Chicken Pizza

We are rather routine when it comes to supper on a Saturday.  We typically rotate between pizza, burgers, or hotdogs/sausages.  The other Saturday we had decided on pizza so I figured to try a pizza dough recipe I'd recently come across.  It was called 10 minute pizza dough and can be found here, http://www.sugardishme.com/10-minute-pizza-dough/.  It takes a few more minutes but it is still a quick tasty pizza dough if you don't want to take the time to make a dough with a longer rise time.

As usual, I did things a bit different than what they said.  For the olive oil in the recipe I used some of my garlic olive oil.  There is more garlic flavor in my oil than in the commercially prepared garlic oils and I use it a lot.  The other thing I did different was that I rolled out the dough rather than pressing it out.  In the write up for this she says it can be one large or two small pizzas so I went with one.

I chose a pizza that we've not had in quite a while, chicken and mushroom with a white sauce.  The sauce was a basic cheese sauce, 3 Tbs butter, 2+ Tbs flour, about a 1/2 - 3/4 cup milk (I just poured I didn't measure), and about 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese.  It makes a nice thick cheesy sauce.  The chicken was the breast meat from a chicken we'd roasted in the slow cooker a few days before sliced about 1/4 inch thick.  I also sauteed some red onion slices and some sliced mushrooms.  To assemble the pizza, put down a layer of the cheese sauce.  I leave about a 1/2 inch rim of bare dough.  Lay out the chicken slices, the sauteed onions, and the sauteed mushrooms.  I ran short of shredded Mozzarella cheese so I finished it off with some Italian blend salad cheese.  After everything was on I gave a little roll to the bare edge of dough to make a lip to get good and crusty.  I did follow the cooking instruction from the recipe.

The pizza was cooked on a Pampered Chef pizza stone and turned out nicely.  We have two of those stones, one for the oven and one for the grill.  Yes, grilled pizza is wonderful.

I'll throw in how I make my garlic olive oil as well.  We get our olive oil from a local Mediterrane
an market and they get it from a family owned olive grove and pressing plant in Lebanon.  I have some of those tall jars with the pour spouts for my different oils.  I think they hold about 12 oz.  I fill the jar to the desired level then pour it into a small pot.   I then add six to eight cloves of garlic that have been smashed with the side of the knife.  That goes on Med/Low heat until it reaches 250 degrees.  Lower the heat to the point that it'll just maintain that temp and let it cook until the garlic has turned golden brown and has quit bubbling.  Let it cool for a bit and pour it in the bottle.  I'll usually put a few of the cloves in the bottle as well just for the look.  After that, use it however you can imagine.

Give this a go sometime, I think you'll enjoy both the pizza and the garlic olive oil.

What to do with Mashed Potatoes.

A few days ago I went old school with supper.  I fixed fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans.  Sad to say, I still can't make fried chicken as good as my grandmother's.  Yes, I got a whole chicken and cut it up like my grandmother, brined it, and fried it in lard.  It was good but still missed the mark.  Either way, it was an excellent supper and naturally there were leftovers.

The mashed potatoes were made using my standard method.  I cubed 3 good size potatoes and rinsed them well.  No, I don't peel my potatoes.  I put them in a pot and covered with water.  The water was brought to a boil and added a few healthy pinches of kosher salt.  Once a fork can easily pierce the potatoes they are drained and put back in the pot.  The pot is put back on the burner for a bit to evaporate the remaining water.  Once that is done, I put in at least half stick of butter but usually closer to 3/4 stick and stir it around to help it melt.  As you stir, the potatoes start to get mashed and mixed with the butter.  Pour in a bit of milk and finish the stirring and add salt and pepper to taste.  They are mighty fine done this way.

Now, on to the leftovers.  I was searching around for recipes using mashed potato leftovers and came across a food blog called "the kitchn".  Here is the link to their recipe, http://www.thekitchn.com/thanksgiving-leftovers-recipe-mashed-potato-puffs-recipes-from-the-kitchn-133358 .  As I tend to do, I made changes to  make what I thought would be a better product for us.

Ingredients:

2 cups mashed potatoes
3 large eggs
1 cup shredded cheese (I was out of cheddar so used Mexican blend cheese)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped, cooked bacon (I used some ends from slicing
Optional Items:  chopped green onion, chives, mushrooms, or anything you can imagine.

1.  Preheat the oven to 360 degrees.

2.  Put all ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.  I used a whisk and it worked very well for this.

3.  Spray non-stick on a muffin pan.  I used a regular size with 12 spots.

4.  Fill each cavity with the potato mixture, just even with the rim.  I used my 4 oz. scoop and it filled 10 of the 12 spots.

5.  Place in the oven and bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until the desired doneness.  I did 35 minutes.

6.  Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then dump out and serve hot.  They can be eaten as is or with a dollop of sour cream.

They are pretty good as they are.  Putting a bit of Parmesan cheese on top before baking or sour cream before serving my kick them up a notch.  Experiment and see what you come up with.,

Until next time,
Uncle T.

Zucchini Pasta with Seafood

This is another Fast Day meal featuring zucchini noodles.  I had a larger zucchini that resulted in 6.75 oz. of zucchini noodles while my wife ended up with 5 oz. of noodles.  Have I mentioned how much I like my Paderno spiralizer?  If not, I'll talk about it when I write about what I use in the kitchen.


Since spring is approaching I wanted something a bit lighter and fresher than the soups we've had due to the cold.  This filling meal is fresh, has a bit of crunch, and a nice mix of flavors.  So, without further rambling from me here is the ingredient list for one serving.


Ingredients:


1 medium/large zucchini
1/2 red bell pepper
3 oz. mushrooms
1/2 medium  red onion
2 - 4 oz. raw shrimp
2 - 4 oz. raw scallops
salt, pepper, turmeric, garlic powder


1.  Julienne the red pepper and slice the red onion and put together.  Sautee in a skillet sprayed with non-stick spray or olive oil from a mister.  Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.  Cook till the onion is soft and the pepper still had a bit of crunch and remove from the skillet.


2.  While the onion and pepper is cooking slice the mushrooms to desired thickness.  After the onion and pepper are done sautee the mushrooms till lightly browned.  Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.  Remove from the skillet.


3.  Remove the tails from the shrimp and combine with the scallops.  Sprinkle with ground turmeric until well covered then add a heavy pinch of salt.  Add more non-stick spray/oil to the skillet and add the shrimp and scallops.  Cook till the shrimp are half done and turn everything and finish cooking.  Remove from the skillet.


4.  Make the zucchini noodles.  I either cut the zucchini in half or make a shallow cut around the middle to avoid excessively long noodles.  Add the zucchini noodles to the skillet and let them heat for about a minute then turn them over.  Stir them around to get all the seasoning left in the skillet on the noodles.  Add all the previously cooked items and stir to thoroughly mix with the noodles.


5.  Slide the skillet contents onto your plate and enjoy.


Using 2 oz. each of the shrimp and scallops yields a meal of 180 calories.  Using 4 oz. of each bumps it up to 280 calories.