calamari, bacon, baby garlic and provolone pizza with happy girl farm preserved tomatoes

I want you to take me, where I belong

Where hearts have been broken, with a kiss and a song

Spend the rest of my days, with out any cares

Everyone understands me, in the valley of tears.

“Valley of Tears” by Fats Domino

Everybody loves pizza! The preserved tomatoes add a really nice acidity.

Ingredients:

1 pound calamari, cleaned and cut into ½ inch pieces
1/3 pound bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 can of preserved tomatoes (about 4-5 small tomatoes), patted dry with paper towel
6 oz. provolone cheese, shredded
1 baby garlic, rough chop
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 pizza dough
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 500° F
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until just brown, the rest of the cooking will finish in the oven
3. Remove bacon, set aside
4. Wipe bacon grease from skillet (or save for some other application)
5. Add olive oil, wait for it to come to temperature, add garlic
6. Cook until just soft, about 2 minutes
7. Add the calamari and cook until just opaque, remove from heat
8. Smear tomatoes on pizza dough, cover with cheese
9. Add bacon, garlic, and calamari
10. Heat pizza until the bottom of the pizza crust is done
11. Finish off underneath the broiler

at the farmers market: jarred tomatoes

Down the street you can hear her scream you’re a disgrace

As she slams the door in his drunken face

And now he stands outside

And all the neighbors start to gossip and drool

He cries oh, girl you must be mad,

What happened to the sweet love you and me had?

Against the door he leans and starts a scene,

And his tears fall and burn the garden green

“Castles Made of Sand” by Jimi Hendrix

I’ve been meaning to post about these wonderful tomatoes for some time. Arjun gave me the heads up a while back about how great these tomatoes are on pizza.  Like any good cook, I am going to steal Arjun’s idea and provide ya’ll with a pizza recipe this week.

Some of my favorite blogs do canned tomatoes:

The Bitten Word: Canning Tomatoes

Simply Recipes: Simple Salsa

another (more special) anniversary

Oh, just you and me

Just you and me

Just you and me, baby

Just you and me

Don’t need nobody

Nobody else, to ease my misery

Oh, yeah, don’t need nobody

Nobody else, just you and me

“Just You and Me, Darling” by The Who

It’s anniversary week! My wonderful parents are celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary today.  They are two amazing people that couldn’t have raised my spoiled butt any better than they did.

Here’s to 35 more!!!

This is the menu from the anniversary dinner that my brother, sister, and I made for them on Christmas Eve.  I have mentioned before on this blog that my mom has an extreme love for bacon, so we made a menu with all of the courses containing bacon.  My sister was an awesome sous chef and my brother spent about a billion dollars on wine and served as a extraordinary sommelier.

blogiversary

One year ago today I started this little blog. To celebrate, I thought I should share with you the worst recipe that I “invented”, lamb tacos.  I tried to do the braised lamb thing with Mexican spices and pomegranate juice, one word…nassty (typo intended). Also, I have created a mixed tape of my favorite songs from the previous year’s posts. If any of my faithful readers is interested in a copy, email me your address: markhemauer at gmail dot com

Beautiful photo…epic fail recipe.

Egg to The Apples: Year 1

1. 7 And 7 Is by Love
2. Do You Realize?? by The Flaming Lips
3. White Light/White Heat by Velvet Underground
4. I’d Have You Anytime by George Harrison
5. Fake Empire The National
6. The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel
7. Chelsea Hotel #2 Leonard Cohen
8. She’s A Jar by Wilco
9. Spanish Pipedream by John Prine
10. July, July! by The Decemberists
11. Rudie Can’t Fail by The Clash
12. Oh! You Pretty Things by David Bowie
13. Pink Bullets by The Shins
14. No Lonesome Tune by Townes van Zandt
15. I Remember Me by The Silver Jews
16. Chinese Translation by M. Ward
17. Holland, 1945 by Neutral Milk Hotel
18. Road To Joy by Bright Eyes
19. Love in Vain by The Rolling Stones
20. Breathless by Nick Cave

roasted tomatillo salsa

It’s good to be king, if just for a while

To be there in velvet, yeah, to give ‘em a smile

It’s good to get high, and never come down

It’s good to be king of your own little town

“It’s Good To Be King” by Tom Petty

Something good to try for the upcoming Superbowl, the playoffs are only like two months long so you can test this recipe a few hundred times…

Ingredients:

1 pound tomatillos, husked
1 white onion, peeled and quartered
4 garlic cloves
2 Anaheim chilles, seeded
Olive oil
2 teaspoons cumin
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 lime, juiced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F
2. Place tomatillos, onion, garlic and chiles on a baking tray, coat with olive oil
3. Bake for 15 minutes, turn on broiler and finish browning vegetables under broiler
4. Place roasted vegetables in a blender, add cumin, pepper, salt, sugar, cilantro and lime juice
5. Pulse until mixed to desired consistency

coca-cola pork chops

I want you, I want you so bad

I want you, I want you so bad

It’s driving me mad, it’s driving me mad

“(I Want You) She’s So Heavy” by The Beatles

My first recipe of the New Year! Nothing special, but it is quick and pretty good over a heaping mound of white rice. I’m thinking this might also be good with Dr. Pepper.

Ingredients:

½ inch thick pork chops
1 cup flour, placed in a shallow dish or bowl (for dredging)
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
½ teaspoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 cup Barbecue Sauce
1 cup Coca-Cola
½ medium onion, sliced thin

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F
2. Salt and pepper and flour pork chop
3. Heat olive oil in a large skillet, brown pork chops  on both sides
4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine hot sauce, mustard, garlic, barbecue sauce and Coca-Cola
5. Place pork chops in an oven-proof  dish
6. Place onions on top of pork chops and cover with Coca-Cola mixture
7. Cook, uncovered for 1 hour
8. Remove pork from dish, place on a separate plate and cover with aluminum foil
9. Place  remaining sauce in a sauce pan and reduce until it has thickened slightly
10. Smother pork chops with sauce and serve over rice