Grandma's Coffee Cake

The kids nowadays call it monkey bread but for us it was always Grandma's Coffee cake.  On those yearly trips to Texas to visit it was something we always looked forward to.  It's the easiest thing in the world and something you never need buy.

Bread part
3 cups of flour, 1 tsp yeast, 1 tsp cinnimon, 1/2 cup of sugar. 

Mix all of this stuff together and let it rise for an hour or so, then quickly knead for a minute or so and then set aside.

Melt 1 stick of butter and make about two cups of cinnamon sugar.  Form small balls of dough (I use a pizza cutter it works well).  Roll them in the butter then in the sugar and then into a baking pan of some sort.  High walls work best here as we have a lot of rising to do.  A bundt pan works very well.  Try to keep the dough balls in a fairly even layer to it bakes evenly. 

Bake this at 350 for 25-35 minutes.  The top should feel a bit crusty.  The best part though s when you turn it over and are rewarded with the gloopy caramelly, cinnimony top.  This one's for you Grandma.

Crusty and meaty in a really good way

Sorry I've been away but work has been tough recently.  Lots of hours and most of my "spare" time is either taking care of the mini me's toddling about or catching up on lost sleep.  But today was a "lazy" day, we stayed at home and watched the kids and were able to do a few things around the house like making mini chicken pot pies.

I mean what is better than soaking carbs in gravy right?  Ok here's the background.

Roast a chicken.  I use a meat thermometer, basically rinse and dry the sucker, take out the innards pack to do whatever people do with those things and put the meat thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh making sure not to touch the bone.  Let the bird air dry, salt and roast at 350 to an internal temperature of 165.  Let the bird cool and then take all the meat off of the bone for later use.

Take all the bones, 4 carrots roughly chopped, one onion roughly chopped, the head of one bunch of celery, 1 tbsp of salt and a bay leaf or a couple of sage leafs and toss in a big pot.  Cover all of this just barely with water and let simmer for 6 hours on the stove (covered) or in a crock pot on medium overnight.
(full disclosure my most wonderful wife did all of this while I was busy over working and it's a wonderful broth)
You end up with about  a gallon of chicken stock that you can use all over the place and freeze the excess for use at any time.

I buy pie crusts because I am not the best roller and if you get them on sale they keep for ever in the freezer.  I also use aluminum pie plates from the store but feel free to use whatever you want.  I also like personal pies rather than the one giant family pie as it's more fun and I don't have to share my crust.

Pie innards.  Chunk chicken (about a cup or two depending on how many pies you are filling, cooked carrots, peas, potatoes, celery or whatever veggies you want and GRAVY!!!.

The gravy is the easy part.  In a sauce pan melt one tablespoon of butter and add one tablespoon of flour and cook for a minute or two then add 1 cup of stock.  Whisk the mixture until it thickens over the heat.  If it's too thick for you add more stock until you have the right texture.  Turn off he heat and let this cool.  Taste the mix and add salt or pepper as needed.

Assembly...
Mix the chicken and veggies and set aside.  Cover the pie pans in the pastry dough (yes top and bottom crusts your family is worth the effort and the bottom crust is essential to a good pie) and fill with the chicken and veggie mix.  Spoon in gravy until it's close to the top and wet the rims of pie crusts in the pans.  Cover and seal the pies.  Make an egg wash (one egg and 1/2 cup of milk) and brush the tops of the pies with the egg wash.  Lightly sprinkle with kosher salt, poke a hole in the top of each pie and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and delicious.

That's it... let the pies rest for about 5 minute and invert on plate and take off the pie pan.  If you have presentable pie pans you can just put them on a plate but I like just the pie and breaking through the bottom and ending up with a crunchy gravy brushed top.

This recipe is a bit time consuming but well worth it and if you do it right you have chicken and gravy left over for many other uses which is always a good thing.

Rethinking the red....

Easy easy marinara sauce.  I've been rethinking the red sauce.  I still like the idea of the crock pot sauce but it doesn't always deliver the texture and flavor I want.  So I tried a few new ways.  The first was good the second was outstanding.
Method 1:
Get a large can of whole peeled roma tomatoes and drain them.  Cut them in half and dump the seeds.  Crush them with your hands an dump in a pot.  Drain and add one can of diced tomatoes.  Add one clove of garlic crushed, 1 tsp of dried (or fresh) herbs.  Simmer for 20 minutes or so and you are done.

Method 2: 
It's a bit counter-intuitive, but it is awesome.  You want 15-20 good Roma tomatoes or 10 beefsteak.  Cut all of them in half and remove the seeds and all of the liquid goop.  Place skin down in a roasting pan.  Sprinkle with dried or fresh herbs.  Slice up 2 garlic cloves thinly and put at least one slice in each tomato.   Sprinkle each tomato with a pinch of salt and drizzle with olive oil.  Roast all the tomatoes at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour.  You want them looking wrinkled when you take them out.  Now you have a choice, you can peel & puree or run them through a food mill.  This sauce is ready to go it's smooth and mellow and has that smoky roasty flavor.  On Pizza, pasta or a dipping sauce for fried calamari or cheese nothing beats this.

OK just did this with beefsteak tomatoes.  Great flavor but way too watery.  I need to simmer it way down.  Keep to the Romas they work so much better.  Peace Love Pasta

Why is the Ketchup Red? It saw the salad dressing....

Ok I remember that from first grade but salad dressings can make or break your veggies.  My favorite is the vinegrette which is a mix of an acid, oil, an emulsifier (optional) and seasonings.  It's flexible fast and fun (oh yeah and yummy too).

Basic recipe is 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil, pinch of salt, pinch of sugar 1/2 tsp of mustard (emulsifier to keep the dressing from breaking into component parts) and 1 tsp of dried herbs.  What herbs do you say?  Basically anything that you like from the historically classical Italian seasoning mix to any single herb or combo that you like.  You can also easily substitute fresh herbs if you have them (thanks to the deck garden we do).  My secret is that if you use dried herbs soak them in the vinegar for about 10 minutes pre mixing.  This will both perfume the vinegar and hydrate the herbs.
Now I am sure you have seen a cooking show where they slowly drizzle (not a Snoop Dog refrence here) the oil in and whisk furiously at the same time.  You so don't need to do that.  Just add the oil in three parts and beat it in between.  If you use a blender like the Magic Bullet (love that little critter) or an immersion blender then ignore the stages part.  The most awesomest part is that this is also one of the worlds best bread dips.
I did mention that the emulsifier is optional before, if you don't add it in then your dressing will slowly break into it's component parts as vinegar like water doesn't like oil all that much.  If this is OK with you then it's OK with me.  I do it both ways depending on my mood and how much bread I have handy for dunking.
Oil is importaint here.  You will be tasing the raw oil so pay attention to flavor.  Olive is the standard but nut oils like hazelnut or pecan can be wonderful as well.  For a totally neutral flavor try safflower or grapeseed oil.  I usually like olive oil because I can get good oil from the bulk food store at a reasonably good price.
My Balsamic Vinagrette
1 tblsp balsamic vinegar, 2 tblsp Extra Virgin Olive oil, (balsamic vinegar is sweeter than most vinegars so you don't need as much oil just remember when in doubt taste). 1 tsp fresh herbs finely chopped (oregano, rosemary and thyme), pinch sugar, salt & garlic powder.  1/2 tsp dijon style mustard (the fancy brown stuff).  Test by dipping in a piece of lettuce.  Adjust as needed, you should be able to taste everything but the mustard which should dissapear under the other strong flavors.  Enjoy.

The last of the Bread.....

For a while.

I posted about my asiago bread fiasco but I really love asiago bread so I just couldn't leave it like that.  So I made the bread finally.

I used the pizza dough (double recipe)   and added about 1/2 to 3/4ths of a cup of cubed asiago cheese to the dough.  Let it rise for two hours and turn it out on an oiled (olive oil of course) pizza stone (you can use a baking pan or sheet tray).  I pushed & stretched it into a rectangular shape to the edge of the stone.  I brushed the top with olive oil and let it rise for about an hour.

Place the bread into a 450 degree oven on the stone/pan for about 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.  This will be a 1-2 inch high focaccia with golden brown asiago bits in the crust that smells divine and tastes better.  It's great for sandwiches, as a bed for a salad or just to devour as a snack.

Tonight we are going to have pizza as we just got in a new crop of roma tomatoes.

Whoops....

Ok after reading this for a while I bet you all imagine a Rachel Ray type kitchen and a handsome man in a well pressed apron flawlessly performing edible acrobatics while flawlessly pumping our delicious meal after meal to the amazement of all.

Survey says  X!  While I am devilishly handsome, no aprons and not nearly that amount of space.  We suffer from a common syndrome of too much stuff, too little space.  We've got most of the rest of the house whipped into shape and have the kitchen and sunroom left to finish.  We (mostly my lovely wife) has done a TREMENDOUS job of getting things in order so far,  we jet need the energy and drive to finish (now that it's 100 degrees, humid, I'm working and we have 3 kids under two)  we just don't have the energy at this time.

So we come up with expediencies like I use the oven to raise dough.  We don't keep most of our appliances (small ones like crock pots) in a ready to operate positioning etc...  Which brings me to a goof I made the other day.

I was frying some catfish (flour, eggwash, flour method) and some baked french fries (bagged) for the evening meal. 
First dry dredge  1/2 cup of flour lightly salt & peppered.
wet dredge  2 eggs 1 cup of milk or buttermilk
second dry dredge 1 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of hush puppy mix.  Season lightly and option add 1/2 tbsp of curry powder and a similar amount of chili powder (add some cayenne pepper if you like the heat)

I like the dry-wet-dry method as you end up with a crisp crunchy crust that adheres well, works on anything and is not too doughy so what you are frying still tastes like what you are frying and not a giant doughball like at the county fair (other than the shape there's not much of a difference between a corndog and a funnel cake there). 

So I preheat the oven to 450 for my fries and batter up my catfish (if you like it a bit less fishy try tilapia if you think you have the skills try flounder which is much flakier when cooked).  I set the catfish aside and add about 1/2 inch of oil to a straight sided frying pan.  Just when I am about to start the oil I notice a smell.  It smells like a malfunctioning dryer.  I check the oven... my asiago bread is in there!!!!  Yes I made up a batch of dough to rise and bake after dinner and forgot about it.  Fortunately no fire but the alarms went off after I opened the oven door.  I soaked the towels I used to cover the dough and set the whole mess aside to cool and deal with later.

Now I was down a side dish unless I wanted my french fries to taste like scorched cotton.  Idea flash!!!.   I mixed my wet dredge with my final coat until I got a nice loose batter.  I was going to make impromptu hush puppies.   When the oil was at temp (meaning it fried up a piece of my hush puppy batter fast and not greasy) I put in my hush puppies to cook.  they fried for about 1.5 minutes a side (a deep golden brown) and then I set them aside.

I did test one by cutting in half and they were cooked through.I then cooked the fish for about 2 -3 minutes a side until they were a light although no less golden brown.  When they were done I set aside to drain.  Serve all with cocktail sauce.

So I'm not perfect.  I funk up just as much as the next person. The rule is to not get flustered and not to give up because you still have mouths to feed.  I was really bummed about the asiago bread though... I LOVE asiago bread.

The Great Pizza experiment phase 2....

My pizza dough recipe ( http://cookingwiththedaddy.blogspot.com/2010/06/topless-is-not-for-pizza.html ) makes enough dough for 2 pies.  Making only one at a time I decided to freeze half.  Never having done that before I was wondering how it would turn out.  No need to wonder any more it works great.  I de-thawed the dough ball (lightly oiled and sealed in a zip top bag) overnight in the fridge.  You want to keep it cold to prevent the yeast from waking up too early.  I also treated it differently this time.  I took my pizza stone out of the over and lightly oiled it, placing the dough ball directly on the stone, I used my fingers to press it into a rectangular shape.  I then used my marble rolling pin to roll the dough out to the limits of the stone.  Now... to the toppings.

We picked our first 5 tomatoes off of our deck this week and they were ripe and ready so I sliced & seeded them.  I covered the top of the dough as completely as possible with the tomatoes and salted each one.  I lightly covered the whole top with some granulated garlic and spread on one half some fresh oregano.  On the other half I used a thyme, oregano and rosemary mix finely chopped.  On the mixed half I placed two thinly sliced meatballs.  I lightly covered the entire pie with cheese and did a light olive oil drizzle over the whole thing.  I set the oven at 450 and waited for the preheat to finish (I did not preheat immediately on starting as I wanted the extra time for the dough to rise and the wife was taking a much needed & well deserved nap).  I cooked the pizza at 450 for about 17 minutes where the cheese was starting to brown as well as the crust.  I removed the entire stone to the top of the stove and put the pizza on my largest cutting board.  12 slices later and we were in heaven.  The freshness of the tomatoes came through and the crust was thin, slightly puffy and that combo of crunchy and chewy that a good pizza crust should have. 

Technically the pizza was sauceless but the fresh tomatoes and olive oil made up for it.  The best part the entire pizza cost less than 1$, ok  the real best part was the yummy noises we all were making, but the low price really added to it.

Mastering the Sale dinner...

I may have mentioned it before but I'm cheap.  One word in our vocabulary that is sure to excite us at the store is sale.  We have three pretty nice grocery stores really close to our house and we hit all three regularly.  Why three?  Because each has different sales pegged to the loyalty cards.  I'm not going to spend an extra dollar per pound for ground beef at store A when I am picking up my sale soda there just to save a 2 minute drive.  So what to do when you haven't thawed anything and dinner time is approaching?  Well unless you are sure of the store don't plan the menu before you go, pull something from the freezer for tomorrow and hit the grocery store.

Hit the proteins first as they are the center of the meal.  There is a very good chance that there is going to be a sale item in chicken, fish, pork and beef at any given time you go to the store.  Other good options for a central protein include raw and cooked sausage as well as stuffed pastas.  Settle on the item that will fit with what you are cooking tomorrow (you don't really want to do pork chops 2 nights in a row, right?) and your cook/prep time.  Then head to the fresh produce.

This is where the art comes in.  Sale produce also goes on every week but it's hard to match some times.  You want to think about your main protein and how it would taste with the the veggies you have arrayed before you.  Let me walk you through last night's meal.

At the fish counter I saw some amazing scallops 1/3rd off.  regularly around 12 dollars they were on sale for 8$ a lb (sounds a tad pricey I know but compare to McDonalds prices that is less than 2 meal deals (size large)).  Next I hit the veggies and saw some really nice oyster mushrooms on sale  for 2$, then picked up some nice small roma tomatoes (89c) and finally artechokes 1/2 off at 2 for 4 dollars.  So to add it up with one small lemon I spent 15.50$.  Compare that to any instant food and decide which you would rather eat.

Now for the prep.  Cleaned and soaked the artichokes in lemon water (they blacken faster than apples) then boiled them in lemon water (salted) for about 5 minutes and let them hang there for a bit.  Next I cut and seeded the tomatoes, sliced the mushrooms and let the scallops dry on a paper towel (top and bottom).  Prep work is done.  Heat a skillet and add a small amount of olive oil.  You want the pan pretty hot but not hot enough to smoke up the oil.  Cook the scallops for two minutes a side (if they look cooked then they are over done).  They ended up being lightly brown on each side (also season to taste, salt and whatever you like).  When done remove to a plate.  Cook the mushrooms in the same pan, when they become tender and start to exude liquid, add in the artechokes and tomatoes.  Hit the pan with the juice of one lemon and deglaze the pan (that means use the boiling liquid to scrape up the yummy bits of scallop juices that are sticking to the pan), you can use a touch of white wine and butter here too,  hit it with a touch of salt to taste and you are done.  I combined the veggies into a sauce for the scallops so you can serve them on a bed of the veggies or just put the veggies on the side and placed the scallops next to them.  Cooking time was 7 minutes and it was very yummy.  This will serve three to four depending on size and appetite.  Figure on 4-5 big scallops for an adult portion and 1-3 for the kids.  We are lucky in that our toddler will eat or at least try anything and he does love seafood.

Fish and puppies....

No it's not a pet store, it's dinner.   And it's hush puppies so don't report me to the ASPCA. The secret is a good hush puppy mix.  You can make your own based on a recipe, but I like the mixes as I use the dry mix as an ingredient. There are two ways to batter your fish.  The fist is the dry wet dry method, the second is dry then batter.  You start with your fish fillets (whole fish is a different story).  Season the fish with salt and pepper, then coat with flour or a flour/cornstarch mix (the corn starch helps make the fist coat drying which is what we want).  then you dunk in a wet bath then to your seasoned crust mix and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes.  The resting period ensures that the flour hydrates and you end up with a good crispy shell and not a flour-ey mess.

For my first dry mix I use regular flour (1 cup) and 1/4 cup corn starch and set aside.  The wet mix can be a basic egg wash, egg & cream, butter milk etc... you want something lighter than a batter but thicker than water.  The last mix I use 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of my hush puppy mix and 1/2 tsp of curry powder and a dash of salt ( you can add some cayenne powder for heat or any herb for additional flavor but I really like the taste of corn and onion in the mix).  The prep work is done now.

Choosing a fish is the next part.  I don't like fatty fish like tuna and salmon fried.  To me it's like the oils collide and it's not pretty on my palate.  I like firm white/pink fish.  Catfish, cod, halibut, tilapia and flounder are favorites (flounder is on the delicate side so wait until your frying is up to snuff before you go there).  Pat your fillets dry before you begin... Now dust in the first dry mix and pat off the extra flour, do two or three and then set them in the wet mix.  Flip the fish in the wet mix and then one at a time place a  fillet in the dry mix and coat thoroughly.  Lightly share off excess flour and place on a plate to rest.

For the oil I like safflower or canola oils as they have a high smoke point and not much flavor.  Peanut oil is a good choice but I don't like the taste of peanut oil which I consider a heavy flavor on my light fish.  You can use your electric fryer but here I will talk pan frying as it's simpler, quicker and basically easier.

Since I am using hush puppy mix I do mix a batch of hush puppies for two reasons, I love hush puppies and it's the perfect tester for the oil temperature.  Since we are pan frying we want a pan with straight sides, and about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of oil in the pan.  When you think the oil is warm enough drop in a bit of hush puppy mix and see if you get vigorous bubbling.  If you don't remove the tester and try again in a short while (minute or so).  Cook the hush puppies, this too will ensure a good temp for the fish and face it the fish costs more so screw up on the hush puppies.  When the first batch is done (nice and brown but not black) remove from the oil and break one open, if the inside is still gooey turn the oil down a bit and try again (the residual heat in the puppies may still cook the interior so check before serving they may still be good). 

So the puppies are done (each batch should take about 3 minutes and you will need to flip them as we are pan frying) now it's fish time!!!.  Lay two or three fish in the pan laying the fish away from you.  Remember that the oil is freeking hot and if it splashes you want it to splash away from you.  After about 10 seconds just move a tad with a spatula (silicone) to be sure the bottom is not sticking.  In 2-4 minutes depending on the thickness of your fish (flounder is about 1.5 minutes) gently turn over (also away from you) each fillet to cook the other side.  The bottom should be nicely brown and crisp.  After a similar time on the second side remove to a plate lined with paper towels or brown paper bags to remove excess oil.  If your oil is at a good temperature the fish and the puppies will NOT be greasy so also use that as a temperature guide.

Now this is a once a month type of thing for us, because none of us really need the extra oil, but doing it properly at home will give you a lighter less oily decadent treat that will far surpass anything you can get at a restaurant.  Most restaurants tend to go for an oil temp that is good for fries and ok for fish which I find to be a bit low for the fish.  Plus you don't know the condition or the seasoning of the fish which you are now in control of.

For variations, add some herbs to the wet mix here they will give great flavor and will not burn as they are protected by the outer crust.

Bread that I would pay for.

Ok still on the no knead bread kick. And I have cracked the code....   One problem we were having is a burny taste and the overall taste was not up to snuff.  So I experimented....
3 cups bread flour, 2 tsp salt, 2 packets of yeast and 1 & 1/2 cups of water.
Again mix all the dry ingredients and then add most of the water and mix.  You want a really sticky dough (if dry then add a bit of water at a time until it is all sticky and a bit gloopy).  Let rise covered in a room temperature location for 18 hours or so.  Form dough and place on a  sheet of parchment paper, cover and let rise for 1-2 hours.  Bake at 450 on a pizza stone for 30-45 minutes uncovered.

We've talked pizza stones and alternatives before so check out my pizza dough post if you need  a hand there.  This bread is not as crusty as the other version (covered) but I've eliminated the flavor of burnt flour by omitting the extra flour needed.  When you form your bread on the parchment paper you don't care if it sticks as after baking (parchment paper is oven safe) so no extra flour to burn at high temps.  Here the crust is much thinner as we are not covering the bread but it is still crunchy but much easier to get through.

The kicker to my latest batch was I cubed 1/2 lbs of block swiss cheese and added it to the dry ingredients.  I did use small chunks and there were so many of them that they were falling out as I formed the dough into 6 little balls but honestly I would buy this bread.

When is flat not flat? When it's a calzone...

Ok it's not a knee slapper but it's a title.  The ingredients are mostly the same but the technique is different.  In we also get a bonus ingredient... ricotta cheese (like cottage cheese but way better you can even use marscapone).  A calzone is not simply a folded pizza or a turnover it's really it's own beast.   You start by stretching the dough like a pizza (you can do individual sizes or one large calzone).  Once the crust is stretched out imagine a line going down the middle, one half stays untouched while the other half gets filling up to about 1/2 inch from the edge.  The basics are a coating of ricotta (or marscapone) and then cover with a good italian melting cheese like mozzarella or provolone.  Next you place the other toppings, traditionally it's ham but like a pizza you really can't go wrong here.  Ham mushrooms and onions is a killer combo here but any flavor combo you would like on a pizza will rock it here.  Once filled, put some water on that pristine edge you left and fold the dough over.  Crimp the edge hard with a fork or do a foldover like you would see in a pizza joint but be sure it's sealed good or you will end up with a horrible mess.  Once filled & sealed cut a couple of vent holes in the top for steam to escape.

I should have mentioned that you should assemble on a sprayed piece of aluminum foil or parchment paper.  Here the oven should be heated to about 350 instead of the higher heat needed for pizza, otherwise the outside would be burnt before the inside all is melty.  Cook until the crust is golden brown and you can smell the goodness when you open the oven to peek.

This needs to sit for 5-10 minutes before serving as the filling is too hot.  You can provide some maranra or pesto for dipping if desired.  Don't worry about storing leftovers as there will be none.

Topless is not for Pizza

I talked about crust now we need to top the pizza, if we don't it's just bread (nothing wrong with bread but it's not pizza).  For traditional American pizza you need to start with the red, take your marinara that you made earlier (I just know you are playing along with me here) and take a couple of teaspoons full, dump them in the middle and spread it out to the very edge.  Feel free to add more but do it a little at a time as too much sauce can kill a pizza. 

Next contemplate cheese.  Mozzarella is great for it's melting and browning ability.  Your basic choices are fresh, smoked processed/packaged and processed shredded.  You can slice or shred your cheese if it comes whole (to shred freeze the cheese for about 1/2 to 1 hour to make it easy to shred) or you can just do slices of your chunk.  Don't over cheese you still want to see some red through the cheese or you will end up with a gooey mess that is hard to handle (still tastes good but it is a logistical mess).

Now for other toppings (these can go over or under the cheese it's really your choice).  Since our ovens don't get to 600 degrees like pizza ovens it is always best to pre-cook your home pizza topping with a few exceptions (mainly tomatoes as they will turn to mush under the heat).  I prefer savory combinations usually involving onions.  My all time favorite being onions green peppers and pepperoni.  But onion mushrooms and bacon works great too.  Again don't over top judicial restraint is key to the pizza.

Once you get the crust going there's nothing wrong to do with a pizza, don't like red sauce base?  Use olive oil and spices or carmelized onions, or alfredo sauce.  You can even omit a sauce all together.  Want to use a sauce and toppings and no cheese?  No problem you just can't do it wrong you can only do it so you like it or don't like it.  When you think about it it's like a sandwich, you can put together a combo you don't like but it's still a pizza.

Flat out delicious

America's favorite food is Pizza and it's unfortunately not a great homemade standard.  Why?  becuase of the specialized equipment needed for a great crust.  You can buy bread and make use it as a crust for pizza but it's not the same because the recooking can over dry the bread and not cook the toppings enough to give you a just from the pizza oven bubbly brown yumminess.  So we will first attack the crust.

If you've been reading this blog, you've read about my adventures with no knead bread.  Well for those of us who don't have the time or desire to abuse our dough here's a no knead pizza dough.
3.5 cups of flour
1 1/3rd cups of water
2/3rds tsp of salt
2/3rds tsp of sugar
2 tbsp of yeast (or 2 packets)

Here we are going for a faster rise than with our bread dough so we use sugar to jumpstart the yeast here. So dump all the dry ingredients in a bowl and stir, add the water and stir.  You want this to totally combine and be just slightly tacky to the touch.  Cover with a damp towel and let rise for 2 hours at room temperature (or in the fridge for a day.  This is enough for 2 pizzas.

Now for the special hardware.  Pizzas are cooked on stones in very hot ovens but our home ovens have racks and just don't get as hot.  Our ovens also average the temperature like a home AC unit.  If you set to 75 and the house is 80 the ac will chill the place to about 73-74 and then let it rise to about 76-77 before kicking in again.  Your stove does the same thing but has a wider temp range.  For our pizza we need even heat so the top and bottom cook at the same time.  We need a trip to the hardware store.  So measure your bottom oven rack. Now go to the hardware store....

What you want is unglazed terra cotta tiles.  You can buy a pizza stone but they are pricy, unglazed terra cotta is cheap and you just need enough to fill the space that you measured before.  If you need to cut tiles for a good fit, make sure the cut ends go against the oven walls.  Now place a double or triple layer of foil on the bottom rack of your oven and then place the tiles on top of it.  If you can get a piece to cover the whole (or most of it) rack then great otherwise you will need to butt the tiles against each other.  The foil will catch any stray flour or cornmeal bits and keep your oven clean.  Temperature should be 400 - 500 depending on your oven and how thick you like your crust (thinner crust hotter oven). 

So why do we do this?  Ceramics are a poor insulator, they absorb heat slowly and release it in the same way, slowly.  So we've created a floor for the pizza which will even out the heating of our oven giving us even heat for cooking the crust evenly and melting the top consistently.  Because these stones heat more slowly than the rest of the oven the pre-heat time will be longer so prepare for that, also give the oven an extra 10 minutes after the beep to be sure they are ready.

Lastly you can leave these stones in the oven permanently and it will not harm a thing so you don't need to constantly take them out and put them back in.

Marinara is good enough for me.

The tomato sauce is a staple in the house.  If you have it on hand that is.  Most of us buy jars and keep them handy.  This isn't a bad thing so long as you remember it is a base but it's not really all purpose enough for me.

Here's my sauce.
1 lg can of tomato paste
2 tomato paste cans full of chicken broth
garlic powder
salt to taste
1 lg onion finely diced
2 lg cans of (pureed not crushed) tomatos
1 lg can of diced tomatos drained
Italian spice mix

Basically it's a mix it all together type of deal.  I start with the paste and chicken broth and combine it well with a wisk. Then dump everything else in except the seasonings.  Add seasonsings to taste and be careful as you can not take spice away from a dish.  Simmer on the stove for two hours, in a crock on high for 4, or in a crock on low for 8-12.  This is all depending on your situation.  You will end up with about a gallon of the red for around 10-12 dollars.  After it's cooled I ladle into the disposable tupperware and freeze.
 You can substitute fresh herbs for dried, chopped garlic for powder and fresh tomatoes for canned so have fun with it.  (btw using a food mill or a box grater on fresh tomatoes will give you a puree no problem no peeling necessary but if you use a grater be sure to remove seeds).

What to do with the sauce?  Well it's not bad as it is, but if you simmer it with mushrooms, meatballs, sausages, fish, shrimp, beef, pork, chicken, venison, etc it takes on some of the characteristics of what you cook it with and you get a whole new flavor for the price of putting it on the stove and just dumping stuff in it.  One great tip is to add cheese to your sauce as it melts in and flavors the whole sauce and serves as a thickener as well (parmesan is classic but try asiago for a real treat).

NOTE: NEVER BUY GRATED CHEESE, it's crap.  The closest you should get is the shredded parmesian in a bag.  If it looks like powder leave it on the shelf.   You can powder it in a blender/processor when you get home if you need to and you will get much better flavor and no silica (sand) to prevent clumping.  When you chop something up so fine all the oils inside which give it aroma will evaporate out, you need chunks of some sort to hold in the flavor.

Five minute dinner or take that Rachel Ray

With work & kids you don't always have the time you would like to prepare a home cooked meal but here's one I did the other night on the spur of the moment.

Knowing time was short I picked up some cherry tomatoes on the way home.  We also had a pound of langastinos (think of shrimp that have a lobster texture and taste) steamed and pealed that I picked up on sale from the store a day before.  Having children we also pretty much always have some cooked pasta on hand.  So in a frying pan I melted a tbsp of butter and added an equal amount of olive oil (combining gives you a healthier mix and adding the oil also raises the smoking point of the butter). Once the oil was warm I tossed in the langastinos and let them start to warm (they were already cooked so I didn't want to dry them out another reason for the oil).  Then I tossed in a couple of hands full of pasta (we actually used alphabets but any small pasta like orzo or ditalini would really work here).  Once the pasta was warm I tossed in the tomatoes and added some salt and pepper and garlic powder (all to taste so be sure to taste as you go).  At the very end before the tomatoes got mushy (really hate mushed tomatoes) I added in some fresh time leaves, tossed the pan once or twice and dumped it all on a plate and served with my fresh semolina bread.  Total cooking time 5 minutes.

A balanced healthy meal chock full of proteins, veggies and some starch (not much actually) and it was full of flavor and even the boy gobbled it down.

Swaps for the langastinos could be shrimp, bay scallops or small chunks of a firm fish like tilapia or cod.  Instead of tomatoes you can use any veggie at all just about (except for Brussels sprouts and okra which are against my religion).  In short this can be thousands of separate dishes.  To pack in more flavor vary the herbs or even add sauteed mushrooms, onions or even crumbled bacon.

You can even do the whole meal during one commercial break of 30 minute meals.

Ahhhhhhh coffee.

I was off the caffeine kick for years.  Then we had kids and didn't have sleep.  Something needed to give and it ended up being the absence of coffee.  Now to me coffee is God's worst bit of false advertising.  It smells like heaven but since I have a problem with bitter it tastes horrible.  So I wanted to fix that without spending 5$ a day on some Seattle based over glopped cup o-joe.

Flavor is the key.  Adding spices directly to the coffee means you are feeling the grit of the spice as you drink.  So how to rectify?  Well since we are brewing the coffee why not brew the spices as well?  Experimentally we added cinnimon and nutmeg to the filter with the coffee.  It was heaven.  You get a smooth subtle flavor that goes throughout the brew and will elivate any cup to new heights.   Granted we use inexpensive brand name coffee for this but it's really good.  Some other suggestions include anise, vanilla beans, orange peels (zest only none of the white pith) or any other flavoring that you like the taste of. 

No recipe for this as it's an experimental thing.  Try it though and you will be amazed.  Don't forget to cream and sugar to taste.

Ben and who?

Frogurt time again (Fro-Yo is a trademark of a hippy company up north so I won't use it).  I have two favorite flavors of ice cream and they are peanut butter and chocolate (basically chocolate with ribbons of peanut butter frozen within) and Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia.  Now I have a ton of yogurt at home and cherries, homemade vanilla extract, chocolate and sugar so I can take a swipe at one of my favorite flavors.

1 quart + a tad of homade yogurt
1 cup of sugar
2 tsp home made vanilla extract
1/2 cup of 1/2& 1/2  (yes it's ironic but i want a creamier product)
1/2 bar of chocolate cut into small chunks
about 10 cherries cut into 1/8 ths (if big like the ones we got)

Mix everything except for the sugar, chocolate & cherries together.  Taste.  If too sour add about 1/4th of the sugar.  Taste.  Repeat as necessary (switch to tablespoons though).  When done to your standards chill for a few hours to a few days.  Assemble your ice-cream maker.  Start the churning and add in your mix.  About 2/3rds the way through add in the chocolate and cherries and let the churning finish.  When done put in containers and freeze.  I call it Cherries Santana so I don't get into any trademark battles.

Awesome Semolina bread.

If you go back to "bread that doesn't suck", you will find the no knead bread recipe.  I wasn't totally satisfied with how it turned out so I tried again.  This time I made sure the dough was wet and sticky and fairly loose for a bread dough (if you are used to the kneading method.  I also adjusted the temperature to 450 from 475 in the hopes of a lighter crust.

Basic recipe was 2.5 cups of bread flour plus .5 cups of semolina flour (aka pasta flour).  One packet of active dry yeast, 1& 1/2 tsp salt and 1 & 1/3 cups of water.  Mix all the dry ingredients in a big bowl and then mix in the water.  You want the mix not tight like you were going to hand knead but a bit loose and pretty sticky.  Cover the dough and let it rise in a cool dark place for 18 hours.  When the 18 hours are up form the dough into a ball and place seam side down on a floured towel and cover.  The the dough rise for about 2 hours and twords the end place a heavy pot (with lid) in the stove and preheat to 450 degrees. 

Put the dough seam side down in the pot and cover.  Bake for 1/2 hour then remove the cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.


That's it, takes almost a whole day but involves less than 10 minutes work and it is so awesome.

Memorial Day

First of all my thanks goes to all who have served.  Especially those that left a part of them selves behind during a conflict or ultimately failed to return at all.  A lot of my family and many people I've know have sacrificed for this country and while "thanks" is never enough it's a small token of appreciation that can never be repeated too much.

It being memorial day I did what any red blooded American male would do... I fired up the grill.  Tonight's menu: Chicken burgers, Venison burgers, sausages and Cornish game hens.  Yes it's a lot of meat but I like to use the weekends to get ahead of the game. 

The chicken burgers & deer burgers (yes I eat Bambi) were made the same way.  1 lb of meat, 1 tblsp milk, 1/4 cup bread crumbs and 1 egg.  Mix well (by hand) and divide into 4 and make into patties.  Put on a plate to chill in the fridge.
Sausage  ready to go (we had Lamb, tuscan italian sausage and andouille.  The andouille is slated for some redbeans and rice later on but the rest are ready meals.

The baby Chickens I marinated with fresh thyme, sage and rosemary from our deck garden with a sprinkling of salt and some olive oil.

Grill order was to sear the sausages and chickens first and then move to the cool side of the grill.  I then cooked the burgers with the following method.  Plop on the hot part of the grill, leave alone until the liquid pools at the surface.  Then I flip and leave alone until the bottom side is nicely caramelized.  They are done now. They got wrapped in foil and I moved the sausages to the medium part of the grill until firm to touch.  They also get the foil treatment.   I then closed the lid of the grill with the chicken still on the cold side.  This roasts the chicken at about 350.  I went out after dinner and they were totally done.

All in all a very successful grill.  Nothing went wrong and all the meat was tender and juicy.  As an added bonus the wife and toddler LOVED all the food and that's the best applause any cook can get.  Hope you all had a great weekend... NOW BACK TO WORK SLACKERS.

I'm a bad daddy...

I started a new job, I have a bad cold and my oldest learned he could climb EVERYTHING so I've been a bit busy on both the cooking and the blogging front.  Tonight I plan to do burgers/sausages and some Cornish game hens on the grill but I want to give you frogurt.  Sometimes called FroYo (especially by the hippies up north) it is a mixture of yogurt and stuff that is frozen in an ice cream maker.  You've made the homemade yogurt right?  OK if you haven't take a day and make it....  now ready?  OK you can buy some if you want to but you will loose the ultimate homemade bragging rights.

The link to my ice cream maker is here.  We also have a stand alone freezer that we keep pretty cold (most home freezers are around 0 degrees and vary within the freezer, we have an energy-star stand up freezer in the basement that we keep at about -15.  I know that my Ice Cream maker benefits from the extra cold. BTW this is the type of maker where you freeze the container.

Take about 2 quarts (about 1 cup shy actually) or the amount that your Ice Cream maker will handle (and please use whatever you are comfortable with).  Add stuff to the yogurt.... chocolate, vanilla & sugar, brown sugar & chocolate chips, blueberry jam and taste the yogurt until you are happy with it.  This is the taste of your frogurt so be happy.  Now one thing to look out for is that homemade yogurt can be a bit more sour than store bought commercial processed stuff so you may need to sweeten it a bit more but do it to taste (AND I DO MEAN TASTE if you don't sample it do not blame me if it's horrible remember cooking is NOT about recipes it's about how flavors mesh and and how they work on you).  If this is your first time spinning ice cream I do recommend a fruit flavor using jam (homemade of course) as the flavoring,  yogurt and jam go together like peas and carrots (thanks Forrest).  Once the mix is at a taste you enjoy put it in the coldest part of your fridge for at least 4 hours (usually the bottom shelf).

We need to chill it because it will freeze faster and better.  Set up your ice-cream maker and turn it on it's lowest setting.  It needs to be on so it won't freeze the beater in place after you pour in the yogurt mix.  So slowly pout in your chilled mix and let it spin for 15 to 20 minutes or (if you you have a fancy electric machine) the maker tells you it's done.  At this point it should be the consistency of soft serve ice-cream.  Eat now if that is your choice or put in an airtight container in the freezer for the next day where it will set up just like store bought.

Keep it simple with your first batch.  Later on at the 10-15 minute mark you can put in chunks like almonds(or other nuts), chocolate chunks, bought candy bits etc.  If you want a ribbon of flavor going through, stir it in gently once it's out of the container (the ribbon flavors need to be hard frozen for the ribboning to set).

The chocolate (no sugar added) I did for my wife was pretty good, she liked the bitterness of the dark chocolate but not for me.  I am thinking of trying honey with almond bits next a classic yogurt combo.

Enjoy the long weekend all.