Holiday Highlights from MA's Kitchen

Our Christmas Pizzas

Though I haven't posted in a week, you can bet I've been in the kitchen and enjoying so many good things to eat that my mouth is watering just thinking about them all. Holiday cooking is never a one-person thing and special thanks goes to my family who helped in so many ways to keep the good things coming from the kitchen. As I write this, the kitchen and, in fact, the whole house and probably out into the driveway, are filled with the aroma of simmering turkey stock. Later today there will be a wonderful turkey soup to enjoy (followed by a post for those interested in how to make them). Now, back to the week that was.

Tapenades: Sun-dried tomato (left) and apricot fig (in bowl)

As usual, we did not get to eat all the appetizers we'd planned for Christmas Eve. That might have something to do with the delicious duo of tapenades we started with. One was sun-dried tomato and the other apricot fig. Both were made by my daughter Keeley. She put them on slices of baguettes with goat cheese, then popped them in the oven until the cheese melted slightly and everything was warmed through. Delicious! I've asked Keeley to share these recipes with me and we'll get them blogged here as soon as possible. I know you will enjoy them.

Prepping chicken and cream cheese roll-ups

Our family turkey dinner was on Boxing Day this year, which left Christmas dinner wide open for exploration. We choose to make homemade pizzas for our Christmas dinner. However, after an hour or so of unwrapping gifts we needed a little snack. It was Keeley to the kitchen to make chicken and cream cheese tortilla roll-ups. I think this was another online recipe that she added her own special touch to and I will be sure to ask her to share it here on the blog as well. They were so good we ate them all and followed it up with a little exercise: a walk with the dogs through the deep snow.

Building individual pizzas

Then it was Christmas pizza time. I made a double batch of fresh pizza dough, enough for eight individual pizzas. For toppings, there was a choice of caramelized onions, goat cheese, feta cheese, mozzarella cheese, spicy tomato sauce, two kinds of pepperoni, fresh tomato slices and fresh mushroom slices. Then  Keeley had the idea to use some of the left-over apricot fig tapenade as a pizza sauce. It went really well with the caramelized onions and goat cheese. We had a lot of fun building our individual Christmas pizzas and even more fun eating them.

On Boxing Day, we dined on a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Unfortunately, I was so involved in the preparation and totally enjoying the company of my family that I didn't take any blog-worthy photos.

Here's my recipe for a single batch of the pizza dough. It's an easy quick-rise dough and you can fit a double batch into the 4 1/2 quart bowl of a Kitchen Aid mixer for mixing and kneading, which makes it even easier. You can also change the taste by subbing one cup of whole wheat flour for one cup of all-purpose. It's Merry Pizza the whole year through!

MA’s Quick Rise Pizza Dough

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, divided into 1 ½ cups and 1 cup

1 tbsp quick-rise instant yeast

1 tsp salt

1 cup hot water (not boiling)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Oil, for oiling pans

Cornmeal, to sprinkle on pans

In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a Kitchen Aid mixer, combine 1 ½ cups of flour with yeast and salt.

Pour hot water and oil into flour mixture and mix well.

Mix in remaining flour to make a slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a ball or leave it in the Kitchen Aid mixer if you're using one.

On a lightly floured surface – or using the dough hook on the Kitchen Aid mixer, knead the dough for about five minutes or until smooth and elastic.

Cut dough in half; cover with a dampened tea towel and let rest for 10 minutes. To make the pizzas later, refrigerate the rounds of dough at this point. Bring to room temperature before rolling or stretching.

Meanwhile, lightly oil the pizza pans and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal.

Roll dough to desired thickness and transfer to pans, or place dough directly on pan and pat and stretch to desired shape and thickness.

Let rise for 15 minutes – a little longer if you are making a thick crust.

Add your favourite toppings.

Bake in 450º F. oven for 16 to 18 minutes.

Makes 2 thin crust pies or 1 thick crust pie.

Printable Recipe for MA's Quick Rise Pizza Dough

Pasta with an Oniony Sauce from the Slow Cooker

Pasta with Caramelized Onion, Feta and Italian Sausage

I think I buy more onions than I do any other single vegetable. Every time I make dinner it seems I am chopping onions for something. I am sure I am part of the reason that onions are the second most important horticultural crop after tomatoes. But I don't worry about how much onion I consume. It's said to be effective against many bacteria and even the World Health Organization supports the use of onions for the treatment of poor appetite and to prevent atherosclerosis.

Last spring I cut a recipe out of the newspaper for a slow cooker caramelized onion pasta. It was stuck to the fridge, forgotten until a few days ago when I was looking for something to do with the two bags of yellow onions I bought on sale. I won't share that recipe with you because I didn't have a spare container of creme fraiche or arugula in the kitchen to make it with. But I liked the idea of the recipe, so I tried making it with what I had on hand: spaghetti, some sweet Italian turkey sausages, goat's milk feta, and a jar of sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil. I think you could safely substitute any pasta or sausage and try another type of meltable salty cheese and get a good result. You can drain some of the olive oil from the tomatoes if you like. I didn't drain all of it when I added my tomatoes and I rather liked the creaminess of the dish.

This turned out to be very tasty. In fact, my husband said it was one of the best things I've ever made and was still raving about it the day after I made it. He's such a fan. I love him.

Here's my recipe.

Use processor to make quick work of onions

MA's Pasta with Caramelized Onion, Feta and Italian Sausage

3 lbs yellow onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb (or 6) Italian sausages, cut into 1” chunks
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
500 grams pasta
1 ½ cups feta cheese, drained, divided into 1 cup and ½ cup
fresh ground pepper

In a large slow cooker, place onions, olive oil, sausages and tomatoes. Cook on high for 5 ½ hours.

When onion mixture is cooked, prepare pasta according to package directions. Drain well.

Add pasta to onion mixture. Mix in 1 cup of the feta and season with pepper. 

Crumble remaining feta on top of each serving. 

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Printable Recipe for MA's Pasta with Caramelized Onions, Feta and Sausage