Jillyanna's Woodfired Cooking School Newsletter

Mother's Day Special

Jill Strauss — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 18:42:07 GMT

My grandmother, Jeannette, an accomplished pianist who retired from all professional engagements when she married my volatile violinist grandfather in 1923 was quite a woman. When she wasn’t composing music with her husband or entertaining at social gatherings in Indianapolis, my grandmother cared for her sickly mother, Mamie, who lived with them. Like Mamie, Jeanette had a weak heart and probably shouldn’t have exhausted herself cooking and cleaning and being a model wife, daughter and mother. She died when my mother was 16-years-old, before she could fully prepare mom for adult life. My mother was devastated by the loss of this gentle soul, but she was determined to marry early and follow in her mother’s footsteps. At 19, she became a bride.

The first thing mom did was invite her father and new stepmother, Putzi, over for dinner. Mother decided to make Jeannette’s midwestern specialties: chicken soup with dumplings, pot roast with gravy and mashed potatoes and apple pie. The problem was mother never watched her mother make these dishes and had no hand written recipes to rely on… so she decided to wing it. No doubt, mother was unaware that soup laden with schmalz and sinkers or pot roast that had never been defatted, along with potatoes enriched with cream and butter, followed by pie made with Crisco might be a tad too heavy for her stepmother’s delicate constitution and the night was ruined by poor Putzi’s frequent visits to the powder room.

There was no love lost between my mother and her stepmother, but I think my mother understood that food, improperly prepared, could harm people so mother made up her mind to learn to cook.

She watched Julia Child and read her books and when mom gave a party, she prepared eye popping appetizers like poached whole salmon skinned and served cold on a pretty wooden platter decorated with thin cucumber slices arranged in a fish scale pattern. To accompany the fish, mother filled Jeannette’s engraved sterling silver bowl with a delicious sour cream and dill sauce Once mom spent an entire day cooking French food with a friend and that night, we children were presented with Julia’s Filet du Boeuf en Croute (Beef tenderloin, coated in pate and mushroom duxelles, then wrapped in pastry and baked.) I had no idea beef could taste so rich and look so lovely. “C’est magnifique!” I told her as I thought Julia would exclaim.

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My mother never signed up for professional cooking classes, but a friend and professional baker who lived near us in New York was so impressed by mother’s sense of style and good taste that she taught mom to bake her most coveted recipe: a three tiered Viennese chocolate buttercream cake complete with homemade chocolate candy. My brother took one taste of the luscious dessert and demanded that mother bake Betty Heinemann’s special occasion cake every year on his birthday.

I can’t say that I learned to cook from my mother since she was such a perfectionist that she couldn’t accept her own flubs, let alone mine. She made it clear that although I was welcome to watch quietly from a distance, no questions or distractions would be tolerated. Watching and tasting is very important and my mother did sometimes dip a teaspoon in some chocolate buttercream, hand me the spoon and ask most sincerely, “Do you think it needs more sugar or a bit more salt?” How I loved that she trusted my palate.

I am not exactly my mother’s daughter since I love to teach. I do encourage my students to gather close to me when I am demonstrating a technique and I want everyone to participate in the joyful process of creating. I even encourage students to make mistakes. So I hope you will sign up for some of the new wood-fired workshops:

Hands-On Pasta Intensive

Mexican Tortilla Intensive

Maine Seafood Intensive

Vegetable and Grilled Salmon Intensive

To encourage you to sign up, we are offering, in honor of Mother’s Day, 10 percent off the above workshops beginning May 1st. When you go to the workshop to purchase your tickets, plug in the code word: mom. Remember, you can pick a date that is offered or call us at 207-967-4960 and we will arrange a day and time that works best for you. If you want to give your pizza loving mother a special hands-on wood-fired pizza workshop or pizza party (I do the cooking so Mom doesn’t have to) that also can be arranged. Please note: pizza classes and parties are the only items that are not discounted.) My mother is a pizza afficiando and she was especially happy when I made a special one designed with her favorite toppings just for her.

Playing with Matches

Jill Strauss — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:00:37 GMT

Dear Friends,

When my father was five years old, he was left to babysit his younger brother and twin sister while his divorced mother was working at the local five and dime. He was responsible for his age, but still, my father was only five years old. One day, Dad got the bright idea to warm up the gas oven in his mother’s frigid Chicago apartment. While the gas was on and the oven door was open, he tried lighting a match, but given his inexperience with matches, it took him awhile to create a viable flame. Finally, he approached the oven with his lit match and Kaboom! Everyone survived, but the fallout from that event was not good for my grandmother or her children and it took them all years to recover emotionally from that one event. I don’t know all the details of that story, because my father didn’t like to talk about his past, but I do know that he never wanted me to play with matches and he did not approve of me have a cooking school devoted to live fire cooking.

I always found controlled fires mesmerizing, especially when in my early teens, I crept into the woods of my parents’ elegant home in Westchester and created small campfires. So much about suburban life felt pretentious and unnatural to me, but fire was dangerous and real. Given his deprived childhood, I did not expect my dad to understand my passion, but I was never happier than when I pierced some wieners with long sticks and held them till the fat dripped into the fire and the pink flesh charred ever so slightly.

Years later, I watched a PBS television episode featuring one of Julia Child’s renowned colleagues, chef Jean Louis Palladin. Palladin, who had won Michelin stars and James Beard awards for his astounding nouvelle cuisine, had command of a well trained kitchen brigade and fancy tools in his restaurant, Jean Louis, in the Watergate Hotel. But Palladin did not invite Julia and her tv crew to his restaurant. Instead, he invited everyone to his home where he proceeded to demonstrate how to cook duck breasts in the fireplace. The only equipment the chef needed was butcher’s string, a scissors, a knife and an iron poker.

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First, Palladin prepared a nice fire in his fireplace. Then he trimmed and scored the duck breasts, seasoned them and wrapped them tightly in oily string. The birds were hung from a copper rod Palladin had installed in the interior of his fireplace. After about twenty-five minutes of basting and spinning the birds, the spectacular magret du canard a la ficelle was ready to be sliced.

The chef served the entree with fresh thyme and sautéed porcini mushrooms and the drippings from the breasts and he told Julia’s TV audience most emphatically that food tastes best when cooked in the fireplace. After that show, I was as hooked as the ducks and eventually, I built a stone fireplace in my home in Maine that included two iron hooks from which I could hang my favorite fowl. Here’s the recipe from my old scrapbook.

My love of fire recently led me to Oaxaca, Mexico, a place that reveres traditional methods of cooking. While I was there I learned it doesn’t take much effort to light a fire with bone dry scrap wood and warm up a well seasoned comal. It does take some experience to know how to manage the fire and use that hot plate to toast spices and chiles and tortillas. I was shocked to discover how good a corn tortilla can be when it is hand made from the freshest masa, flattened in a tortilla press and then gently laid on the comal to cook.

I don’t speak Spanish and my Oaxacan teacher didn’t speak English, but as you can see, we successfully communicated. I love learning as much as I love teaching and the teachers I admire the most are the skilled ones who stay curious, who read and travel and who care about their students.

This year, I hope to see more returning students as I have expanded the 4 hour semi-private wood-fired workshop offerings and created curriculum based on my travels. These intensives are designed for earnest cooks who wish to hone their cooking skills, receive personal attention and practice or learn about live fire cooking. Intensives are open to 2-4 students and usually run on Saturdays. If you are alone, but wish to attend an intensive, call me and I will make every effort to fit you into an existing workshop. If you see a workshop that you like, but the date is not convenient for you, please call us at 207-967-4960 and we will try to schedule a day and time for your workshop. Just click on the hyperlinks and you will be taken to the 2026 website:

As usual, we will be offering our wood-fired pizza parties. These events for 6 to 10 people are perfect for those who wish to celebrate a birthday, girls night out, bachelorette party, family reunion, or corporate get togethers in a private and beautiful setting. Party-goers will not need any training since all they have to think about is designing their favorite pizza. We provide the dough and gourmet condiments. I slap out the doughs and cook everything in our beautiful wood-fired pizza oven. These 2 1/2 hour events usually run in the evenings from 5:30-8:00pm on a day and time that is mutually convenient. Please call us at 207-967-4960 to schedule your private party.

Val and I haven’t had a great Neapolitan pizza in so long that we’ll probably be having it for our Easter brunch! We wish you a happy spring. And remember, we open in May! Can’t wait to see you.

Jill

April in Paris

Jill Strauss — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 21:40:28 GMT

Dear Friends,

March was so windy in Maine that our driveway is still littered with dead boughs and broken branches. The ground is muddy and the sky is grey and I feel like spring flowers will never come. But my partner, the eternal optimist, thinks we live in an enchanted forest.

She is currently obsessed with a pair of Barred Owls (Marlene and Merlin are their names) that have returned to our wooded yard. The hen spends most of her time in the hollow of our old oak tree. She is so ensconced in that tree cavity that we can just see the tips of her brown and white feathers flapping as she repositions herself. She has been incubating her eggs for awhile and we assume the nest now contains nestlings.

All seemed well until a bunch of crows started hanging out in nearby trees. Since crows are natural enemies of owls, Val has been worried and on the lookout to see if the black birds are getting too close to the nest. “I know Marlene is in the tree protecting those baby owls and Merlin…Listen! Can you hear him hooting? She grabs the binoculars on the windowsill. “Oh my God! He just dropped a mouse into the hollow! Such a good papa!”

I am particularly grateful for Merlin’s hunting expertise since we usually find a field mouse or two hiding in our hallway this time of year. I also am bewitched by the haunting calls of the wild. Some people think the hooting sounds like: “Who cooks for you?” I have to admit, I have been thinking a lot about that question.

Normally, we begin cooking classes at Jillyanna’s in April, but in a few weeks we are going to Paris— that is, if I can drag Val away from the windowsill. We planned this trip in 2024, before the stock market was crashing, before Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Canada issued travel advisories or warnings for citizens traveling to the US. Canadians, in particular, who usually summer in Maine, have been cancelling their reservations at local inns and restaurants and this is damaging for Maine’s economy, but it is also sad for our longstanding bond with our good neighbors.

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Mark Twain, one of my favorite writers said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” We agree with Twain and we think it’s time to see America from a distance.

My dream is to picnic in the Jardins des Tuileries. I imagine we will take along with us the best baguettes, fromage or foie gras, chocolate macarons and wine. I also hope to take a few classic French cooking classes, celebrate my birthday at an extraordinary restaurant, shop at the outdoor markets, improve my French language skills, revisit the Louvre, the Tour Eiffel, Notre Dame, Giverny and, most of all, make some new friends.

Jillyanna in Japan

Jill Strauss — Sun, 05 May 2024 12:01:23 GMT

I went to Japan for three weeks a few months ago. I was on a small, well organized tour for two weeks and with friends for one. Sometimes lunches, arranged by the tour, were surprisingly good and special (like the time we stopped at a family run Hoba Miso restaurant in Takayama.) Hoba means magnolia leaf. The dried leaf is dipped in water then placed on a cast iron skillet. Sweet miso is spread on the leaf and the whole thing goes on top of a hot miniature brazier, usually heated by charcoal. Once the miso starts to bubble, scallions, mushrooms, carrots, bean sprouts and, if you like, beautifully marbled Hida Beef are added. Soon the fragrance of the magnolia is released and perfumes the meal. The beef, which is seasoned by the miso melts in your mouth. Oh, Hoba Yaki, how I loved you!

Many dinners were not included on the tour so I was left on my own to determine where I wanted to eat. I bought lots of books, referred to respected travel bloggers and looked at online reviews of famous restaurants. Without a reservation, one could end up in a very, very long line or turned away at the door. A friend of mine who was averse to making reservations sometimes ended up at the 7-eleven and he grew pretty fond of one particular grab and go snack…egg salad made with Kewpi mayo and served on fluffy Japanese bread.

I ended up at a few excellent sushi restaurants savoring slices of glistening raw yellowtail, uni, bluefin tuna and warm delicately seasoned rice. One of the great hotels in Kyoto served me Shabu Shabu which contained buttery waygu beef briefly cooked in a delicious kombu infused broth. Some street food vendors provided great treats such as warm little cakes filled with sweet red bean paste. To drink, I often indulged in cool, dry sake presented in overflowing glasses and when I was tired of touring shrines, I tucked into tea shops and inhaled the finest matcha whisked until frothy— the same green tea that is drunk religiously by Buddhist monks.

Not everything I consumed in Tokyo or Kyoto or Hiroshima was to my liking. The oysters in Hiroshima, for example, were as big as Oliver’s face and I couldn’t even begin to suck them down. Traveling to a foreign land, however, is all about taking risks. I took them in Japan and I am so happy that I did.

One of the highlights of this trip was my dinner at Monk, a 14 seat wood-fired restaurant in Kyoto. My tour guide, Mariko, understood that I had miraculously snagged a reservation at this tiny restaurant, but it was off the beaten path and, as many of you know, I am navigationally challenged and not at all fluent in Japanese, so getting lost was a big concern. Mariko made sure that our tour bus dropped me off at the bottom of “Philosopher’s Path” and she sent me photos of every unique shop or eatery I would see along my way to the restaurant. Thanks to my caring tour guide, I did not feel any stress wandering by myself at dusk in a strange land. In fact, it felt really good.

At the bar of Monk, I sat next to a lovely woman who turned out to be married to the childhood friend of chef Yoshihiro Imai. She spoke perfect English and we watched the chef skillfully prepare many simple dishes in his wood-fired oven: roasted, freshly harvested local vegetables, partially grilled fish (He then steamed the fillets in sake) and finally, pizzas. We had a choice of toppings and although I was pretty full, I wanted to taste his dough made with Japanese flour and his specialty topping of the day: venison ragu! As I was seated so close to the chef at the bar, I was able to politely quiz Yoshiro’s sous chef (He was from Philadelphia) and ask a few questions about wood-fired techniques and preparations.

Everyone wants to be in Japan during cherry blossom season and unfortunately, I missed that magnificent display by about a week… but look at the consolation prize that awaited me when I returned home!

There are so many eye opening experiences that happened to me in Japan and they inspire me to be a better cook and wiser teacher. Most of all, I love learning how different cultures use fire and wood to enhance the flavors of their ingredients. I may offer a special Japanese wood-fired dinner this year if there is sufficient interest in Japanese inspired food. Do let me know if you are interested.

Come Hell or High Water

Jill Strauss — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 19:57:57 GMT

When I decided to move to Maine from Massachusetts thirty-six years ago, I wanted to live as close to the sea as possible. Homes, even in a picturesque fishing village called Cape Porpoise were not that expensive. I came close to buying a rickety, uninsulated summer cottage at the end of Langsford Road…just a stones throw from the water. The realtor didn’t need to say a word. The place sold itself. I stood in the living room, staring out the huge picture window, watching the magnificent tide roll away. Sadly, I got into a bidding war with another seller and I lost the house. My father was overjoyed.

"What will you do when the tide rises?” he asked me. “You know insurance costs are prohibitive when you live in a flood zone!” In 1988, I was a practical public school teacher and I couldn’t get my father’s voice out of my head. So I settled for a modest, open concept house situated at the top of a long dirt driveway, surrounded by tall oak trees. I’m close enough to the water that I can still hear the fog horn blow from the upstairs bedroom on foggy summer nights. Our cherry tree showers us with pink petals in the spring and the leaves of our Japanese maples turn burnt orange and bright red in the fall, but I’ve always missed waking up to that mesmerizing, inspiring, view of the beautiful blue sea.

Last week, as you probably know, the East Coast was slammed with back to back storms and coastal communities like mine experienced unprecedented flooding. It was shocking for many of us to realize just how powerful and destructive water can be. (Yes, Dad…sigh… You were right.) Businesses in our town are now busy mopping up and, with the help of our proactive Chamber of Commerce and brave first responders we have been pulling together and putting our lives back in order.

Thank you to everyone who has contacted those of us who have posted pictures of the havoc on Facebook and Instagram. We are all amazed and humbled by the furies of mother nature this winter, but we are a resilient lot and I know we will recover in time for your arrival this spring. Although our backyard is littered with fallen boughs and some small trees, our house was not damaged and we will be ready to open in May. I have spent the past crazy days tweaking my best recipes and creating new curriculum and my media team and I have been collaborating steadily. So happy to announce that our 2024 website is now up and running!

This year we have expanded our offerings a bit. In addition to our classic four hour semi-private Wood-fired Neapolitan Pizza Intensive, I have added a four hour semi-private Home Oven Detroit Pan Pizza Intensive. This new workshop is designed for those aficianados who do not have a high temperature oven and want to make the most delicious pizza right in the home, electric oven. The Detroit pan pizza that we will be making together from scratch is so delicious (crispy on the bottom and the edges, fluffy in the center) that many of my taste testers prefer it to the wood-fired pizza! Also included in that menu are the best homemade meatballs. I know you will love them.

If you enjoy grilled pizza, I will be demonstrating how to cook this oblong dough during our new Wood-fired Seafood Dinner. The menu includes our freshest local lobster and clams and the best shrimp money can buy. There are two other special Wood-fired Dinners scheduled for this year: One features Spatchcocked, Brined Chicken and the other features Beef Tenderloin. These three wood-fired dinners are limited to 8 people so if you are considering coming and want to make it a very special occasion for your family or friends, I suggest you sign up real soon.

The Hands-On Pasta Party features two of my favorite stuffed pastas: tortellini and tortelli. One will be rolled thin and stuffed with mortadella and prosciutto and served in the richest chicken broth.The other will be stuffed with butternut squash and ricotta and served in a brown butter sauce with toasted sage. I learned to make these pasta shapes while I was in Umbria this past fall and I will be sharing stories about my trip and the wonderful folks in Umbria, Tuscany and Florence who helped make this trip so meaningful for me. If you want to know more about this trip and discuss the possibility of taking one together, do sign up!

The Hanukkah Prelude Party is a brand new offering this year. I wanted to share with you my best latke and pink applesauce recipes along with a brisket recipe that delighted viewers when I prepared it several years ago on WCSH-TV. This dinner will also feature one of my favorite Jewish holiday desserts: rugelach. We won’t be making this time consuming sweet together, but I’ll share the recipe and tips for making it while we munch on them.

As usual, we will be offering Private Wood-fired Pizza Parties (5 person minimum, 12 people maximum). I will provide the rested, fermented dough and a myriad of condiments. You and your friends and family will provide the creativity. You can decorate your pizzas according to your tastes and I will pop them in the wonderful wood-fired oven. Since this pizza cooks in 90 seconds, you won’t have to wait long to devour your masterpiece. This party does not include recipes, but if you take the Neapolitan workshop with me, you will learn how to make this special dough from scratch!

One of the reasons the food tastes so great at Jillyanna’s is that we won’t skimp on ingredients. Some produce and herbs come straight from our garden, meats are organic and when possible come from local Maine farms. Many of our cheeses, our olive oil and vinegars are the best and come straight from Italy. We have tried not to raise our prices, though the cost of everything is, as you know, going up. For this reason all classes this year are for two or more. If you received a gift certificate and the cost of the gift certificate is not equal to the cost of the class, call us at 207-967-4960 and we will happily apply the gift certificate to the cost of your tickets. Please read our FAQ page if you have any other questions about our policies or call us.

Val and I hope you have a happy winter. I will be traveling again, but Val will be here in Maine holding down the fort. I will have access to my computer and Val will be in touch with me by phone so feel free to stay in touch with us.

Kind regards,

Jill

Woodfired Supper Series

Jill Strauss — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 07:26:59 GMT

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your patience. Many of you have called and emailed asking when will the 2023 website be up and running. I was planning to give the schedule my all in January, but my mother became very ill and I spent the month in Boca Raton nursing her and hiring more qualified people than me to care for her. She is so much better now I am glad to report—which means I can finally give in to my passion: cooking glorious meals in Maine for friends with healthy appetites.

I realize you are trying to plan your summer cooking and dining experiences in Maine, so you, dear readers, get the first crack at the schedule—before anything is published on our website. Since they seem so popular, I’ve expanded our wood-fired public supper offerings. This year, there are five special suppers. They will begin in May and end in September.

These three hour, intimate suppers take place outside on our patio by the gorgeous wood-fired oven and inside in our well equipped test kitchen. The menu is designed to delight your palate and give you an opportunity to observe various live fire cooking techniques. You will be able to chat with me while my assistants and I prepare your meal. You may be asked to pluck some basil from the garden or pound out some pesto, but for the most part, these dinners should allow you to relax and meet other people who love good food and share your appreciation for cooking outdoors. The cost is $250 per person. You are welcome to BYOB.

Gourmet wood-fired suppers are usually limited to 8 people and, as long as 6 have signed up, we will run the class. Until the website has been updated, you are welcome to call us at 207-967-4960 and we will book your reservation. Tickets are non-refundable, but in the event of pouring rain, we will reschedule or refund your ticket.

WOODFIRED SUPPERS

IN HONOR OF MAMA Saturday, May 13th: 5:30-8:30pm

HOMEMADE FETTUCCINE WITH LEMON BUTTER SAUCE

SPATCHCOCKED WOOD-FIRED CHICKEN

ZUNI SALAD WITH CRISPY CROUTONS, HERBS, SHERRY VINAIGRETTE

ROASTED SPRING VEGETABLES

ROSEMARY FOCACCIA

CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE WITH WHIPPED CREAM

FATHER’S DAY FAVORITES Saturday, June 10th: 5:30-8:30pm

SLOW COOKED BARBECUED BABY BACK RIBS

SMOKEY BAKED RANCHO GORDO BEANS WITH BACON

MAINE LOBSTER MAC AND CHEESE

COLESLAW WITH GREEN APPLES AND GOLDEN RAISINS

SKILLET CORNBREAD WITH IRISH BUTTER AND MANUKA HONEY

STRAWBERRY RHUBARB TART WITH VANILLA BEAN ICE CREAM

SO ITALIAN Saturday, July 15th: 6:00-9:00pm

NEAPOLITAN PIZZA MARGHERITA

WOODFIRED SHRIMP SCAMPI

REVERSE SEARED BEEF TENDERLOIN

FARRO WITH WILD MUSHROOMS AND HERBS

ROASTED BROCCOLINI

HEIRLOOM TOMATO SALAD, AGED BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE

LEMON CROSTATA

IN CELEBRATION OF THE SEA Friday, August 25th: 6:00-9:00pm

LOBSTER GAZPACHO WITH CHIVES

ZUCCHINI GRUYERE PAN PIZZA

WOOD-FIRED WHOLE BRANZINO WITH ROASTED LEMON, OLIVE OIL

GRILLED SHRIMP AND VEGETABLE KABOBS

COUSCOUS WITH MOROCCAN SPICES

GREEK SALAD WITH IMPORTED FETA AND OLIVES, LOCAL CUCUMBERS, PEPPERS, TOMATOES, DILL

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE

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EARLY HARVEST SUPPER Friday, September 1st: 6:00-9:00pm

NEAPOLITAN POTATO PIZZA WITH GUANCIALE, CARAMLIZED ONION

WOOD-FIRED LITTLENECK CLAMS OREGANATA

SLOW ROASTED PORK LOIN WITH BLACK GRAPES

MIXED BABY GREENS, RED ONION, NASTURTIUM, RED WINE VINAIGRETTE

CHERRY TOMATO AND MOZZARELLA SALAD WITH FRESH PEST0 DRIZZLE

VANILLA BEAN ICE CREAM AND CONCORD GRAPE SORBET, COOKIES

In October, I am planning to teach some cooking classes in Italy along with my good friend and colleague, Judy Witts Francini. Judy, a native Californian, moved to Italy in 1984, married an Italian and has been running individualized tours and cooking classes ever since. “The Diva” knows everyone and is kind and funny and informative. I know she will connect me to the right Tuscan truffle hunter and the best butcher and the finest pizzaiolos and together we will create wonderful pasta dishes and pizzas. Stay tuned for the next newsletter which will include many more exciting details. You might just want to join us on this exciting culinary adventure…

In the meantime, we will continue to offer Neapolitan Wood-fired Pizza Intensives for those folks who have a wood-fired oven or Ooni and need some private one on one time. You will have the opportunity to make Neapolitan dough from scratch, learn to build a fire in the wood-fired oven, and practice spinning pizzas using my tools. These half day classes cost $500 per person and can be arranged on a day and time that best meets your needs. Class includes recipes, practice sessions and wood-fired pizza lunch. Give us a call at 207-967-4960 if you would like to arrange your private or semi-private wood-fired pizza tutorial.

We are, as always, continuing to book private Neapolitan wood-fired pizza parties. During these events, we provide the homemade Neapoltian dough and many many toppings (imported cheeses and extra virgin olive oil, roasted vegetables, cured meats, olives, anchovies, several homemade sauces). Clients get to create their masterpieces and I fire them in 90 seconds in the woodfired oven. Along with pizzas, parties include savory and sweet salads and homemade dessert. Partygoers are welcome to BYOB. Pizza parties last 21/2 hours and cost $180 per person. As a special Valentine’s Day offer, we are offering a 10% discount on all private pizza parties booked before St. Patrick’s day (March 17th).

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Val and I hope you are spending this sweet day with someone you love. I’ll be making Val’s favorite chocolate buttermilk poundcake. (If you sign up for the first May Wood-fired Supper, you will be given a slice of this decadent cake!) This week, we will continue to tweak Jillyanna’s Woodfired Cooking School website and all should be updated in the next two weeks.

Kind regards and Happy Valentine’s Day,

Jill

Love and Loss at Thanksgiving

Jill Strauss — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 18:22:34 GMT

I used to love hosting Thanksgiving here in Maine for my mother and her significant other, Peritz. They always drove up from New York and arrived a day before the big event. My mother loved to get here early so she could rest up and then watch me prepare everything from scratch. Everyone who knows my mother admires her high standards, especially when it comes to food. I’m sure some people, afraid of my mother’s educated palate, thought twice about inviting her over for dinner, and no one in their right mind would let her come a day early to watch them prep, but I wasn’t intimidated. I was raised to be a perfectionist. I had attended many special occasion meals planned and executed by her excellency. I knew her likes and dislikes like the back of my hand.

I never had to worry that the conversation would get too political or too religious since we shared similar beliefs when it came to those topics, but we always disagreed about the stuffing. She wanted it made with challah and celery and onions and moistened with Kosher chicken stock. She wanted it stuffed inside the turkey. I wanted it made with focaccia, sausage, chestnuts and dried cranberries, moistened with stock (not necessarily Kosher stock) and butter and served in a casserole dish on the side of the bird. I usually won this battle. But I gave in when it came to her favorite side dishes and desserts: mashed potatoes with rich gravy, roasted Brussels sprouts, fresh cranberry compote, pumpkin and pecan pie.

As essential as the traditional American menu was to her, though, the table was probably even more important. It had to be set with my grandmother’s 22 karat gold Royal China plates, delicate cut glass wine goblets, polished sterling silverware and embroidered linens. Mother gave me these antiques long ago and I knew how much it meant to her to reunite with her fine friends.

This year will be different. My mother’s partner died a few years ago and Mother is losing some of her super powers. She can no longer travel. Instead, I’ll be visiting her for Hanukkah and we will make another of her favorite meals: Chicken Kiev, latkes and applesauce. If you are foregoing turkey this year, due to the shortage or expense, or because you are tired of turkey, you might want give Chicken Kiev a go.

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All of you who follow me know that my father died a few months ago and it has been impossible and I think inappropriate for me to sugarcoat my life right now. The bright spot continues to be the support and love of family and friends and the classes and private parties held at Jillyanna’s Woodfired Cooking School.

We do adore celebrating your birthdays and anniversaries and special celebrations and hope that you will join us for some classes or private parties before this year ends. In November and December we are offering a new Introduction Course for Pizza Lovers. In this class we will be making Detroit Style and Roman Style Pizzas in the home oven and you will have the opportunity to watch me make a Neapolitan Pizza in the Woodfired Oven. Also in November and December we will be offering a special Chicken Parmesan and Pasta Night. If you wish to enjoy this meal, but would prefer a different night for your private group (minimum 4, maximum 8) feel free to contact us: 207-967-4960 and we will set up a date and time that is mutually convenient.

Of course, with holidays coming right up, this is the perfect time to buy a gift certificate for loved ones who want to bond and celebrate scrumptious Italian comfort food in a beautiful setting. Val and I look forward to seeing you soon. In the meantime, we hope you cherish your time with family and friends this holiday season.

Love, Jill

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Cool and Collected

Jill Strauss — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 12:26:52 GMT

The other day, I met some stylish Texans who were sipping Watermelon Cosmos on the shaded porch of The Tides Inn, a charming boutique hotel located right across from Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport. The Texans and I had a good chat about the weather. It’s on everyone’s mind and it’s a relatively safe subject to discuss. Although this particular husband and wife clearly love living in Dallas most of the time, they both acknowledged that this summer, with temperatures reaching 106 degrees Fahrenheit in the Lone Star State, they are quite relieved to be vacationing in my lovely town. After our talk, I crossed the street and made my way past thorny bushes of sea roses, slipped off my flip flops and sank my toes in the warm sand. The late afternoon is when the crowds disperse and the breezes are more delicious. It’s so good to savor the best decision I ever made—to move to Maine

My BFF, who drove up from Stamford, Connecticut where I spent my best childhood days, always chooses the end of July to come for a visit. This time, after I made her a seafood supper followed by a sour cherry pie, I took her to see the amazing, ageless, Graham Nash perform at nearby Vinegar Hill Music Theatre. We both couldn’t believe that Nash’s music could still resonate with the whole audience, especially when he suggested that Russian mothers should sing Teach Your Children to their children.

Life seems very fragile these days…not just because I am getting older or because I recently lost my father, but also because many of the people who came to Jillyanna's Woodfired Cooking School this summer have seemed so appreciative. They thanked me for the food (Forgive my shameless pride!) but most of all, they thanked each other for the chance to relax and celebrate a fifty year wedding anniversary, a birthday party, a reunion with still spry grandparents. We also hosted a special seafood inspired wood-fired dinner attended by women who wanted to celebrate both a girls night out and the important work of World Central Kitchen.

To accommodate so many different interests and needs we have opened up our dining options. While the weather is hot and you are not in the mood for a hands-on cooking class, you can choose to relax with your loved ones outside on our beautiful porch and watch me prepare a unique wood-fired dinner. One group wanted the Wood-fired Italian Supper, another group preferred the Mediterranean Dinner. A birthday girl wanted a birthday cake with ice cream and hot fudge rather than a fruit pie with whipped cream.

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A young man who just bought an Ooni, but is not sure of his pizza making or live fire cooking skills decided he does want a hands-on workshop immediately, especially since his wife also loves to prepare pizza. This would make the perfect anniversary gift he told me so he bought a gift certificate for a Neapolitan Wood-fired Pizza Workshop. Since the couple works on the week-end, they wanted a workshop in the middle of the week. Would I be willing to teach in the middle of the week? YES! I always try to be flexible. Please do understand, though, that we need time to plan and shop and prep for your event so please call us at 207-967-4960 or contact us at cook@jillyannas.com as soon as you are ready to book your culinary adventure.

If you don’t want a fancy dinner, but you want to have a blast with your pals, you can choose to purchase a Private Woodfired Pizza Party. We provide the gorgeous Neapolitan dough and all the fresh condiments. You and your guests decorate your pizzas according to your taste. I cook each pizza in our beautiful outdoor oven (It only takes 90 seconds!) and then you can devour your masterpiece.

In addition to these options, we are also offering pan pizza classes, pie classes and sourdough pizza workshops. For more details about all of our offerings, click on this link: www.jillyannas.com

I particularly want to highlight the Woodfired Harvest Dinner on September 10th. The menu for this supper includes local halibut and more of the glorious late summer vegetables and fruits:

Zucchini Gruyere Pan Pizza
Cold Cucumber and Dill Soup
Roasted Halibut with Lemon, Olives and Rosemary
Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs
Couscous
Watermelon, Feta and Tomato Salad
Concord Grape Pie
Homemade Ice Cream and Sorbet
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If you need more reasons to explore Maine right now, here are a few: Wild Maine blueberries, the sweetest and most flavorful Maine berries are in season, the price of local lobster, though still expensive ($52.99 a pound for fresh picked) is cheaper than it’s been in a long time. Gas prices are down. And, oh yes, we are offering a summer sale on Private Wood-fired Pizza Parties. And, for the month of August and September, Wood-fired Pizza Parties are 10% off!

Thank you, dear friends, for following my Instagram or Facebook feed. You know from looking at all my pictures how much I love lemon ricotta pancakes with wild blueberries. Here’s the magnificent recipe by Genevieve Ko from the New York Times.

Happy Summer!

Jill

In Honor Of My Father

Jill Strauss — Mon, 23 May 2022 20:13:14 GMT

The most gorgeous cardinal has been throwing himself against my upstairs window. His poor mate has been observing him from my cherry tree. Occasionally, some phoebes have hit the window, learned their lesson from the impact and, if they survived, flew away. But this red beauty just will not give up. When I posted on Facebook about this phenomenon, an old friend wrote to tell me, “It’s your Dad. You know the belief about cardinals and the departed…” And then I remembered the old saying, “When cardinals are here, angels are near.” My father died one month ago and I have been wrestling with my grief ever since his passing.

I’ve been wondering if he and I could have tried harder to connect and understand each other. We had a long time to get it right (my father lived to be 91 years old) but I don’t think we ever were really able to say out loud what we felt for each other. I made an effort over the years, but Dad hated public displays of affection and he found heart-to-heart talks with his children embarrassing.

In April, while my father lay on his death bed in a Florida hospital, his breathing so labored, his eyes tightly shut, I held his hand and said the words to him that he couldn’t say to me: “I love you.” I don’t know if he heard me, but I hope so. Maybe it’s wrong of me to think that a determined little bird is Dad’s heavenly attempt to comfort me, but my friends want me to believe in angels and I really need to believe in them now.

Many of you have called or written to express your condolences and I want you to know that I greatly appreciate your kindness. I am always amazed by the healing power of kindness. For awhile, I had a hard time thinking about cooking for others, but my talented cousin, Jan, appeared here recently with the most beautiful watercolor painting of my wood-fired oven. This hand-made gift touched me deeply and I took it as another sign that I should get back to doing what I love.

Please note: If you click on the words that are underlined below, you will see a link that offers details from my website.

Since Father’s Day falls on June 19th this year, consider a unique gift for the man who has everything: a gift certificate for a week-end pizza workshop at Jillyanna’s Woodfired Cooking School. The Neapolitan Workshop is offered Saturday, June 18th and The Sourdough Workshop is offered on Sunday, June 19th. Dad (or budding pizzaiolos) may wish to sign up for this fantastic half day intensive (either Saturday or Sunday or both days). The 41/2 hour classes are designed to help you hone your wood-fired cooking skills and teach you to make the very best pizzas. FYI: These workshops are also offered on other week-ends.

More June offerings:

The Spanish inspired Wood-fired Benefit Supper (our first this year) will be held on Monday, June 27th from 5:30-8:30pm. This dinner (which does include some teacher demonstrations) features Spanish Ham and Cheese Pizza, Lobster Gazpacho, Slow Roasted Salmon, Grilled Asparagus with Lemon Butter Sauce, Strawberry Rhubarb Galette and Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. This special event is almost full so sign up soon. If you wish you could attend, but can’t manage to be here on that date, we are allowing your small group (usually 6-8 people) to book a wood-fired dinner on a date that fits your particular schedule. We can’t always accommodate the date you have in mind, but if you give us some time to plan, we will try. Call us at 207-967-4960 so we can discuss your needs.

Other wood-fired dinners that are scheduled this year include Mediterranean, Italian, and Early Thanksgiving wood-fired suppers. Click on menus!

June is Pride Month and in honor of this important celebration we are proud to offer a 10% discount on all wood-fired pizza parties booked in June. Neapolitan Pizza Parties are fun and perfect for bachelorettes, corporate groups, family reunions, graduation parties. We provide the dough. You and your pals get to decorate your pizzas with our gourmet toppings. Farm fresh salads and homemade ice cream, toppings and sorbet are included. You are welcome to BYOB.

I am as passionate about homemade fruit pies as I am about pizza pies. If you also love pie, join me on Sunday, June 5, 3:30-6:30pm for a Sweet And Savory Tart Class. We’ll be baking a few of my favorites: strawberry rhubarb galette, lemon crostata, chocolate pie. The class also includes asparagus quiche, and a farm fresh salad. You are welcome to BYOB. This is the only pie class for the spring and summer. I will offer one more pie class in the fall to prepare us for Thanksgiving!

Most of my classes end with homemade ice cream, my father’s favorite dessert! He was particularly fond of maple walnut ice cream and since this newsletter is written with him in mind, I am including a luscious maple walnut ice cream recipe courtesy of David Leibovitz and tested by me and Lottie and Doof. Enjoy!

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Welcome Back to Jillyanna's!

Jill Strauss — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 14:34:28 GMT

I am excited to announce that we will be opening for the 2022 season on Sunday, May 1st. It has been a long time since we’ve been together in person and I think we all deserve a medal for not giving up hope and for learning new skills (like making sourdough starter and mastering Zoom). One of the things that kept me going during this pandemic was my determination to persevere, my desire to constantly improve my services to you and my memories of how this passion project began.

Though it seems only yesterday, it was ten years ago that I convinced my partner, Valerie, to accompany me to Naples, Italy where I planned to study pizza making with one of the greatest pizzaiolos in all of Naples: a fourth generation craftsman named Enzo Coccia. Having graduated from Johnson & Wales University’s Culinary Arts Program, I possessed a certain amount of practical knowledge about different styles of cooking, but with the exception of that time I almost lit my chef on fire flambeing Bananas Foster during a final exam, I had no serious experience with live fire cooking.

During my childhood in Connecticut and New York and in my later years traveling around the USA, I ate my share of pizzas—everything from sturdy, cheap NY slices reheated in gas ovens to fluffy pan pies cooked in electric ovens. Aside from the delicious grilled gourmet pizzas I devoured at Al Forno while attending JWU, real fire never came close to my pizzas. It’s hard to believe, but before 2012, I had never tasted an authentic wood-fired Neapolitan pizza. I deeply regretted this lapse and I became obsessed with the dream of going to the birthplace of pizza and studying with someone whose passion and deep knowledge of the subject was unimpeachable.

Enzo Coccia, was a well respected fourth generation pizzaiolo from Naples. I knew from my scant research that he consulted with several American restaurateurs and I imagined him to be a large man with huge forearms and a big paunch. It turned out that Enzo, in the flesh, was nothing like I expected. He had a very slender physique. He was strong, but not overly muscular. When he shook my hand, I marveled at how smooth his palms were. After I saw how much work went into making Neapolitan dough by hand and the number of pizzas Enzo balled up and then slapped out with me, I understood why his hands were smooth. “He never eats pizza,” one of his assistants confided to me when I asked how Enzo stayed so thin. It took me awhile to accept this fact, since the locally made buffalo mozzarella, the cherry tomatoes grown in volcanic soil, the glorious, freshly pressed olive oil, and the fragrant basil that Enzo tossed on his soft, perfectly puffed flatbreads were completely irresistible.

The good news regarding my pizza making naiveté was that I didn’t need to unlearn any bad habits. The bad news is that I had no experience and when I made a mistake, Enzo let me know. “Gyro! Gyro!!” (“Spin it, Spin it!!”) he would shout when I allowed the pizza to rest more than a second in one spot in his 850 degree wood-burning oven. Valerie found the maestro’s frequent bellowing and his stern manner unsettling, but I assured her that since I really didn’t understand what he was muttering about me under his breath, I was eager to continue my private pizza lessons.

I’ve always said that cooking classes at Jillyanna’s Woodfired Cooking School should be an adventure, not an ordeal—which is why we do much of the prep work for you and why classes are small. We want you to have the time to learn new techniques and receive plenty of attention and hands-on opportunities. This year we are offering:

*Week-end Intensives for those aficionados who wish to explore the differences between Neapolitan and Sourdough Wood-fired Pizza.

*Pan Pizza, Focaccia and Homemade Meatball Class— delicious and easy recipes that can be cooked in the home electric or gas oven.

*Sweet and Savory Tarts (Lemon, Strawberry Rhubarb and Dark Chocolate for the June Class and, in order to prepare for Thanksgiving, we’ll focus on Pecan, Apple Crumb and Pumpkin Chiffon in October.)

*Special Wood-fired Suppers (Spanish, Mediterranean, Italian, Thanksgiving Menus)

*Private Wood-fired Pizza Parties (5 people minimum, 8 people maximum) We are also offering a Spring Promotion. If you book a private wood-fired pizza party before May 1st, you can save 10% off the cost of the party!

As many of you know, our classes are offered outside on our patio by the fire (weather permitting) and inside in our test kitchen. Now that the pandemic seems to be on the wane, masks are optional at Jillyanna’s Woodfired Cooking School. Vaccines, however, are required for all who attend. All of the staff at Jillyanna’s has been vaccinated and boosted. We are so grateful that we can, at last, welcome you back.

By the way, here’s the famous recipe for Bananas Foster that I used at cooking school—a very easy, slightly dangerous, flaming dessert to serve your guests for Easter.

The One And Only Commander’s Palace Bananas Foster Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Serving Size: 2

Ingredients

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick)unsalted butter
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced lengthwise
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons banana liqueur
3 ounces light or dark rum
1 1/2 cups French Vanilla ice cream

Directions

Melt butter in a flat chafing dish or skillet. Add brown sugar and stir until sugar is melted and sauce thickens.
Add bananas and sauté until tender, about 3 minutes on each side. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
Pour banana liqueur and rum over bananas, shake pan to distribute the liquid and tip slightly against the stove flame to ignite. You can also do this with a match (be sure to have an extinguisher handy, just in case).
Baste bananas with the flaming sauce using a large spoon until flames die out.

The Sweetest Gifts

Jill Strauss — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 22:25:57 GMT

My grandmother and my mother used to make rugelach for family and special friends during the holidays. The rich dough is made with flour, sugar, salt, cream cheese and butter which is chilled, rolled out, quickly slathered with jam, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and crushed, toasted nuts. Then the dough is sliced into wedges, rolled up and chilled again. Just before they are placed in a hot oven, the cookies are painted with egg wash and dusted with more cinnamon sugar. When we were young, my brother, Bob, had a lisp and as he wiped the crumbs of the tender pastries from his little lips, he would tell my mother, “Thith ith tho good!”

I haven’t seen Bob in awhile. Covid, politics, family disagreements and geographical distance have all contributed to our ever deepening chasm. We seem to have very little in common at the moment and if he was just anyone, I probably wouldn’t care or at the very least, I’d let him go, but…he’s my brother. Which is why I sent him rugelach.

Apparently, my sweet arrow hit its mark because, yesterday, Bob called me. He sounded like his old charming self. I was so glad to hear his voice, but he scared me when he said that my cookies almost ended his marriage.

“Oh, no!” I said, hoping this wasn’t true, since my sister-in-law, Joanne, is one of my best friends.

“I had a cold,” my brother confessed, “and not much of an appetite so I went into the kitchen for some tea and while I was waiting for the water to boil, I noticed a card from you and a tin of cookies. I opened the tin and saw it was rugelach and I took one and was amazed how nicely it paired with my tea…so I took the tin with me to my office.”

“You mean your home office above the garage is all set? Is that gigantic TV screen you ordered installed and the speakers all hooked up?”

“Yes, of course! The room is so nice, we call it the lodge. I hardly leave that part of the house. Anyway, when Joanne got home from taking the boys to school, she noticed the tin was missing and although she never bothers me in my office, I could hear her footsteps coming up the stairs. She opens the door, looks at the box on my desk and says, in a menacing voice, ‘Did you eat them all?’ And for a moment, I realize what a serious mistake I’ve made. “No! There are a few left,” I say, shoving the tin in front of her. “ See?”

Then my brother chuckled and I was so relieved that I chuckled and before I knew it we were cracking up the way we did when I was five-year-old Jill (the Pill) and he was three year-old Bob (the Thlob) and, in that moment of shared pleasure, all was good again.

I don’t know if the rugelach recipe I used on my brother will mend fences in your life, but at the very least, it should please your loved ones. The dough recipe is similar to the one my mother and grandmother used, but the filling is completely different from the traditional apricot jam filling Bob and I used to snack on. Melissa Clark from the New York Times came up with a filling combo of dried cherries and cardamom sugar—a flavor match made in heaven. If, instead of ground cardamom, you buy cardamom pods and pound them with a mortar and pestle as I did, the spice will be even more aromatic and intense. Also, I used D’Arbo Sour Cherry Fruit Spread as the base for the cardamom sugar and that contributes to a delightfully tangy and memorable cookie.

This year, Melissa created rugelach for chocolate lovers, but I would not make those since all my chocolate is reserved for her glorious chocolate babka recipe. When I make this brioche-like cake for my brother, I refer to it as “Bobka.” Last year, when we were all supposed to be quarantining, I made a gorgeous loaf for Dan, a retired firefighter neighbor, as a token of my esteem for coming over to my house to shut off a blaring alarm that almost drove everyone, including my dog, bananas. Although we were supposed to keep our distance from each other, after I rang his doorbell to deliver his food gift, Dan couldn’t stop bear hugging me.

Food gifts are always appreciated, but never more than now. If you are invited over to someone’s house for Christmas or New Year’s Day brunch, you will want to bring a special food gift with you. This Babka recipe is rewarding, but the best chocolate ingredients are expensive and the technique is a little tricky.

If chocolate is not your thing, I also have a Sticky Bun recipe that also features a brioche-like dough. I especially would like to share this sweet maple walnut treat with you because it is perfect for holiday brunches. If you’d like some support and would like to learn via Zoom, call me at 207-967-4960. I am offering a Babka and Sticky Bun Zoom Class twice this month, once on Wednesday, December 22nd from 12:30-2:30pm and once again on Tuesday, December 28th from 6:30-8:30pm. The cost for this Zoom class is $75 per household. If neither of these days or times work for you, give us a call and we will try to arrange a private class for you.

More Zoom classes will be offered in February when I get back from my travels. And we will be open for small group pizza, pasta and pie classes as well as private parties in the spring. More details will be announced in our January/February newsletter. By the way, Zoom classes and 2022 cooking classes at Jillyanna’s make the best gifts. Call us and we will send out a handsome gift certificate to your favorite foodie.

Val and I (and Oliver) wish you a very happy holiday season. Don’t forget to cook up something delicious and revel in the bear hugs you receive.

Kind regards,

Jill

Taking Stock of Thanksgiving

Jill Strauss — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 17:08:39 GMT

Maine butchers and specialty food shop owners tell me they are swamped with food orders for Thanksgiving—a far cry from last November when vaccines were not available and the fear of spreading or catching Covid-19 kept many reasonable folks from gathering together. Now that many Maine people have been fully vaccinated (We just got our booster shots!) cautious optimism is supplanting fear and celebrations are gearing up. I just listened to Maine CDC’s director Dr. Nirav Sha’s advice about how to gather safely for the holidays.

If you are hosting Thanksgiving or even if you’re just bringing a pie to your hostess, it’s not too early to start planning for the big day. My preparations have already begun and I’m happy to share some tips and recipes with you. Many of you have sent hearts, thumbs up and requests for the butternut squash soup teaser I posted on my Facebook/Instagram sites so I am going to give it to you…but first, let me warn you that I take Thanksgiving soup very seriously. If you make this soup without shortcuts and serve it in a beautiful bowl with good bread and a nice salad, no one will care if you forget about the turkey. We just did this for butternut squash aficionados and I swear they were delighted.

For this occasion, I insist you consider making your own homemade poultry stock. I know you can purchase bone broth or bouillon cubes or Better Than Bouillon base, but most of these commercial substitutes are too weak or too salty. If you want to really show people how much you care, make a good homemade stock. Now…while you’re not too busy, go buy the ingredients and make this right away. Years ago, before I graduated from cooking school at Johnson & Wales University, I spent a semester at The French Culinary Institute in NYC and almost every morning we began the day by roasting veal bones and making brown veal stock. “A properly made stock,” our demanding French chefs sternly reminded us, “elevates the flavor of soups and sauces.”

For Thanksgiving, you don’t need veal bones (which are quite expensive, even if you can find them). Instead, I suggest you use a combination of turkey necks, backs, and turkey or chicken wings. If you are making duck this year, as I will, then use a combination of duck parts and chicken wings. Wings, with their high bone-to-flesh ratio, add flavor and body to any poultry stock and they are easy to find.

You are probably going to make only one stock for Thanksgiving so make a brown stock. Brown stocks are richer and more flavorful than white stocks. This means before you toss your bones and a few vegetables into a large stock pot, you are going to roast them on a cookie sheet sprinkled with oil. Next place the sheet pan in a hot oven. I like this classic brown stock recipe from Martha Stewart Remember to add turkey parts to replace some of the chicken parts in her brown chicken stock recipe. Salt, by the way, is usually not added to basic stocks, since it is understood that you will need to reduce the stock and season it later when you add your soup ingredients.

After you make the stock, cool it down, let it sit in the fridge overnight, remove the congealed fat that floats to the top, save the fat in the fridge and freeze your stock. You can defrost it the day before you plan to make your soup. The fat is also useful for enriching gravy. I use reserved duck fat for making extra crispy potatoes.

Butternut Squash Soup with Brown Butter Drizzle (adapted from Thomas Keller)

This is my version of Thomas Keller’s soup. You can use vegetable stock in place of brown poultry stock to make this soup, but it will not taste as complex as the version I make. Of course, using vegetable stock, may make vegetarians very happy.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 3-to-3 1/2-pound butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• Kosher salt and cayenne pepper
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme, 2 fresh bay leaves, 2 fresh sage leaves
• 1 cup thinly sliced leeks
• ½ cup thinly sliced carrots
• ½ cup thinly sliced shallots
• ½ cup thinly sliced onions
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 6 cups dark poultry stock, more if needed
• 3 sprigs thyme, 2 fresh bay leaves, 2 fresh sage leaves
• Freshly grated nutmeg
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1-2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
sea salt

PREPARATION

1 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Scatter 4 cups of 1 inch peeled and diced raw butternut squash on foil. Sprinkle canola oil over all pieces to barely coat and, using your hands, rub the oil over all the pieces.
2 Lightly sprinkle each oiled piece with cayenne and Kosher salt. Roast the squash till tender, about 30-40 minutes.
3 Meanwhile, put the remaining canola oil in a stockpot over medium-high heat, add the leeks, carrots, shallots and onions and cook, stirring often, for about 6 minutes. Add the garlic, 1-2 teaspoons salt, and cook gently for 3 minutes, reducing the heat as necessary to keep the garlic from burning. Stir in the honey and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the brown stock and fresh bay leaf, thyme and sage. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
4 Add the tender, roasted squash and simmer gently for about 25-30 minutes for the flavors to blend. Remove from the heat and discard the herbs. Transfer the soup to a Vitamix (or high powered blender), in batches, and purée. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning. Add 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg and 1-2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar.
5 Let the soup cool, then refrigerate until ready to serve. The soup will actually be better if you serve it the day after you make it.
6 Gently reheat the soup until just hot. If it is too thick, add a little more brown stock. Taste and, if warranted, add more sea salt after you add stock. Heat a medium skillet over high heat. When it is very hot, add the butter and rotate the skillet over the heat as necessary to brown the butter evenly, scraping up any bits that settle in the bottom. The butter should be the color of brown hazelnuts (not burnt!).
7 Ladle the soup into six serving bowls and, with a teaspoon, drizzle melted brown butter on top of each soup bowl. Serve piping hot.

Val, Oliver and I want to wish you a happy, healthy and stress-free holiday. Since we are holding a private wood-fired pizza party the day after Thanksgiving, our celebration will be spread out and modest and we will visit family and friends later this winter. Right now, we are allowing a few private pizza and pasta and pie parties (6-8 people) for those who wish to cook and celebrate together and who can provide proof of vaccination. If you would like to know more about private wood-fired pizza, pasta or pie parties or if you want to lock in this year’s prices and send a holiday gift certificate to your favorite foodie, give us a call at 207-967-4960.

I will be sending out a December newsletter with more recipes and information about Jillyanna’s Woodfired Cooking School.

Kind regards,

Jill

Big Shots, Big Books, Big Hearts

Jill Strauss — Sun, 11 Jul 2021 19:46:21 GMT

Mary Ann Esposito, Italian cooking maven, long time host of the PBS series Ciao Italia and author of over a dozen Italian cookbooks came to visit us about a month ago. My dear friend, Cindy Salvato, professional pastry chef and Johnson & Wales instructor, who also worked for years with Mary Ann on her television show, brought us together because she wanted Mary Ann to taste my Neapolitan Pizza and watch it cook in 90 seconds in our wood-fired oven. I’m sure Mary Ann has tasted a few Neapolitan pizzas in her time, so I was a little curious how mine would measure up.

After hours of chatting with Cindy, her husband, Ken, Mary Ann and her husband, Guy, about wine and food and Italy and after feasting on Neapolitan pizza and salad and dessert, it was time to part. We kissed each other’s cheeks twice and, as Valerie cleared the dishes, I sat down and thumbed through Mary Ann’s big fat gift to me: a signed copy of her 2011 cookbook Ciao Italia Family Classics: More than 200 Treasured Recipes from 3 Generations of Italian Cooks. Her “Glazed Strawberry Tart”, one of the recipes from this book is perfect for strawberry season. I made it recently and it’s as good as it looks.

The glaze will enhance the flavor of any strawberry you find. Here’s the recipe. “Where in the world are you going to put Mary Ann’s huge cookbook?” Val asked me. This was not a crazy question. Prior to Mary Ann’s visit I had moved three piles of heavy cookbooks that were in the den to the upstairs hallway. During Covid, I had re-read many of my older cookbooks, opened boxes of cookbooks sent to me as presents, and bought a few of my own. The dog loved to sniff the cookbooks since Julia Child’s tome always smelled of butter, Marcella Hazan’s of tomato sauce. The piles may have smelled good but they didn’t look good. The house is not small but it was drowning in cookbooks.

I tried to give a few away, but after accidentally letting an old Martha Stewart Entertaining book go, I cried. My sister-in-law sent me a new one. I just can’t help myself. The soul of every author is precious to me and once a book is in my clutches, I can’t release it, especially if it is signed or splattered with wine or notated by me. Whenever someone tries to borrow a cookbook, I just tell them, “I’d rather buy it for you then give you mine.” Rather than spend money on therapy, I decided to buy a new bookcase.

I briefly considered purchasing a bookcase from my favorite Maine furniture maker, Thomas Moser. We have some wonderful old Moser cherry wood rockers, chairs and tables, but the price of that furniture is now way beyond our budget. The cost of lumber is finally starting to come down a bit, but it’s still insanely high and all fine furniture makers, I am told, are out straight since so many wealthy homeowners, to keep from going bonkers during the pandemic, decided to renovate and add fine furniture. The only really rewarding and practical thing to do if you want high quality furniture in a hurry, is to go antique shopping. Our favorite place to prowl around here in Southern Maine is The Farm Antiques. If you ever want to spend some time in a beautiful antique shop where everything is polished and tagged and displayed with great care, you must go see Hannah (and David, her dear husband). The two of them travel abroad on shopping trips once or twice per year and they always come home with the best treasures.

On a recent rainy week-end we visited Hannah and discovered a handsome English mahogany bookcase from the late 19th century that could accommodate all of my precious cookbooks including Mary Ann Esposito’s gift to me. By the way, it turns out Mary Ann really did enjoy the pizza I made her. Here’s what she posted on Facebook right after her visit to Jillyanna’s:

If ever there was a pizzaiola, Jill is she.

Having studied in Naples to learn how to make la vera pizza Napoletana, her pizza cooked in a wood fired gorgeous outdoor custom made pizza oven, had all the right stuff.

Jill teaches pizza lovers how to make it and if you want to find out how: cook@Jillyannas.com can give you a slice of pizza that will remind you of Napoli.

If you, too, want to enjoy the pizza served at Jillyanna’s there is still time to sign up for three Saturday evening Signature Pizza Classes. They all take place (rain or shine) from 5:30pm-9:00pm. You can sign up for July 17th, August 7th, or August 21st. Go directly to Jillyanna's Woodfired Cooking School. You can also choose to take a wood-fired intensive or hold a private pizza party here. Just call us at 207-967-4960. Summer is so short. Hope to see you soon! In case you were wondering, here is the bookcase I bought from Hannah.

Kind regards,

Jill

Let's get cooking!

Jill Strauss — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 14:52:22 GMT

I guess I’m a weirdo. Everybody I know loves to text or email. Not me. I love the sound of the human voice which is why I spent much of my professional life in radio. It’s also why I am so happy when the phone rings. My best friends and some of my customers know this. In an instant I understand, by their intonation (even more than their words) how they are really feeling. So many people have asked me (some have even pleaded with me) to offer pizza classes this summer in addition to private parties. I always say, “Call me, so we can chat.” And when I listen to my callers, I learn about the importance of an upcoming anniversary or birthday, the desire to offer a unique Father’s Day Gift, family vacation plans and health concerns. Everyone I have spoken with wants to eat great pizza, learn some new techniques and have fun. They are also eager, after all this time apart, to meet new people who share their passion for pizza. I ask all of my callers, “Would you be willing to wear a mask while we are side-by-side indoors making pizza?” Even if they are already vaccinated and are not worried for themselves, they have agreed to my reasonable mask policy: Masks are not required while we are outside or while we are seated and eating indoors. Masks are required when we are inside making our masterpieces together.

As always, I am continuing to offer private Woodfired Intensives https://www.jillyannas.com for those who have a woodfired oven or are considering buying one, but I am only offering three Signature Pizza Classes https://www.jillyannas.com this summer. If you are interested, I recommend you quickly sign up. Signature Pizza Classes will be offered on certain Saturday evenings from 5:30-9:00 P.M. in July and August. The cost is $185 per person. The Signature Pizza Class is designed for people who want to learn to make three different fantastic doughs in three different ovens (electric, gas and woodfired). The vegetables come from local farms and our gardens. The olive oil, the cheeses, the cured meats are either imported from Italy or come from artisan farms across the United States. Salads are sweet and savory. I make the vinaigrettes and we often decorate with edible flowers and herbs from our garden. The meal ends with homemade ice cream or sorbet, homemade fudge sauce or a fruit pie, whatever inspires me that week. If none of the dates appeal to you, get a few friends together and call me at 207-967-4960. We can arrange a small class (6-8 people) on a day and time that suits us all.

We can also arrange shorter, 2 1/2 hour Woodfired Pizza Parties https://www.jillyannas.com which do not include recipes. Parties are less educational and less expensive. Woodfired Pizza Parties are designed for groups who desire a beautiful private setting, love to eat Neapolitan style pizza with eclectic toppings and wish to bond with each other.

I usually teach a Homemade Lasagna and Thanksgiving Pie Class in the fall. Let me know if you are interested in signing up for these offerings and let me know the day and time that works best for you. I will consider adding these cooking classes to the website. All 3 1/2 hour classes at Jillyanna’s Woodfired Cooking School include recipes, gourmet pizzas, salads, dessert, ice tea or coffee. You are welcome to BYOB. Virtual Classes https://www.jillyannas.com are always available. Check out my updated website if you want to see all the choices.

Can’t wait to cook with you!

Jill

P.S. In case you stocked up on masks and are wondering what to do with some of them, there are some alternative uses according to New Yorker illustrator Malaka Gharib. https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/alternative-uses-for-face-masks

Here are two of my favorite illustrations.

Something You Love

Jill Strauss — Wed, 19 May 2021 11:55:07 GMT

When I start a fire, I like to begin with narrow strips of fruitwood. The cherry wood and walnut trimmings that I keep indoors are often so smooth and beautiful that I feel embarrassed burning them, but my generous furniture maker, who lives down the street and who has made much of the handmade furniture in my house is happy to donate his leftovers, so I give myself permission to proceed. I crisscross the dry planks in a tic-tac-toe pattern on the cool floor of my pizza oven, always leaving plenty of gaps for ventilation. I fill in some of the gaps with a few dry twigs and begin layering the top of the fruitwood scraps with small, well-seasoned oak logs from my property. Now all I have to do is strike a match and ignite a couple of small, waxy cubes placed strategically around the twigs. Then…poof! The fun begins. The little flames in my oven grow and and begin to dance. For me, this is the greatest show on earth. Nothing calms me down quicker or delights me more than listening to the snap and crackle of burning twigs. I know my cheeks are turning pink as the hot smoky air swirls before my eyes and yet I can’t turn away. Yesterday, I made my first outdoor fire in five months and some of the hard anxiety I had been holding in all winter started to melt away. Valerie was setting the patio table with our hand-painted Italian pizza plates that match the color of the lilacs I cut earlier in the day. Friends were coming for supper. Finally, being home in Maine felt right.

The act of returning to something you love after a long hiatus, should be easy, but I know it’s not. Will the thing I love still love me after all this time apart? After hunkering down and tamping down my emotions for so long, will I explode when I allow myself to feel joy? It took faith and courage for me to get on a plane after my second vaccine, but I was determined to go visit my family in Florida. I was so relieved to hug my 86-year-old mother again, to realize we had survived Covid-19. It’s easy to feel bitter that we were robbed of one year together, but it’s so much better to appreciate each other and feel grateful for the time we have left.

Valerie and I are happyl that we, along with most people we know, have been vaccinated. A few of our friends have had mild reactions (headaches, chills) to the vaccine that lasted no more than 24 hours. And all of us agree that the benefits far outweigh the negatives. I am especially pleased to tell you that given the CDC’s latest recommendations, while we are outdoors, masks are now not required at Jillyanna’s Woodfired Cooking School. Masks are required indoors, except when students are seated and eating. This policy may change over time as more people get vaccinated and the number of people with the virus drops, but for now we want to err on the side of safety. If you have any questions or concerns about this policy, please contact us. As our events this summer are private, we can easily accommodate your specific needs.

We open Friday, June 18th and, as a special incentive for you to book early, we are offering a discount on all two-and-a -half hour private wood-fired pizza parties booked before that date. In addition to private parties, I am offering private Signature Pizza Classes so if you have always wanted to learn to make three different doughs in three different ovens (electric, gas and wood-fired) you can book a private class for 6, 7 or 8 people on a day and time that works best for your small group. For those who have wood-fired ovens and wish to hone their wood-fired cooking skills, we are offering two different intensives this year: one that is devoted to making Neapolitan pizzas and one that is devoted to making healthy Mediterranean food. These intensives are 4 1/2 hours in length so you will have plenty of one-on-one instruction and time to practice using my wood-fired tools. Recipes are included in all cooking classes (not parties). I am hoping to add more classes as time passes and more people are vaccinated. If you are more comfortable taking virtual cooking classes, please look at all the offerings and let me know when you would like to Zoom together. If you have taken a Zoom class with me and would now like to sign up for an in-person private wood-fired pizza party, let me know. You will receive 10% off the cost of your private party!

While I was in Florida visiting my mom, I did find some time to hang out at her pool and read a charming memoir: Always Home by Fanny Singer. When you come to Maine this summer to relax, read, (and cook with me, of course) I hope you bring this book along with you. I have always admired Fanny’s mother, Alice Waters, but I developed an even deeper respect for the California chef, restaurateur and food activist after reading how she nurtured her daughter’s body and soul. One of Fanny’s favorite comfort dishes is a fresh farm egg cooked over glowing coals in the hearth of Alice’s kitchen fireplace. The egg, souffléd in an iron spoon laced with a sprinkle of salt and olive oil, is placed over a garlic rubbed slice of sourdough toast and accompanied by a small lightly dressed salad. If you sign up for one of my wood-fired intensives, I’ll make it for you. In the meantime, if you want to get a sense of Fanny’s affection for her mother and even watch the duo improvise together, take a look at this video where they make “Coming Home Pasta.” The “recipe” includes capers, anchovies, parmesan cheese, garlic, parsley, penne, dried red pepper flakes, black pepper, lemon rind, lemon juice, olive oil and a little salted pasta water….easy ingredients to find and, after you watch the video, pretty simple to prepare.

I have included more detailed and more personal recipes in the paid newsletter that is going out shortly so I encourage you to sign up for this cook’s special from me.

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In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying what is left of May. Time is precious and we are so looking forward to seeing you again. For more information about upcoming classes, check out our website www.jillyannas.com or give us a call at 207-967-4960 if you are ready to book a Private Wood-fired Pizza Party, Wood-fired Intensive, Signature Pizza Class or a Zoom Class.

See you soon!

Jill

Hog Heaven

Jill Strauss — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 15:30:20 GMT

Before my family moved to Harrison, an affluent town in Westchester County, before I attended Hebrew School three times a week, at the Jewish Community Center, before I learned the Shema, the most important prayer in Judaism, and before I was bat-mitzvahed, I celebrated Easter.

I don’t mean that I went to church when we lived in Springdale, Connecticut …

Ask me a question

Jill Strauss — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 14:10:16 GMT

If you have questions about the recipe, feel free to relay them. I’ll be spending the last day of Passover with my mother and, if I can’t answer your questions, I’m sure she will be able to!

I want to share my delicious stories with you.

Jill Strauss — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 13:46:17 GMT

Welcome to Jillyanna's Newsletter by yours truly, Jill Strauss. If you’ve been following my instagram and Facebook posts you already know how much I love to cook. Now it’s time to share with you my favorite comfort food recipes, some of my favorite food online food sites, where I buy so many of my ingredients, reviews of cookbooks I know you’ll enjoy, wood-fired cooking trends and adventures, stories about Maine and updates about special events and classes at Jillyanna’s Woodfired Cooking School. I’m especially excited to share this first issue with you since it focuses on one of my favorite Passover dishes.

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In the meantime, tell your friends!

Mother's Matzo Ball Soup

Jill Strauss — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 13:44:25 GMT

My mother made sweet and sour tzimmes with melt-in-your mouth brisket, prunes, carrots and onions whenever someone was sitting shiva. She ground, by hand, the richest chopped liver moistened with schmaltz for her mahjong group. She rolled up delicate crepes stuffed with farmers cheese, pan fried them till they were golden brown on all sides and served the blintzes with a little sour cream and sweet blueberry sauce to break the fast for Yom Kippur. But her greatest work of art was served on Passover. It was….drumroll, please… Matzo Ball Soup!

Mom believed that matzo balls should be light and fluffy, and flecked with fresh parsley. She preferred to poach these dumplings just before serving, but to save time she often poached the dumplings the night before the big event, covered them with plastic wrap and placed them on a cookie sheet in the fridge. When it was time to serve the soup, she rewarmed the balls in a pot with hot salted water mixed with a little stock. Then she removed each ball with a slotted spoon and carefully slipped the matzo ball into the middle of a gold rimmed soup bowl that also contained a cooked carrot coin and a fresh sprig of dill. Finally, my mother poured her golden stock over everything. To some people, this first course might seem sparce, but that is the whole point of this soup— to ease you into the symbolic feast, to comfort you and to make you realize that a pure stock, a sprig of dill, a slice of carrot and a dumpling made of unleavened bread is something to celebrate.

Mom’s prowess in the kitchen was remarkable considering her mother died before she was sixteen. My grandmother, Jeannette, never taught my mother how to cook, never left her a recipe to follow. She did leave behind her 22 karat gold-rimmed hand-painted china, cut glass goblets, engraved sterling silver and the memory of a perfectly appointed Passover table.

When mother made mistakes (and my mother was not happy when she made one) she took precise notes and corrected her failures. She always kept a recipe box and in that box were beautifully hand-written recipes on 3x5 index cards. Some of the recipes came from the NYTimes, some from cookbooks by Julia Child, some from Jewish charities, some given to her from accomplished loved ones.

Strangely, considering what I do for a living, mom never let me get within six feet of her when I was a child and she was cooking. She didn’t want to be disturbed or distracted and she had no patience for teaching. She gave up cooking for good a few years ago, when she turned 83 and realized that cooking for one was no fun at all. “Been there. Done that,” she said as she somewhat regretfully handed over to me her large lucite recipe box filled to capacity with her sacred writings.

Today, with her permission, I will share one of Mom’s recipes, but it doesn’t come from the box. It comes from her memory and mine. It’s her matzo ball soup recipe. Though I thumbed through all of her cards, for some reason, she never fully recorded this recipe. There are some scribbles about the size of a proper matzo ball and a warning that ends with an exclamation mark: “Do not poach the balls in stock you are reserving for the serving bowls! ” but no details at all about the stock. So I called my meticulous mother and we remembered the details together.

“You must start with a kosher bird.”

“Why does it have to be kosher?” I asked her. I knew her answer, but I wanted to hear her passionate tone of voice.

“Because the meat is sweeter! It’s the best. You can’t make chicken soup without a kosher chicken.”

The woman who raised me is a reformed Jew, but when it comes to chicken soup, she is orthodox. She insists there are no acceptable shortcuts when making this soup. You must begin with one large or, even better, two small kosher chickens (Two chickens will make your stock more gelatinous and richer tasting, but you will need a big stock pot if you use seven pounds of chicken). Mom believes with all her heart that the meat of a chicken that has been raised and slaughtered according to the old dietary guidelines and blessed by the rabbi, is sweeter than any other. For sure, the salt used during the koshering process may make the chicken more flavorful. Trader Joe’s usually carries Empire Kosher Chickens, by the way, but if you can only get your hands on an organic, farm-raised bird that you dry brine a day before using, you have my blessing to swap it for a kosher bird.

Since mother’s memory of the specific ingredients that go into her matzo balls is blurry, I am going to step in and say I have tested many matzo balls for this writing and I have to say that Alison Roman makes a mean matzo ball. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020955-matzo-ball-soup-with-celery-and-dill

Her soup, however, is too hearty. Along with her balls, Alison adds lots of celery, dill, garlic and chicken. My mother was appalled when I mentioned this to her.

“There should not be any chicken meat in matzo ball soup. And she adds garlic. Garlic? What kind of meshugene adds garlic to matzo ball soup?”

My mother, the purist, doesn’t like things that are overwrought or as she would say: “ungapatchka.” But, and I say this most sincerely, I think Alison’s matzo balls are superb. They are composed of just the right number of eggs and not too much seltzer. They are light, yet sturdy and delicious. Most of all, these matzo balls are the perfect accompaniment for my mother’s transcendent stock. Obviously, you should serve this for Passover, but since Passover and Easter overlap this year, you could serve it for Easter! In any event, happy holidays, my friends.

Mother’s Matzo Ball Soup Recipe (with a little help from Alison Roman and Jill Strauss)

Yield:

8 servings

This soup can be made in stages. I suggest you first make the broth and refrigerate it overnight. In the morning, skim off the fat and reserve it for the matzo balls. After you make the matzo ball mixture (which only takes a few minutes) you should refrigerate the mixture up to 12 hours (overnight) to allow it to hydrate. On the second day, your stock will be cold, your schmaltz can be skimmed off and your matzo balls are ready to cook. Yes, this recipe takes some time to prepare, but it’s worth it.

Ingredients

Broth:

2 (6 1/2 pounds) small kosher chickens cut into parts

14-16 cups of water

2 medium yellow onions, unpeeled, halved

1 leek, split in half, white and light green part only, cleaned, quartered

1 medium turnip, wax removed, quartered

1 peeled parsnip, chopped in thirds

1 peeled carrot, chopped in thirds, plus one carrot coin (1/2 inch thick slices) per serving bowl

1 bay leaf

1 small bunch parsley

1 small bunch dill, plus two sprigs reserved for each serving bowl

1 tablespoon whole peppercorns

Kosher salt

Matzo Balls

1 cup matzo meal (not matzo ball mix) or 1 cup finely ground matzo boards

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste

5 large eggs

1/3 cup chicken fat, grapeseed oil or unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup club soda or seltzer

Directions

Place chicken and enough water to cover in a large stockpot. Bring to a boil and when lots of foam rises and completely covers the top of the pot, remove the chicken to another pot and run cool water over the chicken, making sure no scum clings to any surfaces of the chicken. Dump out the hot water with all the impurities. Wash it out with clean water, get rid of all the scum. Now you are ready to start your stock.

Combine clean, partially poached chicken, fresh cool water, onions, leek, turnip, parsnip, carrot, bay leaf, parsley, dill, whole peppercorns and kosher salt in clean stockpot. Bring to a simmer over low heat. Maintain a gentle simmer and cook for about 90 minutes. Let stock cool down a little for 30 minutes. Then strain stock through a fine mesh strainer and transfer hot liquid to containers with lids. Fill sink with some ice water and place containers of stock (with lids on) in ice bath that comes to the middle of the containers. Allow chicken stock to cool down. Then refrigerate until completely chilled, about six hours. Skim off any fat that has risen to the surface and reserve that fat (schmaltz) for matzo balls. Stock can be kept in refrigerator for up to 5 days.

When you are ready to assemble the soup, heat up your chicken stock in a clean stock pot. Taste it and adjust seasoning. It might need a little salt. Poach the carrot coins in the hot broth for about 8 minutes. Then remove the carrot coins and place in shallow serving bowls along with one or two sprigs of fresh dill. Cover the stock to keep it warm.

While the soup is warming, line a baking sheet with wax paper and with a soup spoon (a little larger than a tablespoon) scoop out some matzo mixture and roll it into a ball—about 1 1/2 inches in diameter). A generous ping pong ball of matzo mixture will swell when it is cooked to about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. (This is the perfect size, according to my mother. Don’t argue with her. You should have about 12 matzo balls when you are done rolling).

Fill a large Dutch oven with water, add a cup of chicken broth to the water and add just enough kosher salt so that the water is nicely seasoned and tastes vaguely of chicken. This is the diluted broth in which you will cook all of your matzo balls. When it comes to a boil, gently drop in all of the matzo balls. Cook until floating, puffed up and cooked through. This should take 18-20 minutes. After 18 minutes, if you can spare it, cut into one matzo ball to make sure it is not dense in the center. Using a slotted spoon, transfer one matzo ball at a time to each shallow serving bowl.

Heat up your stock till it is steaming and, with a ladle, carefully pour the hot stock over the matzo ball. Continue this way until the bowl is almost full. Serve.

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Recipes, Cookbook Reviews, Food Trends, Equipments Reviews, Travels in Maine, Cooking School Special Events

Jill Strauss — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 18:24:01 GMT

Welcome to Jillyanna's Woodfired Cooking School Newsletter by me, Jill Strauss. www.jillyannas.com

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In the meantime, tell your friends!