Oven

Officials at Hagerstown Community College recently held a dedication ceremony for a beehive artisan bread and pizza oven that was built as a donation by Dave Geller of Michelangelo Masonry. Geller approached the HCC Alumni Association last spring about creating the oven on the HCC campus. He donated hundreds of hours to complete the project and secured donations for the building supplies. Donors were Antietam Cable Television, Hagerstown Block Co., Redland Brick, Steffey and Findlay, and CMS Industries.

It was love at first bite for Hagerstown resident John Cangemi. The scene was Italy, where Cangemi and his wife, Joan, were visiting family years ago. The thief of 54-year-old John Cangemi's heart was the oven-baked Neapolitan pizza he tasted there. No American version could compare, he said. Cangemi was so obsessed with the pizza that he built his own wood-fired pizza oven in his backyard, off Howell Road. The oven was completed about three and a half years ago and took him around four months to build.

HAGERSTOWN -- Three public schools in Washington County are reaping the benefits of federal stimulus money. The kitchens at Bester, Salem Avenue and Winter Street elementary schools have gleaming new equipment. Of the $100 million invested nationally in school food-service equipment, $1.4 million went to the state of Maryland, of which almost $87,000 was directed to Washington County Public Schools, said Jeffrey Proulx, the school system's supervisor of food and nutrition services.

Do you really have to preheat the oven? How do you know if it's at the right temperature if your oven doesn't have any kind of indicator? Julie Wood, a spokeswoman for General Electric in Louisville, Ky., says whether an oven has to be preheated depends on the item being cooked or baked. cont. from lifestyle Cakes, cookies and pastries are more sensitive to temperature and come out better if the oven is preheated to the correct temperature, Wood says. With meats and casseroles, preheating is not as necessary, she says, but time will have to be added to the cooking time suggested in the recipe if you don't place the food in a preheated oven.

Smoke was rolling out of an oven in a Hagerstown West End apartment Sunday morning after someone baking cookies put the oven on clean mode, Hagerstown Fire Capt. Adam Hopkins said. Hagerstown firefighters responded Sunday morning to a third-floor apartment at 607 W. Washington St. for a reported kitchen fire, emergency service officials said. On clean mode, the oven door automatically locked and the oven temperature reached higher temperatures than normal for baking, Hopkins said.

3 tablespoons butter 4 cups raw cashews (see cook's note) 2 teaspoons salt or 1 tablespoon Vege-Sal 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon onion powder 1/2 teaspoon paprika 1 teaspoon curry powder 1 pinch cayenne Cook's notes: Find raw cashews at your local health food store. If your budget is tight, look for raw cashew pieces for less than half the price of whole raw cashews. Vege-Sal also is available at health food stores. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lavender roasted chicken Items in bold are seasonally available this week at area farmers markets 1/2 teaspoon crushed fresh lavender (or 1 teaspoon dried) 2 whole shallots, diced 4 pieces of garlic, diced The juice and zest of 2 lemons Pinch of sugar Pinch of black pepper 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon kosher salt 3 1/2- to 4-pound roasting chicken (or parts; see cook's note) One day before serving, mix together all ingredients except chicken.

Pretax cost is $1.33 per serving for five servings or $1.11 per serving for six servings. Prices are from Food Lion on Eastern Boulevard in Hagerstown. Prices include the optional mushrooms. 8 ounces uncooked pasta (elbow, rotelle or shells) 26-ounce jar spaghetti sauce, or to taste 2 ounces sliced pepperoni, cut into quarters 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded 7-ounce can of sliced mushrooms, optional Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Or use slow cooker instead of oven.

Items in bold are seasonally available this week at area farmers markets: 4 pork chops Coarse salt and pepper 1/4 cup flour 4 tablespoons olive oil 4 tablespoons butter 6 crisp cooking apples, peeled if desired, cored and cut into 8 wedges each 1/3 cup shallots or red onion, minced fine 2/3 cup brown sugar 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1/2 cup whiskey Preheat oven to 250 degrees....

8 slices (1 1/2 inches thick) European-style baguette (for about 8 ounces total 4 teaspoons bottled Italian vinaigrette dressing, or more to taste2 large, medium-size ripe tomatoes (about 4 to 6 ounces each) 4 thin slices (about 4 ounces) Swiss cheese 16 fresh basil or arugula leaves or watercress sprigs, for garnish Position an oven rack in the upper middle of the oven, and turn on the oven broiler. (A toaster oven also can be used if you cook in batches.) Cut 8 slices of bread about 1 1/2 inches thick.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.   Preschool to hold open house Jan. 6 Northern Cross Preschool will hold an open house Sunday, Jan. 6, from 2 to 4 p.m. The preschool is for 3- and 4-year-olds. It meets Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 to  11:30 a.m. from September until mid-May. It is at First Christian Church, 1345 Potomac Ave. in Hagerstown. Children are welcome to attend the open house with their parents.  For more information, call Beth Adams at 301-797-3114 or go to northerncrosspreschool.com.

Smoke was rolling out of an oven in a Hagerstown West End apartment Sunday morning after someone baking cookies put the oven on clean mode, Hagerstown Fire Capt. Adam Hopkins said. Hagerstown firefighters responded Sunday morning to a third-floor apartment at 607 W. Washington St. for a reported kitchen fire, emergency service officials said. On clean mode, the oven door automatically locked and the oven temperature reached higher temperatures than normal for baking, Hopkins said.

On Saturday, Sept. 15, and  Sunday, Sept. 16, the Sharpsburg Heritage Festival will commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Antietam that features art, music, literature, encampments, living history and more. This event will be held rain or shine on Main Street and open to the public, Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m. During the festival, Boy Scout Troop 51 is sponsoring a Dutch Oven Cook-Off. To participate, submit an application and include the entry fee of $20 by Monday, Sept.

This isn't lowly camp grub. Sure, the cooking vessel is a covered cast iron kettle and it's buried in coals. It might even resemble something that swung off the back of a pioneer wagon. But the food being prepared in today's Dutch oven has come a long way from salty stews and baked beans. Now, there are recipes that feature olive oil and herbs, fruits and vegetables, breads and cakes. And, in Mike Carroll's case, it's pizza. A member of Sharpsburg Boy Scout Troop 51, cooking in a Dutch oven is nothing new to the 15-year-old.

The bail for a Hagerstown man accused of trying to set fire to a home in Big Pool by setting a gas can in front of an open oven remained at $125,000 Monday after a bond review hearing before Washington County District Judge Mark D. Thomas. Temal David Stevenson, 30, of 122 Manor Drive, Apt. 102, is charged by the Office of the Maryland State Fire Marshal with first- and second-degree attempted arson in the May 2 incident at 11212 Gehr Road, according to the application for statement of charges.

Twenty years ago, determining whether a firefighter might need food and drink while battling a blaze generating temperatures up to 1,000 degrees was usually an afterthought, fire officials said. Firefighters would sometimes get relief in the form of a coffee or food wagon, but the care for fire crews was not close to what it is today, fire officials said. When a so-called "working structure fire" is dispatched these days, so is Rehab 255, a unit that fills a variety of needs for firefighters, from periodic medical checkups at a fire scene to providing cooling chairs in stifling heat.

SMITHSBURG -- A house fire Monday night at 13137 Greensburg Road was caused by an oven left unattended, according to a news release from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's office. The accidental fire north of Smithsburg resulted in about $30,000 in losses, the release said. The owner/occupants of the house were listed as Joanne and Don Cowden, the release said. It is believed the fire started in the kitchen, said Chris Rohrer, chief of the Smithsburg Community Volunteer Fire Co. The fire also caused heat and smoke damage throughout the house, making it uninhabitable, Rohrer said.

BOONSBORO -- Icing Bakery & Cafe, owned and operated by Tom and Lacy Barnhart, features a big bay window, sleek dining tables and chairs, and sunny, yellow-painted walls, making it an inviting place to relax, and enjoy a snack or lunch. The Barnharts have been hard at work since the bakery opened May 18 in Boonsboro. "We're very new. We assumed we wouldn't be that busy, but we have been. We never imagined Boonsboro would be this busy," Tom Barnhart said. Lacy Barnhart has had the most experience with the pastry arts and came up with the name for the bakery.

Braising and Dutch ovens go hand in hand. A Dutch oven, said by some researchers to have been named for the Dutch settlers in Pennsylvania who used similar pots, is a large kettle-type vessel that has a tight-fitting lid. The heavy lid prevents steam from escaping, keeping the moisture in. It's used for slow, moist cooking methods - such as braising - so the end result is a super-tender piece of meat. To braise means to brown on all sides in a small amount of fat. The meat is then cooked, tightly covered, in a small amount of liquid for up to several hours.

Lavender roasted chicken Items in bold are seasonally available this week at area farmers markets 1/2 teaspoon crushed fresh lavender (or 1 teaspoon dried) 2 whole shallots, diced 4 pieces of garlic, diced The juice and zest of 2 lemons Pinch of sugar Pinch of black pepper 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon kosher salt 3 1/2- to 4-pound roasting chicken (or parts; see cook's note) One day before serving, mix together all ingredients except chicken.