Well, last night's surprise party was successful, I think...

We had a lot of fun last night...It's great to have such a fabulous family. Before I go and attack the mess left in my own kitchen, I wanted to share with you the really simple recipes I made...(yes, I actually FOLLOWED several recipes..almost to the T). We also shocked my mother in law, and I really am glad to have that part over with. I don't really like lying, but for a surprise party, I guess it's OK.

I started with one batch of artisan bread in five Broa dough. This is by far my favorite dough from the book...the cornmeal just adds a lovely texture. I like to completely ignore the instructions for forming the loaves and make it just like the boule. For this batch of dough, I subbed out 1 C of all purpose flour with one C of whole wheat flour, and added about a tablespoon of fine herbs to the flour before mixing the dough. This I left sit for forty eight hours, to allow the sourdough flavor to develop.

This was divided in half, then one half divided again, and each piece of dough quickly stretched into a ball as indicated on the website. I let these rest for an hour, while I worked on other things for the party, and Mr. Lovinangels washed dishes! Yay!

I took the smallest ball of dough, rolled it out on parchment, and formed this pizza. I left the skin on the beautiful green apples, and used diced prosciutto in place of the ham. I also finished it with the leftover shredded cheese I had from the Gougeres, which I took to calling cheese puffs, because I have no idea how to say that word. We used a lovely New York state sharp cheddar instead of Gruyere. I just don't like that.

Finally, I assembled the salad, which was just a bag of arugula, two heads of fennel, split and julienned, two green apples, split and julienned, and the insides of two pomegranates, cleaned out in a bowl of water to save my kitchen. I tossed this with some fresh lemon juice and olive oil, and really hit it with a lot of fresh pepper.

And that was it. I have to say, remarkably easier than I normally go, but still good.  Now off to run the bulldozer  through the kitchen and get ready for tomorrow's trick or treat!