Grilled Pizza
Loads of grilled veggies from the Davis Farmers’ Market: tomato, zucchini, squash, eggplant & crimini mushrooms
Artichoke hearts
Italian Sausage
Pesto (fresh, homemade today!)
Pine Nuts
A little mozzarella cheese
Sure smells good in here right now ...
The dough feels amazing. It was in the refrigerator about 11 hours. It went into the refrigerator around 9am. I “punched” it down around around 5pm and pulled it out of the refrigerator at about 8:30 pm.
Here it is just before baking. Topped with a little homemade pesto, fresh tomato, crimini mushroom, dried tomato, and Parmesan Reggiano cheese. Just going into the oven right now. Now … what to top the other dough ball with tomorrow?
Gotta' go ... time for dinner ...
Lots and lots of veggies … beautiful eggplant, zucchini, squash … and I’m guessing pesto will be involved, because I made almost 1/2 gallon of pesto tonight. Yes. A half gallon … and tomorrow there will be another half gallon. I got a great deal on some beautiful fresh pesto at the Davis Farmers’ Market this morning.
I’m trying out a new recipe … Piadine Dough, from The Tra Vigne Cookbook by Michael Chiarello (see: http://www.napastyle.com/recipe/recipe.jsp?productId=2342)
In the book, he writes, “Perhaps you think that making dough is a bother. But once you work with this dough, you will want to do it again. It is one of those textures that begs to be touched, caressed. It feels as smooth and silky as a baby’s bottom.” Well, I don’t know much about baby’s bottoms, but this dough does have an exquisite feel that does make me long for my bread baking days.
Of course, I did make a few minor adjustments to the recipe.
2 1/4 teaspoons rapid rise yeast (because that’s what I had access to)
1/2 cup water
About 3 cups bread flour + 1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup water
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Piadine Dough, fresh from the mixer
Measure out all of your ingredients. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the 1/2 cup water, let it soften a moment, then stir to combine a bit. Add about 1/2 cup flour and stir to make a smooth sponge. Pour this mixture into your mixer bowl, cover with a towel, and set to proof about 20 minutes. You want to do this to make sure your yeast is viable, and it also gives it a little head start.
When the yeast has proofed, pour in the 1 cup of water, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and then add about 3 cups of the flour. I like to start mixing the flour in before adding the salt. When the dough starts to come together a bit, then I add the salt. It’s usually OK to just stir the salt into the flour, also, but I prefer to not do this because I never know if I’ll have to use all of the flour or not. I tend to like a wet dough, so I typically have some flour leftover from the recipe. That’s the main reason I don’t just stir the salt into the flour. After adding the salt and mixing on low speed for a few minutes, feel the dough and add up to about 1/2 cup of flour until you reach the desired consistency. Do this at low speed, then increase the speed to medium and let the dough knead about 2 minutes. Again, you’ll know by the feel. I often like to finish the dough with a brief (a minute, give or take) kneading at high speed in my KitchenAid mixer.
Gently shaped into dough balls
At this point, remove the dough from the bowl and place on a floured board for final shaping. This dough will be soft, so be sure to give your board a pretty good dusting of flour, but not too much. It’s tempting to use lots of flour at this stage, but try to avoid that temptation. Let the dough rest just a moment, then gently roll into a ball. Place the dough balls into bowls coated with olive oil, cover with plastic, and place in the refrigerator to rise slowly.
When the dough has doubled in size, you’ll want to “punch it down. This does NOT mean smash the dough; a dough like this needs to be handled very gently. You just want to deflate it, gently push out the gasses that have built up. Here is a good link to check out: http://www.redstaryeast.com/lessons-yeast-baking/baking-steps-guide/punching-down-shaping
We’re heading off to the Farmers’ Market to pick up some veggies to top our pizza with tonight.
A few important notes:
Dough is in the refrigerator, the kitchen is cleaned up, now we’re off to the Farmers’ Market!
Feels decadent, but it's actually pretty light
These are very easy to make. Start with Trader Joe’s Clay Oven Baked Whole Wheat Lavash Bread. Spread some light cream cheese (the whipped one works best) on the bread, then layer about 4-5 ounces of smoked salmon on top. Sprinkle with fresh herbs – I used chives and Italian parsley. Roll it up. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate at least a few hours or overnight. Just before serving, unwrap, then slice into about 3/4-inch thick slices. Enjoy with a nice glass of white wine.
I will definitely make these again, but next time I think I’ll use less salmon. In fact, I think I’ll make a mixture of light cream cheese and smoked salmon, and pulse it in a food processor to make a somewhat smooth spread. I think that will give the salmon flavor, but will lighten it up even more. That will be more cost-effective, too.
Mmm … Happy Labor Day!
Heirloom Tomato, Persian Cucumber, Avocado, & Cilantro
Homemade Focaccia with Dried Tomatoes, Kalamata Olives, and Fresh Rosemary
Preparing bread for croutons ...
Grilled Zucchini & Yellow Squash
Grilled Russet & Yukon Gold Potatoes
New York Steaks, ready for the grill
A Nice Cab ...
Earned this dinner!
It is absolutely perfect weather for cycling this morning! I got in just a quick jaunt before I have to head off to work. I needed that … especially after last night’s dinner!
Melon & Prosciutto
Bread Salad
Brussel Sprouts with Bacon
Green, Yellow, & Purple Beans with Pesto
Homemade Meatballs ... now that's a spicy meatball!
These meatballs were made entirely from scratch – including grinding the meat. Super spicy, super good. I’m looking forward to trying a few of these on pizza later in the week. CyclingFoodie may have its first guest blogger with this recipe.
Somebody made me homemade pizza last night …
Italian Sausage, Crimini Mushroom, & Fresh Basil
I have this girlfriend who is training for a big, multi-day ride: http://stihltourdestrees.org/the-event/
She wanted to do a century this weekend, so I suggested a modified Tour de Cure Napa Valley route. We started out on the Silverado Trail, just past the intersection of Silverado Trail and Trancas Boulevard. We got a bit of a late start (9:30 am), but still we expected to be done well before 6:00 pm. Little did we know the adventures that were in store for us.
Just before we started our Napa Valley Century, July 15, 2012
The ride started out quite chilly. Luckily for me, I always overdress because I cannot stand being cold. My friend overheats easily, so she didn’t have the layers on that I did, so she was pretty chilly at the start of the ride. The fog started clearing and the sun warmed the Valley nicely. The first stretch of our ride was lovely! We rode all the way to Calistoga on the Silverado Trail. I think that’s quite a bit safer and more comfortable than Highway 29, especially as wineries open and wine tasting hours begin. Highway 29 is nice early, early morning, but we started out too late for that.
We rolled in to Calistoga. I wanted to avoid the downtown traffic on Lincoln Avenue, so we took a side street that wrapped around. Little did I know the excitement that would ensue. Maybe 1/4 mile down Lake Street, I heard a tap-tap-tap-BANG!!! Followed by a fast and loud pssht! Aw, no … that can’t be good. Yep. Flat, flat, flat back tire. Dang it! Hopeful that a quick change would get us back on the road, but in looking at the tire … well, see for yourself.
And so the adventure begins ...
Fortunately, we were just a few blocks from the Calistoga Bike Shop (http://calistogabikeshop.com/). Not sure if rolling my bike would damage the rim, so I carried my bike part of the way. My friend carried it the rest of the way (OK, most of the way). We have different strengths, what can I say? Almost $90 later for a new tire and tube (they very kindly waived the labor charge), and a snack at the Village Bakery, we were on the road again, headed up towards Healdsburg.
Want some great bread? Try Village Bakery in Calistoga.
Village Bakery Seeded Sourdough Toast
We headed out of town and along Highway 29 until it turned into Highway 128. We then headed up valley, out of Calistoga, up over the hill into the Alexander Valley. This part of the ride was pretty uneventful, just some beautiful weather, a little nice climbing and downhills, a few stretches of flats, and tons of beautiful scenery. We stopped at the Jimtown Store (http://www.jimtown.com/), which I hear is a great place to stop for lunch. I groused about paying $3.10 for a 1.5 liter bottle of water, but was so thankful later in the day that I had made this wise investment. We continued to the end of Highway 128 in Healdsburg, had a brief rest in a nice shady spot, a snack, some conversation with another cyclist – we had seen him earlier at the Jimtown Store. I struck up a conversation with him because his jersey said “Klein” – as in Klein bikes! He told me about a shop in … a town in Southern CA that is still selling brand new Kleins. I’m skeptical, but I’ll look into it. How cool would that be?!
We had a nice chat, then headed back.
Playing "Chase the Jersey"
More than halfway done!
Top of the last climb on the way back to Calistoga
As we descended on that last hill back in to Calistoga, we were greeted near the bottom with a line of stopped traffic. An elderly woman driving a Cadillac had hit (and broken) two utility poles before hitting a third one head on. (See article: http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/calistoga-crash-triggers-small-grass-fire/article_93a6e7d6-cf68-11e1-8439-001a4bcf887a.html) I’m pretty sure she hit a third pole, not a fence as the article says. The good news is that she walked away from the accident and seemed to be OK, shaken up, but OK. Her family came to get her; she did not leave in an ambulance. The bad news is that this delay added about another hour to our ride. The article says the road was closed for about 35 minutes, but it was more like an hour.
Adventure continues ... downed power lines and wildfire!
Cal Fire in action
Cal Fire helicopter
We got to see firefighters in action and that certainly added an element of excitement to our adventure. I grew up around firefighters, so I have an especially healthy appreciation for them. I tried flirting with them when I was a teenager, but they would have nothing to do with me. I think it’s because my brother was Ambulance Captain and it must have been an unspoken rule. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it; I’m sure it had nothing to do with my teenage nerdiness.
We had an unexpected and lengthy rest stop while the fire crews put out the fire, police & CHP blocked traffic, and then finally PG&E was able to get through to deal safely with the downed wires. The elderly driver of the crashed vehicle kept trying to get out of the car, but police and firefighters would not allow her to because there were live wires down. That’s why they would not let us through, either. So we all waited.
Aaah ... ice water ... The menu looks lovely, too. I'm looking forward to trying this restaurant soon!
We finally got through … and headed back through Calistoga to the Silverado Trail and back towards Napa. At first we were well-rested, but I think we were both getting tired. We made a few quick stops along the way. My friend ran out of water before we reached Rutherford, so we took a little side trip. We stopped briefly at Alex Italian Restaurant (http://www.alexitalianrestaurant.com/Ale/HOME.html) and they very kindly let us fill up with some very refreshing ice water. After a short rest, we headed back to the Silverado Trail and on towards Napa again.
The wind had started to kick up, the sun was going down, and it was getting cool again. I was quite thankful at this point to be slightly overdressed. To keep myself motivated and positive, I kept repeating the mantra, “The wind is an excellent training tool … the wind is an excellent training tool …” and focusing on high cadence and good cycling form. At the end of the ride, I felt great. I was definitely ready to be done with the ride, but I felt great. Lightly salted almonds made for a terrific post-ride snack on the drive home.
It seemed to take forever to ride those last 15 miles or so, but we finally made it back to the car. I don’t think my friend has ever been so happy to see her car. This was her first century ride and it was full of surprises and adventure. She is a very strong rider and is far more prepared for her multi-day ride than she thinks. We finished with about 15-20 minutes of light to spare, more than 2 hours after we expected to be done.
I’m looking forward to my next century ride!
Last night I was treated to some very special homemade pizzas. They were amazing. Here’s a sneak preview … I better check for permission first to post recipes and/or method!
Portabello Mushroom, Proscuitto, Goat Cheese
Pizza Margherita
By the way, the pizza chef knows not only pizza, but Kleins!
Klein Road
Klein Mountain
Klein Quantum Race, with a fixie
Only 8 more days to train for the Tour de Cure … better be sure to eat right!
The beginnings of salad ... heirloom cherry tomatoes, Persian cucumbers
With artisan lettuce and homemade basil-balsamic vinaigrette
Ready to steam ... asparagus, brussel sprouts, and broccolette
Roasted pork tenderloin, marinated in extra virgin olive oil, fresh rosemary, and garlic
Did you know that pork tenderloin is a good source of B-vitamins, such as Thiamine (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Niacin (B3), Pyridoxine (B6)? It’s also a good source of protein, and is pretty low in calories. A 3-ounce serving of pork tenderloin has 120 calories (30 from fat) and 22 grams of protein (http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/Pork_Lamb_Nutrition_Facts.pdf).
We also had brown rice and a baked yam, but I didn’t get photos of those.
Festive candles ...
Whole wheat banana bread, with dark chocolate and walnuts
Mmm ... the chocolate is still melty ...
It’s not too late to make a donation to help find a cure for diabetes!! If you can, please help to support me in raising money for this great cause.
Check out my Tour Page: http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/SanFranciscoArea?px=4725188&pg=personal&fr_id=8064
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