If you say the word “escarole” Mr. B’s face lights up like a kid running loose in the cereal aisle. His love for this uncommon leafy green harkens back to his days living alone as a bachelor in downtown Chicago. Winters in the Windy City were frequently long, cold, and dark. Lacking a wonderful wife to cook him braised short-ribs, minestrone, or a roasted lemon chicken, he ordered up his comfort in the form of a white bean and escarole soup from Salerno’s. They even delivered.

Years later, when we were dating, it began to look as if he might be eating dinner with me for the rest of his life. Mr. B decided “we” should learn how to make a white bean and escarole soup. At the time I was delighted that he wanted to tackle another project in the kitchen and curious to try a new vegetable. Now, wiser to his ways, I realize he wanted to ensure he could still get his favorite soup whenever the weather called for comfort. Luckily I fell in love with both Mr. B and his white bean and escarole soup.

The clean lemony broth is at once comforting and refreshing. Adding escarole at the very end of the cooking process lets it wilt slightly while still maintaining a pleasing bite. To make a vegetarian version just substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock. A healthy soup, this is an excellent light dinner for busy weeknights. Including prep time, the whole recipe comes together in less than an hour- almost as fast as take-out! With a pillowy mound of freshly grated Parmesan melting on top this is a bowl of comfort that you will ‘order up’ whenever possible.

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the Udon Chicken Soup post for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Penzey’s. Only two days left to enter!

This past Saturday was Open That Bottle Night 2009. In case you haven’t heard of this festive occasion, it is a made up holiday started 10 years ago by wine writers John Brecher and Dorothy Gaiter, a husband and wife team who write for the Wall Street Journal. (Their column, Tastings, is available online for free every Friday and has some of the most reliable and approachable wine advice out there.) John and Dorothy started this holiday to encourage people to open “that” bottle – the bottle you could never find a reason or occasion special enough to open. Since our wine drinking/buying is still in its infancy, we didn’t have any “occasion” wine waiting for this night. Instead we decided to celebrate in spirit by cooking up a large Italian meal and watching The Godfather (It was my first viewing – what took me so long?!)

Breading the Chicken Thighs

Preparing the Chicken and Sauce

Marsala Chicken
Adapted from Northern Italian Cooking by Biba Caggiano
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs chicken thighs (boneless, skinless)
2 eggs
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup dry unflavored plain bread crumbs
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 sweet onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup butter plus 3 Tablespoons, divided
3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 1/2 cups dry Marsala wine

Directions:
Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Beat eggs with salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Combine breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese in a small bowl. Spread crumb mixture on aluminum foil in a long line. Dip chicken breasts in beaten eggs, then coat with bread crumb mixture. Press mixture onto chicken with the palms of your hands. Let coated chicken stand 10 – 15 minutes.

While the chicken is resting, melt 3 tablespoons butter with 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large heavy skillet. When butter foams, add mushrooms and onions. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the mushrooms have released their liquid and the onions are beginning to caramelize. Remove onions and mushrooms from pan and set aside.

Add remaining butter and oil to the skillet. When the butter foams, add in chicken, taking care not to crowd the pan. Cook over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until chicken has a light-golden crust. Remove chicken from pan, and turn off heat. Add Marsala to skillet. Turn heat back on to medium, and use a whisk to deglaze the pan by scraping up any residue on the bottom of the skillet. Return chicken, mushrooms, and onions to the pan. Cover skillet and reduce heat. Simmer 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken is tender. Turn chicken several times during cooking. If sauce looks too dry, add a little more Marsala.

When finished, place chicken on a plate and keep warm. Taste and adjust the sauce with salt or pepper as needed for seasoning. Arrange chicken on top of a small bed of capellini pasta then spoon sauce over the top. Serve immediately.

You know you might be living in the country if you don’t have pizza delivery. That’s right, dialing for dinner is a pipe dream around these parts. If we ever have kids they’ll have a lot to learn when they go to college!

To make up for our lack of ability to have pizza in under 30 minutes, I’ve developed a routine for making delicious pizza with minimal effort. Both Mr. B and I love this pizza and I end up making it about once a week during the winter. Now typically I’m a big proponent of making things from scratch, and one day I will develop a favorite recipe for homemade dough and sauce. However, this is weekday pizza- not weekend pizza. I don’t know about your weekdays but mine don’t include the time to make sauce and dough! (Yes, I realize I could make all of these things ahead of time and freeze them – I’m working on it!)

First I’ll share the breakdown of the routine I’ve developed to crank out great pizzas with minimal effort, and then I’ll list the recipe in a simplified fashion.

The Routine

1.) Start the night before – take pre-made dough, buffalo style mozzarella, and pepperoni out of the freezer. Place all in the fridge to thaw overnight. (Yes, I realize this totally kills the last minute aspect, but at least it gives me something to look forward to the next day!)

I buy lots of frozen pizza dough from the pizza counter whenever I’m in a Whole Foods. It keeps in the freezer sealed in plastic bags for months. You could also stop by a pizza restaurant that you really like and talk them into selling you dough. Whole Foods additionally carries high quality nitrate-free pepperoni, which can be frozen. Similarly I buy buffalo mozzarella in bulk at Costco whenever I can and freeze it. If you let it thaw for 24 hours in the fridge before using it works out beautifully.

2.) An hour before baking the pizza, turn the oven on to the hottest setting (mine is High Broil) and place a pizza stone on the lowest rack of oven. Let everything get nice and hot for at least an hour.

3.) At the same time you turn the oven on, take the pizza dough and mozzarella out of the fridge. Open the bag of dough to give it room to “grow” a bit. Let it sit out for about an hour before assembling the pizza.

4.) Liberally spread cornmeal on a pizza peel. The corn meal will act as little ball bearings that will roll your pizza from the peel onto the hot stone without sticking, so don’t skimp here!

5.) When you are ready to assemble the pizza, look at the dough. If it looks wet and sticky, toss a handful of flour into the bag and shake it a bit to coat. This will make it easier to handle the dough. Turn the bag inside out, to easily remove the dough, and then hold the dough in your hands. Turn the dough like you are turning a steering wheel in slow circles. Keep doing this until the dough has stretched out to the size of your pizza peel. Then carefully lay it on top of the cornmeal.

This method will create a thicker edge which will become a nice puffy crust in the oven. If you want to toss the pizza around in the air, be my guest. You can clean up the flour on the floor!

6.) Apply sauce (just use enough to create a thin layer or the pizza will be soggy!) and other ingredients ending with the mozzarella on top. Placing the mozzarella on top will allow it to brown nicely and will also help protect other ingredients from burning in the high heat of the oven. Go easy on the quantity of toppings. I always try to restrain myself and regret it if I use too many and end up with a soggy pizza.

7.) Open the oven and pull the rack out if you can. Place the edge of the pizza peel about two-thirds back on the pizza stone, and hold the peel at about a 45 degree angle to the stone. Start jerking the pizza peel sharply toward you to move the pizza off of the peel and onto the stone. If you can get the far edge of the dough onto the hot stone it will typically stick and make it easier to smoothly pull the peel out from the rest of the dough. Be brave here and don’t give up if the first few pizzas look rather misshapen. It took me a while to get the feel of this process.

8.) Quickly close up the oven and let it bake for about 6-10 minutes. Keep an eye on things to learn how hot your oven bakes. The pizza will be done when the outer crust is looking very well browned and the mozzarella is melted and mostly brown. Stick the peel underneath the pizza in a quick movement, and lift it off the stone to cool. Let the pizza cool for about 5-10 minutes before slicing and eating.

You can cook a second pizza immediately following the first one, however the crust will be slightly less chewy because the stone will not have had an hour to re-heat. I use a rimless cookie sheet to take the first pizza out of the oven if I have a second pizza on my peel ready to go. (My father says he has never noticed any difference in the second pizza, but I do!)

Weeknight Pizza
Serves 2-4
(Depends on the size of your appetite and if it’s all you are having for dinner!)

Ingredients:
1.5 lb pre-made pizza dough (thawed for 24 hours in fridge if previously frozen)
8 oz buffalo style mozzarella
3.5 oz quality pepperoni
1/2 cup pizza sauce (a non-chunky spaghetti sauce works in a pinch)
6 leaves fresh basil, thinly sliced

1/4 cup sun dried tomatos, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, thinly sliced
1, 4oz can sliced black olives
thinly sliced red onion (as much as you like)
1/4 cup artichoke hearts, chopped
Cornmeal

Special Equipment:
Pizza Stone
Pizza Peel

Directions: (Read The Routine above for more detailed directions)

Pre-heat oven at hottest setting for at least 60 minutes. Allow dough and cheese to sit at room temperature for 1 hour.

Spread cornmeal on pizza peel. Turn out dough until it reaches desired size. Place on pizza peel. Spread sauce evenly on pizza dough. Evenly distribute remaining ingredients, ending with the cheese.

Use peel to place pizza on hot stone and bake for 6-10 minutes until cheese and crust are well browned.

Remove from oven using peel and allow pizza to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Bacon and Egg Spaghetti