My Risotto Pot

I'm getting so much milege out of this thing....I pre-heat it in a 450 degree oven, then drop my bread dough in. No spraying the water bottle in the oven, no need for an 800 degree professional oven - I always get a great firm crust and a soft chewy inside! I kind of cheated on this one...made bread the old fashioned way (kneading, a few rises - the horror!) rather than the Sullivan Street bakery no-knead version that's been getting so much attention http://www.sullivanstreetbakery.com/recipes...hey I didn't have a snow day today and 18 hours to kill! Give a girl a break!

Result: I like the no knead version better. This bread was great with the homemade meatballs I made, but was really dense - no great air pockets, crucial to a light-chewy, not heavy-chewy bread. Still, homemade bread during a blizzard? not so bad...

oh and I got flowers from my sweetie too! good end to a nasty day!

Something Savory...Tuscan style

I'm going to try to be better about my posts!! It's been a busy winter!!

Lately I've been running into lots of people who are headed to Italy. Since I'm green with envy and forgetting my Italian, I figure the next best thing is to eat like I did in Italy! So I made a pappa al pomodoro - really better in the summer with ripe tomatoes, but who has time for that? This is a Tuscan style bread soup (because who really wants to eat the salt-less Tuscan bread anyway?!) which is actually really just like a bruschetta - in soup form! I think this would make a fantastic dish for kids who can't chew a lot yet...if they like the onions and garlic that is! Here is the recipe:

3 Tablespoons olive oil, 1 small onion, chopped, 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced, Pinch salt, 2 pounds fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped, 3/4-pound day-old Italian bread, roughly sliced, 2 cups water, 1 cup basil leaves, chopped, Freshly ground black pepper, 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, optional, Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano,

In a 12-inch saute pan, heat the olive oil over a medium-high flame until hot but not smoking. Add the onion and garlic and saute for a few minutes, until onion is translucent. Add a pinch of salt. Add the chopped tomatoes and their juices and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and let cook until the tomatoes begin to soften and break down, about 5 minutes.

Place the bread slices in a bowl and cover with 2 cups water. Tear the bread into rough pieces and add to tomato mixture. Add the remaining water from the bowl. Continue simmering until all the bread has absorbed as much liquid as possible, yielding a baby food-like consistency.

Stir in the basil. Season, to taste, with pepper. Add extra-virgin olive oil, if desired. Let the soup continue simmering for 10 more minutes, then serve immediately in warmed soup bowls.

That's it!!!!!!