Scones! Milky tea! Big hats! Fanciness! Pinkies in the air!

These are all of the things I think of when I hear ‘Tea Party’. So when my friend Johnna was gifted a tea set that’s been in her families for generations, we thought we might break it in with a little tea and our lady friends. Heck yes, tea party!

Wanna get your tea party on? Ooooof course you do. Here’s are a few suggestions for tea party success:

Grab one of your bestest friends in the whole wide world, ’cause you’ll need company when making the grocery list, the shopping, the cooking and cleaning.

{Image via The Cherry Blossom Girl}

Make a cute invite. Girls like cuteness. Trust me.

If you’re gonna have a boy at the tea party, make sure he’s dressed to the nines.

Invite friends. Lots and lots of friends.

Make lots of food. The girls I hang with eat a lot. That’s a good thing.

Make some scones…aaaaand if you just so happen to run out of eggs, improv and make some mini yogurt berry scones. Then pair them with a chamomile infused devonshire cream. Heck yes!

Umm…and if you mess up a cupcake recipe that you’ve made a million times, then grab a bag of chocolate chips, melt them and dip some strawberries in the chocolate. Then top with black lava sea salt. Instant fanciness!

Put Earl Grey tea in shortbread cookies. It’s super lovely.

Cut the crusts off some Wonder Bread (like your mom did) and make Heirloom Tomato Sandwiches. And since people have issues with mayonnaise, swap it out for a feta spread. Dainty awesomeness.

Bake cauliflower in a cheesy sauce to make Cauliflower Gratin. Yum.

Maybe buy a few things from your local bakery, like this Kurtosh. It’ll insure that you have more time to pick out your hat. Don’t worry, I won’t judge you.

Set out board games like Scrabble. I seriously can’t think of a better union than a cup of milky tea and a game of Scrabble.

Drink more tea.

And then when everyone leaves and you start washing dishes, turn your back for a few moments, because you’ll most likely be met with a mischevious puppy that climbed on the coffee table to score some soy cream.  Holy cuteness!

By the way, if you punch your computer screen because this cuteness is too much to handle, I’ll understand. Louie’s cuteness should be friggin’ illegal. I mean….really?!

And then when everything is cleaned up, take a victory picture and walk down to the 7-11 for a Coca-Cola slurpee.

Earl Grey Tea Cookies

Recipe by Martha Stewart

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Makes 8 dozen (Umm…I’m not sure what I did but this recipe yielded me two dozen.)

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

2 tablespoons finely ground Earl Grey tea leaves, (from about 8 bags–I cut up my tea to make sure it was super ground)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 (8 ounce) sticks unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest

Whisk together flour, tea, and salt in a small bowl; set aside.

Put butter, sugar, and zest in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low; slowly mix in flour mixture until just combined.

Divide dough in half. Transfer each half to a piece of parchment paper; shape into logs. Roll in parchment to 1 1/4 inches in diameter, pressing a ruler along edge of parchment at each turn to narrow log and force out air. Transfer in parchment to paper-towel tubes; freeze 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut logs into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Space 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until edges turn golden, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

Heirloom Tomato Sandwiches

Makes 12 finger sandwiches

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1 loaf of Wonder Bread (or bread of choice)

4-5 (depending on size) heirloom tomatoes

For Feta Spread:

1 4 oz block of feta, cubed

1 large dollop of sour cream

1/4 cup of milk

Slice tomatoes in 1/4 inch slices.  Lay out a few paper towels and place the tomato slices on them. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set aside.  Note: In order for the sandwiches to refrain from getting soggy, you want to soak up some of the tomatoes moisture.

In a food processor or blender, put 3/4 of the feta, sour cream and milk and blend until combined. You want it to be the consistency of hummus. If it’s too thick, add a bit more milk, if you it’s too thin then add more feta.

Cut the crusts off of the bread slices and assemble sandwiches by putting spread on both sides of the bread and topping with a few tomato slices. Yum-city!

Sometimes things don’t always go as we planned. I had planned to watch “The Wizard of Oz” at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. I had even called all my friends, cooked up some recipes, scheduled a time to meet, loaded up the car and driven all the way to Hollywood just to have a picnic in the cemetery. However, when we turned the corner and were preparing to enter, we were met by this:

The photo doesn’t really do it justice, but basically the entire city of Los Angeles had the same thoughts that we had. And unfortunately for us, they had the idea about an hour sooner, and we didn’t make it inside. Yeah, it was a bummer. There are few things sadder than having a picnic meal and nowhere to picnic.

Luckily, I’m blessed to have flexible and endlessly enthusiastic friends. We took our picnic dinner and headed to a teeny tiny park in Universal City. We sat on blankets and drank wine, ate our food and watched the sunset go down. It was good, even without the red slippers or munchkins.

There was one thing that turned out exactly as I had planned. This walnut pesto. It was just as tasty, satisfying and unique as I had been hoping for. My photos of the final product I feel are a tad lacking, I’m going to blame the change of venue on that, although it could have just as easily been the wine I was drinking. Wine or no wine, this is a great spread to have for your next picnic.

Walnut Pesto

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

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1 cup shelled walnuts, even better if you toast and cool them first
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed
3 sprigs of thyme, cleaned
Salt
Small splash of red wine vinegar
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons minced sun-dried tomatoes (oil or dry-packed will both work)
1 loaf or baguette of crusty bread, sliced and toasted.

Combine walnuts, parmesan, garlic, thyme, salt and vinegar in a food processor and coarsely grind. Stir in the olive oil and tomatoes. You may need to add a little extra oil if your tomatoes aren’t soaked in oil.
Spoon the pesto over the toasted bread. Spread a blanket on the ground and have a picnic.

Fried green tomatoes are pretty serious business.  I found this out last week when I went to Atlanta for work, and well, it turned out I had a lot of down time since a few meetings were cancelled. I was perfectly fine with that since it meant I was able to roam around mid-town, sit in cafes for hours at a time and drink copious amounts of sweet tea (though I’m a total wuss and always go half sweet tea and half unsweetened).  All this unexpected downtime meant that I was able to eat at a few restaurants, all of which were Southern.  And while it did scare me a tad when the dude sitting behind me had to be carried out on a gurney by the paramedics, I decided right then, as I was eating my fried mac n cheese, that it had nothing to do with Southern food.  I decided to ignore that possibility.  You should too.   Moving on….

I don’t really consider myself a Southerner, even though I was born just up the street from my hotel in mid-town, went to middle school in Atlanta and attended college in North Carolina, but I do have a huge affinity for Southern food.  So…perhaps you could say I’m a half Southerner or something?

Anyway, the one thing that totally stole my heart on my trip were the fried green tomatoes.  And I had them prepared every which way you can have them: in crispy batter, soft batter, in between crispy and soft batter and spicy batter. My favorite, to no surprise to me, was when they were super crispy on the outside and soft, but not overcooked on the inside.  The thing I found out: Southerners are dead serious about the way they prepare their fried green tomatoes.  Everywhere I went I kindly asked how they prepared it and each person explained their way as the right way.

When I finally nailed down my favorite way to fry up green tomatoes, I paired it with some bread, some cool butter lettuce, a bit of mayonnaise and some bacon.  You should do this too; it’ll make you happy. And if you don’t? Well…bless your heart.

{Dip the green tomato is milk, flour, egg and then cornmeal.  I used to have the fourth matching bowl…it was a beautiful, bright blue. I miss it. Someone broke it…that person will go unnamed, as they’re probably reading this right this very second.}

Fried Green Tomato BLT

Recipe for fried green tomatoes tweaked from Simply Recipes.

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Does all the friedness (word?) scare you? If so, then I’d recommend making it with turkey bacon, pairing it with wheat bread and using Caroline’s way of making fried green tomatoes.  I tried multiple way to make the tomatoes, i.e., just milk and flour, just milk and cornmeal, and lastly, Elise’s way from Simply Recipes.  Her method was my total favorite.  The tomatoes are a little creamy, without tasting overcooked and the crunch from the cornmeal made me happy. I also opted to fry these tomatoes in the bacon fat. Yes, you heard me.  I could be your nutritionist’s worst nightmare.

Yield 4 sandwiches

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

3 medium, firm green tomatoes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup milk
2 beaten eggs
2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs or cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

SANDWICH

8 slices of bacon
8 slices of bread of choice
7-8 pieces of butter lettuce (obviously this can be substituted), rinsed
mayonnaise

Cut unpeeled tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices. Sprinkle slices with salt and pepper. Let tomato slices stand for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place flour, milk, eggs, and bread crumbs in separate shallow dishes. Preferably cute dishes like the ones pictured.  Cute things like those bowls make my day. NOTE: I added a 1/4 teaspoon of salt and pepper to the cornmeal.  Obviously, this is optional, but highly recommended.

While tomatoes are resting, fry up the bacon in a cast iron skillet or pan. Remove when done and place on paper towels to drain.

Dip tomato slices in milk, then flour, then eggs, then bread crumbs. In the skillet (where you fried up the bacon), fry half of the coated tomato slices at a time, for 2-4 minutes on each side or until brown. After they’re done, remove and place on a paper towel to drain.

Put slices of bread in the toaster and toast to your liking.  Remove and assemble sandwich with mayonnaise, butter lettuce, bacon and fried green tomatoes.  Cut in half and eat.  Yes!

Everyone is always on the look out for a weeknight meal. Sometimes I feel like telling people to relax and just eat a bowl of cereal like I do.  But then I remember that a lot of people have kids and dogs and Franklins, and bowls of cereal just won’t do.  Rather than being concerned about a weeknight meal, I’m always more concerned about an easy weekend morning breakfast.  When I wake up a little late and maybe recovering from the night before, going to the store to get fresh ingredients and slaving over the stove doesn’t sound too appealing.  Lucky for you, my weekend breakfast can also be your weeknight meal.  This, like the Croque Madame I made a few weeks ago, is a unisex type meal–it can be breakfast, lunch or dinner. And with only 3 main ingredients, (bread, eggs and a can of plum tomatoes) it’s the easiest thing in the world to make.  You can do it hungover, super sleepy, or super stressed. All is well!

Since this recipe only calls for 3 main ingredients, I recommend using the best quality you can find.  I love San Marzano canned tomatoes.  While they’re more expensive (around $4 for a 24 oz. can), they’re totally worth it. (You can find them at any Italian specialty supermarket, or even Whole Foods.)  And since they don’t have any basil, pepper, salt, etc. in them, I upped the recommended amount for spices from the original recipe. If you’re using whole canned tomatoes with spices in it, then I’d recommend tweaking the spices to taste.

Update: Joy the Baker actually highlighted San Marzano tomatoes too a little while back.  I’m including a link as to where you can buy them online.  Yes, they’re that serious. Please. Buy. Them.

Eggs with Tomato on Toast

Recipe tweaked from Salt to Taste

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Serves 4 (That’s what the book says, but I beg to differ. A friend and I ate this by ourselves, no problem. More like serves 2.)

4-5 eggs

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves of garlic or 1 teaspoon, minced

1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano

1 24 ounce can of whole plum tomatoes, which had around 7-8 tomatoes (San Marzano highly recommended)

1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil

4 slices country white bread–whatever you have, toasted

Separate the eggs, reserving two egg whites for another use.

In a cold medium skillet, combine the oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, and oregano.  Turn on the heat and warm over medium heat until the garlic begins to become fragrant (without browning), about 2 minutes.

Raise the heat to high, then use your hands to crush each tomato into the pan.  Note: I tried this and the tomato gushed juice all over my shirt.  It wasn’t cute.  I recommend piercing the middle of the tomato with your finger, slowly, as to release all of its juice AND then crush it.  Season with salt and pepper.  Fry the tomatoes, continuing to break them up with a fork. Cook until they concentrate and no longer look watery, 2 to 3 minutes (this actually took me 5-6 minutes).

Lower the heat to medium and stir in the egg whites.  Cook until the whites become opaque and firm, thickening the tomato sauce, about 1 minute.

Turn off the heat, Using the back of a spoon, make 4 indentations in the sauce, allowing a few inches around each.  Slip and egg yolk into each indentation.  Draw the sauce in from the edges of the pan around each of the yolks.  Cover the skillet and leave it on the stove, heat off, until the yolks are just warmed through and beginning to set, about 3 minutes for runny yolks.

Gently soon some sauce and a yolk onto each piece of toast and serve immediately. I find rubbing some olive oil on the spoons helps prevent breaking the yolk.

So, I’m back in California. Back to the real world, with alarm clocks that go off at 6:00am and traffic that robs me of hours in my day and blahhhhh…. I just don’t want to think about it anymore. Instead, let’s pretend I’m still in the South and mull over that for a while. For starters, Southern folks really love to fry their vegetables. And, we really love grits, especially cheesy grits. So, yeah that’s what I would rather think about, okay?

First, a word on cheese grits. Most self-respecting Southerners have a cheese grits recipe that involves baking in the oven to really get them just right. You know that scene in “My Cousin Vinny” where the guy is offended at the suggestion that he uses instant grits? Where he proudly says in the courtroom, “I take pride in my grits!” Yeah, that’s not an exaggeration. This recipe, however, is the “quick” version of cheese grits, meant to be prepared over a stove in less than 30 minutes. If you’re lucky I’ll give you the recipe for my stepdad’s “real” cheese grits, but that will have to wait for another day.

Now, a word on frying vegetables. Most Southerners, my soon-to-be-husband included, like vegetables that have been deep fried in a nice thick batter. This method is often preferred because it hides the fact that what you are about to eat was once a source of nutrition. I, however, prefer a simple cornmeal crust on my veggies that are then fried in just a little oil in a pan. It’s a little lighter to eat, and the preparation is much easier for those of us that don’t own deep-friers (I’m looking at you, Paula Deen). I’m gonna eat this for lunch and pretend that I’m back in the South without a care or traffic jam in sight.

Fried Green Tomatoes

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2 medium green tomatoes
¼  cup milk
½ cup cornmeal

Heat a thin layer of oil on high in a pan. Slice the tomatoes to ¼ inch thickness. Dunk the slices in milk, and then in the cornmeal. Fry for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until they start to brown. Serve over delicious jalapeno cheese grits.

No-Bake Jalapeno Cheese Grits

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½ cup cornmeal
2 cups water
1 tablespoon chopped Jalapenos
½ cup cheddar (add more if you like them really cheesy)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
4 tablespoons butter

In a medium saucepan, combine salt & water. Bring the water to a boil and whisk in the cornmeal to prevent lumps from forming. Reduce heat and stir grits occasionally. Once they begin to thicken (after 5-10 minutes) add in the jalapenos, cheddar cheese and pepper. Stir for a few more minutes until they are at desired consistency. What constitutes “desired consistency” is often a source of debate; I really hate soupy grits but I don’t like them as a hard mash either. Just before serving add in the butter and stir well until grits are creamy and irresistible.

Happy New Year everyone! I have to say, it was a little hard to say good-bye to 2009. It’s been a good year; Adrianna and I started this blog, which is awesome. I got a Kitchen Aid standing mixer, which is super awesome, and Chase and I are engaged, which…well, it goes without saying how amazing that is. But nonetheless, I’m ready for 2010. I only hope that it realized how big the shoes are that it has to fill after these last 12 months.

Although I’m hoping for 2010 to be a big, exciting year, right now I just need a break. I’ve spent two weeks traveling, eating, hanging out with friends, eating, showing off my ring on my unfortunately un-manicured hand, eating, re-packing my suitcase 10 times, and… eating. At the end of it all, I’m tired and don’t think I can handle too much more, except that I’m actually still hungry. I could definitely do some more eating.

This recipe is my contribution to the list of “go-tos” slowly being accumulated on our site. It’s a simple pasta sauce made from tomatoes and eggplant that literally couldn’t be easier to make. You just roast some vegetables in the oven, then throw all the ingredients in the food processor and let it do all the work for you. I will admit that it isn’t the most attractive meal to eat, but don’t let that keep you from giving it a try. Make 2010 a little easier on yourself and add this to your recipe list, trust me.

Rigatoni with Eggplant Puree

Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

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This recipe in it’s entirety is absolutely delicious, but I’ll confess that I have made it before without the mint or pine nuts and it was still wonderful. If you don’t happen to have either of those on hand don’t sweat it. Also, I never add pasta water or oil to the sauce once it’s in the food processor as the original suggests, because I like a really thick sauce. However, if you want a thinner sauce, either of those ingredients should do the trick.

1 medium eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, whole
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt & pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 pound rigatoni pasta
1/4 cup torn fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with tin foil or parchment paper. On the baking sheet, combine the eggplant, cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Smooth the vegetables out in an even layer on the baking sheet. Roast in the oven until the vegetables are tender and the eggplant is golden, about 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta into a large bowl and reserve 1 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid (optional).

Transfer the roasted vegetables to a food processor. Add the torn mint leaves and the pine nuts and puree the vegetables. Transfer the pureed vegetables to the bowl with the pasta and add the parmesan. Stir to combine, adding the pasta cooking liquid (optional) 1/2 cup at a time until the pasta is saucy.

Halloween has gotten a little crazy this year at my apartment building. Last year, the decorations consisted of perhaps one string of lights and some scattered cobwebs. In 2009 however, without any discussion, every apartment around us has decided that this is the year to go all out. The windows surrounding us are covered in lights, cobwebs, spiders, bats, everything you can imagine. The garden in the courtyard is covered in fake skeletons, rats, and jack-o-lanterns, not to mention the scary music that is playing to accompany it.

Apparently Chase and I just didn’t get the memo, and we’ve been a little slow to catch on to everything. After some hazing from our neighbors we finally broke down and bought one string of lights, but I have to confess, it looks a little lame compared to all the madness next door. I’m not sure why this happens, but Halloween always seems to sneak up on me every year, leaving me a little unprepared.  It used to only show in my lack of costume, but apparently I have other areas in which to keep up.

It’s also caught up to me with this lovely blog. I wish that I had prepared something that was black and orange, or had a pumpkin face on it, or even involved pumpkin at all. But, unfortunately our blog is going to miss the Halloween festivity this year as well. However, I do have some awesome pesto pizza, so hopefully that makes up for it. I think it will. This is my all-time favorite pizza, and I wouldn’t bring it out for just any old occasion. So, in lieu of cupcakes shaped like ghosts or  cookies with a spider design on them, I hope you enjoy this oven baked treat of mine. Happy Halloween!

Pesto Pizza with Sun-dried Tomatoes

Normally when I make pesto for a pasta I would use more oil, but I found that on a pizza the sauce will become too oily in the oven. I would recommend using just enough oil to bind everything together, but you don’t want a “saucy” texture.

Pizza dough, either homemade or store bought
1 ½ cups basil
2 garlic cloves
¾ cup grated parmesan
¼ cup pine nuts
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
8 oz fresh mozzarella, cubed
¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, julienned

Roll out the pizza dough onto a pan. Set aside.

In a food processor, combine basil, garlic, parmesan, pine nuts, and a little salt & pepper. Blend together, and add oil slowly just until the mixture combines. Spread the pesto onto the pizza dough. Top with the cubed mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes. Brush the edges of the crust with olive oil.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly. Remove from oven and try to stop yourself from eating it all in one sitting.

I found a summer love this year in LA. No, not the teen angst, straight from the movie “Grease,” boy-kind of summer love, but a reason to truly fall in love with LA: The Hollywood Cemetery Cinespia screenings. During the summer, the Hollywood Cemetery screens a movie against one of their buildings that is conveniently located near an open, grassy area, and every Saturday evening people line up to picnic, watch a movie, and generally be merry. It’s really pretty awesome.

In order to get a good spot to picnic and watch the movie, you have to get there pretty early, which often means you end up picnicking in line while waiting to picnic. Due to this long wait, you need to come prepared with plenty to eat & drink. As you can see, the supply of drink was never a problem for me and my friends.

As for the food, I wanted to make something that would be hearty and filling, but would also travel well. Oh, and I had a container of cherry tomatoes that I needed to use or they were going to go bad. So, thus was born a recipe for focaccia topped with roasted cherry tomatoes, a sort of buffed up tomato bruschetta, if you will.

This was the first time I had ever prepared cherry tomatoes this way, but it’s turned out to be one of the more versatile recipes I’ve discovered. In addition to the focaccia, you can pour this mixture over pizza dough and bake it with some sliced mozzarella, spoon it over toasted bread slices for some roasted tomato bruschetta, or toss with some cooked pasta for an easy sauce. One easy recipe, endless tasty possibilities…

Focaccia Dough

Dough recipe adapted from Food Geeks

1 package active yeast (1 tablespoon)
1 cup warm water
3 ½ cups all purpose flour, approximately
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine the water & yeast and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes in order to activate the yeast. In a separate bowl, mix together flour & salt, dig out a little “well” and pour in the yeast mixture and the oil. Mix together the ingredients until combined and turn onto a floured surface. By hand, knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic, adding more flour if necessary. (you can also use a stand mixer with a dough hook, but using your hands is more fun, trust me)

Form the dough into a ball, dust with flour, transfer back into mixing bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Place the dough in a warm place and allow it to double in bulk, about 1 hour.
Punch down the dough. Transfer the dough to an oiled 10 ½ x 15 ½ inch baking sheets. (you can also use two 9-inch round pans, as I did) With the tips of your fingers, push “dimples” into the surface of the dough, this will help it absorb all the toppings. Cover the dough and let rise again until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake breads until the edges of the dough begin to firm, about 15 minutes. (Can be made a day in advance up to this point; slide the dough onto wire racks to cool, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate. Or make well in advance, wrap well, and freeze.)

Tomato Topping

32 oz cherry tomatoes
2 -3 garlic cloves, chopped in half
2 tablespoons fresh oregano or basil, chopped
salt & pepper

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add in tomatoes, garlic cloves and oregano or basil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and allow to cook for about 5-10 minutes. The cherry tomatoes will begin to wrinkle and burst. Once this begins to happen gently mash the tomatoes with a fork or potato masher. Allow to cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid is absorbed and the tomatoes are no longer soupy. Remove garlic cloves.

Add the tomato topping to the focaccia that has baked for 15 minutes and bake for another 15 minutes, or until the tomatoes begin to blacken on the edges.

Okay, in my last post we made pizza dough, so now it’s time to add toppings. The pizza Margherita is one of my favorite pizzas, as well as being an Italian classic.

Before we get started, a little history: in the late 1800s Queen Margherita, wife of Umberto I, became quite taken with a bread that was commonly made by Italian peasants.  Since it was not considered very “Queenly” of her to like such a common peasant food, she asked one of her chefs to prepare her pizza using this bread that she liked so much. The chef, Rafaelle Esposito, devised a pizza topped with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil, the colors symbolizing the Italian flag. Queen Margherita absolutely fell in love with this delicious concoction, and the rest is history.

Queen Margherita was definitely my kind of woman, and this has long been one of my favorite pizzas. Now, the key to great taste when you’re making such a simple pizza is having high-quality ingredients. So please, I’m begging you, only use FRESH mozzarella to make this pizza! I can’t emphasize enough the difference that it makes.  If it was good enough for the Queen of Italy, then it’s probably good enough for you too.

Pizza Margherita

Pizza dough, homemade or store bought
1 can (15oz) whole steamed tomatoes, drained.
12-16oz fresh mozzarella cheese
Handful of basil, chopped

Pre-heat oven to 475 degrees. Roll the pizza dough out to roughly ¼ inch thickness. Transfer onto baking sheet or pizza stone.

Slice the fresh mozzarella into thin slices and distribute evenly on the pizza dough. Using your fingers, break apart the tomatoes and scatter them on the dough. Drizzle olive oil along the crust of the pizza, and then sprinkle with the basil. Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and just starting to turn brown.

When I was a kid and not under my parents’ supervision, my godfather, Don, used to let me watch mafia movies. I know, I know—it’s a strange coincidence that I used to watch mafia movies with my “godfather” whose actual name is Don. But sometimes in life things really do work out like that. Promise.  And to this day I really LOVE mafia movies.  They were the ones who taught me the importance of a good sauce.

In every movie, there is a scene where they cook a feast.  Food is really important to Italians—it’s no joke. In “The Godfather,” Don Corleone is in the hospital and Clemenza cooks for the group who are all on edge (pasta is a comfort food after all). He pulls a frustrated Michael over to show him how to cook the Bolognese.  Clemenza: “You start with a little oil and fry the garlic.  Then you trow da tomatoes, da tomata paste…”.  And then he cites a trick my own grandfather taught me, “…then you add sugar to give the sauce a little sweetness!”

And then there’s the scene in “Goodfellas” where Henry, Paulie and the rest of them spend all day preparing their feast while in jail. Paulie’s trick that always stuck with me was that he sliced the garlic with a razor.  Only someone in jail has time for that business.  To Italians, there are no “30 minute-meals” because food is supposed to be slow.  They were, after all, the founders of the slow food movement.  Meals aren’t a chore but rather an event.

Adrianna’s Bolognese Sauce

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 medium onions, finely chopped

2 ribs celery, finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

6 cremini or portabella mushrooms, sliced

3/4 cup of basil, chopped

3 tablespoons of parmesan cheese

1.5 lbs of ground beef

1 lb. of sausages

24 ounce can of diced tomatoes

12 ounce can of tomato puree

1 cup of dry red wine

1 tsp. of crushed red pepper

2 springs of rosemary & thyme, tied together

salt and freshly ground pepper

In a 6 to 8 quart heavy-bottomed pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat until hot. Add the onions, celery, carrots and garlic and cook until the vegetables are translucent, about 8-10 minutes.  Then in a separate pan over medium heat, cook up the ground beef.  Be sure to dash a bit of salt and pepper throughout the meat to ensure proper seasoning.  Drain grease from pan and set beef aside.  In that same pan, over medium heat, cook up sausages, turning every 2-3 minutes.

As the sausages are cooking, turn your attention to the vegetables.  Put the diced garlic into the pot on top of the vegetables.  Don’t stir! Garlic is best steamed on top, rather than browned.  After about 2 minutes, throw the diced tomatoes, tomato puree and wine in the pot with the vegetables.  Now throw in the ground beef and slice up the cooked sausages and throw those into the pot, too.

Grab your sprigs or rosemary and thyme and tie them together with string to make a herb bouquet–a little trick I learned from Barefoot Contessa.  Place the bouquet in the pot and add salt, pepper and red crushed pepper.  Cover the pot, leaving it a tad bit open on one side and cook for 3 hrs.

About 30 minutes before serving, check back and taste to make sure it’s properly seasoned.  At this time add your cremini mushrooms, chopped basil and parmesan cheese. Thirty minutes later, voila!