I finally learn how to make pizza

I went with a friend to a bread baking class at NYC's Le Pain Quotidien. It was a blast. Not only did I learn how to make amazing bread, but I came home with (at least) ten pounds worth of fresh baked bread- baguettes, walnut and raisin batards, rolls, rolls with chocolate inside (!) and a big batch of dough to use the following day. At the end of the class, we each made a personal pizza. (The picture above is an iphone shot from the end of class.)

Despite the fact that I've been making pizzas for years, I never really knew how to do it.

Here today, I'm happy to share with you the tips I learned so you too can join me in never having to go to the slice shop again. Here's another great opportunity to get the kids involved. From start to finish, they'll love making the dough, putting on the toppings and watching the magic happen. Hey, you might even be adventurous and make two pizzas- one plain and one with a challenge ingredient for them to try. For me, my topping was sauteed beet greens with garlic. Oh, and a little pesto which they've grown accustomed to trying and liking now.

You'll be so proud of yourself when your done- trust me, it's worth it.

Pizza

*You will need a pizza stone for this recipe.

There are many basic pizza dough recipes out there. The one from class was measured in grams, so for the sake of everyone here not using a scale, I'd refer you to this one from Bon Appetit, conveniently located here following all directions except for the end where it says to "roll out the dough".

Before you get started with forming your dough into a pizza shape, put your pizza stone on the bottom rack of your oven. Heat the oven to as hot as it will go- mine goes to 500, but maybe yours goes higher. It should heat for at least a half hour.

Now for your dough.

Punch it down, take it out and put it on a work surface. Flatten it out with your hand.

Walk away. Seriously. If you try to stretch it out now, it will just bounce right back on you. Go pour yourself a drink. Come back in 15 minutes.

Now form your dough into a pizza shape. The easiest way is to pick up your dough and hold just the outside edge of it, turning the dough quickly in your hands, letting the dough stretch out naturally as you go around.

As my instructor said, "Only focus on the outside of the dough. Gravity will do the rest."

Keep turning until your dough is very, very thin- you may be able to almost see through parts. (This is where I made my mistake before- my dough was way too thick.)

Cut a piece of parchment so that it is no bigger than your stone. Place your somewhat circular dough on it. Spread on your toppings (don't overload.)

When your pizza is nicely decorated, pick it up by the parchment and put it on your stone. You can leave the parchment underneath. It will brown somewhat, but that's OK. (This tip was great, as sliding a pizza full of toppings onto a hot stone was just too difficult for me to deal with before.)

In about 10 minutes, check your pizza- does it look like it would look at the pizza shop? If not, give it a little more time. If it's nice and bubbly and slightly brown, take it out and enjoy!

I'm not like other folks

I decided to treat myself. Give myself a night off of family dinner. Make their night by giving them mac and cheese and since Don was having a late night, I would make a dinner all for myself.

The luxury.

Did I make a nice filet? Perhaps a some arctic char over sauteed spinach? Chicken Piccata??

No. You know what gets me excited? Salad. I made the biggest, most ridiculous salad one could eat. It had everything I picked up from the CSA that day in it: greens, peppers, scallions, cucumbers, sauteed zucchini, radishes (yes, still getting them), radish greens and I topped it off with some sauteed shrimp.

This is how I am. I'm a weirdo. I was kind of hoping somewhere after becoming a grownup and having children that my kids would follow suit. That they would get as excited by a freshly picked vegetable as I do. That they would marvel over the new baby tomatoes growing outside in pots on my deck. That they would rush to the kitchen in anticipation of the possible array of color on their plates.

No such luck. Imagine my horror when Jack, age 9 months, when presented with a plate with Cheerios, carrots and peas, decided on his own to push the carrots and peas off of his plate. My future futile attempts resulted in the same behavior. I swear I gave him lots and lots of opportunities only to end up with him having a belly full of anything but vegetables.

I'm bringing this up to alleviate some of the guilt that parents feel about food. Kids bring to the table their own sets of desires, opinions and feelings about what they eat. We can only present them with opportunities and hope for the best. I'm not going to stage a battle over food as I know this creates other issues. But I am making the effort to give them the chance to taste something new- over and over and over again.

And you know what? This past week, both my kids ate cucumbers. And last night, they even asked for them. So it works. Keep putting it in front of them and see what happens. Maybe nothing will. But maybe you will be surprised and they might try something they never tried before.

And finally, after weeks and weeks of radishes- I leave you with a recipe. This is my favorite recipe so far (and also the easiest):

Sauteed Radishes
Cut radishes into quarters. Heat a lob of butter in a pan. Throw in your radishes and saute until crispy. Sprinkle with salt. If you want to really be crazy, sprinkle a little balsamic vinegar over them at the end.

Even if you think you don't like radishes, this may change your mind. Be an example and try it for the first time in front of your kids. It's good for them to know you go through the same things, too.

Presentation is Everything: I Serve Salad For Dinner Shanghai Chicken Salad and Zucchini Chips

We're talking baby steps here.

But first, a little background.

About nine months ago, I embarked on a mission- to have my kids eat more than what one would find on a kids menu. It has been a painfully slow process. Maybe, just maybe they incorporate a new food into their repertoire every 2 months. I'm not kidding. But I still put it in front of them. I ask them to put it on their fork. If there's a green light there, I ask them to take a lick. And maybe I get so lucky that they even take a bite. One bite.

In nine months, we took the slow ride from frozen chicken nugget to homemade chicken nugget (which became acceptable after the fourth or fifth time), to chicken without breading (the horror!)

And before anyone calls child protective services on me, please know that my kids do not starve. I will always serve something on the side- sliced bread, fruit, milk, something so I know there is at least some kind of sustenance in their belly before bed. And honestly, if not they'll make up for it by eating three bowls of Cheerios in the morning and even out the score.

There really has been success. I'm telling you that I have gone from a person who would never, NEVER think to put anything besides white food and a banana in front of my kids to serving this up for last night's dinner: Shanghai Chicken Salad and Zucchini Chips.

Now, I know you have noticed that our plates do not look the same. But they have the very same foods, just presented in a slightly more palatable way. I'm not one of those moms who cuts my kids sandwiches into little dinosaurs with cookie cutters- too much work- but this I can manage. It's one dinner with a kid-friendly twist.

Shanghai Chicken Salad
America's Test Kitchen, The Best Simple Recipes

1/2 cup rice vinegar
3 T soy sauce
1/3 cup hoisin
1/4 cup sesame oil
1 T plus 1 1/2 t, grated ginger
4 chicken breasts
1/2 napa cabbage, sliced thin
1 red pepper, seeded, sliced thin
1 bunch scallions, sliced thin
1 cup chow mein noodles

Whisk vinegar, 3 T soy, hoisin, sesame oil and ginger in a bowl. Place chicken in Dutch oven and pout 1/2 cup of vinegar mixture over it. Add remaining soy sauce and 3 cups water. Bring to a boil over high heat, cover, put on low and simmer until cooked through- 7-10 minutes.

Transfer chicken to a plate, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool. Shred.

Put chicken in a bowl, toss with 2 T of vinegar mixture, then add salt and pepper, cabbage, pepper, scallions, remaining vinegar and toss. Sprinkle with chow mein noodles.

Zucchini Chips
myrecipes.com

Combine 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup parmesa, salt, 1/4 t. garlic powder, salt and pepper in a bowl. Put a few T of milk in another bowl. dunk zucchini slices into milk, then into breading and place on a pan with a wire rack. Spray with cooking spray bake in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes.

The Chicken Train

I'm not sure when it happened, but somewhere in the middle of 2005, I stopped being cool.

A tired mom with a new baby, somehow things just fell by the wayside.

Like matching. And makeup. And proper hygiene.

Since then, there have been improvements. I actually shower on a semi-regular basis now and most of the time I have looked in the mirror before I leave the house. But then there are other things which are just not as important anymore.

In an effort to get my kids to eat more than the regulars (grilled cheese, mac and cheese, ravioli, yogurt, cheerios and fruit), I've needed to think outside the box.

Which is where The Chicken Train comes in. If you have tried my previous strategies: getting the kids to cook with you, limiting choices, and making the food taste like candy, then perhaps you are ready for the next trick. You'll need to leave every ounce of coolness behind because you're about to make a total fool of yourself. Just embrace it.

It goes like this:

You're kid decides whatever you have made for dinner (in this case, chicken) is gross without even trying it. Stand up, get your groove on and start rapping (while, of course, inserting your own child's name in):

"Is Jackie on that chicken train? Chicken train! Chicken train! Who's gonna ride that train? Is Jackie? (Yes!) Is Jackie? (Yes!)
Whoooo- Whoooo, on the chicken train. Whoo-whooo, on the chicken train...."

The more ridiculous the better. I'm telling you- they laugh, they clap, and yes, they try a bite.

Works like a charm. Just leave the coolness at the door.

Below is the latest recipe I tried this on and both my kids got on the sausage train. A first.

Sausage and Broccoli Fettucine
adapted from America's Test Kitchen, The Best Simple Recipes

a few tablespoons olive oil
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
5 garlic cloves, sliced thin
1 pound fettucine
1 bunch broccoli, trimmed
grated parmesan

Boil water in a large pot for the noodles. Heat the oil in a large skillet and cook sausage until browned, breaking it into pieces as you cook. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds.

Boil pasta and add broccoli during last 3 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup of cooking liquid and drain. Return to the pot. Add cheese, sausage and toss. Add pasta water as needed. Season with salt and pepper.

What The Heck Are Quelites? And Other Questions Such As, How Will I Get My Kids To Eat It?

This past week, in my email box was a list of items to expect in this weeks CSA delivery. We were getting more lettuce, more scallions and leeks, parsley, more garlic scapes, more (eh hem) radishes, and the kicker of the week: quelites.

Yeah, I didn't know what they were either. So of course, I turned to my friend the internet to help me out. That search lead me to a trusted source- Deborah Madison. On her site, I learned that I could use them in any way that I would use spinach. And let's not forget, I'm also trying to get this on the plates of my kids. And it's green. I realize I had some success with the pesto the other day, but I don't want to press my luck. So this is where a previously posted recipe comes in. Since it's been a while since we've all seen it, I'm going to give it to you again. And since it basically makes challenge food taste like candy, I think it's worth it. You may recall this recipe because it is, indeed, the one recipe that got my son to eat shrimp and like it. So there you go- proof that it's worth a shot.

Shrimp with Greens and Hoisin

adapted from Bon Appetit, October 2004

3/4 cup orange juice

2 T hoisin sauce

2 t minced ginger

about 20 or so shrimp (I buy them frozen, peeled and deveined)

1 T coriander

sesame oil

a big bunch of greens- spinach, bok choy, chard...

cooked rice

Mix together the orange juice, hoisin, and ginger in a small bowl. Dry off your defrosted shrimp and sprinkle with coriander. Heat a few tablespoons of sesame oil in a pan and cook your shrimp until pink. Transfer the shrimp to a plate. Add the greens and a tablespoon or two of water to your pan and cook until wilted. Place cooked rice on each plate and divide the greens equally and top with your shrimp. Add the hoisin mixture to your pan and reduce until about 1/3 cup- just a few minutes. Drizzle the sauce liberally over your plates.

Picky Eater Trick: Get the Kids Involved

I know you've heard this advice before. So had I. And I didn't believe that getting my kids involved would change anything. But I swear to you this happened.

Ben: What's for dinner tonight?

Me: Noodles. (Sometimes the less information the better.)

Ben: With what?

Me: Pesto Sauce.

Ben: NO!!!!! I. HATE. SAUCE!!!! NO!!!! (Crying begins.) PLEASE! NO! ONLY NOODLES!! NO!! SAUCE!!!

Me: (Deep breathing begins.) Ben, I promise you, it will be yummy.

Ben: NO!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

Me: (Think quick, mom!) OK. Listen, why don't you come out onto the deck with me and help me. I need to pick the basil leaves to make the pesto.

What happens from there is that my two boys pick (way too) many leaves of basil. They roll garlic in the (fancy!!) silicone garlic peeler (what fun!), they throw handfuls of things into the food processor (two points!!) They press the button and watch it get "torn into shreds!!" (think super-hero voice.) And pesto was made.

I put it over the noodles and they taste one bite. One boy ate one bite. Success. One boy ate three bowls. The very same boy that was having the tantrum earlier.

I'm shocked. I'm thrilled. I'm most certainly going to try this again.

After dinner, I say, "So, how about if I were to put pesto on chicken, would that be good?"

I got an enthusiastic yes.

Simple Pesto Recipe

- a few handfuls of basil leaves

- two or so cloves of garlic

- a few tablespoons of pine nuts, briefly toasted in a dry pan on the stove (as soon as they start to look a bit brown, take them off the heat)

- a few glugs of olive oil

-parmesan cheese

-salt and pepper

In a food processor, throw in your basil, garlic and pine nuts. Whir until finely chopped. With the machine running, slowly pour in olive oil until is makes a nice smooth sauce. Put pesto into a bowl. Mix in a few shakes of salt and pepper and grate in half a cup or so of parmesan. Mix to combine. Use immediately over your noodles with a little pasta water and if not using, freeze.

The Radish Cliffhanger

I ended up choosing Food52's recipe for Sauteed Radishes with Mint. The verdict?

Well...

Let me first get something straight. The name of this blog is 17 Bites. Not 17 Bites of Something Unfamiliar at One Sitting. But instead, 17 Bites Over the Course of However Long It Takes to Get the Kids to Eventually, Maybe, Tolerate It, Perhaps Even Like It. (That title was, of course, too long for this blog, so I opted for the much simpler, 17 Bites. You're welcome.)

Considering this was bite #1, I'm going to call it a success. Not because my family scarfed down a plate full of them, but because they took, and this is important, one bite.

You know, that whole "one small step for man" kind of thing? That's what I'm going for here. I'm hoping that this is the first step in just seeing it and tasting it and maybe next time it will be a little less intimidating.

They also get stickers.

I know, I know, technically this is a bribe. But I feel satisfaction in knowing I'm not using sweets to get them over the hump. I'm not creating a situation where they are eating the yucky stuff only to get to the good stuff. But I do feel they need something. And believe me, I've tried the approach of oooh-ing and ahhh-ing over a food to show them how delicious it is (think, a When Harry Met Sally kind of performance, but a PG kind) with no success. I mean, these are radishes for crying out loud. Even my husband looked as if he needed a sticker.

The definition of success with this process needs to be scaled back. I know this is going to take forever and luckily, I have forever to get there. All I ask is that one bite. That happens and I know the next one will be easier. And the next one. And the next one.

And lucky me, Tuesday's CSA pickup included not one, but two (!) more bunches of radishes. So radish fans, please share the love with your favorite recipes.