I went to a really great restaurant in Calgary a little while ago called Double Zero, they're mostly known for their pizza but we went to try something different. One of the appies that we ventured out to try was their Roasted Cauliflower. It was so good. I'd like to say that this one came close... but it came up a little short. I still think I would use this recipe (as a base) again because I did really like it. I think that the Double Zero one had potentially a little more oil than this one, and was probably roasted a little bit longer than this one.
We made this for my family for Easter as a side dish, to try to con them in to eating more vegetables. We might have hoarded it a little at our side of the table. If you don't think you like cauliflower at least try it like this first. Add more, less or different spices that you like - but these are a good start. I always buy 2 heads of cauliflower because there's usually some weirdness on them that you'll need to cut off. These two didn't have much, so I probably used way more than I needed too, close to the two full heads. I probably should have doubled the spices, or at least added some extra. Note to self for next time.
Here is the recipe I used:
Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpeas
Adapted and changed slightly from here
Ingredients
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
One 19-ounce can chickpeas, drained
1 tablespoon Toasted Onion Flakes (Or an Onion I suppose)
1 teaspoon roasted garlic (Or real garlic)
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1/2 cup grated Grana Padano
Juice of 1/2 lime
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Pour the oil into a large mixing bowl, and then add the spices. Add the cauliflower, chickpeas and onions, and toss to coat everything evenly. Place on a sheet tray and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 10 - 15 minutes until it starts to get a little softer and brown. Add the Grana Padano over top. Put back in the oven until browned and the cauliflower is tender, 30 to 35 minutes. Finish with a squeeze of the fresh lime juice.
There's no picture because it probably doesn't look that appetizing to most people... but I will promise you it was all gone, quickly.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Thin Crust Time!
We may have been going through a bit of a pizza phase. I like it, Sean likes it, you can make it how you want it. Instant win. The problem with pizza (just kidding there isn't one... but sort of...) is all that crust. So I figured this time around we could do a thin crust. Cooked true to form on a hot pizza stone, it was great. We might do thin crust forever now. Unless of course I had a bad day and want to medicate with carbs in food form instead of beer form.
Fresh off making another batch of our home made mozza and ricotta, which we obviously needed pizza for, I googled "Thin Crust Recipe", as soon as a Williams Sonoma version came up I figured I couldn't go wrong! And I didn't. After being split into two, 10-12" sort of rounds , it cooked in 10 minutes on a pizza stone that had been preheated with the oven to 425ºF. I don't have a "real" pizza stone. I have a cooking stone (like this one) from Pampered Chef. I always forget I have it truthfully. I usually cook my pizza on one of these. Which by the way, is great on the bottom rack for some thick crust pizza.
But in any case, I remembered today that I had this stone. What I don't have is one of those fancy pizza peels. I might have to get one now... but, if you don't have one and want to start cooking your pizza this way, here is how I did it. Since the stone is already super hot in your oven, you can't very well build the pizza on it and slide it in. I flipped over one of my cookie/baking sheet pans and sprinkled cornmeal (flour will work too) liberally over it. This is where I built my pizza. On an upside down baking sheet. When you're ready to put the pizza in the oven, quickly sprinkle some more of that cornmeal on the stone and gently shake the uncooked pizza off the baking sheet and onto the stone. If you put the cornmeal on too early, it will burn and it will smoke and its horrible.Unlike with a pizza peel, you cant use this same tool to pick the pizza up off the stone after it's done cooking, I used two large spatulas. Worked great, since the crust was firm and crispy. I don't remember where I saw this tip, but I really wish I did because it worked really well. I like cornmeal for this over flour solely due to the flavour it adds to the finished pizza.
*Update September 17
I now have a pizza peel! Its pretty great, I'd highly recommend it. I even use it to get bread loaves (french) out of the oven. Also, you can definitely make this crust by hand if you don't have a mixer or a food processor. *
Back to the pizza dough, here's the recipe below. The only thing I would probably do different is change the sugar to honey or brown sugar. Just because I tend to like the taste better. That doesn't mean it will work though. Worth a try. I also didn't make the dough in a food processor, I used my kitchen aid mixer (with the dough hook) because it never leaves my counter. This is the pizza we made, in case you were curious.
Thin Crust Pizza Dough
From Here
Ingredients:
1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 cup warm water (about 105°F)
1 cup cake flour
1 cup plus 3 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
Directions:
In a small bowl, whisk together the yeast, sugar and warm water and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the dough blade, combine the cake flour, all-purpose flour and salt and pulse 3 or 4 times.
Whisk 1 Tbs. of the olive oil into the yeast mixture. With the motor running, slowly add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding more. Pulse the machine 10 to 15 times to knead the dough. The dough should clean the insides of the bowl but will be slightly sticky.
Coat the inside of a large bowl with the remaining 1 Tbs. oil. Dust your hands with flour and remove the dough from the food processor. Form the dough into a ball and place in the bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Divide the dough in half and roll out as directed in the pizza recipe. Makes two 10-inch thin-crust pizzas.
** Update, April 14
Made this dough again with whole wheat flour in place of the all purpose and honey instead of the sugar and it turned out great. It did take a little longer to cook and I think it puffed up all over a little more instead of just random bubbles. We just had the one pizza and a salad and were stuffed, overall a good choice. This time we made Grilled South Western Pizza. Except on the pizza stone at 450º, not on a grill. There is still waaay too much snow for that!
Fresh off making another batch of our home made mozza and ricotta, which we obviously needed pizza for, I googled "Thin Crust Recipe", as soon as a Williams Sonoma version came up I figured I couldn't go wrong! And I didn't. After being split into two, 10-12" sort of rounds , it cooked in 10 minutes on a pizza stone that had been preheated with the oven to 425ºF. I don't have a "real" pizza stone. I have a cooking stone (like this one) from Pampered Chef. I always forget I have it truthfully. I usually cook my pizza on one of these. Which by the way, is great on the bottom rack for some thick crust pizza.
But in any case, I remembered today that I had this stone. What I don't have is one of those fancy pizza peels. I might have to get one now... but, if you don't have one and want to start cooking your pizza this way, here is how I did it. Since the stone is already super hot in your oven, you can't very well build the pizza on it and slide it in. I flipped over one of my cookie/baking sheet pans and sprinkled cornmeal (flour will work too) liberally over it. This is where I built my pizza. On an upside down baking sheet. When you're ready to put the pizza in the oven, quickly sprinkle some more of that cornmeal on the stone and gently shake the uncooked pizza off the baking sheet and onto the stone. If you put the cornmeal on too early, it will burn and it will smoke and its horrible.Unlike with a pizza peel, you cant use this same tool to pick the pizza up off the stone after it's done cooking, I used two large spatulas. Worked great, since the crust was firm and crispy. I don't remember where I saw this tip, but I really wish I did because it worked really well. I like cornmeal for this over flour solely due to the flavour it adds to the finished pizza.
*Update September 17
I now have a pizza peel! Its pretty great, I'd highly recommend it. I even use it to get bread loaves (french) out of the oven. Also, you can definitely make this crust by hand if you don't have a mixer or a food processor. *
Back to the pizza dough, here's the recipe below. The only thing I would probably do different is change the sugar to honey or brown sugar. Just because I tend to like the taste better. That doesn't mean it will work though. Worth a try. I also didn't make the dough in a food processor, I used my kitchen aid mixer (with the dough hook) because it never leaves my counter. This is the pizza we made, in case you were curious.
Thin Crust Pizza Dough
From Here
Ingredients:
1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 cup warm water (about 105°F)
1 cup cake flour
1 cup plus 3 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
In a small bowl, whisk together the yeast, sugar and warm water and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the dough blade, combine the cake flour, all-purpose flour and salt and pulse 3 or 4 times.
Whisk 1 Tbs. of the olive oil into the yeast mixture. With the motor running, slowly add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding more. Pulse the machine 10 to 15 times to knead the dough. The dough should clean the insides of the bowl but will be slightly sticky.
Coat the inside of a large bowl with the remaining 1 Tbs. oil. Dust your hands with flour and remove the dough from the food processor. Form the dough into a ball and place in the bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Divide the dough in half and roll out as directed in the pizza recipe. Makes two 10-inch thin-crust pizzas.
** Update, April 14
Made this dough again with whole wheat flour in place of the all purpose and honey instead of the sugar and it turned out great. It did take a little longer to cook and I think it puffed up all over a little more instead of just random bubbles. We just had the one pizza and a salad and were stuffed, overall a good choice. This time we made Grilled South Western Pizza. Except on the pizza stone at 450º, not on a grill. There is still waaay too much snow for that!
Sunday, February 24, 2013
My "go to" Pizza Dough
I've tried alot of pizza doughs through out the stages of my cooking. I actually found this one on Panago's website and we love it. It rises up quickly and has a really nice flavour with only a few ingredients.
I've made it a few times, once a day in advance and I let it rise in the fridge, it got huge! Easily covered 2 good sized cookie sheets for rectangle pizzas. I've also made it when we wanted to eat in about an hour.
This recipe will make enough dough for about 2 Large Pizza's 12" or so.
Ingredients:
Once it forms a ball easily, oil a bowl and let the dough sit in it - covered for at least 45 minutes.
After the dough has doubled in size, remove from bowl and divide into two even pieces. I like to roll them out on a lightly "Cornmealed" surface. I like the flavour it adds to the pizza dough and it is also more non stick than flour I like to think. It will take a bit to roll out and break down the yeast again but once you get it on the pizza sheet, let it sit for another 20 minutes or so (if you can) and you'll get more of a thicker pan style crust.
It cooks quickly, 425 for 15 - 20 mins or so but it doesn't always brown too much, sometimes I'll throw it under the broiler for an extra couple minutes for the colour and it will help crisp up the cheese nicely. Hope you like it!
I've made it a few times, once a day in advance and I let it rise in the fridge, it got huge! Easily covered 2 good sized cookie sheets for rectangle pizzas. I've also made it when we wanted to eat in about an hour.
This recipe will make enough dough for about 2 Large Pizza's 12" or so.
Ingredients:
- 1 Tbsp yeast
- 1 1/4 cup warm water
- 4 Cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 Tsp Salt
- 2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Tbsp Honey
Once it forms a ball easily, oil a bowl and let the dough sit in it - covered for at least 45 minutes.
After the dough has doubled in size, remove from bowl and divide into two even pieces. I like to roll them out on a lightly "Cornmealed" surface. I like the flavour it adds to the pizza dough and it is also more non stick than flour I like to think. It will take a bit to roll out and break down the yeast again but once you get it on the pizza sheet, let it sit for another 20 minutes or so (if you can) and you'll get more of a thicker pan style crust.
It cooks quickly, 425 for 15 - 20 mins or so but it doesn't always brown too much, sometimes I'll throw it under the broiler for an extra couple minutes for the colour and it will help crisp up the cheese nicely. Hope you like it!
Chicken & Blackbean Taco Pizza
Pinterest has finally taken hold of my soul. It took a long time but it has me now, I'm sorry. But that means I'll add a Pin Button! But in the spirit of my new love of pinterest my next few recipes will be from there, including this one. I obviously changed things because, that's what I do. But this recipe would probably have been good as is too.
Here is the original recipe, I found through Pinterest, Here.
Here is the original recipe, I found through Pinterest, Here.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Ground Chicken
- 2.5 Tablespoons of Taco Seasoning (equivalent of 1 package of seasoning)
- 1 14.5 ounce can of Black Beans (or 1.5 cups of prepared black beans), drained and rinsed
- 1 medium orange Bell Pepper, diced
- .5 cup chopped Cilantro
- 1 cup of Cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1-2 cups of Mexican Blend Shredded Cheese
- 1 cup of Queso Fresco*, crumbled
- 1 package of Whole Wheat Flatout Thin Crust Flatbreads
Preheat your oven to 425F.
So we made a large pizza instead of the individual flatbreads and were basically trying to combine ideas of pizzas we found online. Instead of ground chicken we used 3 chicken breasts. I cut them up into what I thought were (they weren't) bite size chunks and cooked them in my cast iron pan with Fajita Seasoning (epicure's) instead of the slightly less spicy Taco Seasoning. I also added just over half a cup of frozen corn to the pan when the chicken was close to done being cooked. I wanted it to have a slightly smokey flavour.
I kept the black beans in there, added them to the pan after I turned it off, just to heat them through and give them some seasoning. We used half a red and half a green bell pepper instead of the orange, because it's what we had. I'm fairly anti cilantro so I "forgot" to tell me boyfriend that we needed it...
We used the tex-mex pre-grated cheese and some mozza. But I'd say we cut back on the cheese quite a bit because there were so many toppings! We also used a roasted garlic pizza sauce, which in the end made pretty much no difference. The halved cherry tomatoes went on after it came out of the oven, about 20 minutes later. I cooked it on a pizza pan with holes in the bottom and cooked it on the bottom rack. It was such a heavy pizza, it needed the extra support of a crispy crust. One piece of this was so filling, we'll definitely be making it again.
We used the tex-mex pre-grated cheese and some mozza. But I'd say we cut back on the cheese quite a bit because there were so many toppings! We also used a roasted garlic pizza sauce, which in the end made pretty much no difference. The halved cherry tomatoes went on after it came out of the oven, about 20 minutes later. I cooked it on a pizza pan with holes in the bottom and cooked it on the bottom rack. It was such a heavy pizza, it needed the extra support of a crispy crust. One piece of this was so filling, we'll definitely be making it again.
Here's the picture (on the right), with another pizza we made (Capocolo, Mozza, Arugula and Balsamic)
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Mac & Cheese Poppers
These were amazing. Seriously amazing. I will make just the filling as my mac and cheese for a long long time now. Dear Everyone I make it for, I hope you like Jalapenos!! This was our second Jalapeno Popper recipe and due to my love of mac and cheese, it was probably my favourite ever. The heat is pretty low on these if you get all the ribs out. We actually added hot sauce to the white sauce to add that extra little bit. We didn't change this one up too much, other then we halved it again. Here's the original recipe with my changes below.
Adapted from Rachael Ray
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
Pepper
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
Adapted from Rachael Ray
16 jalapeño peppers
Salt
1/2 pounds ditalini pasta
2 tablespoons butter2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
Pepper
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1/4 cup breadcrumbs or crushed saltine crackers
I cooked 1 cup (pre-cooking) of Macaroni instead of the ditalini pasta. We ended up with a bit extra for the 15 Poppers we had to fill. I stuck to the butter and flour, but used all milk for my white sauce. I eyeballed the cheese, just until the sauce was extra thick, orange and cheesy. We added the Hot Sauce like I said, just about a tsp. And the salt and pepper.
Start these off like any other, slicing the top 1/3 off the pepper length ways. Chop up the tops and throw them in with the cooked pasta into the cheese sauce.
Scoop out the insides of the peppers, I use a grapefruit spoon, since it helps to grate the ribs out of the inside. Fill these up with the jalapeno mac & cheese mixture, I liked to heap them up a little bit. Top these off with the breadcrumbs and some extra cheddar. Bake these in the oven at 425 F for about 15 minutes. These also got devoured too fast for a photo - so good!
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Buffalo Chicken Jalapeno Poppers
Yes, you read the title right. And so begins the Superbowl writing. Since we're both trying to watch our salt and bad things in general intake we decided we would mess around with a basic popper. Rachael Ray has a ton of recipes, this was my pick. As per usual I changed it a bunch and will change it more if I make it again.
Here's the base recipe to start:
Adapted from Rachael Ray
Ingredients
1 rib celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Here's the base recipe to start:
Adapted from Rachael Ray
Ingredients
18 - 20 jalapeño peppers
1/3 cup hot sauce, such as Frank's Red Hot
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups of rotisserie chicken, skin and bones removed, shredded1 rib celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
Start off like you would any other popper recipe, by cutting the top, lengthwise, off the Jalapeno. About 1/3 worth. Then scoop out the insides - I like to use a grapefruit spoon, it really helps get the ribs out of there. Since we were making these for a crowd we didn't want anyones mouth to be on fire. Getting the ribs out really helps.
Things I Changed/Directions
We halved this recipe because we also made another popper recipe to take too. So we used Chicken thighs that I had poached. I decided I really didn't like the texture of them in the popper. You can definitely get away with breasts and save the prep of taking the skin and bones out, not to mention the calories.
I used a Buffalo Sauce by Franks so I didn't have to mix in the butter - its in there I'm sure. I also just toss to coat. As much or as little as you end up needing.
I melted some pepper cream cheese down to mix with the buffalo chicken mixture to give the poppers a little more substance. I also added 1/4 cup strong cheddar (instead of blue) and 1/4 monterey jack to this filling.
I stuffed the poppers with this and topped with the remaining cheese and some fresh bread crumbs I made. You then bake these for about 15 minutes in a 425 F oven.
I forgot the celery. But its definitely something I would add. I'd also do more chicken. With about a cup of chicken plus the mixture I only got 8 poppers filled. I would have liked them to have more chicken in them for sure.
But! These were great and were cleared out before any of the other (bacon wrapped and purchased) poppers that they were up beside. Too fast for a photo!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Black Forest Chocolate Cake
It was my boyfriends birthday last week, so I of course made him a cake. He wanted a black forest cake. I wanted to make him a cake that looked like a monkey. So I combined them for a cake he wasn't allowed to see till it hit the table. I hurt my eye somehow this past weekend so I was all about some shortcuts for this cake. I made 2 Devils Food Cake boxed cakes. First off, it had to stay together. I was making a layered, shaped cake with one eye. So I cheated. Do it! Its not a big deal, you add so much to it that it doesn't matter.
I loosely followed this recipe below, because I've never made a black forest cake and I needed some guidance.
I made it like a standard Black Forest Cake, brushed the cakes with cherry syrup to add some moisture. I did whipped Cream between the layers with cherries, unlike this recipe says. And I did chocolate icing on the top/outside to make it look like a money, star piping like hair! I also didn't add any liquor to the recipe like this one or standard recipes, because I decided it didn't really matter plus there were a few kids eating away at this cake and the liquor wouldn't have been cooked out.
In my excitement I forgot to take a photo. My boyfriends Mom got one though, so once I get ahold of it I'll post it. In the mean time, here's the recipe - sort of. But I would definitely do this one if it didn't have to look like a monkey. Maybe next year.
Black Forest Mousse Cake
I loosely followed this recipe below, because I've never made a black forest cake and I needed some guidance.
I made it like a standard Black Forest Cake, brushed the cakes with cherry syrup to add some moisture. I did whipped Cream between the layers with cherries, unlike this recipe says. And I did chocolate icing on the top/outside to make it look like a money, star piping like hair! I also didn't add any liquor to the recipe like this one or standard recipes, because I decided it didn't really matter plus there were a few kids eating away at this cake and the liquor wouldn't have been cooked out.
In my excitement I forgot to take a photo. My boyfriends Mom got one though, so once I get ahold of it I'll post it. In the mean time, here's the recipe - sort of. But I would definitely do this one if it didn't have to look like a monkey. Maybe next year.
Black Forest Mousse Cake
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