Grilling Season 2013 is here!! Yea!! I was so happy a couple of weeks ago to clean off my grill and get it ready. I had a friend over for dinner and made my BBQ Bacon Wrapped Shrimp. Yum. There is nothing that compares to that black char on grilled food. Do we salivate because some primeval part of our brain is triggered by genetic memories left over from our hunter-gatherer forebears? We have been flaming our food for about 500,000 years after all. Whatever it is, I am looking forward to a lot of grilled dishes in the next several months. Which I plan to share with you.

I was thinking about some great burgers I want to try, and that brought me to the hamburger buns to go with them. Those soft buns you get at the market can be frustrating sometimes, especially if your filling is at all wet. The bun bottom gets wet, too, and ends up disintegrating and falling on your plate (or lap, usually mine.) So I figured this summer, I would make my own buns and they would have structure, so they wouldn’t fall apart.

These hamburger buns are slightly sweet, but not overbearingly, and are a perfect foil for whatever fills them. And they’re easy. Just my kind of recipe. From start to finish they took about 6 hours, but there are a couple of one to two hour rising times, so you can clean your house or do your laundry. Just kidding. You could read a book, have a drink and watch a movie, or sit on the couch and makeout with your boyfriend. Just don’t forget that dough it is arising. Sorry about being so silly. I’m just excited about grilling season being here.

First the warm milk, yeast and sugar are mixed and set until foamy. The flour and egg are mixed in until a shaggy dough forms.

Butter is added and kneaded with the dough hook for about 8 minutes until it’s nice and smooth and elastic.

Here you can see the dough before and after rising for about 2 hours. This is the part that always amazes me. That yeast is alive!

The dough is formed into a cylinder and cut into 12 pieces. They are formed into balls and flattened into discs about ½-inch thick. More rising for about 1 ½ hours.

Now the buns are misted with water and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Almost done. Hang in there. Now is when they finally get baked and come out all golden brown and smelling heavenly. Oh yes.

I am very glad to be back, after not posting for almost two weeks. I was knocked out by a very debilitating virus from which I am still recovering. Also, I was without a camera, but now am the proud new owner of a Canon T4i. I am still learning how to use it to best advantage, so you’ll have to cut me some slack on the photos for a while. So, dear friends, let’s get to the recipe at hand.

Recently I was invited to a potluck to which we were asked to bring a dish representing our ethnic heritage. I am French, German, Norwegian and Danish, so I had many dishes I could make, but I wanted to bring something different that the other potluckers may not have tried before. I was sorting through the memories of my childhood and what really stood out were the Norwegian and Danish dishes my Mom and Grandma used to make, some of which were complicated and time consuming. One item that appeared frequently was the pickled herring that came in a jar and required no effort beyond a twist of the wrist. We always ate the sweet wine-marinated little fish fillets on soda crackers topped with some of the sliced onions that came in the jar.

In order to get the full Danish experience I decided to do the whole  thing, with authentic Danish rye bread, which is dark, dense and full of sunflower seeds. There is a wonderful blog called Danish Open Sandwiches which is entirely devoted to Smørrebrød, one of, if not the national dish of Denmark. After watching a video on how to make the rye bread, I decided it would be too much to find the rye berries and grind them to the right size. Instead, I opted to make the bread from a mix that is sold at Ikea. The ingredients match exactly those in the video, so I felt it would be very close to the real thing.

The Ikea rye bread has a unique way of mixing. You open the carton and pour the water right in, then shake the carton for a minute before pouring it into your greased bread pan. No dirty dishes. Here you can see the unbaked dough after it has risen in the oven for an hour with the oven light on. It has doubled in size. I have never made this type of bread before, so I was having a lot of fun watching how the whole process played out.

This bread is like a heavy brick. I tried slicing it when it first came out of the oven and was still warm. Big mistake. The serrated knife just tore it in a jagged slice and the inside was really moist, almost like not cooked enough. I had read in my research not to try to cut when warm, but I am one of those people who never listen. So I then did what I was instructed to do, which was wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate over night. The next day, the interior of the bread was solid and I chose my other serrated knife with large scallops to slice it. They turned out perfect and I was able to make really thin slices that did not break apart. Good old yeast and her friend gluten. This bread is not sweet, but has a tang to it from sourdough starter.

I was very happy to find a recipe for Skagen Sild on Danish Open Sandwiches that featured pickled herring and had the added interest of crunchy sweet diced apple. The diced herring and apple are mixed with sour cream, mayo and a little Dijon, plus minced shallots and dill or tarragon. I made mine with tarragon, but dill would be more authentic. The mixture is sweet from the apples and the wine marinade. I believe if you have never tried pickled herring, and think it might be yuck, this is a good positive introduction. If you are interested in Smørrebrød, go to Danish Open Sandwiches for a myriad of recipes and totally humerous writing about the food and lore of Denmark. By the way, Smørrebrød means buttered bread in Danish, the butter being slathered on quite liberally. Skagen (pronounced skay-en) is a beach town on the most northern tip of Denmark and Sild is the Danish word for herring. Oh, and the beaches in Skagen are topless. Ok, that’s another story.

Last year around this time my local Ralph’s Market sent out a little brochure with a great appetizer recipe, Bacon Wrapped Dates with Choriso & Goat Cheese. This year their brochure included these Cheesy Puff Pastry Pinwheels, which are stuffed with just about every ingredient that makes your tastebuds sing: artichokes, feta, kalamata olives, roasted red peppers and Gruyere. Plus spinach, so you can feel healthy. All rolled up in puff pastry, sliced and baked into really delicious pinwheel appetizers that can be eaten warm right out of the oven or at room temperature. It’s up to you.

I think these would be wonderful to nibble on while watching the Superbowl next Sunday, February 3, being played in New Orleans. Since I live in Los Angeles, I’ll be rooting for the California team. Yea! San Francisco 49ers! Good luck to the Baltimore Ravens, too. I am looking forward to Alicia Keys singing the National Anthem, and Beyonce at Half Time. So about 3 PM I’ll be sitting in front of my TV watching those really fun commercials and thinking about all of you waiting in anticipation for the kick-off, just like me.

The chopped ingredients are rolled up in the puff pastry and sliced into 3/4-inch slices. The pieces fall out, but just stick them right back in and keep rolling.

The slices may not be pretty and the little pieces are still falling out, but persevere, it all turns out ok in the end.

Here are the finished Pinwheels cooling on their rack, looking so cheesy and delicious!

I LOVE LEFTOVERS! All I have to do is heat them up and eat. No cooking. No waiting. It’s like telling your replicator what you want and **zing** there it is. Come to think of it, we now have 3-D photocopiers that are making guns, lamps and airplane parts. Is a food replicator far behind? Its little ink jets will be filled with protein, fats, carbohydrates, water and a mix of vitamins and minerals. Just like on StarTrek. I can hardly wait! My first command will be Lobster with Drawn Butter. Ok, Lynne, back to reality….

I made these Cheddar & Bacon Biscuits for dinner guests last Thanksgiving and they were great for making sandwiches with all of my leftover turkey. These biscuits are perfect for the job because they are made with bread flour and do not crumble. The gluten in the flour makes the crumb strong and pliable, but still soft and pillowy. Since turkey is sort of dry, the mayonnaise and tomato add juicyness and the bacon a crunchy salty smoky note. Along with the cheddar in the biscuit, this is about as tasty as a sandwich can get. And it uses up your leftovers. Yea!

Cheddar & Bacon Biscuit

Slather on Mayonnaise

Pile on the Turkey

A layer of bright red juicy Tomatoes

Crunchy Salty Bacon. Yum.

Perfect for Game Day!

My Food Bloggers Los Angeles group recently held their annual Cookie Exchange and Cookbook Swap at the home of Erika, of In Erika’s Kitchen. We were invited to bring 5 to 6 dozen cookies to share and as many cookbooks as we were willing to part with. One gal said she couldn’t part with any of her own cookbooks, so she went to a book store and bought a new one to share. Lol. Anyway, there were about 30 of us FBLAers and I have never seen so many cookies in one place in my life. A quick calculation tells me about 2000 cookies. Sugar, sugar.

Since we were meeting around lunch time, it was also suggested that we bring a savory dish to share, which is where these Spicy Korean BBQ Sliders come into the picture. I brought the components separately in containers and mixed them together there. I was so happy to be using up some of the massive amount of turkey leftovers I had from Thanksgiving, you have no idea. People were hovering, waiting for me to finish assembling them, so they could have one. One person who couldn’t wait was Erika’s 13 year old son, Emery, who asked if he could have one before I was finished, because he couldn’t wait. So I caved and gave him one. Several minutes later, he threw this arms around my neck and exclaimed, “Lynne, I love you!” Well, can a cook receive a better complement than that?

The ingredient in my sliders that make them so spicy amazing is Gochugaru, Korean Red Pepper Powder. Gochugaru comes in two styles, fine and coarse. The fine powder is used to make gochujang, the Korean red pepper paste which I used in a previous recipe for Korean Chicken Wings. The coarse flakes are used to make kimchi and in many other Korean dishes, such as my Fried Tofu with Spicy Korean Red Pepper Sauce . Gochugaru is found only in Korean cuisine, unlike other ingredients that have versions in the cuisines of many countries around the world.

Two different brands of Gochugaru

You can order Gochugaru on-line at Amazon or hmart. If you live in Los Angeles there is probably an Asian or Korean Market near you, or you can drive to Market World in Torrance. And if you are thinking, like me, that Korean food is the next big thing, check out this website Maangchi. Lots of information and recipes. I hope you have fun with this.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I was really happy because my son and daughter who live out of state, and my daughter-in-law, and my two grandkids were all in town together for the first time in many years. Last Saturday they called up and announced they were coming over for dinner. I guess when it’s your Mom, you can do that. So I gave them the choice of leftover turkey dinner or My Mom’s Goulash. To a man, they voted for goulash. They had been eating turkey leftovers for two days already where they were staying. So I made a big pot of goulash, and to accompany it, these Cheddar & Bacon Biscuits. During dinner I heard a few Oh Yums and Pass Me the Biscuits. Mom’s know what their kids will like. We’ve had a lot of practice.

Recently I was invited to an early Thanksgiving event and I needed to bring a dish for the buffet. I wanted to make something that could be put together the night before, because I am barely coherent in the morning and I needed to leave my house at 10AM. These Spinach Crepe Spirals are perfect, because I could make the crepes the day before, spread with filling, roll them up, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate over night. The next morning just slice and place on a serving tray, and you’re good to go. Plus you get to eat the trimmed ends while you work. What a deal.

I have been making these appetizers since the 1980s and they were served on the side of an asparagus salad at one of my UCLA Culinary School banquets in 1995. You can read the menu and my post about that banquet here.

I haven’t made these lately, so as I was making the crepes I decided to taste test one just spread with some butter and rolled up. Yum. They have minced spinach and green onions in them, which are so delicious. Then I was thinking that these would be a great way to use Thanksgiving leftovers. Just fill with turkey and dressing, roll up and douse with gravy. Or cold like a sandwich roll-up. It’s a crepe, after all, so the possibilities are endless. Time to get creative.

The other day, when I was writing my post about Blueberry Pie, I decided it was time for lunch. I looked around in the kitchen and couldn’t find a thing I wanted to eat. It was just one of those days. I didn’t want to take time to make something involved, just something simple. So I looked in my pantry to see if there was anything I could make quickly. Well, lo and behold, there were those pesky cans of diced tomatoes that you may remember from My Mom’s Goulash post. Perfect. A quick Tomato Bruschetta and I would be back at my computer in no time.

Now, I realize that classical Italian bruschetta has olive oil drizzled over it, but this is me, in my kitchen, making it the way I like it. With butter. Lots of butter, with the garlicky tomatoes piled on top. You can’t see the butter in the photo, but trust me, it’s there. Butter and garlic. Yum. And you can tell this is my lunch because it is sitting on a paper plate and looking very photogenic. Simple. Easy. Fast. Good.

To help celebrate Cinco de Mayo this year, I thought I would cook up some tacos. But not just your simple ground beef, lettuce, tomato, cheese and sour cream. Oh no, I’m making sliced pork soaked in an achiote marinade and grilled with onions and pineapple. These grilled beauties are laid in a warm corn tortilla and sprinkled with diced red onion and chopped cilantro. When you take a bite, there is a burst of  pineapple juice that flavors every spicy morsel. Just amazing.

So what is achiote paste? It is a popular blend of spices from Mexico, which is also called Recado Rojo or Adobo de Achiote. Originally a Mayan blend, it is now associated with the cooking of Yucatan and Belize. Annatto seeds, which grow abundantly on the Yucatan peninsula, are ground with oregano, black pepper, cloves, cumin, cinnamon, allspice, garlic and a little vinegar to make achiote paste. The annatto seeds dye the mixture brick red and add their distinctive flavor. Achiote paste is smeared on fish, chicken and pork for baking in banana leaves or added to tamales and stews. I got my annatto seeds from Penzeys Spices, as well as the dried ancho, chipotle and guajillo chiles in this recipe. You can also buy achiote paste in little rectangular boxes in Mexican markets.

Cinco de Mayo in the United States is a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride, which began in California in the 1860s during the American Civil War. It is celebrated in Mexican-American communities across the U.S., especially those with large Mexican-American populations like Chicago and Houston, but the largest festival in the U.S. is in Los Angeles.

In Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is primarily celebrated in Puebla to commemorate the Mexican army’s defeat of the French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. These same French forces were planning to occupy Mexico to create a colonial empire and use it as a base to provide assistance to the Southern Confederacy during the American Civil War. Because 8,000 French soldiers were defeated by the Mexican Army of 4,000 at Puebla, 14 months later the Southern Confederates were smashed at Gettysburg, essentially ending the Civil War.

On June 7, 2005 the U.S. Congress issued a Concurrent Resolution to issue a proclamation calling the people of the United States to observe Cinco de Mayo with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

I used my grill pan to cook the pork, onions and pineapple slices. When summer comes, I plan to fire up my charcoal grill and add some smoke to the flavor mix. I love the way the grill marks look on the pineapple and pork slices. They make such a beautiful presentation. We eat with our eyes first, they say. And my eyes say Olé !!

Added 5/5/12: Cook& Be Merry’s Pork Tacos with Achiote & Grilled Pineapple was featured as one of Yummly’s “Flavorful Tacos Everyone will Taco-Bout”. Thanks Yummly!

Added 5/18/12: Cook & Be Merry’s Pork Tacos with Achiote & Grilled Pineapple was featured on Gourmet Live.com in their  ”Weekly Roundup: Pineapple Perfecton.”  Thanks Gourmet Live!

The day after Thanksgiving I was perusing the leftovers in my refrigerator, when, gasping with horror, I realized I had three hard-cooked eggs that I had been planning to use in an appetizer, but hadn’t had time to make. Now I had three eggs that I had to use within a day or they would be wasted. Oh no!

Well, I’m not really an egg salad sandwich kinda gal and I didn’t feel up to a big project like a Nicoise salad. I could have put them on toast with goat cheese and a mint pesto, but that just didn’t sound appealing at the time. So what to make. Then I remembered a simple supper dish my Mom used to make in the 1950’s when I was a kid – hard-cooked eggs on toast covered with a white sauce. Well, what are the holidays about but tradition and the comfort food of our childhood. So I decided to recreate that humble dish for a trip down memory lane.

Béchamel is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine and is also used in Macaroni & Cheese, Italian lasagna, Greek moussaka, and on an English Parmo, which is a breaded fried chicken fillet topped with béchamel and cheddar cheese, which is then grilled or baked to melt the cheese. It is also the base for sweet and savory soufflés.

This sauce is named after the Marquis Louis Bechameil, who was a financier and chief steward to French King Louis XIV. It first appeared in a cookbook by LaVarenne in 1651.

Béchamel is the base for other classic sauces to serve over eggs, veal, lamb, fish, vegetables and steak, such as:

Mornay Sauce – add Parmesan or Gruyere and egg (optional)
Cream Sauce – add heavy cream or crème fraiche
Mushroom Sauce – add mushrooms and lemon juice
Soubise Sauce – add cooked onions and put through a fine strainer
Tomato Sauce — add tomato paste
Curry Sauce – add minced onion, curry powder and chopped tomato, strain
Cheddar Cheese Sauce – add cheddar, dry mustard, Worcestershire
Escoffier Sauce – add oyster liquor, egg yolks, poached chopped oysters
Nantua Sauce – add crayfish, butter, cream

I hope this is giving you good ideas for some experimental fun. I know it did for me.

When I was a kid, my Mom would make grilled cheese sandwiches for my lunch from Wonder Bread and Kraft American Cheese. You know, the one the size of a brick. I remember enjoying them very much, along with tomato or chicken noodle soup. Campbell’s, of course.

However, things have changed since back in the day. When I went to make my grilled cheese sandwich recently, I found, to my surprise, that I had 12 different kinds of cheese in my fridge. Every drawer and shelf was populated. There was:

1. Grated mozzarella
2. Grated sharp cheddar. My kid uses them to make a quick quesadilla.
3. Blue Cheese
4. Queso Fresco from the Chorizo & White Bean Soup I posted about.
5. Monterey Jack
6. Boursin with Garlic & Fine Herbs, thanks to Chef Jesse at Baleen
7. Philadelphia Cream Cheese
8. Whole Milk Ricotta
9. Comté
10. Emmenthaler
11. Gruyere
12. Parmigiano Reggiano

I decided to go with the Gruyere, which is so nutty and umami-ish. I put a layer of cheese on a sour dough slice, then some deli ham I needed to use up and a bit of Dalmatia Fig Spread to balance the salty cheese and ham. I spread the outside of the bread with mayonnaise (instead of butter) and grilled it, covered, over medium low heat.

And the result was really messy and sticky and absolutely fantastic.

After writing my post about Leftover Oddments Soup and mentioning the best leftovers possible – meatloaf sandwiches – all of a sudden I just had to make meatloaf. Imagining that sandwich with soft white bread, mayonnaise and a thick slab of meatloaf had me rushing to the market to buy the ingredients. In fact, I have had such a sandwich for the last two days, first with lightly toasted sourdough and today with plain soft egg bread. Today was definitely the winner. So satisfying. Such a trip down comfort food memory lane.

My Mom used to make meatloaf in the 1950’s, but it was a simple recipe with hamburger, chopped onions, an egg, a squirt of ketchup and mustard, and crushed saltine crackers. We usually had it with baked potatoes and canned spinach (which I loved). She probably learned to make this during WWII when cooks were stretching their meat with a number of additives, such as bread, rice, oatmeal and vegetables.

Cooked mixtures of minced meat go back to Roman times, but the meat had to be chopped laboriously by hand. Meatloaf in its modern form didn’t appear in cookbooks until the invention of the meat grinder in the late 1800s. Early recipes called for veal, which was cheaper than beef and meatloaf was the mainstay of American cuisine during the Great Depression. Variations of meatloaf appear in many countries, many with hard-boiled eggs tucked inside. One theory is that American meatloaf had its origins in scrapple, a mixture of ground pork and cornmeal served by German-Americans in Pennsylvania since Colonial times.

The little cousin of meatloaf is the meatball. I actually kept out enough meat mixture to make two big meatballs, which I’m planning on using with a pasta recipe. A meatball is just a small meatloaf, really, isn’t it? While I was surfing the net for meatloaf info, I ran into a couple of websites about the world record for the biggest meatball on the planet. I figured maybe the size of a basketball? Oh no, these babies were 200 pounds, 222.5 pounds and 400 pounds. And, in my opinion, they look like big meatloafs to me.

The Holiday Harvest Afternoon Tea at Grace-Marie’s Kitchen was a cornucopia of six delicious dishes that could be prepared for your own holiday gatherings. It started off with Spirited Fruit and Cheese Hors d’Oeuvres, Roasted Pear and Blue Cheese Salad, and Savory Green Onion Scones. Then when our taste buds were all tingly with anticipation, we were treated to the wonderful Holiday Sweet Potato Empanadas with Mango Chutney Dipping Sauce, which were the highlight of our tea, with their beautiful color and savory sweet flavor. And we ended with Toffee Pumpkin Bars that were drizzled with caramel sauce and Chocolate Pecan Praline Tassies. Just reading this, isn’t it making your mouth water?

To make the Empanadas, Grace-Marie started off by dicing the sweet potato and sautéing it with the turkey, cumin and cinnamon. When the sweet potato was fork tender and the mixture cooled completely, she stirred in Jack cheese, mango chutney and cilantro to complete the filling.

Next, the prepared pie dough was unrolled, circles were cut out and about a tablespoon of filling placed on each round. Then each circle of dough was folded over and the edges pressed down to seal them.

The edges were crimped with a fork, brushed with beaten egg and dusted with a smokey Spanish Paprika. I could hardly wait to taste these babies, with all the wonderful ingredients in the filling. They were baked for about 15 minutes and they smelled so good.

Here they are with their beautiful appetizing color, all ready to be dipped in the Mango Chutney and Sour Cream Sauce. Grace-Marie has outdone herself again. Can you imagine these empanadas on your brunch table. Oh yes!

This class was really fun, with everyone very chatty and laughing. And of course the food was marvelous. These are the Ladies and Gentleman who came to tea. Thank you so much and I hope to see you all again.

For additional recipes from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen, look under Categories in the right-hand column.

Grace-Marie Johnston

For more information about the new schedule of cooking classes, visit Grace-Marie online at Bristol Farms or email her at gmj@bristolfarms.com.

If you like garlic, this is the food of the Garlic Gods. I adore garlic, so when I eat these garlic-butter-slathered toasted crostini liberally spread with the garlic-y kale and olive oil pesto, I am transported to heaven. Every time I make this, that first bite stops me in my tracks, as I savor the flavor of the hearty earthy green kale with the garlic butter. OMG. Mmmm…

These Kale Pesto Crostini are a perfect appetizer for your holiday feast. It’s one of those where the guests just sort of stand around the platter, chewing and not talking. Until all the crostini are gone. They are also good with a bowl of rustic vegetable soup, or, if you are like me, you make a bunch of them and eat them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Which I did tonight while I was typing up this post. So inspiring.

Kale is a form of cabbage, green or purple, in which the central leaves do not form a head. The species Bressica oleracea also contains broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens and brussels sprouts. It is considered a highly nutritious vegetable and is very high in beta carotene, Vitamin K, Vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin and calcium. It contains a chemical believed to have potent anti-cancer properties, boosts DNA repair in cells, and is an antioxidant.

Until the end of the middle ages, kale was one of the most common green vegetables in all of Europe. Russian kale was introduced into the US. by Russian traders, via Canada, in the 19th century. Kale is a main ingredient in the national dishes of several countries. In Ireland it’s mixed with mashed potatoes to make Colcannon. In Portugal it’s combined with potatoes and sausage to make the soup Caldo Verde. In Scotland, kale provided such a base for a traditional diet that the word in dialect Scots is synonymous with food.

A whole culture has developed in north-western Germany, where there are social clubs that visit country inns to consume large quantities of boiled kale, Mettworst and Schnapps. Most communities in the area have a yearly kale festival which includes naming a “Kale King” (or queen).

When you boil the half pound of kale leaves, less the center ribs, they reduce in volume to about the size of a handball. I use my mini food processor for this job and it works perfectly. Sometimes I get kale that is a thicker variety and while it tastes the same, it requires a little longer cooking and a little more olive oil added to the processor to make the mixture the right spreadable consistency. If you are not a garlic freak like me, use only 1/4 tablespoon of minced garlic in the pesto, instead of the full monty ½ tablespoon. I hope you try this. It’s fabulous.

Recently I received an invitation to join in a visit to Rosti Tuscan Kitchen in Encino, CA, along with ten other LA food bloggers, for a pizza-making competition. The invite said Rosti would provide the rolled-out dough and a slew of farm-fresh ingredients, and we’d each get to make our own fabulous pizza creations. These would be baked up, judged and voted on. And (trumpet salute) the winning pizza would be featured on the restaurant menu in the Santa Monica and Encino restaurants along with the name of the winning blog. Well, how could I pass this up? Pizza, an afternoon with my blogging friends and a friendly contest. I’m so there!

We were welcomed by the owner of Rosti, Kevin Goldfein, and seated at a long table in the dining room, as you can see in the photos above, which was covered with bowls of all the ingredients we could use to build our pizzas. Wonderful things like artichokes, anchovies, sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, minced garlic, meatballs, mushrooms and kalamata olives. I had no idea what I was going to put on mine, but I have a shrimp pizza I like to make. But I saw no shrimp. Darn. Kevin explained that each of us would be supplied with a dough-round and when all were constructed, they would be baked and we would each get a small piece of each pizza. We received a ballot to record our first three choices, which would be counted at the end. If we didn’t see an ingredient we would like to use, we could ask him if the kitchen could provide it.

Here is my blank canvas. I had no clue what to put on it. So I decided to ask if they had shrimp…and they did!

Here is my pie, pre-baking, with pesto, shrimp, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, arugula, mozzarella and parmesan. We put our pizzas on a table to wait for everyone to finish. Meanwhile I checked out Rosti’s menu. Wow, they have every Italian category possible: starters, appetizers, starter salads, soups, panini, sandwiches, hearty salads, pasta dishes, chicken and fish dishes, calzones and a kid’s menu. And PIZZAs. They have the standard combinations, but they have some that are definitely not your grandma’s, like The GCOP~ Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onions & Crisp Pancetta; and Pesto Hazelnut Pie~ Fresh Mozzarella, Cherry Tomatoes, Hazelnuts and Pesto. Plus you can build your own pizza from a list of 26 different ingredients!

And here is my pizza after baking.

Meanwhile everyone was busy constructing their pies. Here on the left you can see Kim of Rustic Garden Bistro, whose main ingredients were anchovies, sun-dried tomatoes and balsamic vinegar. On the right is Cheryl of Black Girl Chef’s Whites applying chicken, Italian sausage, pesto and caramelized onions.

I thought the most photogenic pie was made by Gaby of  What’s Gaby Cooking, with artichokes, pesto, caramelized onion and a twirl of perfect pink prosciutto on each piece.

On the left is our host, Kevin, and Minty, holding her mushroom, marinara  and mozzarella pie. On the right is Gaby of Whats Gaby Cooking, Minty and her mom, Lucy, of Ladles and Jellyspoons, and Paulette of Girl+Fire.

Photo courtesy of Erika Kerekes

And the winner is Paulette of Girl+Fire !! and her pie adorned with pesto, mozzarella, pancetta, caramelized onions, sun-dried tomatoes, bread crumbs and a honey-balsamic drizzle. I voted for this pie as my first choice. It was so good. In fact, it is on the menu at both restaurants this week, if you’d like to taste it also.

And second place went to Greg of SippitySup for his pizza with caramelized onions, goat cheese, pancetta and balsamic vinegar. Yea, Greg!

The third place winner was Lucy of Ladles and Jellyspoons for her butternut squash, gorgonzola, mozzarella and sage pie. Doesn’t that look delicious?

Here on the left you can see Greg of Sippitysup and Pam of My Man’s Belly waiting for the pies to be baked. Pams pie featured marinara, meat balls, pepperoni and mushrooms. What a great combination. Yum. On the right is Erika of In Erika’s Kitchen and Kim of Rustic Garden Bistro. Erika’s pie was adorned with figs, goat cheese, bacon, olives and rosemary and it smelled so divine!

Sitting next to me at the table was Mr. Rustic Garden Bistro (aka Barry). As we were served a little slice of each pie, Mr. RGB took one big bite and then carefully placed the slices in perfect layers around his plate. What kind of clue is this about you, Barry?

And here is our group, photo courtesy of Rosti Tuscan Kitchen. I was so stuffed with pizza. Together, the eleven of us polished off eleven pizzas. Groan. Those pizzas were so delicious… every one really was a winner. Thank you all for such a great event!

By the way, Rosti Tuscan Kitchen recently started offering gluten free and vegan menu items… and a monthly pizza contest, which you can find on the Rosti Facebook page. If you win, you get free pizza for a year!

Where to find Rosti:

Santa Monica: 931 Montana Ave at 10^th Street, 310-393-3236

Encino: 16350 Ventura Blvd near Havenhurst, 818-995-7179