Homemade Pizza FAIL

Dough dump.

When it comes to food blogs and magazines, we are all accustomed to seeing pretty pictures of perfect food that looks deliciious.

But let's be real.

If you have ever spent any time in the kitchen, you know perfect results rarely arrive without several trial runs, often disastrous ones.

This is even more true when there is a learning curve involved. Well, when it comes to pizza, I have a very large learning curve in front of me. I can count one otber occasion many years ago when I made my own dough, rolled it into roundish pizza shapes and topped them with something edible. On this first occasion, beginner's luck was with me.

Alas, today I had no such luck. The dough came out ok, just a little sticky. After rolling into amorphous  shapes that were thin in the middle and thicker at the edges, I placed them on a heavy cast iron griddle (my pizza stone!)

I proceeded to add tomato sauce made from scratch. I just neglected to taste it first. Oops.

Next I added the toppings; fresh grated mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, green peppers. I did this twice. The idea was to have a total of four small pizzas.

Lesson 1: Don't undercook the pizzas.
Lesson 2: Unevenly rolled dough is unpalatable. Undercook it and the word disgusting comes to mind.

But these small mishaps paled compared to the Second Batch.

Once again I rolled out the dough. Once again I placed them on the griddle and topped them with the fixings.

Lesson 3: A cast iron griddle is even heavier when hot. Don't drop it.

Next time I'll be more careful:

EPIC fail.

I scooped up the contents off of the door and dumped them in a skillet. 20 minutes of scrubbing later and I was ready to do it again. Then I called Dominoes. I can fight the battle of the dough again tomorrow!

Yogurt-The Other Ice Cream

I keep a vat of plain yogurt around for various reasons. It goes great in smoothies, gives quick breads a moist texture and is just good eatin' with the right toppings.

After pouring a tablespoon of maple syrup (the real maple syrup please) over a cup of the smooth stuff and devouring something occurred to me; I have heavy whipping cream, leftover dulce de leche and a new food processor! A simple but tasty concoction was born. Behold:

I was surprised at just how good this was. Frickin' delicious. At first I only made it to take a photo. But I never put anything on this blog without eating it first, so...that glass is empty.

Here is what you need:

-Plain yogurt.
-Dulce de leche (see easy recipe here.)
-Heavy whipping cream (you could use a can, but the extra sweetness is overkill.)
-Fresh strawberries, bananas, or fruit of your choice.

**All ingredients should be refrigerated before using if possible.**

Prepare:

-Drizzle a thick layer of dulce de leche into the bottom of the glass. Let it settle, then:

-Layer spoonfuls of yogurt gently across the top of the dulce de leche. You could do one giant layer or repeat this process two or three times. Personal preference.

-For the last layer, pile on the pre-whipped and refrigerated whipping cream.

-Top with your favorite fruit and enjoy! You could also shave a little nutmeg, chocolate or cinnamon on top of this for aesthetics and another flavor layer. Yuuuummy.

Of course, if all that seems too complicated, you can always pour a little maple syrup over in and call it a day.

Banana Bread Cake-Do More with your Overripe Bananas

Inspired by a pile of overripe bananas in a bowl on the kitchen counter, I went in search of something besides banana bread. Nothing wrong with banana bread. I happen to make a pretty good loaf if I do say so. You can read about that here.

But after awhile this seems so vanilla. Blah. There had to be something else. I found a recipe on Delish for a banana cake and decided to use it as a foundation for this:

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees and greasing two 6 inch round cake pans.

The ingredients:

-3-4 ripe bananas
-1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
-3/4 cup brown sugar
-3/4 cup refined sugar
-2 tbls. confectioner's sugar
-3 eggs (room temp.)
-1 stick butter
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-3/4 teaspoon baking soda
-3/4 teaspoon salt
-~2 teaspoons cinnamon
-1/4 tsp. nutmeg
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 cup heavy whipping cream
-1/2 cup sour cream
-Maple syrup or rum (about 1/4 cup)

Combine: 

-Mix butter and sugar in a bowl until the mixture is lightened and fluffy.
-Add 3 egg yolks. Reserve the whites in a separate bowl.
-Mix in vanilla extract.

-In a separate bowl, puree the bananas and combine with the butter/sugar mixture.

In a separate bowl:

-Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the flour in parts to the butter and banana mixture until incorporated.

-Whip the egg whites until they have stiff peaks, then fold gently into the batter. Fold until no white is showing.

Fill the cake pans evenly, about 1/2-3/4 full, and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Cake is done when fork comes out clean.

Finish:

After the cakes cool, whip 1 cup of heavy cream with the confectioner's sugar and sour cream. Once it stiffens, spread a thick layer on the top of the bottom cake, keeping it an inch from the edge. Refrigerate for an hour.

While the filling is cooling, make thick slices of the remaining bananas. Heat a saucepan and melt a tablsepoon of butter. Add the bananas, a teaspoon of brown sugar and let it cook for about 2 minutes. When the bananas begin to brown, add the maple syrup or rum.

For the syrup, keep cooking until the sauce is reduced. If using rum, light it with a long handle lighter and cook until the flames die.

Pour the banana 'sauce' over the top of the cake and serve.

As far as ripping off recipes goes, this is very close to the original. My saving grace is that I have been using the same banana bread recipe for years. The whipped filling and bourbon was a great twist, but I ignore this and use rum. Bottom line? Something different to do with those fast-ripening bananas. Enjoy!




Need cake pans? Get the best:

Anytime Vegetarian Tacos with Simple Ingredients

Initially, these tacos were going to be for breakfast. But after the tornado that is getting the kids ready and leaving the house on time in the morning, morning quickly turned into noontime. I came up with this recipe after seeing a Mexican restaurant menu item. Steak and bacon tacos with red onions and melted brie.

Melted brie? It sounded so perfect and so obvious I had to try it. To avoid plagiarizing a recipe outright, and wanting to cut back on meat for the day, I came up with the idea of a vegetarian taco. The result? Tacos with roasted garlic, caramelized onions, scrambled eggs, pasilla peppers and brie cheese melting on top. After the initial tasting I also added salsa. The acid was exactly what it needed. A little lime could have been nice too. Ah well, next time.

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The ingredients:

-flour tortillas (corn will work just as well. Better if you prefer them.)
-2 eggs
-brie cheese
-1 pasilla pepper
-1 white or yellow onion
-2 small cloves garlic.
-butter and/or olive oil
-1 tsp. sugar

Preparation:

-Preheat an oven to 350-375 degrees. Chop the tops off of the garlic cloves and drizzle olive oil on top. Keep the outer skin on. Place the cloves on aluminum foil or a baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes.

-Roast the pepper over an open flame until all the skin is blackened or blistered. An oven broiler will also work, just remember to turn the pepper over. Take the blistered pepper out and place it in a plastic or paper bag. Set aside to cool.

-Slice the onion to the desired thickness. I prefer very thin onions, but you do what you do, y'know?

Cook:

-When the garlic is finished roasting and the pasilla is peeled. scramble and cook the eggs.

-At the same time, melt/heat the butter/oil in a separate pan and stir in the onions and sugar. Cook until golden to brown.

-In a pan of heated cooking oil, lay in a tortilla. Fry for 2-3 minutes on medium heat. Flip over and fry for 2-3 minutes longer. Tortilla should be pliable enough to fold over without breaking. Fold as it comes out of the oil. This step can be done quickly as the final cooking step, or while the garlic is roasting.

Serve:

-Rub the roasted garlic around the inside of the tortilla, then layer with half of the scrambled eggs, pasilla peppers, caramelized onions and brie cheese. After cheese begins melting,  Spoon 2 tbls. salsa on top if desired.

***Things I learned while cooking this:

1. Make sure the brie is at room temperature. Then be sure it hits something hot when you put it in the taco!

2. Preparing the tortillas after the fact was not the end of the world, but my future strategy is to do it ahead of time.

3. The more peppers and cheese I tasted, the better I liked it.

Hope you like this recipe. Feel free to experiment with your own variations and tell us about it here!



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Filipino Spring Rolls as Dessert-A Twist on Traditional Turon

If you like Filipino food you are probably familiar with lumpia. Those delicious pork mixture filled mini 'spring rolls' dipped in vinegar and garlic sauce or a side of sweet chili sauce.

A larger, dessert-oriented cousin of this is turon. This is a sweet dessert in a full-sized spring roll wrapper. It is filled with thin-sliced bananas (usually the mini version, such as apple bananas), jackfruit and a little brown sugar to coat.

I love this dessert, and I thought it would be a great idea to experiment with some different flavors. So I came up with "Cinnamon, Apple and Peach Turon with Dulce de Leche." Let me tell you, this is my new favorite.

Here is your shopping list:

For the dulce de leche:

-1 or 2 cans sweetened condensed milk. This stuff goes a long way, so only cook two if you can use it.

For the turong:

-1 package spring roll wrappers.
-2 large apples ( I used Washington red because I had them.)
-1/2 can peaches in light syrup (unless you happen to have a cache of perfectly ripe fresh peaches.)
-Brown sugar.
-Powder cinnamon (or cinnamon sticks and a zester.)
-2 tablespoons butter.
-1/4 cup apple juice.

Preparation:

-Start by making the dulce de leche hours before. Simply throw the can/s into a pot of water and simmer over low to medium low heat for ~3 hours. Make sure the cans are covered with water.

-Thaw the spring roll wrappers for about 30-60 minutes.

-Core and slice the apples thinly. In my opinion the thinner the better. Do the same with the peaches.

*Have all ingredients ready, set a cup of water next to the spring roll wrappers to moisten your fingers. Cover open wrappers with a moist paper towel to avoid drying out.

-Heat a large frying pan filled with cooking oil. The oil should cover at least half of the turon when submerged, preferably more.

Cook:

-Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the apples and about 2 tsp. cinnamon. Cook over medium heat until slightly softened. Approximately 3 minutes. Add apple juice and cook for 2 minutes more or until liquid is reduced.

-Continue cooking apples and add peaches. Add another teaspoon of cinnamon. Cook the mixture until ingredients are incorporated. 1-2 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it stand while you prepare the spring roll wrappers.

-Lay a single wrapper flat on a baking sheet or cutting board. Drizzle a thin line of dulce de leche using a spoon or butter knife, then a small amount of the apple and peach filling. in this case a small amount is about 2-4 apple slices and 2-3 peaches, depending on size.

Avoid overfilling or the wrapper might burst during frying.

-Fold the bottom and top just over the mixture. Bring one side all the way over, then roll snugly. Moisten the last flap with water and complete the rolling.

*Moistening fingers may make it easier to pull wrappers apart.

Good example of folding, but this is a bit too much filling. 

 -Complete rolling as many turon as you want to cook, then prepare a strainer or plate with paper towels to soak up the cooking oil.

-Fry these at a low to medium-low heat until a light gold color. 3-5 minutes each side. As you pull them out of the oil, stand the turon up in the strainer or blot both sides on paper towels.

That's it! These are delicious as desserts or afternoon snack time and taste great the next day as well. Try eating these with a cold glass of milk, coffee or ginger tea. I suggest serving a tablespoon or two of the dulce de leche with these as it cooks into the mixture during frying. It is excellent for dipping into!

Enjoy!

Breakfast Sandwich with Hot Dogs, 2 Cheeses and Diced Potatoes

So my belly is rumbling and the hour is long past breakfast time, which in this household happens around 6 am or so. I am also past the "I need a light but healthy breakfast" hour, a mark normally passed about 2 hours after I get up. Hearty is the word! And I'm in the mood for a creation. Upon checking the fridge I decide on these ingredients:

-Pan de Sal (soft, rich Filipino rolls)
-Hebrew National hot dogs
-Chunk o' Gouda
-Slice o' Tillamook
-Butta'

Not sure what I will do with them yet I also pull out a  bag of mini red potatoes, some salsa roja and a leftover container of Japanese aioli. (For lack of a better word. The mayonnaise based orange sauce often served with sushi.)

Hmmm...Yes! A deluxe hot dog breakfast sandwich! No egg today please. I say breakfast, but this creation can easily pass as lunch or, ...anything but teatime fare I suppose. The delicious, gone in less than 2 minutes result:

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Here is how to put it together:

Start by dicing up the red potatoes. I used two small ones and it was more than enough for one sandwich:

Actually, by the time I was done dicing them, they were more likc potato 'bits', which was my original intention. A small mound of crunchy potato bits on top grilled hot dogs over melted cheese, mmmmmm.

Start these potatoes off in the pan or your cast iron griddle. Use some butter or oil. Of course, I prefer butter here:

Cook them for 3-5 minutes, folding them over to coat and make contact with the grill.
Add the hot dogs and cook on both sides until you get this:

After you flip the 'dogs, layer your favorite cheeses across them to start melting. This time I had Gouda and Tillamook, uhhh-huh. Other possibilities come to mind; bleu cheese, swiss, Pepper Jack (so good it should be a proper noun,) mozzarella and others. I would steer clear of the Velveetas and Kraft singles, unless those are all you have. Oh, wait, who said Feta? Just stop. No, sorry. You don't love it that much.

Yeah, so take the dogs off the grill when said cheese melts and set aside. Preferably on a plate. If the potatoes are done to your liking you can remove those too.

After this, or during if you have the space, slice open your roll and splay it on the grill. Toast both sides.
When done, slice the hot dogs in half and place them on the bun. Add a scoop of potatoes. Add salsa. Drizzle the 'Japanese' aioli. (Ugh, I'll find out what it is called. Sriracha aioli perhaps.) Now Eat. MMMMM.

If you don't have leftover sushi restaurant sauces just hanging out in the refrigerator, you can make the aioli yourself:

-1/8-1/4 tsp. sesame oil
-1/2 cup good mayonnaise
-Sriracha sauce to taste.

Mix it up and store in the refrigerator. It should look something like this:

There are many great alternative ingredients for this. So keep it tuned. I already have a healthier and heartier version of this sandwich on the horizon. Enjoy!



***If you do not have a griddle, try the Lodge Logic cast iron reversible. The thing is a beast and can be a pain to clean, but it goes anywhere (indoors and out,) and will last forever. Plus, there is something special about cooking with cast iron that you have to experience to understand.



                                                             

Food Photography Tips Anyone can Use

Those beautiful photos of chocolate torts and glistening cuts of meat you see in magazines and websites don't happen by accident. But you don't have to be a pro to make your food look good in pictures. Click on the link below and follow the tips for making great food photos with inexpensive items; probably things you have around the house already.

Better Food Photography Tips for the Non-Professional Photographer

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