Small Plates / Big Flavors

Hoping for a culinary tune-up, I recently enrolled in a one week professional course at the Napa Valley outpost of the Culinary Institute of America. To be honest, I needed an excuse to travel cross country for this purpose - I could easily have found any number of cooking classes closer to home - but it was the opportunity to experience again the idyllic California wine country with its straw colored hills, cypress trees and fields of lavender and the great wineries and restaurants of Napa and Sonoma. Housed in a medieval style, fortress-like building (the former Christian Brothers winery) the CIA is surrounded by fields of wild rosemary and functioning herb and flower gardens. The "classroom" facilities are amazing; thousands of square feet of Aga stove stations and top of the line equipment. The course was titled "Small Plates, Big Flavors" and consisted of recipes from the cuisines of the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, India and China, which are very much in keeping with the Perfect Pear's eclectic menu philosophy.

Tomato Sauce with Sausage  

    (source:  Perfect Pear)

2 tbs olive oil

1 medium onion finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic minced

1 lb good quality sweet Italian sausage, casings removed and chopped

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup dry red wine

1 35oz can San Marzano tomatoes chopped

1 tbs tomato paste

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Heat oil, add onion and garlic and saute until wilted and golden - about 5 minutes. Add sausage and seasonings and cook until brown- about 5 minutes. Add wine and cook until reduced by half. Add tomatoes, tomato paste and chopped basil, simmer about 25-30 minutes until thickened and flavors are blended.

Yield: about 1 quart

Note: This serves 4 to 6 as a pasta sauce with 1 lb. of your favorite pasta such as spaghetti, penne rigate or farfalle.

Pizza with Sweet Sausage and Tomato 

Pizza Dough (source: Culinary Institute of America)

This is a 2 day operation so plan accordingly

You will need two 12" pizza pans

1 tbs honey                   

3/4 cup water                 

1/2 oz dry yeast              

10 oz bread flour
10 oz semolina flour

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup olive oil
cornmeal as needed

Yield: two, 10-12 inch pizzas

Topping:

2 or more cups of sauce

3/4 lb fresh mozzarella sliced thinly

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

olive oil for drizzling

Day One:

Mix the honey, yeast, one third of the water, and enough bread flour to make a thin batter. Cover, place in a warm spot and allow to proof for 1 hour or until a sponge develops. Add remaining water, both flours, salt and olive oil and knead until a smooth, elastic dough forms - about 10 minutes. If the dough is too sticky add flour; if too dry, add a bit of water to soften it while kneading. Shape the dough into a tight ball. Place the dough into a lightly oiled mixing bowl, cover tightly and place in the refrigerator for the next day.

Day Two:

Divide the dough into circles and roll out with a rolling pin. The dough should be thin in the middle

and a bit thicker around the edges.

Sprinkle the pans generously with cornmeal. Transfer a dough circle to each pan, cover with plastic

wrap and allow to rise for 45 minutes.

Remove plastic and stretch dough to edges if it has contracted. Spread each pizza with approximately

1 cup of sauce, 6 oz. mozzarella, 1/4 cup of fresh basil and drizzle with oil. 

Bake at 425% until the bottom is crisp and the dough is fully cooked through.

Small Plates