fri five fave food finds & calzone

The only thing that beats leftover pizza for breakfast; leftover calzone.

Jeff has become quite the master of these fun pockets of goodness. He is in charge of assembly, and takes it very seriously. However, sometimes he is overzealous, and creates monstrous calzones. So, we are often fortunate enough to enjoy some the next day.

There are two secrets: 1. The dough. 2. A hot oven.  

The dough: (start pre-heating the oven, see below) 1 1/4 cups of warm water 1 1/2 tsp traditional yeast 1 tbsp honey 2 3/4 cups flour 1 tsp salt 2 tsp olive oil Make sure the water is warm, but not too warm (read yeast package directions). Dissolve the honey, and then stir in the yeast. Leave it 10-15 minutes. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt and olive oil.

Once the yeast is activated, combine everything together in the bowl. Knead it, if you feel like it. If you're not grumpy or stressed, just do it a little. (a hardly noticeable difference, unbelievable, I know) Cover the bowl with a towel, and let the dough rise 45min to 1 hour. Knead again. Divide the dough into 3 sections. Use a lot of flour, and shape the dough into a circle. Leaving the edge clean, smother your favourite sauce over the dough.

On half of the dough, place your favourite toppings (capicollo, genoa salami, mortadella, buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil, etc.). Fold over the other half, and crimp the edges together. The dough makes gorgeous pizzas too. Plain pizzas are irresistible snacks when dipped into olive oil and sea salt.
 
The heat: Place a pizza stone in the oven. Heat the oven as hot as it will go, and continue to pre-heat for one hour before baking any calzone's or pizza's.
 
Convection is better; pre-heat on 550 fahrenheit on convection. Turn the convection off before placing the pizza or calzone in the oven. Pizza's take 6-8 minutes. Calzone's take 10-12 minutes. Mangia!
 
Onto the food finds, with a seasonal twist:

1. Pomegranate jam: Cafe Fernando has absolutely stunning photos of this jewel-toned jam, but do check out the recipe.

2. Flagrante Delicia: Forget dessert, I want the Chocolate tagliatelle with chocolate sauce for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A very sweet blog, literally and figuratively.

3. Gourmet's Favorite Cookie Recipes: Gourmet Magazine's favourite cookie recipes from every year from 1941-2008. Holiday baking here I come!

4. Decadent Pumpkin Torte: I am a pumpkin addict, so I can't think of anything much better than this creamy dessert. If you haven't visited Canary Girl's site yet, do check it out. Her recipe's are fabulous, and her humorous writing style is fun too.

5. Roasted Butternut Squash Farro Salad: A delicious combination of everything the season has to offer, in a healthful, and flavourful dish. Delightful! More hot chocolate to come soon.
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brilliantly beautiful burrata; grilled radicchio burrata bundles

You would assume that since burrata is an Italian cheese, and relatively unknown, that I would have first savoured its indulgences in a tiny hilltop village somewhere in Italy. This is where Burrata would normally be found, and that's only if you're lucky enough to find someone willing to share it. When I asked my Italian hairdresser if I could get any in Calgary, it became conclusive to him that I am certifiably nuts. Not only was he speechless, but a little concerned that I might actually make some kind of pilgrimage to Italy, and then along a scarily narrow goat path, to find some of this good stuff. Burrata has to be one of the milkiest cheeses I've ever found. It isn't rich and creamy like a brie or camembert, but more like fresh wholesome milk which is sweet and delicate. If you taste particularly carefully, there is the taste of farm; of wide pastures, and fragrant flowers. Mostly though, you're in it for the texture. While fresh mozzarella should be tender, not tough, this isn't always the case; burrata is like the most tender mozzarella imaginable, it's virtually spreadable. Burrata has to be fresh, it has a shelf life of only three weeks - that's from cow to disposal. It's practically still mooing. No wonder this stuff is hard to find, who would be willing to schlep this stuff around, since it spoils so quickly? It surely couldn't be much of a money making venture, but more of a labour of love. Lucky for Americans, La Gioia, in California makes burrata, and it's good stuff. Jeff and I enjoyed it during a particularly memorable meal at Lark, in Seattle, and became obsessed with being able to find it in Canada. Two years later, we only just recently found some at the South Italian Centre in Edmonton. Unfortunately, the burrata was already old, and quite bitter. I should also add that Edmonton is at least three hours away, and not at all convenient just for cheese, but closer than Italy. Now I do find it hard to justify the cost and environmental impact that importing food halfway around the world, and I do make an effort to buy foods from as many local producers as I can. However, I do also find that there is only so much cheddar, canola oil, and venison I can take. But upon rare occasion, a luxurious, but simple, burrata is alright. At least, the original maker of the cheese had to have some knowledge and skills to be able to make it, and it could likely only come from a fairly small farmer. At least it isn't mass-produced, and maybe one day someone will make it closer to my home. In the least, I try to reflect upon where my food actually came from, and recognize that can perhaps do better in other areas to compensate as much as possible, even when it seems impossible. After extensive inquiring in Calgary, we found that Bite Groceteria, in Inglewood, was bringing in some burrata, and called me straight away. And the burrata is wonderful. Perhaps the best I've ever had, and yes, I did venture to enjoy it in Italy (twice), although without meandering down a goat path. Burrata is best served at room temperature, or just above. Like any exquisite ingredient, it doesn't require any fancy preparation other than maybe to be served with sliced bread. Anything much else, would waste the burrata's naturally goopy texture. Although, I did want to prepare something with the burrata, plus I had some radicchio and prosciutto in the fridge. Using, just a little bit of burrata (so I could save some to eat and enjoy the beauty of the burrata itself) I created little bundles of goodness by wrapping a little prosciutto, and some cheese in a leaf of radicchio. Jeff grilled them for a short time, trying to prevent the radicchio from burning, and only warming the cheese, being careful to keep it from liquefying. A little balsamic at the table, just helps to counter the richness of the burrata, and the bitterness of the radicchio. These are tasty, and a little like receiving a surprise gift; just what is inside? It is a little playful. I had made something similar with a fresh mozzarella, and that can also be very good, especially for entertaining friends. Grilled Radicchio Burrata Bundles serves 4-8 as appetizers 1 head radicchio, yielding 8 leaves 4 slices prosciutto di Parma 1 ball burrata best-quality aged balsamic vinegar, or a balsamic reduction *(take less expensive stuff and boil off the water) sharp toothpicks 1. Pre-heat the grill. 2. Using a paring knife, carefully remove the core of the radicchio head. Delicately separate the leaves of the radicchio, with as few tears as possible. 3. Tear each slice of prosciutto in half, and place each slice inside each cup of each leaf of radicchio. Add a tablespoon of burrata on each piece of prosciutto. 4. With a toothpick in hand, gently roll the top and bottom sections of the radicchio towards the middle. Then fold the sides over the middle, and secure with a toothpick (or two), minding that it doesn't completely go through the other side of the package. 5. Grill just until the leaves on top start to turn colour, the idea being that the cheese needs to be warmed up, and the radicchio just gains a slight essence of the grill. 6. Serve immediately with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
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Oooey gooey mozzarella

Buffalo mozzarella is an Italian treasure - or is it? I had intended to start off writing that these gems might no longer grace the deli's at Italian grocery stores, or fortunate recipients in North America. However, it seems that there could be some dioxin contaminants, which are potentially cancer causing, and which were found in several samples of buffalo mozzarella from Campania. A recent NYTimes article, would lead you to believe that the odds are perhaps unlikely you would come in contact with these dioxins if you were to buy buffalo mozzarella. But who knows.

This potentially doesn't look good for Obika, initially a Roman mozzarella bar, which has also recently opened in Milan, London, and is soon to be open in NYC, Kuwait City, and Torino. This bad press is like mad cow disease for a steak house. The website for Obika is also not it's normal self - is this because of the buffalo mozzarella problems? I am not sure, but hopefully the situation gets better before it becomes any worse.

The fascinating thing about Obika is that at first glance you think mozzarella is the only thing of importance, when in fact many Italian specialties are highlighted. Culatello from Zibello, and prosciutto di parma are already a good start. I was really excited to check out Obika this past summer, and I think the concept is great especially...for curious time-crunched tourists. Lucky for us, Roma was on the tail-end of the trip, and we had already been to many of the regions with specialties highlighted at Obika. We had already sampled some of the best products that these areas have to offer. That being said, Obika is still a great place to check out many unique items without going to the grocery store, or traveling all over Italy....

I had a spritz and Jeff had a Peroni. We ordered burrata which came with a spicy sausage (right), and three balls of mozzarella (left). These mozzarella's were described to us as one which was a little sweet, one which was pretty standard, and a smoked mozzarella. The "sweet" one was my favourite, but I have to say that the smoked mozzarella was incredibly unique, unlike anything I had tasted before. Jeff describes it as a "dry-wet cheese with no hickory flavour or anything, but just like campfire smoke."

Burrata (below) is like the creamiest goo, you ever wish mozzarella could be. There were also accompanying breads, oils, and vinegars which were great - especially for the leftover greens. Really yummy cherry tomatoes too!

As you can see, the interior design is quite modern, and in a very different style than most of the other restaurants we enjoyed on this trip.
I really sincerely hope that the fears created by this media monster are mostly just that - some isolated pieces of cheese somewhere which have probably already been destroyed. The article seems to be quite vague, and not entirely specific. ie. "While the exact cause of the contamination has not yet been established, they said the producers with elevated levels of dioxin in their milk were few and that none belonged to the consortium that receives the Protected Designation of Origin quality seal from the European Union. The protected region, they noted, is big, and much of it is far from illegal trash." This actually sounds quite promising.

I have never regretted eating a single morsel of calorific-cheese, or any food, made by real people with real ingredients....or what I perceived to be real food by real people. Now should everything be "certified organic" for me to eat it? Perhaps, but what is really organic anyways? You can't change the air of the world, or have perfect water either. (although I do buy many "organic" and local products because they just simply taste better) This makes me think that now even ingredient listings are not doing anyone justice. Sad as it is, perceived threats or not, we all need to keep examining the sources of our foods, as well as the media-hype regarding these issues, which may or may not be exaggerated. I'm still confident that there are "worse" foods to eat, with far dire consequences....we're not talking about excessive consumption of generic burgers from cardboard boxes, but artisanal cheese. I think I'll fore go the media hype until there are more facts. This cheese is really good stuff! In the meantime, I'll just drink more green tea, and hope that there are not excessive dioxins in that!

And I'll hope that places like Obika, can make it through this media onslaught, and the ensuing multiple bans many countries have created against the import of the cheese. Not everything can be contaminated, or we're all pretty much screwed anyways.
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