White Clam Sauce by Melissa

I am never boring in the kitchen. Nope. Here is another classic. White Clam Sauce. My version came out dark orange...almost RED. Haa! I think I added too much tomato doing one of those.."oh I need to really use that up" routines. A wee bit more tomato and okaaay...maybe some of the juice too and I no longer had a white sauce! I do have to admit that it was a wonderful dish. Well balanced garlic and clam as well as a great sauce for dipping crusty bread.

I made my own pasta for this dish using the cutter labeled "linguine". It was so narrow that it really came out like angel hair. We were really surprised. It was wonderful tasting although did leave us with more sauce. Just get out the crusty bread!

White Clam Sauce by Marcella Hazan. Follow us through Spinach Tiger as we cook through the "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" and if you like, even join us!

White Garlicky Pizza with Shrimp

I didn't know what I wanted to make for dinner. I felt ho-hum about all my ideas even though my fridge is full of nearly every vegetable, meat and seafood available. I have been craving shrimp lately and invented this recipe.

Garlicky Shrimp Pizza

The idea was a pizza crust, topped with a white cheesy/alfredo like sauce and shrimp.

Roast a head of garlic in the oven at 375F for 1 hour.

Meanwhile start your pizza dough. This version I did in my bread machine.

Pizza Dough - Add ingredients according to your machine's instructions.

1 1/2 teaspoon yeast
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Set it for dough, press Start.

Rich and Cheesy Sauce

2T butter
3T flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup shredded italian cheese mix
Salt & Pepper

Make the roux: melt butter over medium heat and whisk in flour. Slowly add the milk and whisk. Bring to a simmer and continue to whisk. When thickened, reduce heat and add the cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

For Pizza

Olive oil
Cracked black pepper
Roasted garlic head from above
Fresh parmesan cheese (optional)
Crushed red pepper
10 shrimp, cleaned and tails removed

Roll the pizza dough on a greased cookie sheet. I used a greased perforated pan. Drizzle with olive oil, cracked black pepper, your sauce, dot with the roasted garlic, a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, shake a bit of crushed red pepper and top with the shrimp.

Bake at 400F for about 20-25 minutes. I had mine in for closer to 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes before slicing.

I tasted this and was like...POW! Good, rich flavor then the earthy garlic and a bit of a zing from the crushed red pepper. Definite keeper!


Pizza dough recipe is from Pizza, Focaccia, Flat and Filled Breads - From Your Bread Machine - by Lora Brody. I omitted the black pepper from her original recipe. It was a bit too "bready" of a pizza dough, but I have to admit that I do love many recipes in her book. ALL of them have cooked to perfection.

Debbie's Caesar Salad Dressing

My friend Debbie, a Certified Personal Chef, posted to her Twitter that she served a Caesar Salad recently and that 18 people asked for THIRDS. I love Caesar salad and asked for her recipe. She kindly shared it with me.

Direct from Debbie with her comments:

2-3 garlic cloves, pressed, finely minced (I use 3 or more because we like it with lots of garlic and a "bite")
4 anchovy filets in oil (I don't pat them dry)
1t pepper
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1-2t Worcestershire Sauce
1-2t Dijon mustard
1 large egg yolk
1/4-1/3c olive oil (depends on how large egg is and depends on if you're at the low or high end of each ingredient used)
1-2T fresh lemon juice (we like it more lemony so use 2T or more)
1-2 heads romaine lettuce, torn into 1" pieces (depending on how large the heads are)
1/2c parmesan cheese, shaved with vegetable peeler
sourdough croutons (freshly baked with olive oil, salt flakes and dried parsley)

Place garlic and anchovy on cutting board and keep chopping until it's a thick brownish paste with no pieces or chunks (doing it this way, people will get the anchovy taste without the bones and they'll never know it has anchovies in it).

Place garlic/anchovy paste in large bowl - add pepper, cayenne, Worcestershire Sauce, Dijon and egg yolk. Whisk well. Very slowly whisk in olive oil until you have a thick emulsion and it's the consistency and taste you like. Finally, whisk in lemon juice and adjust all seasonings to taste. Keep whisking while tasting and adding anything else. Add romaine into bowl and toss well.

Serve immediately with sourdough croutons and shaved parmesan. I don't add the lettuce until I'm ready to plate as if it sits, the lettuce tends to get soggy.

I've found that if you add the lemon last after the oil has been whisked in, the dressing doesn't separate for a long time.

You can visit Debbie's Yummy blog at:
http://www.yummyissimo.blogspot.com/

I made this dressing the other day and it was very good! Leftover dressing stayed in the fridge without any problems. No seperation. It still tasted fresh when I dunked a romaine leaf in for a snack.

I liked the part where the lemon juice was added at the end, gave it a fresher zip. The cayenne is a very good add.

I still had some fresh romaine so I made another salad for lunch today and took the picture above. Yummy! I actually think this would be great on roasted veggies.