prosciutto + grape pizza

every surface of my kitchen is covered with gingerbread house walls and yesterday i listened to sufjan christmas. the holiday season is upon us!! i am so excited. 

 i know i know, it's not thanksgiving *yet* so technically it's not the holidays *yet* and eggboy won't let us put up our chrismukkah bush forest *yet*, but still. i've already moved onto christmas and hanukkah food, which works out perfectly because last week when the united states of thanksgiving came out, eggboy decided that he'd be planning our thanksgiving menu (!!!). i'm relieved and excited but mostly scared because today i watched him peel an onion and i'm surprised that all of his fingers are still intact. 

obviously there will be grape salad. and a turkey and eggmama's corn casserole. other than that i'm going to be blissfully unaware of what's happening in the oven as i build my gingerbread farm and watch the parade and hope that the eggs don't have any traditions that will require me to say what i'm thankful for out loud in front of people. 

not that i don't like making lists of things i'm thankful for

i just get sooooo scared that people are going to get too mushy and start crying at the dinner table. all i want is to be on my way to the holiday season with a pitstop for corn casserole and peanut butter pie. i might even save room for pizza and conquer the usual dilemma on the day after thanksgiving that is, "do you have pizza since it's a friday? or do you eat a salad since you just had thanksgiving?" meh! 

this recipe is just slightly adapted from my friends kim and phil's new book, food truck road trip. it originally comes from the urban oven in los angeles. the sweet grapes, salty prosciutto, fontina and rosemary work so well together, and the crust gives me hope that one day i will no longer have to miss kesté as much as i do. kim and phil are the sweetest and the recipes in their book, which come from food trucks across the country, are pretty much all the definition of perfect drunk food. there's a bacon-wrapped hot dog with pineapple and wasabi mayo, a pad thai taco, and an unreal looking mazemen. one day when i'm old and married and not having to fit into a wedding dress (i.e. 4 1/2 weeks away, but who's counting), i'm gonna cook my way through this sucker. spam musubi and all.


prosciutto + grape pizza

makes 2 14-inch pizzas

ingredients

2 tsp (6g) yeast

1 c (236 ml) warm water

2 tsp (10g) kosher salt

1 3/4 c (174g) flour

1 c (130 g) fontina cheese

12 red california grapes, halved

1 tsp dried rosemary

2 tb (30 ml) olive oil

8 slices prosciutto

clues

in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the yeast and water and let it sit for 5 minutes, until foamy. in a separate bowl, combine the salt and flour. gradually add the flour and salt mixture to the yeast mixture and mix on medium until combined. add just enough flour as needed to bring the mixture from a batter consistency to a dough consistency. it should be sticky, but not lumpy. transfer the dough to a large greased, airtight container and let it rise for 24 hours.

transfer to a lightly floured surface, divide the dough in half, roll each half into a ball, cover and let rise for another 2 hours.

preheat a pizza stone, or two if you have them, for 1 hour in the oven at the highest temperature you're comfortable with. (i heat mine to 500... one day i'll have the nerve to use my broiler, like the original recipe in the book says.) flatten each ball of dough out into a 14-inch circle. top with fontina, grapes, rosemary, and olive oil. slide onto your baking stone and bake; begin checking for doneness at 5-6 minutes, and take it out when the cheese is melted and the crust has reached the desired browning.

top with prosciutto, slice, and enjoy!


-yeh

this post is sponsored by grapes from california. all opinions are my own! 

lefse!

the other day, i was at the town boutique trying on a sprinkle sweater when britney spears started singing from my phone and, mostly as a reaction to my embarrassment and wanting that ringtone to stop (eggboy, please change my ringtone, ok thanks!!!), i picked it up immediately. on the other end was his jolliness sam sifton, who said something to effect of, hey! i was thinking i'd come over to make some lefse! and i thought holy poopcakes!

what followed was one of the most memorable weeks of my life, but only after i could annoy poor miss ethel a few times because contrary to what you'd think based on her perfect performance on camera, she had been adamant about not even being in the presence of a reporter. and i was a pushy patty.

(it all worked out in the end because that sam can really charm.)

for a few days, we covered ourselves in flour and rolled in potato fields and it was all so unreal because when i lived in new york, i'd sit at my little desk and count the seconds until sam's restaurant reviews would come online, and then i'd savor every last word. i may have moved on to marilyn's turf, but sam will always be one of my favorites :) 

i loved having him and the amazing sweet video crew from the times here, they were my first visitors from brooklyn! after our shoot, we celebrated with venison and hotdish, and then eggboy and eggdad took the crew on a workshop tour. they got a little welding lesson and at some point i think sam drove a tractor, which was practice for when we hire him for beet harvest. hehe.

anywho, i've received the sweetest messages from so many of you guys about the video and i want to hug all of you!! if you haven't seen it, here it is! the recipe for ethel's lefse is here. happy lefse season, everyone!!

-yeh!

some of these photos were taken by one of the wonderful crew members, eric moran. check out his site, his photos are amazing!!!!!

 

chicago + minneapolis

thanksgiving came early this year!!! i just returned from my week spent in chicago and minneapolis, spreading all the love and gobbles for jennie-o turkey on the teevee!!!! it was so much fun. when i wasn't in the tv, i got to celebrate stoopie's birthday, eat a butt ton of tacos with some college homies, and have thanksgiving number one with my chicago family. 

since we actually had a massive wedding-related to-do list in chicago (find eggboy a wedding outfit! get me sparkly dancing shoes! convince stoopie that she certainly will not be walking down the aisle in a snowsuit!), our thanksgiving consisted of some unbelievable aleppo cornbread that mum whipped up, one of the easiest turkeys in the whole wide worldand take-out from the restaurant that i absolutely must go to every time i'm home, mizrahi grillwe had turkey and hummus all cuddled up in a bed of pita and it was the tastiest, not to mention the laziest, and i was v down with that, especially considering that thanksgiving number two is coming right up. dessert was our friend marshy's famous lemon cookies, and then later that night, mum made this absurd bar type thing that was pumpkin pie filling topped with yellow cake. it was incredible. sort of like this recipe, but she used a homemade cake because that is how she rolls.

after chicago, i scooted on over to minneapolis, where i made cornbread stuffing on fox (you can watch it here)!!! and then i celebrated my not-barfing-or-potty-mouthing-on-air with a trip to my new favorite store, askov finlayson, and some bison tartare and za'atar cod at spoon & stable. yummmm, what a place. so worth this

i mosied on home last night, but not before another quick segment and a bite with the gem that is melissa from the faux martha. <3! holy guacamole, minneapolis is such a great city, especially after having adjusted to *these winters*. i wish i didn't live so far away. maybe one day i'll convince them to build a bullet train from grand forks to the cities.

i hope you all have wonderful weekends everyone!!!! get those thanksgiving menus planned!!!

-yeh!


thank you soooo much to jennie-o for sponsoring this week and this post!!!! all opinions are obvi my own, and i had such a great time being their turkey girl!!! check out their thanksgiving site for recipes, tips, and other holiday goodies :)

also big thank you to shabby apple for my mustard dress!!! i loved wearing it on air, and it did not get one wrinkle despite the fact that i smooshed it into the bottom of my carry-on. perfection!

 

italian rainbow cookie cake

my older sister, stoopie, is celebrating her last birthday of her 20s today! oy! it feels like only yesterday that i was underage and romping around with her id, drinking screwdrivers and skim milk white russians as "22-year-old stoopie." we've been celebrating these past few days in chicago with our family, lots of food, and our signature impressions of al dente noodles. she's been asking me every few minutes if i got her this flask bangle as a gift, and i'm starting to think that she's actually serious about wanting one, but too late, i already got her cute earrings. 

speaking of booze though, this year was such a big stoopie year because a few months ago, she passed her first sommelier test!!!! i'm so excited for her to take the next test soon so she can officially be called a sommelier, and so her name and title can kind of rhyme. (phonetically, she will be so-molly-yay-jenna-yay.) one day i'm gonna bribe her to move to grand forks so that she can be the sommelier for my cake house, and we'll host 30-course wine and cake tasting menus.  

speaking of cake, i made her a birthday cake! an almond cake because i have all of these vivid memories of us making almond cakes when we were little. she would always have first dibs on the can of almond paste and if i was lucky, she'd give me a little nubbin of it. our family loves almondy things. we have our valentine's day italian almond cake tradition, but oddly, we never had italian almond cookies growing up.

i didn't even discover these cookies until i moved to new york, and even then, for the longest time, i had no interest in them. i didn't know that they were almond flavored, as i'd only heard them referred to as "rainbow cookies." i'd see them when i went to buy black and white cookies at zabar's or fairway, but i questioned why anyone would buy these artificially colored random looking things when they could buy a black and white cookie. i was skeptical, but the seed was planted in my brain when i saw my little new yorky cousins gobbling them up during rosh hashanah, and then finally, when i was served a fancy freshly made one at torrisi, i was convinced. i discovered that these little guys aren't cookies, they're dense, rich almond cakes, glued together with jam, and cut into perfect little bites. it was the punch of almond that got me, these things are loaded with almond paste.

i became so obsessed that stoop and mum made a batch in (what they thought were) juilliard colors for my senior recital. some time after that, i fished out miniature versions of them from the bottom of a sundae at kutsher's with devra and my cousin eitan, before we even discovered that we're cousins. that year around the holidays, i made a shitton using torrisi's recipe and fed them to the earliest version of san fermin, which was huge and had some lucius.

full disclosure: a younger, less experienced and more stressed out version of myself wrote this about my first time making them. i've since chilled out, but there is some truth in my earlier frustrations: making these cookies/this cake is a process. it takes an entire day if you're fast, two days if you cruise, and maybe even three if you feel like blanching your own almonds and/or making your own almond paste. it's a cake for your holiday break, or one to call in sick for. but, trust, it's worth it.


italian rainbow cookie cake

makes one 8-inch cake

ingredients

6 eggs, separated

1 1/4 c + 2 tb sugar

1 1/3 c almond paste, chopped

2 c unsalted butter, softened

1 tb lemon juice

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp kosher salt

2 2/3 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp red food coloring

1 tsp green food coloring

1/2 c + 2 tb apricot jam (or 6 tb apricot jam and 4 tb raspberry jam or vice versa)

12 oz dark or semisweet chocolate chips

1 c heavy cream

cocoa powder for dusting, optional

dinosaurs, optional

 

clues

preheat oven to 350. grease and line as many 8-inch cake pans as you have. you'll need to make six layers total. (i have three cake pans, so i baked the layers in two batches, but if you just have two, you can bake in three batches.)

in a large bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. gradually beat in 6 tablespoons of sugar and continue beating until you have stiff peaks.

in another large bowl, beat together the remaining cup of sugar, the almond paste, and butter. add the egg yolks, one at a time. beat in the lemon juice and almond extract, and then gradually sprinkle in the salt. add the flour and beat until combined.

fold the egg whites into the almond paste mixture and then divide the mixture evenly into three bowls. mix the red food coloring into one, the green food coloring into another, and then leave the last one as it is.

divide each of these mixtures in half and pour into separate cake pans. (again, if you don't have all six cake pans, just fill however many you've got, and then cover the batter that you're not using until it's ready to bake.) use a spatula to spread the batter as evenly as you can in the pan and then bake for 10-12 minutes, until the tops are just set, or no longer shiny and wet. let cool slightly in the pans, run a knife around the edges, and then carefully flip onto a greased cooling rack or greased sheet of parchment. bake remaining layers.

when the layers are cool, stack them up on a cake board or plate, spreading 2 tablespoons of jam between each. don't put jam on the top. wrap the sucker tightly in plastic wrap and then refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. 

to make the chocolate ganache, place the chocolate chips in a large bowl. heat the heavy cream until it is just starting to boil, and then pour it over the chocolate. let sit for 30 seconds, and then stir it all together to get a smooth ganache. you can either pour the ganache over the cake or refrigerate the ganache for an hour, whip it up until it's pale and fluffy, and then frost the cake with an offset spatula (this is what's pictured). decorate your cake how you'd like, dust it with cocoa powder, add dinosaurs, and enjoy!


happy birthday, stoopie!!

-yeh!!!