Ham Sandwich Indicted!

It's the first of February, but yesterday it was fifty-some degrees and sunny.  With weather that nice in mid-winter, in Ohio, there's only one thing to do: fire up the grill.  My freezer had a complete dearth of grillable items, however, but thankfully,  The Greener Grocer at the North Market has this great thing called the Weekly Fresh Market Bag .  It's essentially a mini-CSA, and they offer a summer and winter season, with seasonal, if not local produce, grains, and cheeses.  I don't have a WFMB myself, but am lucky enough to have a boyfriend that does, and is willing to share. Since this week's bag had (among other things) kale, shiitake mushrooms, and fingerling potatoes in it, we decided to throw an impromptu grilled, winter veggie pizza party. Topped with a variety of cheeses pulled out of my fridge (fontina, goat, and Parmesan) and infused with the smoke from a super-hot grill, it made for a delightful taste of winter with the slightest hint of...

Above is the broccoli I harvested this weekend from my lone plant, below is all that's left. It was turned into a broccoli salad, courtesy of Paula Deen, with a few tweaks. Broccoli Salad by Paula Deen 1 head broccoli, washed, stalk removed, florets cut into bite sized pieces 6 to 8 slices cooked bacon, crumbled 1/2 cup chopped red onion (I used a couple green onions I had on hand) 1/2 cup raisins, optional (no raisins, but I did have some dried cherries, craisins are good, too) 8 ounces sharp Cheddar, cut into very small chunks (I shredded it, and used maybe 3-4 oz) 1 cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons white vinegar (or, champagne vinegar, or white wine vinegar) 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes Salt and freshly ground black pepper Put chopped broccoli and cherry tomatoes in large bowl. In a small bowl, mix mayo, vinegar, and sugar. Taste to make sure the sweet/sour balance is to your liking. Add salt and pepper to taste. Fold in the bacon, onions, dried fruit, and che...

So lately, I've been on a bread making kick. It started when I finally got around to trying the no-knead bread recipe from the NYTimes. It's here . And it's good, as long as you plan a little bit ahead. So far, I've tried the original recipe, one with rosemary and thyme, and one with whole wheat flour. The whole wheat flour one was the least, shall we say, delicious, if only because it was really dense. But hey, it's good for cleaning out the system, I'm sure. Last night I tackled pizza dough. I was not quite through the NYTimes Sunday magazine, when I came across the Eat/Memory article they always have near the end. It was for a pizza that the author shared with Picasso (yes, as in Pablo) several years ago. I jumped up, found that I had all sorts of stuff on hand for a pizza and went to town. Several hours later, I realized that I never had finished the magazine...sometimes the ADD really kicks in. Here's my take on the dough they offered and the...