Emily, the Cookbook

The first time I made anything from this book was when I made Detroit-style pizza with Josie, and when I say “made with Josie” I mean she made it while I sat and watched. Thanks, Mom! The standard dough recipe in Emily yields enough for three small pizzas in a specific Detroit pizza pan, but neither of us is planning to invest in more bakeware. Instead we opted for one small square pizza (8×8″ or 9×9″ have both worked) and one larger rectangular pizza (9×13″). This Detroit pie, called “The Grammy” is a basic cheese and red sauce pie and it is delicious.

When Josie and I first decided to try this pizza, I wish I had recorded her reaction. We were lounging and I was paging through the book, reading her some choices of pizzas that sounded good to me. For basically every single pie, we both said, “oh, that sounds good,” and then kept flipping. When I got to this pizza, Josie half jumped to an upright position and shouted “OOOOOHHHH YES!” Um, yeah, we had to make it. And it’s incredible! This version has red onion, pickled cherry peppers, vodka sauce, and a drizzle of Ranch dressing. Honestly, this combo made it hard for me to even try other Detroit pies from the book because I didn’t want anything more than this.

I am so glad I decided to try this dough recipe as part of fully committing to the cookbook of the month, rather than go with the urge to use a tried and true favorite. Turns out, I love this dough more than any I have made before (and I have a couple others that I truly love). It does require some forethought with a fermentation of 1-2 days, but this is well worth it for the depth of flavor and perfect texture that results. I also love the look of the dough, with lovely little flecks from the rye flour that is added. I will say that I continue to use my preferred method for transferring the pizza to an from my pizza stone with a layer of parchment paper and the assistance of a flat baking sheet. I just don’t want the uncertainty of a pizza peel and the possibility that I might drop the whole mess in my oven. No thanks.

This Campari-centered cocktail is part of the spritz family and has a lovely bright color and fun name. It is on the bitter and tart side, but I absolutely love it and we have been making these regularly since we first tried them out.

Nothing more to add, I just love a good ingredient shot.

One winter Saturday night we had a house full of kids and a homemade pizza night felt like a must. I made six total pizzas, two of each variety (the colony, the ¡madre!, and a version of margherita which isn’t necessarily in the book.) It was a wonderful evening!

Another thing so good, we made it twice! Josie and I first made this together and I loved it so much, I couldn’t wait to make it again at home. I LOVE kale salads so much that I get teased about it often by my family, but really, this one is so good and so simple! It’s a great option if you don’t have a lot of time and thankfully doesn’t require too many ingredients.

This sweet and spicy pizza is fantastic! It includes pepperoni, pickled jalapeños, and a drizzle of honey after baking. I haven’t had anything like this before but it certainly won’t be the last time I make this excellent pizza. Hopefully I can find tinier pepperonis next time!

This round pie has a roasted tomatillo-green chile sauce, plenty of cheese, and delicious chorizo. Loved the final product. The picture in the book is discordant with the recipe, in that it is clear that the sauce goes on the pie before baking from the picture, but the recipe indicates that the sauce is simply drizzled on at the end. I went with my gut thankfully and baked the pizza with the sauce underneath all the other toppings as usual, and it turned out beautifully. I think adding it after baking would have made the pizza too wet. The sauce is delicious though!

This isn’t exactly a pizza in Emily, but since I was cooking for a house full of kids, some of whom were pickier than others, I thought this seemed like a safe bet. It was a lovely way to let the dough and red sauce shine.

I love banana pudding but hardly ever make it. I thought this would be a fun dessert that the kids would really love, and I was right! This was one recipe where there was a key note was off to the side away from the recipe (with no indication of “see note”) and ended up making a crucial difference in the recipe. I ended up wasting some ingredients and having to go to the store and start over. This is one case where the final product was great once I figured out the problem, but the instructions and layout were unclear.

I LOVE THIS COCKTAIL! So much that I wrote a post about it. Go check it out here.

Since I was making the Jerrier, I went ahead and also made a small Grammy to use up the extra dough and because having leftover pizza around is never a bad idea. Look at those crispy brown edges!

The Jerrier, again! This time I made it at home for my man since he wasn’t with us the first time Josie and I tried it. I loved it as much as before and he was SO into it, I honestly think he fell to a deeper level of love with me because of it. Not really kidding.

Emily the restaurant uses pretzel buns for all of their sandwiches, and since I was planning to make one of them, I made the buns too. These are great! I’ve been meaning to try homemade pretzel buns for a while but never got around to it. This is a solid recipe and I would definitely make them again.

Oh, this duck confit sandwich. We have a checkered history. When I first opened the book at the beginning of the month, I knew I positively had to make this recipe. I love duck confit. However, our family endured an terribly virulent GI bug that took me out on Christmas Eve and had me incredibly ill for the next few days. Even once I was “better”, I really didn’t feel great – think nauseous waiters a la Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell. I had already acquired all of the ingredients for this and didn’t want things to to go waste, but also felt ill every time I thought about cooking or eating. As I improved, I powered through the multi-day process of making this recipe. Thankfully, by the time it was finished, I was well enough to eat it and I did enjoy it. Still, I wish I had been in a better state to truly appreciate it.

I have only had muffuletta a couple of times before, but really enjoyed it. Josie and her family were coming to visit so I thought this as well as some other sandwiches made ahead of time would be a perfect easy option for dinner with both our families the night they arrived. This sandwich was very good overall, but I think the recipe could have been more clear and more specific in regards to the bread. They simply ask for “1 round loaf artisan bread, about 1 1/4 lbs.” but give no indication of thickness, density, or other qualities to look for. I bought something close, sized it down to the correct weight, and even debulked the inside of the loaf because it seemed like way too much. And it still was a bit too much. More clear specifications of type of bread, size in dimensions, and texture would have been nice. I should have trusted my gut. I also subbed out one of the meats for a different variety because I don’t really like mortadella.