Unusual Easter Brunch -- Pizza

This year for Lent I gave up pizza and it proved to be very difficult. I actually broke it on more than one occasion. In my defense, two of the three times I broke my Lenten resolve was in an effort not to be rude when I was at someone else’s house for dinner. The third time, I was sick and needed comfort food on a Friday night when I was also not eating meat.

This was all an effort to cut back on the amount of cheese I consume and while I will continue to avoid eating too much cheese, I’m absolutely back on pizza.

Since we were going to my sister’s for Easter dinner, I made a breakfast pizza I had read about over the holiday season. It was billed as “Hangover Pizza” for a New Year’s Day brunch, but it was also a delicious Easter breakfast – even though it’s not traditional.

Sometime later this week I will be enjoying brick oven pizza from Pizzeria Serio or deep dish from Pequod’s – my two favorite Chicago pizza restaurants.

Below is the recipe I adapted slightly:

HANGOVER PIZZA

Serves Four

Ingredients

1 lb. of pizza dough, at room temperature (I used the Pillsbury pre-made thin crust to expedite the work involved)

Combine 5 oz. fresh mozzarella, 5 oz. smoked mozzarella and 2 tbsp. pecorino Romano, all grated

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 cup baby arugula

4 eggs

2-3 tbsp. of white truffle oil or a drizzle of your favorite flavored olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Roll out pizza dough on a greased baking sheet and bake for five minutes. Remove from oven and pierce dough with a fork all over and push down dough using back of spoon.  (A thicker crust may require longer baking time).

Increase oven to 500 degrees.

Spread or sprinkle cheese, salt and freshly ground pepper. Top with arugula. Carefully crack 4 eggs on top of pizza. Put pie back into oven until eggs are cooked, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven, and drizzle with truffle oil. Cut into squares and serve hot.

My Shiksa Seder

In our interfaith household, we celebrate everything! Christmas, Hanukkah, Easter and Passover – we do it all. I’ve hosted Passover at our home since two weeks before our wedding when my now mother-in-law had broken her wrist. Luckily it was a small event because I had a few other things on my mind!

To help me impress my soon-to-be in-laws, I turned to a book my dear friend Vikki Weiss Goldman wrote with Jennifer Block, What To Do When You are Dating a Jew. It’s a humorous guide to learning everything about Judaism for non-Jews who are dating or married to one. It also contains excellent recipes for every holiday. 

I bought this book long before I met Mike Sachs to help Vikki’s Amazon sales, but I highly recommend it if you know someone who may be starting an interfaith family. I use it during all of the Jewish holidays.

Below are a two of my favorite recipes from What To Do When You are Dating a Jew for anyone who might be hosting a Seder next week. I made the Almond Macaroon for my first Rosh Hashanah with the Sachs family and everyone was very impressed!

Almond Macaroons

Yields 40

½ teaspoon of almond extract

4 egg whites, at room temperature, beaten stiff but not dry

½ pound finely ground blanched almonds

½ cup sugar

toasted slivered almonds for garnish

Add almond extract to beaten whites. Mix almonds with sugar and slowly fold into whites. Pipe or spoon onto oiled wax paper-lined baking sheets. Top with slivered almonds. Bake at 300 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Matzah and Cheese Kugel

Serves 6 as a main dish, 10 as a side dish

 5 eggs

1 cup milk

1 pound cottage cheese

¼ cup honey

salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 matzahs, broken

½ cup slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 2-quart baking dish. Beat eggs with milk. Add cottage cheese, honey, salt and cinnamon. Place half of the matzah pieces in the baking dish. Pour half of the mixture on top and sprinkle with almonds. Cover with remaining matzah pieces and then the cheese mixture. Bake 40 minutes or until slightly browned and crunchy on top. 

Working Out With A Guru

The Dailey Method is a regular part of my workout routine – when I am being good about it   A challenging one-hour class, The Dailey Method combines exercises with lightweights, Pilates, ballet barre work and stretching. It works every muscle group in the body with an emphasis on your abs and stretching.

Yesterday I had an opportunity to take a class with Dailey Method creator, Jill Dailey. Since she is based on the West Coast slots in her few Chicago area classes were in demand and offered to teachers and The Dailey Method’s most devoted attendees first.  Despite my recently renewed emphasis on exercising, I’m not exactly the most loyal regular.

I secured this opportunity because I had won a drawing last summer to participate in a small workshop with Jill during her next visit to the Chicago area. I had practically forgotten about it when I received an email alerting me to her visit.  I was ultimately unable to attend due to a prior commitment, so Tami Conway the owner of the Bucktown studio offered me a reservation to a class as a consolation. As the date approached for this session, I upped my attendance at classes in order to prepare and not look like a fool!

The class was filled with teachers who are usually my instructors and incredibly fit Dailey Method followers. If that was not intimidating enough, several teachers observed and took notes during the session.  Everyone was keyed up to meet their personal exercise guru.

The good news is that I survived! There was only one truly humiliating moment: we were in “seated chair" position and Jill told me in a voice the whole class could hear that she’d slide off my lap if she was sitting on it.  Nonetheless, she was very approachable and provided incredibly clear direction that improved my technique. I didn’t even notice that class went over by fifteen minutes. I am usually counting the minutes until class is over. 

Despite my humiliation, I left incredibly motivated to continue my fitness routine. I will be ready for shorts weather if it ever warms up here in Chicago.