Almost two weeks into the new year and we finally saw some snow. So, I spent the entire weekend doing indoor activities (except for that one time I went out and shoveled the heavy wet perfect-for-snowman-making white stuff off of my driveway). Oh, and I did have to make a trip to the grocery store Sunday morning to pickup some missing ingredient items for the calzones I planned to make that afternoon.
The dough part of the recipe is actually found on page 176 and is called “Hearth Bread Pizza.” I use half of that recipe every time I make home-made pizza crust. This time I did the whole recipe, all six cups of flour, and opted to use my Kitchen-aid mixer with a dough hook until I got beyond the five cup range. I also did a full rise, not the no-rise option, which I usually do for thin crust pizza dough. Continue reading “Recipe Review: Calzones (4 stars)”
Over the last couple of months, I’ve enjoyed taking the brief jaunt down the street to partake of a different lunch selection from Accurso’s Italian Restaurant. Today marked my fourth return visit and the weather almost tempted me to request seating outside. If it had been Saturday, when the forecast suggests fall-like mid-70s temperatures, I would have requested a patio table. Playing it safe, I choose the cool environs found inside the restaurant. I am impressed by the design and decor found on the interior of Accurso’s and the jazz standards playing in the background provide a perfect ambience.
After being seated, my waiter, Scott, who has served me three out of four times during previous lunches, related the specials available. I passed on the specials because I did not want to be saddled with a take-home package of leftovers. I imagined huge portions from what he described and I prefer something lighter for lunch. He left me to review the lunch menu while he retrieve a drink for me.
Accurso’s $5 Lunch Menu keeps drawing me back to try something different each time. Previously, I’ve tried their Southern Italian thin crust seven-inch pizza (very tasty, but not as crisp as I prefer). I also liked the Spaghetti & Meatballs, adding a side salad with a house Balsalmic vinegrette for just a buck. During my most recent visit, a couple of weeks ago, I tried the Turkey Bacon Wrap which I really enjoyed.
Scott brought my water and saw I needed more time to decide and left me for a few more minutes. I wanted to try the Spinach salad, but the Pasta Diavolo distracted me. I wondered what their home-made diavolo sauce tasted like (I know what spinach tastes like). I did a quick search on my Nook Color, using Accurso’s complimentary wifi service, to see what the common ingredients were for a diavolo sauce. I didn’t see anything that I might not like (mainly cheesey or creamy stuff since I’m somewhat lactose intelerant). What I did find suggested some spiciness, which I’m always ready to try. When Scott returned to check on me, I placed an order for the Pasta Diavolo with a side salad (gotta have my greens and that Balsalmic vinegrette is really tasty).
Accurso’s Pasta Diavolo
I made it about two-thirds of the way through my salad when Scott brought the pasta dish to my table. I didn’t rush to finish, as I wanted to savor the salad.
The diavolo sauce looked creamy, appearing less red than I had hoped. I tentatively tried a couple of pennes and couldn’t detect any overwhelming cheese flavor. I did pick up a bit of spiciness, but mildly so, warming my stomach more than my tongue as I progressed through the dish. I finished most of the pasta, but not all of it. I prefer not to drown or smother my pasta with sauce, but that’s just a personal foible of mine. I left a few penne surfing on the diavolo sauce and declined Scott’s offer to box up the remainder for me to take home. I don’t think I’ll be re-ordering this lunch selection in the future. Not because it wasn’t well prepared and presented, but rather because I didn’t find it as appealing to my pallette as I wished it to be.
Next time, a week or so down the road, I plan to try the Spinach Salad.
My daughter continues providing meals to her father (and I benefit as well). One of her suggested menu items happened to be stromboli. She called her boyfriend last night for the recipe, but he had a bad day at work so supper at the Moss Home quickly became leftovers. Rachelle called me later while I was out at the grocery store picking up items for today’s return of the chicken pot pie. She needed French bread to make her stromboli. I told her I needed a minimum of three to four hours to make that type of bread. I asked her if I could make some French bread on Sunday afternoon so she could make the stromboli on Monday. She agreed and eventually left to spend the evening (and night) with friends.
Monday morning, I reviewed the stromboli recipe via the King Arthur Flour web site. I placed the ingredients for the dough in my bread machine and added time to the dough cycle so that the dough would be ready for Rachelle around 4:30 p.m. I went merrily off to work and called her at 3:00 p.m. to make sure the bread machine started on time and that the dough looked like it should. She told me it looked great and smelled wonderful.
Our Stromboli looked very much like this one (sorry, I forgot to take a photo of ours)
I got home at my regular time and the stromboli was already baking in the oven on parchment paper on the pizza stone. The house smelled glorious. Within a half hour, we took the baked stromboli out of the oven and let it rest and cool for ten to fifteen minutes. I sliced it while Rachelle heated up some marinara sauce. We each enjoyed at least two slices, if not three.
Later, after we’d stuffed ourselves, Rachelle realized she should have let the stromboli rise before baking it. Neither of us had thought about that and had not allowed for that second rise time in our evening dinner planning. Next time, we’ll definitely let the stromboli rise for at least a half hour or longer. This recipe is a keeper!
I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post the fantastic dinner my daughter cooked for us last night. She whipped up a batch of spinach lasagna roll-ups from scratch, including four of them without any cheese just for me. Exceptionally delicious and spicy (thanks to a mishap with the red pepper flake dispenser). I can’t find the exact recipe she used online, but many of the ones I found sounded very similar to what she did from memory. My small contribution to dinner included my home-made sourdough re-purposed as garlic butter and Parmesan toast. I also helped create our pre-dinner salad course with organic baby spring mix, red peppers, green onions and a bit of my home-made raspberry vinaigrette dressing.
The recipe I worked from can be found on page 186 of my favorite bread cookbook: The King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook. But you can find an online version of it at the King Arthur Flour website here: Calzone
