June 30th Pop-Up Cooking Tips and Instructions

Chris & Samin

Bucatini with Clams, White Wine and Chili Flakes

1 pound fresh bronze-cut bucatini

5 pounds manila clams, rinsed

3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thinly

1 spring onion, sliced thinly

Chili flakes

Dry white wine

2 tablespoons butter

Salt

Parsley

Lemon zest (optional)

Extra virgin olive oil

In a large pot, bring 2 gallons of water to a boil. Season with salt until it tastes like sea water.

Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat, then lightly coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil. Add the spring onions and garlic and cook until translucent, then add the clams and a splash of white wine and cover the pan with a lid. After you allow the clams to steam open, season with chili flakes, lemon zest and parsley, and then reduce the wine by half.

Add the pasta to the boiling, salted water. Stir from time to time, and cook until al dente, which depending on the freshness of the pasta can take anywhere from 3-7 minutes.

Drain the pasta and add into the pan with the clams. Add the butter, stir with tongs, adjust seasonings to taste, and garnish with more chopped parsley.

Some people (including us) love, love, love to garnish clam pasta with parmesan cheese. Other people think this is heretical. You can be the judge…

Italian Fennel Sausages

Cook the sausages over medium heat in a cast iron skillet, or on the grill, about 12 minutes in total, until cooked through. The juices should run clear but freely. Turn them every 3 or 4 minutes to avoid burning on one side.

Kept in your refrigerator, they will last 4-5 days, and they can be frozen for up a month.

Summer Squash and Basil Corn Soup

Simply bring the soup to a boil on the stove! You can thin it out with a little water if you like.

Enjoy the soup fresh by Saturday, July 3rd or freeze for up to a month.

Jojo's Goodies

Tips for a successful pizza!

Take the dough out of the refrigerator an hour before you want to use it. Form it into a ball by placing it on a work board, and cupping your hands around it, use a circular motion and the tension formed by rolling on the work surface to form the ball. Transfer it to a lightly floured surface, dust the top with flour and cover with a towel. Let it rest for an hour to relax the gluten. Preheat your oven with a pizza stone to 450 degrees. Generously sprinkle a flat pan or pizza peel with semolina and set aside. You will be assembling the pizza on this.

Generously flour a work surface and dust the top of the dough ball with flour. To form the pizza you can either roll it briefly with a rolling pin, or stretch it by hand, or a combination of both. I recommend by hand as this will teach you how to handle the dough. Begin by dimpling the dough with your fingertips, leaving about an inch at the edge for the crust. Pick up the dough and using your fists, start from the middle and gently stretch the dough, working outward, to an even thinness. Don’t worry about the shape, it will look beautiful when you take it out of the oven.

Transfer to your semolina sprinkled pan. While you are assembling the pizza, check a few times that the dough isn’t sticking to the pan by gently wiggling it. The pizza dough should slide readily on the semolina. If you have a sticky spot, just lift the dough a bit and toss some more semolina under the sticky spot.

A good base for the bottom of the pizza is a mixture of finely minced garlic in some good olive oil slathered on. Top your pizza with whatever makes you happy, but resist “loading” the pizza, a light touch with the toppings is best.

Slide your pie onto the preheated stone in the oven and bake, rotating for even brownness until desired doneness. You can use a pizza peel or metal spatula to lift the pie a bit and check the color of the bottom to help guide you. This should take about 15-20 minutes. However, pay more attention to how the pie looks while it’s baking, rather than the time. All ovens are different and baking times are merely guidelines in many cases, nothing more.

Slide finished pizza onto a cutting board, brush the crust with olive oil, slice it up and get to it!

Happy pizza making!

Potato-Nettle Gratin

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Put the foil covered gratin on a sheet pan in the oven. Bake for 20 – 30 minutes, or until it is hot throughout. You can test this by inserting a paring knife into the center of the gratin for a few seconds and if the knife is hot, then the gratin is hot.

Remove from oven and let the gratin sit for about 10 minutes to settle, it will cut better this way. Using a serrated knife usually works best, using a sawing motion rather than just downward pressure. Lift portions out with a small metal spatula.

We hope you enjoy your gratin!