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Zesty Goes Brick: Cooking at 900 Degrees

zesty — Fri, 13 May 2011 13:00:30 +0000

Guess what? I totally forgot it was Friday and I had to post today! Can you believe that? Well I just remembered and I knew I had nothing prepared. With that said, I thought of this post because hopefully we are approaching the nicer weather where the zesty-in-laws will be calling us up for some pizza. Whooo Hooo. Look at this post if you don’t remember it from last year.

Happy Wednesday and welcome to a very special post!

A few weeks back I got a call from a Zesty in Law stating that they were getting a brick oven built in their backyard and I was asked if I would like to photograph the build and feature it on zesty. Of course my answer was yes as I thought you would love to see it from start to finish. The goal being to see it at the finished stage and taste the food from the oven. That happened last Friday and we will get to that in a little bit.

One hint: AMAZING

What is a Brick Oven

Now some of you may ask what is a brick oven so I thought I would share a little insight.

These ovens work on retained heat. A fire is burned in the oven for a few hours, the coals are raked out, the oven floor brushed or swabbed with a damp mop and then the food is cooked using the heat stored in the oven mass. Wood-fired bakeovens are used to bake crusty bread, crisp pizza and just about anything else including the Christmas turkey. The oven can have a barrel/vault shape or it can be round. The inner workings of the oven can be of modern firebrick material or simply made of clay like the early settlers used. Plan your oven location, if you can, so it can be used in any weather.

OK. Everyone is on the same page on the “What is a Brick Oven” so now let’s get to “How to Build a Brick Oven”. For this next phase I am going to show you a bunch of pictures with very little narrative as I think the pictures will explain themselves.

The Brick Oven

The Final Product

Here is the final oven in all it’s glory! Notice the sheer size of the structure not too mention how cool it looks in general.

Pizza Pizza

Oh my God or OMG or whatever you want to say when you are super excited and you cannot get enough of something. This pizza was absolutely insane. For the night, I was sous chef Zesty as I was helping with the prep and layout of the pizza. Also was called upon every now and again to give the pizza a turn in the oven, slice it after completion and call over the troops.

For cooking pizza, the oven was around 850-900 degrees F and the pizzas would literally cook in 2-3 minutes. It was the first night of pizza cooking so there will be a few tweaks put in place to master the dough levels but overall the crowd loved it.

First off, you have to start the fire and get the oven up to temperature. Then using a brush, reach in and clean the floor in preparation of the pizza dough.

Zesty in law and myself cooked 11 pizzas including a couple of dessert pizzas that may knock your socks off. We will get to those in a minute. First up we have a basic pizza with homemade tomato sauce, some Genoa salami and cheese ( It was for the kiddos but I may have snuck a piece )

As the night went on we switched up the toppings, rolled the dough for a few of them and even picked some fresh basil.

Here is a little olive oil, fresh basil and cheese pizza. This was a huge hit!

On to the Dessert Pizza. How does strawberries, raspberries, chocolate, vanilla sugar and fresh dough baked at 800 degrees sound for dessert? Pretty damn good right? Well if you said “Holy Yum” you would be bang on. These were amazing!

We capped the night off with a Simple Smore done in the oven. I took a marshmallow, sliced a hole in the center and shoved in some chocolate, then roasted it in the oven and placed it between two graham wafers.

Let’s finish the night with a little FIRE!

Special thanks to the Zesty in Law’s for letting me feature this on the blog and Red Clay for building the oven and doing such a great job. John over at Red Clay definitely knows his bricks and it shows in the final product.

Before I go I want to say a special “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” to a Zesty in Law who reads my posts everyday. Hope you have a great day, CAW. Alright, I better get going here and get some breakfast. I know this was a long post but I felt it was the best way to describe such an amazing work of art. Have a super Wednesday and I will see you on Friday.

Take care

zesty

Welcome to 2011

zesty — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 13:34:57 +0000

Welcome to 2011. I hope you had a wonderful new year celebration with your family and friends. As I sit here in the dining room preparing this post and I look back on the holidays…. I feel like I have gained 10 lbs – oh wait maybe I actually did. The amount of food and drink consumed this year was appalling – but nonetheless a fact.

I need to apologize before we go any further as NYE festivities got a little sloppy ( and I don’t mean Sloppy Joe’ s) for zest and I didn’t take any pictures. The food from what I can remember was amazing as per usual and there are a couple of dishes that stand out. Thanks to the amazing zesty in law for putting on an amazing party and taking some pictures.

The menu was quite elaborate and included shrimp, trout, quail, mushrooms, brie bake, homemade tomato paste with goat and mozzarella cheese as a spread, of course homemade pizza, fresh ravioli, sticky date pudding

Stuffed Mushrooms

These mushrooms were stuffed with capers, anchovies, cumin, mushroom stems, bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese…. Totally Delicious!!!

Prosciutto Wrapped Quail

I somewhat remember eating this and I did enjoy it…. the salty crunch on the Prosciutto was a nice balance with the Quail.

So a new year is upon us, and normally we go ahead and make some resolutions and promises to ourselves. I have been keeping mine fairly quiet but I do want to try a few things that I have not yet completed. I would like to try some vegan recipes, use agave nectar, eat more oatmeal and do some more exercise. Yes a year full of excitement is in store for zest. Tell me what are going to do this year.

I have some more fun recipes to share with you over the next couple of weeks that I have experimented with over the holidays. Stay tuned and have a great start to the new year.

Take care

zesty.

Smoked Maple Salmon App

zesty — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:00:03 +0000

Happy Monday from the camp ground! The weekend has been a lot of fun minus the damp weather and the lack of propane in both the bbq and oven. I tried not to let it dampen my spirits and forged ahead. Needless to say there was no cooking on the first night but the forecast is looking up and I cannot wait.

Despite the weather – I do have a fun little appetizer to share with you and try out next time you need a snack. This is great for a gathering, nice with some wine before your meal or even great to bring to a potluck if you are in a rush. This is drop dead simple and requires three ingredients.

Ingredients

Maple Smoked salmon
Cream cheese
Cracker/ Crostini

Method

Slice smoked salmon to desired size
Get crackers, spread a little cream cheese and top with smoked salmon
ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: For me I love to serve this chilled as the cream cheese and salmon firm up and make a great combination.

OK, so there you have it guys, a quick simple appetizer that will make you a lot of friends and usually disappear like hot cakes. I am on my way back to the trailer and looking forward to a fun day! I will touch base with you on Wednesday and by all means let me know if you thought of anything else to put on the menu.

Take care

zesty

An Extended Zesty-In Law Party

zesty — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:00:27 +0000

Happy Monday Tuesday! It looks like my post for Monday didn’t get published due to a word press issue and I just found out this morning. So sorry about that…

Just a little recap on the move in date. We are not fully moved in to the new house as of yet as we encountered a couple of hiccups on Friday. As you know we have been storing our belongings in a 54 foot trailer for the last 6 months. It seems to be the case that the trailer either leaked or allowed moisture to form due to the combination of warm and cold temperatures which caused a lot of our belongs to have mildew/mold on them.

Our furniture, beds and some other pieces seem to be the worst along with some boxes of books etc so we are getting Chem Dry in tomorrow morning to attempt to “fix” the issues. Chem dry is a local company that uses all natural products to get rid of nasty odors and “mold/mildew”. We will know more tomorrow on how things progress.

If things go well – I hope we can move in on Wednesday night. We were able to go to a tree farm and pick out the tree yesterday and try to keep our spirits up. Another event to keep our spirits up was our annual – extended gift opening celebration (which means a tonne of food) and some Christmas presents. I snapped a lot of pictures just not sure how many turned out. I will share some with you in a second.

There were a lot of amazing dishes – a few of which I may go into detail later in the week.

Well I am off work today to go back to the house and continue to unpack and prep the house. The painter is coming in today to paint the railing and do a few final touch ups around the house. Have a great Tuesday and I will update you tomorrow. 3 Days until Christmas – Can you believe it?

Take care

zesty

Top 9 Party Planning Ideas

zesty — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:00:17 +0000

Hey you! End of the week is here and I wanted to switch up things a little bit and share with you some tips I try to use when planning for a get together or party. Now these ideas are nothing earth shattering or unheard of but it is just a guideline that may ease some stress around “PARTY TIME“.

For a simple centerpiece, arrange bunches of flowers ( daisies, etc in small tin buckets )
Plastic glasses and utensils make cleanup easy
When serving messy meals like ribs, use lightweight bandannas instead of thin napkins
Dress salads just before serving
Keep lots of napkins and or paper towel on hand to wipe up spills
To keep beverages cold longer, place in a full tub of ice, water and salt ( 1 Tbsp. per Quart of water )
Use checklists and try to divide up tasks among your helpers
Plan ahead and prep whatever you can ahead of time.
Have Fun while doing it

Ok, so it is 8:55 pm o’clock in the evening ( last night ) and I just realized I have a client meeting at 9:00 that I totally forgot about so that is going to eat into my evening of relaxation. Oh well – I will still try and sneak a piece of fudge and possibly some killer banana bread before hitting the sack.

Have a great weekend and I will talk to you on Monday.

Take care

zesty

5 Minute Greek Dip

zesty — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:00:53 +0000

Happy Tuesday! I have been meaning to prepare some quick dips for entertaining around the holidays for a while now and for some reason it just gets pushed down on my list of things to do. That is, until now. I am about to share with you a super simple Greek dip that is always a huge hit at the parties and family functions.

This dip is so versatile and quick to make. Next time you are heading to a potluck or a gathering sign yourself up for an appetizer and try this recipe.

Ingredients

1 Block Cream Cheese
1/2 Cup Feta Cheese
1/4 Cup Plain Yogurt
2 Tbsp. Chopped Fresh Dill
1 Clove Garlic
1/2 Tsp. Pepper
Chopped Green Onions
Chopped Cucumber
Diced Black Olives
Diced Tomatoes

Method

Mix cheeses, yogurt and spices until blended smooth (either in a food processor or by hand).
Pour mixture into dish and spread evenly.
Top with fresh vegetables.
Enjoy!

I like to serve this dip with homemade toasted pita chips. Simply break up some pita bread and throw it on a cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees turning once until crispy. This is a great dish… give it a try.

I hope everyone is having a great week thus far. I look forward to sharing another party appetizer tomorrow. Have a great day and good luck finishing your shopping. Don’t forget about Zesty’s present.

Take care

zesty