Fire up the grill. It's time for ... pizza?

Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas

We arrived at our apartment after midnight. I fired up our little Smokey Joe grill and rolled out the dough. Once the coals were ready, I tossed the dough onto the grate. The fire came up immediately and singed the hair off my arm. After I finished my little dance, found out that the fire was too hot and I used too much oil, a volatile combination.

But Karla was going to have her grilled pizza. When I tried again, I tossed the dough onto the grill and watched a network of bubbles rise on the surface. We tapped our first grilled pizza and set it under the broiler to crisp. We knew we had found our ticket, even before we tasted it.

Many of us are used to the idea of grilling pizza to emulate the effects that restaurants achieve with wood-burning ovens. However, how many of us have really ever tried it? It sounds like a good idea but when we're getting right down to it, the idea of tackling grilling pizza is kind of intimidating.

That's why it's a good thing that pizza grilling pioneer Craig Priebe has written this book. He demystifies the whole process by sharing the knowledge gleaned in his years of expertise as a grilled pizza restauranteur. There are step-by-step instructions for prepping ahead of time, simplifying the process, and even party planning. Don't have a grill? He has tips for grilling inside. This guy is not taking anything for granted and that takes the pressure off the tentative cook nervous about watching pizza dough slide into the coals.

I was especially intrigued by some of the unique combinations that Priebe offers. He has the standard Margherita and American style "combo" pizzas that we might expect. However, he also has some ideas that literally had my mouth watering when I was reading the ingredients. For example:

• The Moroccan (curried chicken, roasted garlic, and Kalamata olives)
• The Asperago (asparagus with pesto, pine nuts, and Brie)
• The Millennium (ground lamb, feta, and Kalamata olives)

He also introduced me to the concept of Piadinas which are a popular Italian flatbread sandwich. After the flatbread is grilled for a minute or two on each side, they are filled with various tasty combinations of ingredients.

Ideas for salads are also included as are grilled pizza ideas for desserts. I must say that I usually am not interested in the idea of "dessert" pizza which I occasionally encounter in various cookbooks. However, the Cinnamon Churros, or as he describes them, "sugary crusts with ice cream and syrup" did capture my imagination ...

Combine this intriguing content with DK Publishing's trademark lush photography and clear, simple layout and you have a single subject cookbook that is a winner. When our "festival month" of May is over and I have time to think about cooking then you may be sure I will be exploring some of these recipes.

Now Serving Hot Links ...

The New York Times food section has a story about those who get creative with food carving. A fun piece with a nice slide show of sample carvings.

How to Render Lard
Homesick Texan not only uses "the L word" but tells us how to do it ourselves. Mmmm, lard ...

Basic Cooking Advice
Both of the girls will be in their own apartments next fall. I will be giving each of them a notebook with best loved "home cooking" but they will also need a basic cookbook and such things. When fellow food lover Siggy sent me a link to Start Cooking blog the timing seemed perfect. This is a wonderful resource for those exploring the world of cooking for the first time, with videos, printable "recipe cards" and more. Check it out.

Hunger in Burma

Problem is, they already were hungry. I remember years ago meeting a young man named Etan employed at a restaurant in the tourist town of Kyaiktiyo. He worked seven days a week to earn $7 a month. He slept in the restaurant dining room, “on that table, only one blanket and one pillow,” he said. He sent money home to help feed his mother and three sisters.

For Karen at Rambling Spoon the plight of the Burmese is not simply intellectual. She's been there and gives us a personal view.

Old Versus New: Middle Eastern Food

I have been reading Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon by Claudia Roden. It is fine as it goes with introductory pages for each country, sumptuous photography and exotic recipes. However, I was left cold as somehow I didn't feel Ms. Roden's personality shining through. If one wants a cookery manual, this is doubtless a fine one. However, I have come to demand more. (Yes, I know ... picky, picky, picky). Truth to tell, I am not so much interested in making Middle Eastern food as I am in reading about it. So that's a personal flaw as we can all see.

However, what that book did was make me go pick up my long-time favorite old edition of A Book of Middle Eastern Food.

I am reposting my review of it as compared to Ms. Roden's updated version which I believe that some visitors may not have seen as I wrote it some time ago. Bon appetit!

A Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden

The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden

The collection began fifteen years ago with a recipe for ful medames. I was a schoolgirl in Paris then. Every Sunday I was invited together with my brothers and a cousin to eat ful medames with some relatives. This meal became a ritual. Considered in Egypt to be a poor man's dish, in Paris the little brown beans became invested with all the glories and warmth of Cairo, our hometown, and the embodiment of all that for which we were homesick.

Our hosts lived in a one-room apartment, and were both working, so it was possible for them to prepare only with tinned ful. Ceremoniously, we sprinkled the beans with olive oil, squeezed a little lemon over them, seasoned them with salt and pepper, and placed a hot hard-boiled egg in their midst. Delicious ecstasy! Silently, we ate the beans, whole and firm at first; then we squashed them with our forks and combined their floury texture and slightly dull, earthy taste with the acid tang of lemon, mellowed by the olive oil; finally, we crumbled the egg, matching its earthiness with that of the beans, its pale warm yellow with their dull brown.

I always have loved A Book of Middle Eastern Food even though I have never cooked anything out of it. My affection stemmed from the fact that it has qualities no long found in most cook books. Roden is passionate about the food of the Middle East and writes with a charm and enthusiasm that is infectious. Throughout are stories of her life growing up and old folk tales from the region. Although the writing styles are very different, this book makes me think of M.F.K. Fisher's which have a connection to times past and human experience.

I have known for some time about the updated version but didn't become curious about it until recently. For one thing, I wasn't cooking from this book, which is perhaps all to the good as many of the Amazon reviews of this older edition are not very happy with recipe quality.

After reading the updated book I am sure that the recipes probably are more accurate and better written. However, much of the charm is gone. Roden herself admits that, upon rereading the original, she was embarrassed at the youth and passion which poured out of it. It is all too obvious where her prosaic, modern voice is inserted and many of the stories that flowed naturally in the original are now broken out into boxes which I thought broke up the book in a choppy manner.

I am happy enough to go to local restaurants for Middle Eastern food. If you want to make it yourself I am sure the new book is the best bet. I will stick with the original, however, and the passionate voice of Roden's youth.

A "Pick Your Own" Resource

I am going to have fun investigating the Pick Your Own website from the Texas Department of Agriculture. There is nothing like picking your own blueberries for some reason.

The Dallas Morning News had a little story on it (and some other links are in there for different resources) and I haven't thought about picking berries in years.

How to Remove Most of the Seeds When Cutting Up a Watermelon

Here's the first step ... for all the others go to DIY ... this is brilliant!

Living, Loving, Losing ... and Cooking

Comfort Food: a novel by Kate Jacobs

"I am actually a very nice person when someone takes the time to get to know me," huffed Aimee. "I just have a lot of responsibilities."

"The UN stuff," said Carmen.

"Among other things," said Aimee. "But that's how I know Spain produces 36 percent of the world's olive oil. I work in trade and development," she explained.

"Very good," said Carmen. "You may just be the smart one out of this bunch of idiotas."

"I speak Spanish too."

"¿Ahora si entiendas lo que digo?"

"Yeah, I hear what you mutter in the kitchen," said Aimee. "Like when you called my mother a--"

Carmen held up her hand to stop her from speaking.

"It's unexpected," admitted Aimee. "You swear like a sailor."

"Well, what do you expect," said Carmen. "I spent years in beauty pageant dressing rooms."

Aimee's mother is Gus [Augusta] Simpson who, after she was unexpectedly widowed years ago, turned her cooking into a career. First owning a restaurant and then with a long running cooking show. Gus is a problem solver who not only strives to have her life go perfectly but also engages in well-meaning meddling in her two daughters' lives. They are not appreciative as one might expect. Gus's world comes crashing down when her ratings take a disastrous dive. Deemed to "old school" and boring, she has Carmen thrust upon her as a co-host. Carmen is a former Miss Spain whose claim to cooking fame is a short YouTube cooking video. Not only that, but most of Gus's immediate family and friends, who are most emphatically noncooks, wind up on her new show which is done live. This is outside everyone's comfort zone and leads to all sorts of complications, most of which Gus cannot fix, naturally.

I am not a fan of chick-lit which is what this could be deemed, however, this book was captivating enough to make it very difficult to put down. Part of the charm is that it is told from many points of view. As the perspective changes, we also see that the myriad misunderstandings and misinterpretations that have been foisted upon us by the previous narrator's insecurities or flawed vision. No one in this book is a villain or truly malicious but there are enough actions prompted by these misconceptions of everyone's motivations that the plot is soon taking gentle twists and turns which intrigue us.

I defy anyone not to take a delicious enjoyment of the "team building" weekend to which the ranking network executive subjects everyone. It is hilarious while simultaneously breaking everyone out of their regular routines enough to move along their development as people. Add to that the liberal sprinkling of cooking throughout and one has truly enjoyable light summer reading will be perfect for vacation. In fact, I have already lent my copy to a friend for that very purpose. (I must add that a special relief to me was that the author kept the occasional sexual liaisons to a minimum, appropriate to the characters' motivations, and mercifully without detailed descriptions.)

I enjoyed this so much that I will be looking into Ms. Jacob's previous book, The Friday Night Knitting Club.

Fine Art: A Glass of Rioja

A Glass of Rioja by Edward B. Gordon

Click through on the title to see more of his work.

Now Serving Hot LInks ...

The Lost Ravioli of Hoboken
Tea and Cookies gives a great review. This already was on my reading list after hearing an interview with the author but reading Tea's subsequent venture into ravioli making is the icing on the cake ... now I must get that book!

It's Too Darned Hot
Barbara at Tigers & Strawberries has some very good observations on the recent trend to broadcast celebrity chefs swearing like sailors. Be sure to click through to the NY Times story that prompted her thoughts on the subject.

Cooking for Pope Benedict

I have a school friend in Italy who designs ceramic tiles and plates. I called and asked if he could do this in time. He said he could, so I flew to Minori, Italy, my birthplace. I told him I needed a 12-inch plate with the Vatican logo in the center. At the same time I wanted to create something that showed my dedication to my Catholic upbringing and my cultural background. So I decided each plate would be hand-painted with the logo in the center surrounded by a traditional blue ornate leafy floral border, characteristic of my region. Inscribed on the back of each plate are the following words: "On occasion of the 81st birthday of His Holiness Benedetto XVI, Apostolic Nunciature, Washington, D.C., April 16, 2008." There were 24 plates, all individually crafted. The pontiff's plate was larger, about 16 inches, and was decorated with a gold and blue leafy floral design.

Franco Nuschese hosted the Pope's birthday lunch for the Apostolic Nunciature. Think he was excited about it? That wasn't the only set of plates he had designed. Check it out. Via The Anchoress.

Mouth Wide Open by John Thorne ...

... begun over at Forgotten Classics where you'll also find loads of cooking links and a podcast highlight for Baba the Storyteller. Enjoy!

Cooking the Books

You know this is not an everyday book club when the moderator announces ground rules for the gathering:

1.Wash your hands.

2.Don't throw knives.

Dallas Morning News

Clearly it's a trend ... book clubs where you read and then get together to cook the recipes. There is the story linked to above from our newspaper and now I see this story about a similar thing from the blog at Parties That Cook.

I never really stopped to think about how many sorts of books feature food and sometimes recipes until reading these articles. Also, it cracked me up thinking of how many errors the book club cooks have found ...

Sorry I Missed You; Back Soon!

On the road to visit my parents ... with limited internet access.
Emails and comments will be answered, just not very quickly.