slowly pour liquids into flour, mix on low until combined
5. Mix on medium until dough pulls away from sides of bowl and forms ball, about 5 minutes
6. Reserve half of dough in oiled freezer bag, roll out the rest on an oiled and floured cooking sheet
7. Pierce dough with a fork to pop any air pockets
8. Parbake crust in 450° oven for about 10 minutes
9. Assemble pizza with desired toppings, bake again at 400° for another 10-15 minutes

Pinterest Fails

In the wise words of Filmore: "They're feeding us a bunch of lies, man!"

Pinterest. Have you ever pined something, then tried it for yourself and actually had it work out? Yeah, me neither. I set out to try some new recipes, hoping to be able to share them with you. Well, turns out I will be sharing them, but I'm also throwing in a warning--don't waste your time!

First things first. Dried strawberries. I'm sure you've seen the pin. Its a beautiful picture. It says something about drying them for 4 hours, they turn out 'like candy.' Yeah. Right. What kind of candy do you eat? 'Cause the kind I like actually tastes good...

Here's how the dried strawberries went down. Started with an average box of strawberries--they weren't the best, but they were totally edible. Wash and hull

Cook on low heat for a couple hours

After 2 hours

After 2 more hours

I tasted one. I realized I had made a huge mistake--but carry on, I shall. 2 more hours

Wow, they are still nasty. Let's give 'em 2 more hours

  

Surprise surprise, still gross. 2 more hours

Wow. These are really terrible 

Don't try it yourself. Someone is clearly lying. (its not me).

Here's my next Pinterest fail: Cheese crackers. Pinners say they taste like Cheez-its. Lies.

I carefully assembled my ingredients, processed the dough

let it chill, then rolled it out

Cut the cheese (crackers)

And since I was in such a good mood (this was before the strawberries were clearly a failure) I even let the kids have a go at it

What can I say...they suck. Anyhow, we baked them  up, and here are the results

They turned out quite fluffy

Like bread, cheesy bread

Not, I repeat, Not like a cheese cracker.

Overall they weren't that bad. They just weren't good. I won't make them again, and I urge you not to try.

Thanks Pinterest. Thanks.