life of art, love of a femme.....

The wife told me to name the post that.

OK, so lots going, right?

Sunday the wife and I are making a potato pizza (mmmmmm, comfort food indeed! pizza topped with potato!) and as we go to sleep I am like "help me remember, I want to make a puttanesca pizza Monday. I don't know if it exists, but I want to make it! Spicy tomato, garlic, olives, all that on a pizza!" (puttanesca is a famous Italian pasta dish, why not as pizza topping too?)

I look it up. There are many possibilities, and I modified one (anchovy paste and anchovies??? GROSS!) Plus I use non-dairy cheese and sliced little soy sausage bits on there ****

The wife is snapping these photos of me in action, below, and as we are having the first bite I tell her "forget it, I am NEVER going to make any other kind of pizza EVER this is soooooo good!" She tells me "you have to keep this recipe SECRET" and I am like "nah, i can share, I mean, I had help from the net in making this...."

Earlier in the day I call her "hey, I want to make biscotti"****** (biscotti are a very crisp cookie, sometimes dipped in chocolate, that are almost only made to be dunked in coffee)

and the wife is like "DO IT" and I am like "what part do you want to help with??" and she is like

"the last part, the dunking in chocolate...and the cleaning the chocolate bowl!"

Holy CATS, tasty. We had biscotti for breakfast just now! SUGAR AND CAFFEINE RUSH!!!!

Fired stuff, its a great morning here, before and after shots below---have a great day yourself!


******

Biscotti with almonds and chocolate, so easy

preheat to 300

--in large bowl, stir together 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1.5 teas. orange zest, 1/4 teas. bake soda

--in second bowl add one whole egg, also one egg white and 1/2 teas. vanilla----use your whisk and whip it good! add to flour mix, stir nicely, then when it is all together add 3/4 cup chopped almonds, stir them in

--the dough is a bit moist and sticky, use your hands to form into a log about 2 inches wide and 12 inches long, set onto a baking sheet and bake about 37-45 minutes (you can use baking parchment if you wish), until it is a pretty golden brown, remove and set the whole bake sheet and log to cool ten minutes---leave the oven on---then take the log, which may have stuck slightly unless you use parchment, and slice the log diagonally in attactive wedges with a sharp serrated bread knife--you will have about ten of them

--set each cookie back on the baking sheet sliced side down, bake each side ten minutes, remove from oven (turn it off!) and let them cool a couple of hours on a rack

--melt 5-6 ounces chocolate in a pie pan shaped thing---melt your chocolate any way that works for it, microwave, double boiler, whatever, then dip each cookie halfway into the chocolate and then set on waxed paper to cool, leave them to set up or even put into the fridge to cool

****

Putanesca pizza!!!

• 2+ garlic cloves , crushed
• 1+ pinch red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes , drained
• 1 prepared 13 inch pizza dough
• many shakes dried oregano and basil, black pepper
• 2 tablespoons capers , drained
• 1/4 cup black olives , drained and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup cheese , shredded

Directions:

1. 1
   Mince garlic. In a small skillet, over medium heat, sauté garlic and red pepper flakes in the olive oil.
2. 2
   Add diced tomatoes. Remove from heat. Meanwhile, prebake pizza dough shaped into a circle on the stone for 5 mins.
3. 3
   Sprinkle the pizza crust with the tomato mixture. Add the herbs and spice, capers and olives. Cover the pie with a light layer of cheese, all the way out to the edges. Some of the toppings should still peek through.
4. 4
   Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes.