Beef-Fat Pizza Dough
Dough · 3 hr · serves 4
I used to make my own pizza dough forever ago in my twenties when I had a studio with an AMAZING island and a bunch of friends to eat the pizza - I decided to try it again now that I have a live-in boyfriend to help eat the pizza and this time, I wanted to use beef fat instead of olive oil - and HOLY COW - love it!
The recipe below makes roughly two 10-inch pizzas, serving 2-4 people. Ingredients are listed in grams below because it's best to weigh out the ingredients for anything baking... baking is a science, cooking is an art
- 260 g bread flour
- 165 g chicken stock (room temp/warmed)
- 8 g liquid beef fat
- 10 g fine sea salt*
- 3 g sugar
- 1 g instant yeast
- 2 g baking powder
- 2 g ground oregano
- Bench flour
- *If your stock is already salted, only add 5 grams of salt to the dough mixture
Method
- 01Measure all ingredients using a kitchen scale
- 02Add all ingredients to a bowl and stir until shaggy
- 03Dust your working area with some of the bench flour and pour the shaggy dough out onto it
- 04Knead by hand until smooth and elastic; roughly 6-8 minutes
- 05Let rest at room temp for 2 hours
- 06Preheat oven to 500 F
- 07Split the dough as desired (I usually split in half to make two pizzas)
- 08Form into desired pizza shape (I usually do a mix of tossing on my knuckles and spreading on a pizza peel - and I go for square because I haven't figured out a circle - YET)
- 09Add your sauce, cheese, toppings, more cheese...
- 10Bake at 500 F for 15-20 minutes
Red Sauce
Sauce · 5 hr
My mom doesn't write down recipes, so one day I followed her around the kitchen and wrote this one down while she cooked. These days I make one small change — I use a carrot instead of sugar to balance the acidity — so that means it's mine now, right?
This is our family's Christmas red sauce for pasta and meatballs, but I almost love the leftovers even more. I freeze portions throughout the year so I can turn them into from-scratch creamy tomato basil soup for lunch, paired with a bougie grilled cheese, of course.
- 2 links Italian sausage
- 2 links spicy Italian sausage
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 6oz cans tomato paste
- 1 bottle Italian red wine
- 2 28oz cans crushed tomatoes
- 2 28oz cans San Marzano tomatoes
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 packed cup basil leaves
- 8 sprigs thyme
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 4 bay leaves
- Salt to taste
Method
- 01Add Italian Sausage to a cold, large stockpot
- 02Turn heat to medium-low and allow fat to render slowly, turning every few minutes for about 15 minutes
- 03Turn heat to medium-high and brown the sausages on all sides
- 04Remove sausages from pan and set aside
- 05If there is more than 2 tbsp of fat in the pan, remove some; if there's too litle, add a neutral, high smoke point oil up to 2 tbsp
- 06Reduce heat to medium
- 07Add the onion and carrot and cook to translucent, about 15 minutes
- 08Add the garlic and cook to fragrant, about 30 seconds
- 09Push the onions and garlic to the sides of the pot and add tomato paste; cook to a rusty red color, about 5 minutes
- 10Deglaze the pot with the red wine, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon, and reduce by half; about 10 minutes
- 11Add sausages back to the pot, as well as the remaining ingredients
- 12Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low and gently simmer for 3-5 hours, stirring occasionally
- 13Remove bay leaves, thyme and rosemary stems, and sausage links
- 14Using an immersion blender, blend to desired consistency
- 15Add salt to taste
Vegetarian Pasta Salad
Side · 60 min · serves 8
I volunteer with Food Not Bombs which only accepts vegetarian and vegan donations - but I was ready for the challenge of cooking outside my comfort zone... I came up with this pasta salad to feed the unhoused - had to, of course, taste test it and MAN I did good!!
Chipotle-lime vinaigrette
- 6 tbsp lime juice (~ 4 limes worth)
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 chipotle pepper in adobo
- 1 tbsp adobo sauce
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup avocado oil
- Salt/pepper to taste
Pasta salad
- 16 oz portabella mushrooms, sliced
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 carrot, halved
- 1 onion, halved
- 2 celery stalks, halved
- 16 oz medium shells
- 1 bell pepper, diced (optional: save the top)
- 1 can Rotel, drained
- 1 can sliced black olives, drained
- 1 can corn, drained
- 1 can black beans, drained
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1 avocado, diced
- Salt/pepper to taste
- 8 oz cotija cheese, crumbled
Method
- 01Add vinaigrette ingredients, except the avocado oil, to a mixing bowl
- 02Whisk ingredients together to incorporate
- 03Slowly add avocado oil while whisking to emulsify
- 04Set aside
- 05Add mushrooms to a cold, dry pot (you'll be cooking the pasta in it afterward)
- 06Cook over medium heat until water has released and evaporated and mushrooms are slightly browned
- 07Add butter and coat mushrooms; salt as desired - make sure they taste good
- 08Turn off heat and remove mushrooms
- 09Add carrot, onion, and celery (plus the bell pepper top if you saved it) to the same pot
- 10Add water to cover by 2 inches
- 11Turn heat to high and scrape brown bits from mushrooms with a wooden spoon
- 12Once simmering, reduce heat to low and gently simmer for 20-30 minutes
- 13Remove vegetables from your now vegetable stock
- 14Add salt and taste the stock - it should taste good and if it doesn't, add more salt
- 15Increase heat to high and bring stock to boil
- 16Add pasta to stock and cook in stock based on package instructions
- 17Strain pasta, do not rinse!
- 18Add pasta and half of the vinaigrette to a mixing bowl
- 19Toss the pasta and vinaigrette until pasta is coated
- 20Add cooked mushrooms, bell pepper, Rotel, black olives, corn, black beans, and red onion and toss until combined
- 21Add avocado and remaining dressing and toss until combined
- 22Top with cotija cheese when serving!