Monday, July 30, 2001


there's no doubt: swiss chard is much preferable to spinach in the chicago deep dish pizza.

even if you lightly steam the spinach only until it slightly wilts, you're still going to get the bitter nasties. green swiss chard, however, is naturally sweeter. i'd say buy 3-1/2 lbs. of fresh chard and go for it! you might want to increase the total amount of cheese from 12 to 14 oz, since you're working with slightly more filling. even after you cut off the coarse stems of the chard, i think you have less waste and somewhat more filling.

also, i can't stop reading shirley corriher's cookwise. every other page has some simple technique that dramatically solves a common cooking problem. for example, if you've made my banana cream pie, you may have found the center softened a bit overnight, so it wasn't as firm and creamy as you would have liked. she explained why this happens and what to do about it!

the egg yolks used to thicken the pastry cream that forms the center of the pie contain a substance called alpha amylase. this occurs naturally in eggs, and if not totally cooked out of the egg yolks will eat away at the structure of the pastry cream overnight!

again, this book is a must have for everyone who cooks.

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