Yesterday we had some really wonderfully good roast chicken for dinner. Of course, now we have heaps of leftover chicken that we have to find uses for. Tonight, I decided to try out yumsugar's chicken & onion pizza idea.
Of course, from there I had to find a recipe for pizza dough. I wound up settling on this one from Fabulous Foods, which I will document here for my own purposes: Pour 1 cup warm water in bowl. Add 2 tablespoons honey, 1/2 teaspoon salt, then mix. Add 1 packet yeast and mix. Wait 5 minutes. Add 1 cup flour & 1/4 cup olive oil, and (you guessed it) mix. Then add another 2 and 1/2 cups flour. At that point it should ball; add water or flour 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Let rise 45 minutes, then punch. Let rise 60 to 90 minutes and use, or punch and let rise another 60 to 120 minutes depending on timing and patience. (I chose 90 minutes and then use this time.)
This dough was very tasty, and in fact we discussed that this is the recipe I should use if I want to make breadsticks or fried dough anytime soon. It comes out nice and fluffy with a good firm exterior. Due to prior bad experiences in this area, I was unwilling to try an untested dough recipe directly on the pizza stone the first time through, so I wound up using a large non-stick cookie sheet. This worked well enough, but it had the unfortunate side effect of not really browning the bottom of the crust in a way I would have liked - I will try that next time, since I know how it's going to behave.
Anyway, once the dough was ready and spread out over the sheet, I topped it with salsa, shredded leftover chicken, Cojack and onion. The recipe called for straight Monterey Jack, but I couldn't find it shredded and I was feeling lazy and besides Cojack is my go-to cheese anyway. It also wants one to sauté the onion before use as topping, probably to distinguish it from whatever onions one might find in the salsa, but I bought a nice big sweet onion and I wanted to taste it, so I didn't bother. It should be noted that I used a mild salsa because while I like spice, and pizza, I don't generally enjoy the two combined.
The end result in this case was very tasty. Between the fluffiness of the crust and the behavior of the salsa it could have been a little dryer, but I wouldn't say it was any soggier than your average extra-sauce pie. We did wind up dipping it in some spaghetti sauce we had in the cabinet, because we wanted a splash of tomato - next time I might just put some sliced tomato on under the cheese. All told an excellent use of leftover chicken, and one I definitely plan to use again.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
chai frosting
Because moving always seems to involve people showering me with things from the back of their pantry that's about to expire, I am in possession of a few boxes of cake mix that are not long for this world. On a whim a few nights ago, I decided to make one, and combine it with a theory that we've had for a while. Essentially the theory is this - standard buttercream frosting can be flavored with cocoa during the creation period, so why not use instant chai?
So we did. The end result is not at all unpleasant, although I'm not sure I'd do it again. The flavor is more like the smell of the chai powder than the taste of actual chai. Although it did occur to me later that this results in a caffeinated cake, which may have a certain appeal. I recommend giving it a whirl if you're in to that sort of thing.
So we did. The end result is not at all unpleasant, although I'm not sure I'd do it again. The flavor is more like the smell of the chai powder than the taste of actual chai. Although it did occur to me later that this results in a caffeinated cake, which may have a certain appeal. I recommend giving it a whirl if you're in to that sort of thing.
bootleg helper
So as we settle in to our new home and try to watch our food expenses and obsess about things like college grades, I'm inclined to remember my broke-ass days of yore, when I could barely manage to boil water and ate SpaghettiOs uncooked straight out of the can. Well, okay, I still do that, but the point is I don't think it's a meal.
Anyway, through the rose tinted glasses that let me view those memories without rupturing blood vessels, I fondly remember how Hamburger Helper would seem like a veritable home-cooked feast. I have no desire whatsoever to eat that filth, but when a recipe from the 'cheapcooking' Yahoo Group came across my inbox, I decided to try it. My end product differed greatly from what the recipe was intended to create, but it was still fairly tasty.
First, I sliced five strips of bacon into bite sized bits and sauteed them. When they were almost done I added chopped carrots, celery, onion, and tomato. This I cooked until the carrots were done, at which point I added ground turkey, and cooked until that was done, then added a lot of paprika, stirred thoroughly, then added ziti and filled the skillet with water. When the ziti was edible, I pronounced it done.
On the whole, it wasn't terrible. The original recipe called for "several inches of water", which would have required a dramatically different bit of cookware (oops!), and created something much more soup-like. This is also one of the rare circumstances where I should have used ground beef instead of turkey, because the flavor would have saturated much better. Still, I dubbed it 'Bootleg Helper'. On the whole it was reasonably food-like and highly nostalgic.
Anyway, through the rose tinted glasses that let me view those memories without rupturing blood vessels, I fondly remember how Hamburger Helper would seem like a veritable home-cooked feast. I have no desire whatsoever to eat that filth, but when a recipe from the 'cheapcooking' Yahoo Group came across my inbox, I decided to try it. My end product differed greatly from what the recipe was intended to create, but it was still fairly tasty.
First, I sliced five strips of bacon into bite sized bits and sauteed them. When they were almost done I added chopped carrots, celery, onion, and tomato. This I cooked until the carrots were done, at which point I added ground turkey, and cooked until that was done, then added a lot of paprika, stirred thoroughly, then added ziti and filled the skillet with water. When the ziti was edible, I pronounced it done.
On the whole, it wasn't terrible. The original recipe called for "several inches of water", which would have required a dramatically different bit of cookware (oops!), and created something much more soup-like. This is also one of the rare circumstances where I should have used ground beef instead of turkey, because the flavor would have saturated much better. Still, I dubbed it 'Bootleg Helper'. On the whole it was reasonably food-like and highly nostalgic.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
fried rice
We had some leftovers in the fridge, but not enough to make a full meal, and part of our new initiative (due mostly to being broke on account of that whole college thing) is to not waste any food at all. So tonight I decided to give this whole 'fried rice with leftovers' thing a whirl, and see how it came out. I started with some garlic that's getting on in age, and I threw in the chopped carrots right at the outset so they would cook through. Then in went half a can* of French cut green beans and some Vidalia, followed by the leftover teriyaki-marinated venison backstrap we grilled last night, and finally three scrambled eggs and of course the rice itself. The whole shebang got a liberal helping of both soy and teriyaki sauce, along with some powdered mustard seed I found mixed in to our spice rack from God knows when.
The result was not bad, although it needs work. It felt a little bland; we wound up adding ground black pepper to the finished product which rounded it out nicely. Next time I want to start with a nice chili oil or such to add some zest - what I really wish I'd had on hand was some sort of horseradish.
The rice itself could've cooked longer (but everything else was quite done) - I had assumed since it was still quite warm it could go in last, but maybe I'll put that in right after the uncooked ingredients next time. Also I didn't make it with the normal liberal splash of olive oil, because I assumed it would get plenty enough in the wok, and I think that might have been the wrong choice - I think the extra lubrication would've worked wonders.
Still, I found it acceptable, and Erin enjoyed it to the point where she claims to be looking forward to eating the remnants for lunch. (Leftover leftovers? The mind boggles.) It was also pretty easy. I could see this turning in to a regular thing in our household for leftover disposal.
* Yes, I know. Canned green beans are gross. And who the hell eats canned green beans in the middle of summer? My girlfriend, that's who. I don't understand it either.
The result was not bad, although it needs work. It felt a little bland; we wound up adding ground black pepper to the finished product which rounded it out nicely. Next time I want to start with a nice chili oil or such to add some zest - what I really wish I'd had on hand was some sort of horseradish.
The rice itself could've cooked longer (but everything else was quite done) - I had assumed since it was still quite warm it could go in last, but maybe I'll put that in right after the uncooked ingredients next time. Also I didn't make it with the normal liberal splash of olive oil, because I assumed it would get plenty enough in the wok, and I think that might have been the wrong choice - I think the extra lubrication would've worked wonders.
Still, I found it acceptable, and Erin enjoyed it to the point where she claims to be looking forward to eating the remnants for lunch. (Leftover leftovers? The mind boggles.) It was also pretty easy. I could see this turning in to a regular thing in our household for leftover disposal.
* Yes, I know. Canned green beans are gross. And who the hell eats canned green beans in the middle of summer? My girlfriend, that's who. I don't understand it either.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
eggs & links
I've been teaching myself about eggs lately. See, I don't like eggs, but I'm making it a goal to eat a real breakfast every day, with some source of protein instead of just a pile of carbs. And tempting though it may seem, I can't eat bacon nonstop. So I'm teaching myself to like eggs, and at the same time, how to cook them. So far I've mastered over hard, mostly by accident, and I've pulled off over easy, although it could use some work. I can't really seem to work up any enthusiasm for sunny side up yet, although in theory as I grow to like them (or at least get used to them) that will seem appealing - I did rather enjoy the egg yolk soaking in to the toast with the over easy eggs. I've also created some fairly decent scrambled eggs, which was surprisingly easy. I'm looking at omelets next, but any suggestions are welcome.
On an unrelated note, I rather whimsically searched Yahoo Groups for 'cooking' a few days ago, and I'm quite pleased with the results I've turned up. The format kind of lends itself to recipe sharing, and it's pretty neat to have such a random variety of ideas showing up in my inbox. I get my very own non-sucky kitchen in a matter of days, and I've already got a dozen things on the spike to try.
Speaking of other people's recipes, I've also added a blogroll. I suggest checking out the sites I've linked, and I'm always open to suggestions for sites (or email lists, as above) that I haven't seen.
On an unrelated note, I rather whimsically searched Yahoo Groups for 'cooking' a few days ago, and I'm quite pleased with the results I've turned up. The format kind of lends itself to recipe sharing, and it's pretty neat to have such a random variety of ideas showing up in my inbox. I get my very own non-sucky kitchen in a matter of days, and I've already got a dozen things on the spike to try.
Speaking of other people's recipes, I've also added a blogroll. I suggest checking out the sites I've linked, and I'm always open to suggestions for sites (or email lists, as above) that I haven't seen.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Three Things
1) While defrosting some chicken this weekend, a bag that I thought I could trust turned out to have a leak, and while I was cheerfully watching Dr. Who, water was seeping in to the bag, resulting in some rather soggy chicken. I've had this happen in the past, and the result this has on the end product's texture is usually pretty gross, but since I was grilling it, I figured I might as well see what happened. I drained the bag, switched to another, finished defrosting, splashed in some teriyaki sauce, left it alone for 20 minutes, and then threw it on the grill. The end result was pretty good - a lot juicier than one would normally expect from chicken so thoroughly grilled, but quite tasty. I don't know if I would care to repeat the experiment, though.
2) Speaking of teriyaki: apples. Seriously. We made marinated kabobs a few weeks ago, which included apples basically on a whim, and the result was fantastic. Then I took what we didn't wind up grilling and threw it in a wok for a while, and that was also fantastic. I wonder if this would work for roasting?
3) I also had occasion to grill a zucchini that was fresh out of the garden (by which I mean we cut it off the plant, washed it, and threw it on the grill). I vented it, poured honey on it, and splashed some garlic on top of that, then wrapped the whole thing in foil. It was good, but I didn't count on just how thick the skin was going to be on this particular plant. Next time I'm going to slice it in half lengthwise, and put the seasoning inside, which will (a) saturate better, I hope, and (b) make it cook faster, which is not something I ever thought would be useful with zucchini, considering.
2) Speaking of teriyaki: apples. Seriously. We made marinated kabobs a few weeks ago, which included apples basically on a whim, and the result was fantastic. Then I took what we didn't wind up grilling and threw it in a wok for a while, and that was also fantastic. I wonder if this would work for roasting?
3) I also had occasion to grill a zucchini that was fresh out of the garden (by which I mean we cut it off the plant, washed it, and threw it on the grill). I vented it, poured honey on it, and splashed some garlic on top of that, then wrapped the whole thing in foil. It was good, but I didn't count on just how thick the skin was going to be on this particular plant. Next time I'm going to slice it in half lengthwise, and put the seasoning inside, which will (a) saturate better, I hope, and (b) make it cook faster, which is not something I ever thought would be useful with zucchini, considering.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Blueberry "Pie"
My girlfriend's mother acquired blueberries in massive quantities recently, and determined that a pie should be made. Generally interested in trying new things, I offered to bake one, and dug out the America's Test Kitchen binder again. The recipe I used was as follows:
6 cups blueberries
~1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons instant tapioca
2.5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ginger
pinch of nutmeg
double pie crust
2 tablespoons butter
Now, first of all, it should be noted that cooking in my in-laws' kitchen is always an experiment in substitutions, because (1) things you think you have always turn out to be several years old and (2) the nearest store is kind of a haul, so you only want to make the trip once (and ideally not at all). So I used instant tapioca when I would have rather had potato starch, and the tapioca wasn't really the greatest quality nor particular easy to crush, which was a large factor in the end result. I also realized right as I came to need it that I had no lemon zest, so extra lemon juice was used, which probably didn't help. Lastly we couldn't find the allspice that everyone was quite sure we had, so I wound up faking it with ginger and hoping it worked out.
As it turned out, six cups of blueberries was way too much for a nine-inch pie. I would have been better served with five cups, perhaps even four and a half. Also, the tapioca didn't really dissolve all that well, giving the whole affair a somewhat grainy texture. And we made the mistake of serving the thing that night, instead of giving it time (and, ideally, chilling it). So what we wound up with was really more of a cobbler in a crust.
Now, the good news is the flavor was excellent, and once the half that we didn't get in to was allowed to chill, it more or less became pie-like. Still, I'm looking forward to trying it again with proper ingredients.
6 cups blueberries
~1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons instant tapioca
2.5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ginger
pinch of nutmeg
double pie crust
2 tablespoons butter
Now, first of all, it should be noted that cooking in my in-laws' kitchen is always an experiment in substitutions, because (1) things you think you have always turn out to be several years old and (2) the nearest store is kind of a haul, so you only want to make the trip once (and ideally not at all). So I used instant tapioca when I would have rather had potato starch, and the tapioca wasn't really the greatest quality nor particular easy to crush, which was a large factor in the end result. I also realized right as I came to need it that I had no lemon zest, so extra lemon juice was used, which probably didn't help. Lastly we couldn't find the allspice that everyone was quite sure we had, so I wound up faking it with ginger and hoping it worked out.
As it turned out, six cups of blueberries was way too much for a nine-inch pie. I would have been better served with five cups, perhaps even four and a half. Also, the tapioca didn't really dissolve all that well, giving the whole affair a somewhat grainy texture. And we made the mistake of serving the thing that night, instead of giving it time (and, ideally, chilling it). So what we wound up with was really more of a cobbler in a crust.
Now, the good news is the flavor was excellent, and once the half that we didn't get in to was allowed to chill, it more or less became pie-like. Still, I'm looking forward to trying it again with proper ingredients.
Pancake Experiment
Ah ha! I bet you thought I had forgotten all about this blog. Well, you were only partly right - the sad truth is I haven't really been cooking lately due to problems with my kitchen that I have no interest in getting in to here. But I've been doing some cooking at my in-laws' house, and there were a few items of note.
A few weeks ago, I had a craving for some well made pancakes. (I'm very particular about my pancakes, so most restaurants don't really meet my requirements.) Digging out the America's Test Kitchen binder, I wound up with this recipe:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
dash of salt
1 large egg
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 cups buttermilk
It should be noted that the recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon of salt, but like everything else, I tend to ignore that and just add a splash (more for luck than anything else). The beauty of this binder is that it always suggests substitutions - in this case, the graham cracker crumbs were listed in place of a cup of flour. The notes suggested I put 9 crackers (i.e. half a box, one of those little wrapped stacks) in a food processor and grind them into fine powder, which I did, and it also wanted 2 tablespoons of cornmeal for texture, which I left out, because I was using whole wheat flour instead of all purpose. The end result was very tasty, even though I butchered the first few by putting too much oil in the pan. (My kingdom for non-stick skillets!)
A few notes: if you have pancake rings, this would be a good time to use them. The batter pours out in a lump, like it's not going anywhere, but as soon as it melts it spreads out and can fill up the pan. If you like the flatter, limper pancakes that's fine, but with a recipe like this I think they work better when they're nice and tall. Also, next time I probably won't grind the graham crackers quite so fine - I think bigger chunks of crumb would have made for a nice crunchy result.
A few weeks ago, I had a craving for some well made pancakes. (I'm very particular about my pancakes, so most restaurants don't really meet my requirements.) Digging out the America's Test Kitchen binder, I wound up with this recipe:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
dash of salt
1 large egg
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 cups buttermilk
It should be noted that the recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon of salt, but like everything else, I tend to ignore that and just add a splash (more for luck than anything else). The beauty of this binder is that it always suggests substitutions - in this case, the graham cracker crumbs were listed in place of a cup of flour. The notes suggested I put 9 crackers (i.e. half a box, one of those little wrapped stacks) in a food processor and grind them into fine powder, which I did, and it also wanted 2 tablespoons of cornmeal for texture, which I left out, because I was using whole wheat flour instead of all purpose. The end result was very tasty, even though I butchered the first few by putting too much oil in the pan. (My kingdom for non-stick skillets!)
A few notes: if you have pancake rings, this would be a good time to use them. The batter pours out in a lump, like it's not going anywhere, but as soon as it melts it spreads out and can fill up the pan. If you like the flatter, limper pancakes that's fine, but with a recipe like this I think they work better when they're nice and tall. Also, next time I probably won't grind the graham crackers quite so fine - I think bigger chunks of crumb would have made for a nice crunchy result.
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