the zen kitchen

pizza napoletana at home

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:02:59 +0000

No way, right? There’s no way that you could replicate the intense heat of the wood-burning ovens of Naples, Italy, right? I mean, Jeffery Steingarten tried: Not long afterward, I slid a raw pizza into a friend’s electric oven, switched on the self-cleaning cycle, locked the door, and watched with satisfaction as the temperature soared [...]

romaine lettuce soup

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:49:00 +0000

I recently had to replace my blender (a KitchenAid department store model) because its drive mechanism was made of hard rubber and just stripped totally bare. I wasn’t blending anything funky, it just all of a sudden died! Anyway, I did some research and figured that I should aim a little higher. I was having [...]

my sous vide supreme has arrived

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 22:25:00 +0000

I just received my Sous Vide Supreme and am looking forward to cooking/experimenting/having lots of fun with my food. If you haven’t been watching Top Chef, Iron Chef, or any of the other food shows that have used this culinary technique before, I offer you these links to explore: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-vide http://amath.colorado.edu/~baldwind/sous-vide.html http://www.sousvide.org/ If you’re interested [...]

biscotti base

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:07:00 +0000

I love biscotti in just about every form, from sweet to savory. This is my go-to base for a sweet biscotti dough; you can customize it to your liking with almost any mix-in you desire. Any type of nut, dried fruit, chocolate chip, or combination will work — just keep it to the specified amount. [...]

happy thanksgiving!

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:49:40 +0000

I’ve just returned to the world of food blogging after a couple of months off. Anyway, I’m back just in time for Thanksgiving, the #1 eater’s holiday of the year. For starters, I’ll link to some of my past Turkey Day recipes: the turkey is in the brine… mulled wine cranberry sauce ginger glazed carrots [...]

ratatouille lasagna

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:58:00 +0000

We’ve been trying to heed the advice of many nutritionists by cutting back on the amount of meat we’re eating. Mark Bittman makes the case for “vegan before dinnertime“, but we found that a little too restrictive since we like the occasional cold-cut sandwich for lunch. So we’ve modified the philosophy by trying to eat [...]

my nephew, the baker

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:50:00 +0000

I’d like to think that I had a huge hand in shaping my nephew, Alex, into a KWLTC (kid who likes to cook), but his mom actually has done a great job by including him in lots of cooking activities. My sister, Lauren, shot this video (in two parts). Enjoy watching a foodie in the [...]

pizza rustica (caution: this ain’t pizza)

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:58:00 +0000

For as long as I can remember, my family has had big Sunday dinners. Singing, dancing, and plenty of eating are a common theme. Lots of antipasti are served, including this ricotta cheese pie (known as pizza rustica in Italy). The fillings are interchangeable and you can leave some of the meats out if you [...]

[photo of the day] my nephew eating ice cream

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:18:00 +0000

he’s terribly cute, no?

banana bread, but not that kind of banana bread

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:34:00 +0000

So here’s the situation: I had an unexpected two days off of work due to Tropical Storm Fay and a few overripe bananas sitting atop my refrigerator. Normally, overripe bananas get turned into banana “bread.” I chose quotations there because it’s really more like a cake even though it is technically a quick-bread. Sweet, sometimes [...]