Stoneview

Seafood Seizure Pizza

Julie — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:44:24 +0000

I have fond memories of Deano’s Pizzeria in Lafayette, LA. Back in the day, my favorite pizza there was the Seafood Seizure with shrimp, scallops, broccoli and their white sauce. Last week when the subject of a seafood pizza came up I knew exactly what I had to make. This one has scallops, shrimp, mushrooms, and pancetta (’cause I had some I needed to use up). Next time I’ll do the classic which doesn’t look to be on the menu anymore. (Granted, that was the late ’80s early ’90s so it’s been awhile.)

for the white sauce: 3 T melted butter, 2T minced garlic, 1 t crushed red pepper- saute until garlic is fragrant then add 1/4 cup flour and cook 60 seconds. Add 1 1/2 cup cold whole milk, whisk to combine and heat until thickened and bubbly, stir in 1/2 cup finely shredded freshly grated Parmesan and 1/3 pound each chopped scallops and shrimp. Transfer onto your uncooked pizza crust, top with a light sprinkle of shredded mozarella and bake on your preheated pizza stone at 425F for 12 minutes.

ETA: I used this amount of sauce for two pizzas

It’s all about the miso

Julie — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:09:53 +0000

I used to think I didn’t like miso, mainly because I don’t care for miso soup at Japanese restaurants. Then Jason made this fennel stuffed pork recipe which calls for “light miso”. I had no idea there were many kinds of miso! At first I thought I probably just like the mild white miso but now I wonder if maybe it’s the fish stock in the soup that I don’t care for. At any rate, miso is beginning to appear more often at my table and I’m learning ways to use it.

Soba with tofu and veg

6 ounces buckwheat soba noodles
sesame oil
1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
several shiitake, stemmed and torn into pieces
1 cup snow peas, cleaned and sliced
3 or 4 green onions
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 cup cucumber, sliced into half- moons
firm tofu, pressed and cubed*
1 t crushed red pepper

2 T rice wine vinegar

1 T soy sauce

2 T miso
2 T honey

Cook the soba according to the package directions. Drain, rinse with cold water and drain again. In a large bowl, toss soba with about a teaspoon of sesame oil to coat. Chop the green onions reserving the tops. Saute the rest of the onion with the shiitake for about 60 seconds in a teaspoon of oil. Turn off the heat and stir in rice wine vinegar, crushed red pepper, miso, soy sauce, and honey. Transfer mushroom/onion mixture into the bowl with the soba, add remaining ingredients and toss well.

*Line a dish with a towel, place the tofu on it, cover with another towel and a heavy weight. Let stand about an hour to remove some of the moisture. This is a good way to prepare tofu for frying but I left mine fresh for this dish.

Buried treasure

Julie — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:56:42 +0000

Once I’m done with the negative/slide scanner I’m planning to send it on permanent loan to a friend who has a project for it. Before I shipped it off I told her I wanted to pull out my scrapbooking stuff and check for more negatives. I knew of at least a few I was missing for certain and I had a feeling there might be a cache of them that hadn’t been filed. Bingo! I unearthed an entire box of negatives that need to be scanned and filed in the archival sleeves. Once these are done I’ll be fairly confident that I’ve found them all other than the odd strip or two that was used for reprints. I know for certain that I am missing a strip from our wedding.

As the soil turns

Julie — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:50:34 +0000

Over the weekend I decided it was time to clean up the back garden in preparation for planing garlic and other fall goodies. The garlic won’t go in until October but I have some other stuff that I can get going now. Jason and I fought the maple tree roots and cleared out as many as we could then we added in several bags of compost.

Since I was already sweaty and filthy I decided to trim back the lavender that keeps trying to take over the world and I curtailed the Rudbeckia as well. There’s still quite a bit of garden cleanup to do before winter but I know my back and shoulder will prefer it if I spread that out over a few months.

Brought to you by the letter C

Julie — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:49:59 +0000

Have you seen the cat grass for $5 at the pet store? Shopping for garden seed a few years ago I ran across a packet of cat grass seed, a few dollars was enough for 2 or 3 plantings. Then I noticed it was just a blend of wheat, barley and rye. It didn’t take long to realize these are all available at much less expensive prices right in the grocery store (organic) and sprout very easily. Gabby doesn’t eat it because she hasn’t got many teeth left but Gwen and Winnie go bazonkers for it. I’m trying to get into the habit of planting a new tray each week so that we continually have one going. The moment I put the new tray down on the floor Winnie makes a beeline for it talking all the way. For the cat who didn’t vocalize for the first two years we had her, that’s an impressive endorsement.

Quiscalus major

Julie — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 12:11:27 +0000

I’ve started to see boat tailed grackles at the feeder. As summer turns into fall we’ll begin to see hordes of them sounding like squeaky fences covering the yard or the neighbor’s tree across the street.

Also in the photo is a rare photo of one of our very shy blue jays. Everywhere else that I’ve seen blue jays they have been quite aggressive and I remember them dive bombing my cat if she went too close to the tree with their nest. They are also enormous in my area. Dad, who is an avid birder, thinks they are less concentrated here which results in their unusual size and behavior. Whatever the cause, I enjoy watching and listening to their antics. They get especially excited when the peanut feeder is filled.

Homework

Julie — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 13:27:00 +0000

Week after next I’ll be heading out to visit Madame Purl with the highlight of our visit being the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool festival. We are signed up for (extremely reasonably priced) classes all day every day and I’m starting to work on my homework assignments for them. This is some unidentified roving that’s been in my stash since the year I bought my wheel. I’ve split it in half and will fill two bobbins with it though I only need partials for class. I don’t expect to ply all this during class but having extra spun will give me a chance to practice soon after class. This is the first of two bobbins, not quite full. I also realized I still have only 4 bobbins for this week, eek! Bobbins have shot to the top of my shopping list for the festival. I’m sure we’ll squeeze in a little shopping at some point.

Apples are coming!

Julie — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:54:36 +0000

Local apples are starting to be available which means fall is right around the corner. The chilly wet days earlier this week brought the first few brightly colored leaves fluttering down into the yard but of course peak season is still quite some time away. The sun and heat have returned so a light cool supper was much appreciated. Brie and apple with arugula on ciabatta rolls with olives and local radishes.

The quiet shawl

Julie — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:14:09 +0000

I am pretty sure I posted about this little shawl a few months ago. The patter is Beach Glass by Susan Lawrence and I’m using handspun targhee for it in Spunky Eclectic’s “Tahitian Sunrise” colorway. I started it for office visit knitting when I was having a lot of appointments but that’s calmed down now so progress is slower. I’m sure it’ll pick up speed though because this starts at the big end and works down.

A day in the kitchen

Julie — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:13:50 +0000

Yesterday was all cooking all the time or else shopping for cooking. In the morning I made a small batch of cherry preserves. The cherries are just storebought because I missed the very brief picking season this year (only one week) but I wanted to practice for next year. I loosely followed this except that I did chop all my cherries small, I added the zest and juice of a lime, I cooked to 220F after adding my sugar and added a splash of Grand Marnier instead of his Kirsch or almond extract. I water bath processed them for 10 minutes. After I was done I remembered this delicious topping for ice cream I like to make that’s cherries, red wine, lemon zest and basil and wonder if I can come up with a preserves based on that combo next year?

It was also time to make more taco meat for Daniel’s quesadillas. He goes through about a pound a week and I cook up 2 pound batches, divide and freeze them. A few months ago Penzeys sent a free jar of their southwest seasoning and got me hooked on yet another of their blends. It’s easy enough to mix myself but oh so convenient to just dump in a couple tablespoons of this after I drain the fat. Since I use it so often, I caved and bought the tall jar.