about those two culinary triumphs...

The first was mayonnaise. I have tried to make mayo a few times before, all with unsatisfactory results. Too runny, too solid (made with olive oil), not tasty, etc. Mayo is tricky because it can so easily be just some oily egg yolk. So when I saw the link on Tastespotting for homemade mayonnaise without tears, I was intrigued, enough so to actually try it. And boy am I glad I did, it turned out so amazing, so tasty on sandwiches, etc (the final test will be deviled eggs, which I will make soon). Of course I deviated from the recipe a little because I don't have a hand blender--I used the whisk setting on my stand mixer, and transferred the first mixture into another bowl to do the second. And, of course, I don't have a plastic squeeze bottle, so I used an empty glass hot sauce bottle. And I added whey, a la Nourishing Traditions, as a preservative, and left it out overnight. I might have added a little too much whey and next time I will use apple cider vinegar instead of rice, to give it a little more punch without watering it down so much, but overall I am deliriously in love with this recipe. Oh, and this time I used untoasted organic sesame oil.

The second was pita bread, another link from Tastespotting; it's definitely a daily must-read for me. The only thing I did differently from the recipe is that I did the sponge, kneading, and the rise in the bread maker, and I didn't let the cooked breads cool before wrapping them up with a towel. I found that wrapping them up with their friends right away made them softer and more pliable. Delish.

We finished the pitas last night when Nina asked me if we could make pizza. Note that she asked if we could make pizza, not order it. So of course I said yes. I was going to make dough but I was up against a deadline and also wanted to go out knitting last night. I knew it would be tight letting dough rise, then baking, etc, by 5 pm, then I remembered the pitas. Easy! Just smear on some sauce (I reduce regular spaghetti sauce to make the pizza type), grate some cheese, then let the toddler put handfuls of it on top. I was enough in a rush that I didn't even insist on putting greens on it. It was a hit, I made my deadline and got out of the house in time to knit. All around success!

If you try either of these recipes, let me know how they turned out.