What Did Rosie Do Yesterday?

First off, I had found a UFO in my freezer the other day.
That would be an unidentified frozen object.
Upon examination, it turned out to be a chicken carcass I had saved for later use.
I tossed it in the pot, added water, onions, celery, carrots, bay leaves and simmered for hours.

After cooking all day, I refrigerated it for a few days until I had time to clean it up.
Here's my before stock.

Yesterday, I decided to make chicken consomme.
I strained out all the veggie bits and scraped the congealed fat off the top.

Then, I whupped up 5 egg whites, added about a cup of the cold stock.
I brought the stock to a boil and added a cup of hot stock to the egg white mixture.
Then I poured the egg whites into the stock.
Barely let it come to a simmer.
I set the pan on the side of the burner and cooked 1/4 at a time for 5 minutes, then turned the pan 1/4 turn.

Here are all the nasty bits adhering to the egg whites.

I carefully scooped out the egg whites.

And discarded the foamy mess.

Then I slowly poured my consomme through cheesecloth and ended up with this:

Beautiful, clear chicken consomme.
You really should try making your own broths.
You can't get this out of a can, my friends.


Next, I decided to make a bread dough which, as you will see, can be used in different applications.

Here are my basic ingredients:
1 cup water
1 package yeast
sugar
egg
oil (Extra Light Bertolli Olive Oil)
salt and pepper
bread flour

Add yeast to lukewarm water and sprinkle with sugar.
Don't use hot water. It can kill the yeast.
And don't add the salt at this point.
It, too, can kill the yeast.

Let set a while until the yeast "proofs."
When it gets all bubbly like this, you know the yeast is active.

Next I mixed in an egg.

Added in a bit of olive oil.

Then I started adding the bread flour, a little bit at a time.
And you can add the salt and pepper now.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and start kneading it.

I kneaded the dough for about 20 minutes, adding a little more olive oil and flour as needed.
Keep going until you get a nice, smooth, elastic dough.

I put the dough in an oiled bowl, turning to cover.
Then I covered with plastic wrap and covered the whole with a steamy hot towel and set in the microwave to rise.

After about 2 hours, I got to punch my dough down.
I always like this part.

I sliced the dough into 2 pieces, kneaded a bit more and put one ball of dough
in a small 1 1/2 pint baking dish.

Here it is in my microwave, sitting on a wet towel that I heated up, happily rising away.

After rising,
I baked it for 25 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.
Nothing like homemade bread.

Now, I'm going to show you one of my favorite appetizers I make.

Here's my little bready mushroom.

I cut the top of and scraped the innerds out leaving a nice base and sides.

Set all on a baking pan.
Now, here are my ingredients for the filling, except for my red onion which I forgot to put out.

1 pound of crab meat
lemon
lime
red pepper
yellow pepper from my garden
butter
cream cheese
Brie cheese
green onion
Sherry

Mix together the butter, cream cheese, and Brie and melt in the microwave.

Squeeze in some lemon juice and orange juice.

Gently mix in the crab meat.

And the filling is ready to go into my boule.

Spoon into the hollowed out boule.

Here are my veggies ready to be diced.

Here are the chopped peppers, green onion, and the red onion.

Bake the boule until the crab meat is heated through and torn pieces of bread are toasty.
Then add in a bit of sherry and gently stir.

Top with veggies.

I topped with more pieces of Brie and a slice of provolone and more veggies.

Heat through.

And serve.

Serve this at a party and there will be no leftovers.

Delicious.

Now remember I had cut my original dough into two pieces?
I'm sure you do and this whole time you've been reading about the crab meat boule you've been asking yourself over and over,
"What's Rosie going to do with the rest of the dough?
What is she going to make next?"

Well, ask no more, my friends.
I decided to make 2 pizza doughs - one for supper tonight and the other to use later.

After letting the dough rise, brown it in the oven.
I like a thin, crispy crust, and this works everytime.

Mr. Hawthorne wanted to prepare his own pizza.
I had just enough homemade tomato sauce leftover to spread a thin layer on top of the crust.
Then Mr. H. sprinkled some pre-packaged, pre-shredded cheese mixture on top.
(Sandra would be so proud of him.)
Sliced tomatoes went on top.

Along with sliced red, green onions, and fresh chopped basil.

Mozzarella cheese .
And here Mr. H. is sprinkling the top with extra virgin olive oil.
I have several different varieties and he sniffed each one until he decided on the one he wanted to use which, in this case, was Lucini Estate Select Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Top with more cheese and bake.
Too bad you can't smell this.
Even though Youngest Hawthorne says he "doesn't like tomatoes," he went through this pizza like he hadn't eaten for days. Middle Hawthorne loved it too. There was no pizza left.

Dixie has strange eyes.
And she wants some pizza.