Animal, Vegetable, Miracle_ A Year of Food Life - Barbara Kingsolver [75]
Lacking a microwave, you can use the pot of hot whey on the stove for the heating-and-kneading steps. Put the ball of curd back in with a big slotted spoon, and heat it until it’s almost too hot to touch. Good stretching temperature is 175 degrees.
Here are three great ways to eat your mozzarella:
SUMMERTIME SALAD
2 large tomatoes 1 ball of mozzarella
Basil leaves
Olive oil
Salt to taste
Slice tomatoes and spread them out on a large platter. Place a thin slice of cheese and a basil leaf on each slice of tomato. Drizzle olive oil over top, sprinkle with salt, and serve.
EGGPLANT PAPOUTZAKIA
2 pounds eggplant
Olive oil
Slice eggplant lengthwise and sauté lightly in olive oil. Remove from skillet and arrange in a baking dish.
2 medium onions, garlic to taste
2 large tomatoes, diced
2 teaspoons nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
6 ounces grated or sliced mozzarella
Chop onions and garlic and sauté in olive oil. Add diced tomato and spices and mix thoroughly. Spread mixture over the eggplant and sprinkle an even layer of cheese over top. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, until golden on top.
FRIDAY NIGHT PIZZA
(Makes two 12-inch pizzas: enough for family, friends, and maybe tomorrow’s lunch.)
3 teaspoons yeast
1½ cups WARM water 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon salt
2½ cups white flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
To make crust, dissolve the yeast into the warm water and add oil and salt to that mixture. Mix the flours and knead them into the liquid mixture. Let dough rise for 30 to 40 minutes.
1 cup sliced onions
2 peppers, cut up
While the dough is rising, prepare the sliced onions: a slow sauté to caramelize their sugars makes fresh onions into an amazing vegetable. First sizzle them on medium heat in a little olive oil, until transparent but not browned. Then turn down the burner, add a bit of water if necessary to keep them from browning, and let them cook ten to fifteen minutes more, until they are glossy and sweet. Peppers can benefit from a similar treatment.
Once the dough has risen, divide it in half and roll out two round 12-inch pizza crusts on a clean, floured countertop, using your fingers to roll the perimeter into an outer crust as thick as you like. Using spatulas, slide the crusts onto well-floured pans or baking stones and spread toppings.
16 ounces mozzarella, thinly sliced
2 cups fresh tomatoes in season (or sauce in winter)
Other toppings
1 tablespoon oregano
1 teaspoon rosemary
Olive oil
Layer the cheese evenly over the crust, then scatter the toppings of the week on your pizza, finishing with the spices. If you use tomato sauce (rather than fresh tomatoes), spread that over crust first, then the cheese, then other toppings. Bake pizzas at 425° for about 20 minutes, until crust is browned on the edge and crisp in the center.
Download these and all other Animal, Vegetable, Miracle recipes at www.AnimalVegetableMiracle.com
SOME OF OUR FAVORITE COMBINATIONS FOR SUMMER ARE:
Mozzarella, fresh tomato slices, and fresh basil, drizzled with olive oil Mozzarella, chopped tomatoes, caramelized onions and peppers, mushrooms
Chopped tomatoes, crumbled feta, finely chopped spinach or chard, black olives
GOOD WINTER COMBINATIONS INCLUDE:
Farmer cheese, chicken, olives, and mushrooms
Tomato sauce, mozzarella, dried peppers, mushrooms, and anchovies
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10 • EATING NEIGHBORLY
Late June
Just a few hours north of Massachusetts lie the working-class towns of central Vermont, where a granite statue on Main Street is more likely to celebrate an anonymous stonecutter than some dignitary in a suit. Just such a local hero stood over us now, and we admired him as we drove past: stalwart as the mallet in his hand, this great stone man with his rolled-up sleeves reminded us