One of my favorite restaurants in Amarillo is Fire Slice Pizzeria.  It is a little hard to find, tucked behind a shopping center, but your efforts in finding it will be rewarded.  The last time Ben and I were there they had some really great live music, which is not something you find very much of in Amarillo.  The pizzas here have a great thin crust, and unique and tasty toppings.  They do have a wonderfully simple Margherita pizza, but they also have a green chile cheeseburger pizza that Ben really likes.  My favorite is The Rudy.  The Rudy is a white pizza topped with bacon, spinach, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese.  It is delicious.  I love it.  I want a slice right now.

I tried to recreate this pizza with my new pizza crust recipe.  While it didn’t turn out quite like Fire Slice, the flavors were good and I’d definitely make it again.

The first thing I needed to do was find a white sauce to use.  The sauce I found was OK, but pretty thick.  I added about an extra 1/2 cup of 2% milk to thin it out.  The flavor was good, and I liked it as the base of the pizza.  The real Rudy may not have any sauce under the toppings, but I liked it this way.

Now to the toppings!  These amounts made enough for 2 pizzas, so double them if you intend to make all your pizzas with these toppings.

Bacon: 6 slices of bacon cooked in a skillet, drained and cooled, then chopped up.

Mushrooms: 8 ounces of mushrooms, roasted with olive oil and garlic cloves for 30 minutes at 375°F.

Spinach: 12 ounces of fresh spinach, sauteed in a little olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper.

Assembling the Pizzas

1. Divide your dough into 4 pieces, roll each one out to 10-12 inches in diameter.  The dough will be thin.  Transfer the dough to a pizza peel (or unrimmed cookie sheet) dusted with corn meal.
2. Spread some of the white sauce on to the pizza, leaving a thin border which you can brush with olive oil is desired.
3. Top evenly with spinach, mushrooms and bacon.  Sprinkle a little shredded cheese (mozzarella or provolone).
4. Bake on a preheated pizza stone at 400°F for 15-20 minutes.

California Pizza Kitchen Pizza Dough

Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients

• 2 tsp yeast
• 1 cup, plus 2 Tbsp warm water
• 3 cups bread/all-purpose flour
• 4 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions

1. Dissolve the yeast in the 105-110 degree water and set aside for 5-10 min. Water temperature should feel like bath water.

2. Combine all ingredients together, if using upright mixer or bread maker. Avoid adding the yeast mixture straight onto the salt since salt will kill some of the yeast. Mix on lowest 2 speeds for 2-3 minutes. (If mixing by hand, start with dry ingredients; when mixed, make a well and add wet ingredients, then knead dough for 5 minutes, until dough is barely beyond sticking to your hands.)

3. Lightly oil dough ball and set inside a lightly oiled bowl; seal bowl with clear wrap and set at room temperature to rise until doubled (1½-2 hours).

4. The dough could be used at this point; or for a more chewy dough, punch it down again and reform the ball, cover airtight in bowl in the refrigerator overnight.

For Chewy Dough

5. About 2 hours before use, remove dough from refrigerator. Divide dough into 8 balls (6 inch pizzas)or 4 balls (9 inch pizzas).

6. Once divided, roll balls out on smooth, clean surface.

7. Place 8 balls in glass casserole dish, leaving space enough to double in size, seal top airtight with clear wrap. Set aside to double. They should now be puffy and ready to use.

White Pizza Sauce

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• 3/4 cup evaporated skim milk
• 1/2 cup shredded reduced sodium Swiss cheese
• 2 tbsp Chablis or other dry white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp ground white pepper

Directions:

1. Combine cornstarch and milk in a small saucepan, stirring until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  This happens fast!
2. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in Swiss cheese, dry white wine, garlic and ground white pepper. Spread sauce evenly over pizza crust.

For our anniversary, we couldn’t decide what to do.  We figured we’d eat at home, so I decided to make something a little out of the ordinary.  I made two different kinds of calzones, and they were both pretty delicious.

The meaty version was a Philly Cheese Steak Calzone.  I grilled a strip steak, sliced it up thinly, sauteed onion and green peppers and topped it all off with provolone cheese.

The veggie version was spinach, cheese and mushroom.  I sauteed the spinach with some garlic and squeezed it dry.  Then I mixed the spinach with ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.  These ingredients alone would be perfect, but I added some sauteed mushrooms.

I tried a new recipe for dough, and I liked it a lot.  It rose well and was incredibly easy to roll out and make the calzones.  The only issue we had was that we had to break out the steak knives to cut through the bottom of the calzone.  Other than that, the dough had a good chew and good flavor.

I doubled the dough recipe and only baked 6 calzones for dinner and for leftovers this weekend.  I made the other 6 dough balls into calzones and froze them to thaw out and eat later.  It is so nice to have homemade meals in the freezer.  As long as you can remember to put them in the fridge the morning before you plan to enjoy them, kitchen time is cut to a minimum….as is clean up!

The recipe for the dough came from My Kitchen Cafe.  It is a French dinner roll recipe used as calzone dough, so I will probably try it for rolls at some point.  You make the dough as you would for the rolls, but divide the dough into about 6 pieces after the first rise for the calzones.

The Philly calzones recipe is also courtesy of  My Kitchen Cafe and the spinach and cheese came from Tyler Florence, although I did make a few changes.  All the recipes are at the bottom of this post.

Now, on to the cake.  I had planned for us to eat my Daring Bakers July dessert for our anniversary.  But when Ben got home from work he had a lovely pink box with him that contained this beautiful cake!

It was such a great surprise.  The cake was made by Cara Linn Cakes in Amarillo.  I took a cake decorating class from her a few months ago.  She is a great teacher, and is incredibly talented.  I am so pleased to have someone like her in Amarillo.  If you are a fan of the Food Network challenges, then you may have seen Alisa Strauss on a few of the cake challenges.  Cara interned for her in New York, before opening her own store.  If you’re not impressed by this, you should be!

The cake not only looked beautiful, it tasted even better.  The cake itself was a dense vanilla that was sweet and delicious, but not a fake sweet like cake mixes and most bakery cakes.  The buttercream was strawberry, that had actual pieces of strawberry in it.  Yum.  The fondant that covers the cake is unique in that it looks smooth and beautiful and it tastes good!  Cara changed my opinion of fondant.

If you are in need of a cake, cupcakes, or other sweet treats, please call Cara.  She was a huge help to my husband when he ordered the cake and she does an incredible job.  The cake classes are well worth your time and money.  I had such a fun time and I learned a lot.  You also get to take your cake creation home!

Read on for the calzone recipes.

Calzone Dough (French Bread Rolls)

From My Kitchen Cafe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. To the yeast mixture, add the oil, salt, and 2 cups flour. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl.
3. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes OR mix with the bread dough hook on your mixer for about 8 minutes.
4. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
5. Punch dough down, turn out onto a floured surface and divide into 6 equally sized pieces.  Place on a cookie sheet, cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
6. Roll each piece out into an 8-10 inch diameter circle.  Place desired fillings onto half of the circle, leaving an edge.  Fold over and pinch edges to seal.
7. Bake according to recipe instructions.

Philly Cheese Steak Calzone

Ingredients

• 16 ounces deli roast beef, thinly sliced OR one strip steak, grilled and thinly sliced
• 1 medium yellow onions, cut in half and sliced into thin half moons
• 1 green peppers, sliced thinly
• 8 ounces provolone cheese, grated or thinly sliced
• 1 recipe calzone dough

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add the onions and cook, stirring now and then, until the onions begin to become translucent, about 3 minutes.
3. Add the peppers and continue to cook until the vegetables are tender and most of the liquid has cooked off, about another 3-5 minutes.
4. Toss in the roast beef and cook until the beef is warmed through (if there is still a lot of liquid left in the skillet from adding the roast beef, either drain the liquid or cook until the liquid evaporates). Take the skillet off the heat.
5. Put meat mixture in center of each dough round, top with cheese, fold over, press together and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Spinach, Mushroom and Cheese Calzones

Courtesy of Tyler Florence, Food Network

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound baby spinach, washed and dried
• 8 ounces sliced mushrooms
• Salt and pepper
• 15 ounces ricotta (low fat is fine)
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1 egg
• 1 recipe calzone dough

Directions

1. In a saute pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes until lightly browned. Add the spinach, season, and continue to cook until wilted, about 5 minutes.
2. Transfer to a colander and squeeze out the excess liquid. If necessary, drain the ricotta in a sieve to remove excess moisture also. Calzone filling should be fairly dry.
3. Saute mushrooms in a bit of olive oil until softened, about 10 minutes.
4. Combine spinach, cheeses, egg, and pepper in a large bowl.
5. Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F. If you don’t have a stone, simply grease a baking pan. Roll or spread the dough discs into 10-inch circles, leave the dough slightly thick so that the filling will not ooze out.
6. Spoon about 1/2 cup of the filling onto 1 side of the dough round, then top with some of the mushrooms.  Be careful not to over-stuff the calzone.
7. Fold dough over to enclose the filling and form a large turnover. Roll up the edges with your fingers to close tightly and prevent leaking.
8. Cut a few slashes in the top to allow steam to escape during baking and brush with egg wash if desired. Repeat with remaining rounds.
9. Sprinkle a pizza peel (or prepared baking pan) with cornmeal and carefully transfer the calzones to the oven.
10. Bake directly on pizza stone for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.

I have yet to get people excited about playing this game with me.  The three times, that’s right, THREE, someone has agreed to play with me it has been out of sheer pity.  I personally think that people are intimidated by my vast food knowledge…ha!  I know more about food than the average person, but I have been stumped by some of these questions.  There are questions that ask about the science of food or nutrition facts that I’m not so good at.  Other questions are about food brands or fast food restaurants that a lot of people would know.  Then there are the etiquite questions that I struggle with.  Texting at dinner is inapppropriate?  Who knew?  I did know that actually, but I have been out with people who did not.  There are questions about authors of food books, or singer/songwriters who referred to a food or dish in a song.  So, like trivial pursuit, if you have a well balanced team with different trivial assets, then the game is pretty fun.

You can play with the cute little dinner plate game boards, or you can just ask questions without keeping score.  That is a more fun and less formal way to use the game that can lead to some pretty entertaining discussions and possibly a heated discussion about whether the question referred to particular liquor or a mixed drink…it has happened folks, it has happened to me in the last 24 hours…and the argument that followed was not pretty.

Here are a few sample questions.  If you think you know the answers, then post them in the comments…let’s see if you are as much of an educated “foodie” you think you are.  Answers will be posted (for the 5 of you who read this) Friday morning.  There are no prizes involved…

1.  How many fresh tart cherries does it take to make a cherry pie?  about 150, about 250 or about 350 cherries?

2.  What does R.S.V.P. stand for on an invitation?  Respond regrets only, respond either way, or a response is optional?

3.  What chocolate covered treat made of marshmallow and vanilla cookie appears in the 1997 novel She Comes Undone and the 1989 move When Harry Met Sally?

4.  How many cups are in a quart?

5.  What politician, evoking the plight of single mothers on a campaign stop in 2000, said, “Working hard to put food on your famliy”?

Buy the game.  It’s fun.  It’s a great gift for the foodies in your life and a pretty fun game for non-foodies as well.