Well, this worked!

One of my favorite breakfasts or brunches to make on a lazy weekend day is crepes.

I like them because the batter is very easy to make and once you get the hang of them, I actually think they are easier to make than pancakes!

Plus you can fill them with all kinds of delicious stuff.

The problem I’ve encountered with crepes is that it’s hard to feed a crowd with them. You can only make one at a time and people usually want 2-3 for a meal so if you’re feeding four people, that’s 10-12 crepes!

Then one day the idea of a crepe pie smacked me over the head and I had to try it immediately.

It worked better than I ever thought it would.

Savory Crepe Pie

Yield: Serves 4-6.

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

Basic Crepe Batter:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 large eggs
1.5 cups milk
2 tablespoons melted butter (plus some for the pan)

Filling:
8 ounces crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 poblano pepper, diced
1/2 onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
6-8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and pepper
Butter, for the pie pan

Helpful Equipment:
Large nonstick skillet or crepe pan

Directions:

1) Make your crepe batter by mixing the dry ingredients together in a bowl and the wet ingredients (except butter) in a separate bowl. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Whisk in melted butter. Batter should be pretty runny. Let batter sit while you prep the filling.

2) Slice mushrooms, dice peppers, onions, and garlic. Add mushrooms to a large skillet with a drizzle of olive oil and saute over medium-high heat until the mushrooms release their liquid and soften, about 5-6 minutes.

3) Add other filling ingredients (except cheese) to the skillet and cook for another 4-5 minutes until peppers soften. Season filling with salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, and a pinch of dried thyme. Set filling aside.

4) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

5) Using a large nonstick skillet, or crepe pan, add a small amount of butter over medium-high heat. Pour in about 1/2 cup of crepe batter and swirl it around the pan so it flattens out. Cook for 30-45 seconds on the first side until it firms up, then carefully flip the crepe and cook for another 15-20 seconds. Repeat until you have 4 large crepes. The batter will make 5-6 crepes so you can mess up one without worry.

6) Butter a pie pan and lay a crepe in the bottom of the pan. Add half of the mushroom filling and 1/3 of the grated cheese.

7) Top with a second crepe and 1/3 of the cheese.

8) Top with a third crepe. So the middle layer is just cheese basically.

9) Add rest of filling and cheese to top of the pie and top with the fourth crepe. Kind of crimp the edges of the crepe around the edges of the pie so it is mostly sealed.

10) Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

11) Let cool briefly and then slice and serve!

The Filling

Over the years, I’ve put together dozens of different crepe fillings. Sweet, savory, fruity, cheesy… you name it, you can probably stuff it in a crepe.

So I don’t want you to get the impression that this filling is the only filling that you can use for this recipe. This is just the one I used and it worked really well.

Good winter veggies.

Rinse and slice up the mushrooms and dice up your veggies. It’s okay to keep them in pretty big chunks. You don’t want the veggies to disappear in the dish.

Great flavors.

Then just add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a large skillet and toss in the mushrooms. Cook them over medium high heat until they start to soften and release their water. Then you can add in all the other veggies and continue to cook until they are soft.

Total cooking time for this will probably be in the 10 minute range. There’s actually a lot of wiggle room in how much you cook the veggies. It is important to saute them though so you can cook off some of the water in the veggies. Otherwise the filling would be very watery in your final dish.

When the veggies are cooked, season the filling with salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, and dried thyme.

Very important.

The Crepes

This is my basic crepe batter recipe. It’s never failed me really. Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken right?

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl and stir the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl (minus the melted butter). Then stir the wet into the dry and finally stir in the butter.

Ideally, let this batter sit for a few minutes before making the crepes.

I like to make the batter, then make the filling, and by the time the filling is done the batter is rested and ready to go.

Pretty easy batter.

Like I said, I find cooking crepes easier than pancakes honestly. That said, you might mess up one or two. Don’t worry about it if you do. Since these are going in a layered dish, they don’t have to be perfect.

When you’re ready to cook a crepe, just add a small amount of butter to a large nonstick pan or a crepe pan and then pour in about 1/3-1/2 cup of crepe batter. Swirl it around in the pan so it flows out and forms an even, very thin crepe.

Cook the crepe for about 45 seconds on the first side and then give it a flip. Flipping is always the part that people mess up but just do your best. Like I said, they don’t have to be perfect.

Takes maybe a minute!

You need four crepes to make this dish so just go ahead and make four and stack them up on a plate or something.

Making the Pie

You can use almost any kind of pie dish that you have. Is it important to have something round though so the crepes fit snuggly in there.

To make sure the crepes don’t stick to your pan, butter the thing really well.

Butter is important.

Then lay in one crepe and make sure to push it down so it’s snug against all the walls of the pie pan. Then add about 1/2 of your mushroom filling and 1/3 of your grated cheese.

Bottom layer.

Then toss on the second crepe. For the middle layer, I just did an all cheese layer. So add another 1/3 of the cheese to this layer.

Speaking of cheese, be sure to use a good flavorful cheese for this. You don’t want to use a lot of cheese, but make sure to use good stuff! I used a nice sharp white cheddar.

Just cheese on this layer!

Add on the third crepe and then the rest of your filling stuff.

It should all stack up very nicely.

More of the same.

Put the top crepe on and kind of press the edges down around the sides of the pie pan. Again, don’t freak out if it isn’t perfect.

Stick this whole thing in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

The great part about baking this is that the top and bottom crepes actually get a bit crispy which is nice and then the center is just this awesome savory party.

So good!

I was worried that this would just fall apart when I sliced it, but if you let it cool for just a minute or two when you pull it out of the oven, it actually slices really nicely.

You can even make out all the layers.

One of my favorite brunches.

If this is all your serving, assume about 1/4 of the pie per person. If you’re serving this with some other stuff then you could cut it into sixths and be fine.

The good news is that you can make these in advance and then just toss them in the oven if you’re having people over.

This is the right way to do crepes for a group!

Wow good.

I was pretty scared when vegetable tart won the poll last week. The last time I tried a free-form tart on Macheesmo, it didn’t go well.

I had high hopes for this attempt though. For starters, I was using a Cook’s Illustrated recipe. That’s normally a really good start to a successful meal.

Second, and maybe more important, I didn’t get cocky. I read the recipe like 10 times (Cook’s Illustrated isn’t known for being succinct). I promised myself that I wouldn’t change the recipe at all.

I then immediately changed the recipe. Luckily, not in any devastating way.

Mushroom and Leek Galette

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 45 minutes + dough resting time

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Dough:
1 1/4 cups (6.25 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (2.75 ounces) whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cubed
7 tablespoons ice water
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Filling:
1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms
3/4 pound crimini mushrooms
2 large leeks, sliced thin
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3-4 ounces Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
Salt and pepper
1 large egg, for egg wash

Helpful Equipment:
Pastry Brush
Dough Scraper

Directions:

1) To start dough, mix together flours with sugar and salt. Cut in cold, cubed butter using your fingers or pulse in a food processor until the butter is in pea-sized pieces.

2) Stir in water and vinegar and mix until the dough is saggy. It's okay if it doesn't come together completely at this point. Don't overmix it.

3) Scoop dough out onto plastic wrap. Form dough into a rough rectangle (again, it will still be crumbly). Wrap very tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

4) Remove dough and roll into a long rectangle, about 8x14 on a well-floured surface. Fold the left 1/3 of the dough into the center, then fold the right 1/3 over it. Rotate the dough 90 degrees, roll it out again, and repeat the fold. Do this one more time. If your dough sticks to the counter, use a dough scraper to scrape it up and use more flour. Then fold the dough (which should be much easier to work with now) into a square and wrap it in plastic wrap again. Refrigerate for another hour.

5) For filling, wash mushrooms and add to a microwave safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 4-5 minutes until soft. Drain mushrooms in a colander. When cool, slice thinly.

6) Slice leeks thinly using just the white and light green sections. Add sliced leeks to a large skillet with a drizzle of olive oil. Cook over medium heat until the leeks are soft, about 4 minutes. Add fresh thyme and sliced mushrooms and continue to cook for another minute or two until the mixture is fairly dry.

7) Remove filling from heat and let cool. Then season with a pinch of salt and pepper and stir in sour cream and mustard.

8) When ready to make galette, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove dough from fridge 10-15 minutes before making the galette. Roll the dough out into a large 14 inch diameter circle. Use a knife to cut off any edges. Try to make it as round as you can, but it's okay to eyeball it.

9) Transfer the dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush the center of the dough with olive oil.

10) Add half of the filling to the center of the dough, leaving about 2 inches around the edge. Add 1/2 of the gorgonzola cheese. Top with the rest of the filling and then the rest of the cheese. Drizzle with olive oil.

11) Fold one end of the circle in toward the center, then work around the galette, making folds every few inches.

12) Brush galette with egg wash and transfer to oven. When galette is in oven, turn heat down to 375 and bake for 35-40 minutes until the crust is golden brown.

13) Let cool briefly and serve immediately!

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated Feb. 2012.

Making the Dough

Tart doughs are tricky. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve struggled with them. Frankly, if you haven’t struggled with them you are either a baking prodigy or a liar.

The trick to this dough is not to overwork it in the beginning and let it rest twice in the fridge. Also, the recipe calls for laminating the dough a bit which means folding it over itself a few times so you develop layers of dough which results in super-flakey crust.

I was worried about this step because it’s the step that proves to be my downfall for things like croissants. But this is a beginner’s laminated dough. I didn’t have any issues with it at all. You won’t either.

Start the dough by mixing together your dry ingredients in a large bowl and then mix in the cubed butter with your fingers. You could use a food processor for this, but I like using my hands. Just get the butter into pea-sized pieces and then add your liquid (top right).

Once your liquid is added, stir it together, but don’t over-work it. There’s no need to bring the dough completely together at this point. The word CI used to describe the dough is “saggy”. I prefer the term “crumbly” (bottom left).

Scoop this crumbly dough out onto some plastic wrap, wrap it very tightly and refrigerate it for about an hour.

Saggy dough is good.

Lamination Domination

I was almost positive that I was going to botch this step, but it was pretty easy actually. Once your dough has rested for an hour in the fridge the flour will be better hydrated and it’ll be closer to one full piece when you unwrap it.

Roll it out on a well-floured board to form a long rectangle. It should be about 8×14 if you want to get specific, but I just eyeballed it (top left). Then fold the bottom 1/3 of the dough up to the center (top right). Then fold the top 1/3 down (bottom left). This basically creates three layers of dough.

Rotate the dough 90 degrees and do the whole rolling and folding process again. For those that aren’t math inclined, the second time you do this, you’ll have 9 layers of dough (3×3). The third and last time you do this, you’ll have 27 layers of dough.

This makes the final dough very flakey and awesome and is worth the 10 minutes or so it takes to do it. Your final dough will be really easy to work with. Before you roll it out though, wrap it in plastic again and stick in the fridge for another hour so it firms up (bottom right).

Like pastry, but actually doable.

Ok. The dough is the hardest part of this guy by a long shot. The filling is straightforward.

Leeky Shrooms

I’m not a huge fan of microwaves, but Cook’s Illustrated suggested using one to soften up the mushrooms for this recipe. I’m not really sure why. You could just slice them and saute them normally, but I figured I would try the microwave thing.

The shrooms!

I just rinsed off my shrooms and added them to a microwave safe bowl. Then covered them with plastic wrap and zapped them for about 4-5 minutes on high.

Seemed to work okay. Notice that I didn’t slice them yet.

Microwave at work.

Drain the mushrooms in a colander. They will release a lot of liquid in the microwave which is the goal. Then slice them thinly.

For the leeks, slice the white and light green parts thinly and add them to a skillet or medium pot with a drizzle of olive oil. Cook the leeks over medium heat until they are soft (about 4-5 minutes), then toss in your sliced mushrooms and fresh thyme.

Pretty colors.

Cook this for another few minutes just to combine the flavors. Then kill the heat and let the filling cool slightly.

You’ll need a few other items to finish off the filling. The original recipe called for créme fraîche, but I just used sour cream. Seemed like a fine substitution.

Flavor town.

Mix in the sour cream and mustard into your filling and maybe hit it with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Filling is done!

Really tasty.

Making the Galette

Once you’re ready to actually make this bad boy, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Take your dough out of the fridge a few minutes before you want to roll it out. Then roll it into a large circle. Ideally, it would be about a 14 inch circle, but you can just eyeball it. I do recommend taking a knife and actually cutting a round shape out of the dough if you have any ends that are sticking out because it will make the folding easier.

Transfer the dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and brush the center with some olive oil. Then pile on half of your filling!

NOTE: I made another change to the recipe at this point. Cook’s Illustrated said to cut tiny holes in the BOTTOM of your galette crust before adding the filling. Five holes to be exact. For the life of me, I couldn’t imagine why you would want to do that and it wasn’t explained at any point in the recipe so I just didn’t do it. No harm done.

Really easy dough to work with.

Crumble on half of your cheese, then the rest of the filling, then the final bit of cheese.

Now it’s time to fold it! Start at one end and just fold the dough to the center.

The first fold.

Rotate the dough and every few inches, just fold the dough toward the center.

Easy enough right?

Get it?

Eventually, you’ll have this wonderful little galette. Once you get it folded all the way around, brush the edges of the dough with egg wash (just an egg scrambled with 1 tablespoon water).

This guy is finally ready for the oven!

Don't forget egg wash.

Oven your galette is in the oven, turn the heat down to 375. Then let it bake for 35-40 minutes.

This guy turned out fantastic.

Nailed it.

The filling for this guy is good, but the crust is amazing. It’s really flakey and flavorful since it has some whole wheat flour in it.

It’s a bit of work, no doubt, but the results are worth it in my opinion.

This will completely warm your soul.

I’ve been cooking breakfast at the local homeless shelter for a few months now and I’m becoming an expert of the S.O.S breakfast. The shelter almost always has plenty of bread and lots of random things that I can cook in a light gravy and serve over toast.

It’s pretty much always a hit because it’s really filling, warming, and just a great way to start the day.

It doesn’t always have to be meat-based though. A few days ago I made a bit of a classier version of the dish for myself with a variety of mushrooms and spices and topped with fried eggs. It was probably my favorite breakfast dish I’ve made since my chicken and waffles brunch.

Mushrooms on Toast

Yield: Serves 2.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

8-10 ounces various mushrooms (I like a mix of crimini and shiitake)
3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic (one for the toast)
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme
1/4 Cup heavy cream
Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt and pepper
4 slices toast
4 large eggs, fried over easy or poached

Directions:

1) Gently rinse mushrooms or brush off dirt. Slice them thick.

2) Add olive oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook without turning for a few minutes to get a nice sear on the mushrooms. Then stir and continue to cook for another few minutes until they are just turning soft.

3) Add garlic, thyme, and red pepper flakes to mushrooms and continue to cook until spices are fragrant, another minute probably.

4) Turn heat down to low and add cream. Also season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir together for another minute until cream thickens into a nice light sauce.

5) Toast bread and rub with a clove of garlic.

6) Remove mushrooms from pan and crack in eggs. Fry eggs (over-easy is recommended).

7) Spoon mushrooms over toast and serve with an egg on top. Garnish with red pepper flakes and thyme.

The Shrooms

There’s an eternal debate about whether or not you should wash mushrooms. I’ve heard the argument that it rinses off flavor or that the mushrooms absorb water. I don’t really buy either of those lines though. So I do lightly wash my mushrooms just to get off any visible dirt.

It’s hard to get mushrooms perfectly clean, but it makes me feel better to rinse them off for some reason. Call me crazy.

Various mushrooms...

For this dish it’s very important to not slice your mushrooms to thin. You want big meaty pieces of mushrooms on the toast.

So cut each mushroom into 3 or 4 slices and call it good.

Thick slices work better.

Besides the mushrooms, you really just need a few ingredients to make this dish excellent. You need a bit of cream to thicken up the sauce for the mushrooms. The fresh thyme pairs perfectly with mushrooms and the red pepper flakes, while optional, I think sort of make the dish by giving it a bit of heat.

I don’t think I need to explain why you should put garlic in this. You should put garlic in pretty much everything.

Good flavors!

Cooking the Shrooms

When it comes time to cook the mushrooms, you want to cook them hot and quick to get a nice sear on them. So add a good glug of olive oil to a large skillet (I like a nonstick skillet for this). Once the oil is hot, add your mushrooms in a single layer on the pan. Let them cook for a few minutes before turning them so they get a really nice brown color to them.

Up close on the shroom!

Once your mushrooms have softened a bit and browned around the edges (about 6-8 minutes probably), add the minced garlic, fresh thyme, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Continue to cook it for another minute until the spices and garlic are really fragrant.

If at any point, the pan is really dry, add a bit more olive oil.

Once the spices are hot and fragrant, turn the heat down to low on the pan and add your cream!

Action shot!

Stir this all together for another minute or two and your mushrooms are done. The cream should mix with the olive oil and make a really light sauce that’ll coat all the mushrooms.

It’s delicious stuff really.

This would be a good time to hit it with some salt and pepper also.

All finished!

The Toast

Obviously the mushrooms are important to this dish, but the toast is equally important. Having some flavorless piece of wimpy bread under these mushrooms is not an option. Get a nice sourdough or wheat bread and toast it well.

Then rub each piece of bread with a fresh garlic clove to give it plenty of flavor. You could butter the bread if you want, but it’s not really necessary.

Don't forget the garlic massage.

Then just pile your mushrooms high and deep on the toast!

Smells so good...

The Eggs

This dish was made for an over-easy egg on top. There’s just no two ways about it. You can use the same nonstick pan that you cooked your mushrooms in to cook a few eggs quickly. There should be plenty of oil still in the pan. Just crank up the heat to high and crack in a few eggs. Cook them for a few minutes until the whites are almost cooked through, then flip them carefully and cook them for another 10 seconds.

Throw them on top of the mushrooms (1 egg per piece of toast) and garnish the whole thing with some more thyme and red pepper flake.

The runny yolk is key!

This dish is a perfect example of how good simple things can be. There’s nothing really fancy about this dish. It’s just all about execution. Make sure to not overcook your eggs. Try to get a good sear on your mushrooms and turn down the heat when you add the cream so it doesn’t scald.

Simple things. But if you nail them, you’ll be a very happy eater.

Administrative Note: I’m taking Labor Day off from posting. You shouldn’t be reading the Internet anyway on Monday! Get outside and grill something! Check back on Tuesday though for a new Homemade Trial.

Really awesome actually!

When I was growing some mushrooms last week I spent some time thinking about what I was going to actually make with my mushrooms. While I ultimately settled on a galette, I also had my eye on a very strange recipe that I’d never heard of before: Mushroom custard.

The idea just seemed weird to me. But after I got to thinking about it, mushrooms usually work well in cream-based things. I love them in omelets and cream of mushroom soup is one of my favorite things in the world.

So while I passed on the recipe originally, I kept thinking: Man. I really want to bake some mushrooms in a custard.

And so I did. And it was good.

Baked Mushroom Custards

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

8 ounces assorted mushrooms (I used a mix of cremini and shiitake)
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons shallot, diced fine
2 Cups cream, half and half, milk, or a mix
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 Teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper

Helpful Equipment:
Ramekins

Directions:

1) Gently rinse mushrooms and slice them. Also dice your shallot.

2) Add butter to a large skillet over medium heat. Once melted, add shallot. Cook until soft and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Then add the mushrooms and continue to cook until they are soft and they lose some of their moisture.

3) Pour in dairy. I used all cream. Also toss in a few thyme sprigs. Add back to heat and continue to cook until dairy is steaming. Stir for a few more minutes, then remove from heat and let cool slightly.

4) In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, yolks, cayenne, and a pinch of salt and pepper.

5) Slowly whisk in cream mixture into egg mixture (don't pour egg mixture into cream mixture). Pour slowly and whisk whisk whisk.

6) Once combined, pour custard mixture into ramekins.

7) Add ramekins to a large baking dish and pour boiling water around the ramekins. The water should come half-way up the dishes.

8) Bake at 300 degrees until custard is lightly set. This will probably be between 30-45 minutes. It'll take longer if you baked it in a large dish or if you are using milk instead of cream.

9) Serve warm with crusty bread!

Prepping the ‘Shrooms

As far as I can tell, you can use almost any mushroom for this recipe. I’m not sure I’d use the white button mushrooms though just because they tend to not have a really full earthy flavor. So I went with a mix of cremini and shiitake mushrooms which definitely did the trick.

Lots of earthy flavors.

Gently rinse off all your mushrooms to remove dirt and then slice them up. You can keep the slices pretty thick.

A rough slice.

Add your butter to a large skillet over medium heat and then add the shallot.

Once the shallot is getting soft (maybe 2 minutes) add the mushrooms and continue to cook until they they lose their water and start to soften. This should take about 5 minutes.

Try not to overcook these.

Next, add your liquid to the mushrooms. I used 2 Cups of cream for mine because that’s how I roll. If you want a slightly lighter custard, feel free to use half and half or even milk. You could also do a mix. Whatever you are using though, pour it in now along with a few sprigs of fresh thyme.

All cream baby!

Stir this over the heat until the cream starts to steam. Keep stirring for a few more minutes and then remove it from the heat and let it cool slightly.

The Custard

This is a really easy custard to throw together. Once your cream/mushroom stuff is done and cooling, just whisk together your eggs and yolks with some cayenne and a pinch of salt and pepper.

The cayenne is really important in my opinion. It gives a really nice, subtle heat to the dish.

Cayenne is key!

Once your eggs are whisked, slowly pour your cream mixture into the egg mixture – whisking constantly. Pour slowly at first and whisk whisk whisk so the eggs don’t curdle.

Once the custard mixture comes together, you have two options. You could pour it into one large casserole dish and bake it like that or you can pour it into 4 smaller ramekins for individual servings.

I went the individual route.

You could do one big thing also.

Whether you go big or small on the baking dish, you need to bake these guys in a water bath. So add them to a larger dish and then, right before you put it in the oven, pour boiling water around the dishes. The water should go about half-way up the dishes.

Steamy!

Bake this whole thing at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes. Note that this time can vary pretty substantially. If you are using a larger baking dish, you’ll need to bake it for longer (40 minutes probably). If you are using milk or half and half instead of cream, you’ll also need to bake it longer. So if you’re using a large dish and all milk, you might need to bake it for 45-50 minutes to get the custard to set.

When it’s done, it should be slightly jiggly. These guys are perfect (I realize you can’t see the jiggling.)

After a quick bake.

In my opinion these are best served warm or at room temperature. Apparently there are people that like them cold, but that just seems weird to me.

I also recommend serving them with a big slice of crusty bread.

Crusty bread is key.

This turned out to be a really delicious and unique dish. I wasn’t sure that I would like it, but it tasted a lot like cream of mushroom soup which is just fine by me!

If you’re a mushroom fan or just up for something different, give this a shot!

Yum.

José Andrés, if you’re reading (yea right), you might want to stop.

Allow me to explain.

When I used to live in DC, there was this big event once a year or so when Chef Andrés would set up a huge paella wok thing outside in downtown DC and cook paella for like a million people.

I never was able to go to it. Sad face.

Recently, I was blessed with a fair amount of really good saffron from a few worldwide travelers and so I figured What the Hay. I can make paella.

And I can. And it was good.

But I started with chef Andrés’s recipe and ended up with something else altogether. So, if you happen to be him, sorry for mutilating your recipe, dude.

Cast Iron Paella

Yield: Serves 5-6.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 ounces dried shiitake mushrooms
3 Cups water
6-8 Tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds chicken, cubed (you could sub 1 pound of shrimp for one pound of chicken)
1 pound mixed mushrooms, I used a mix of shiitake and oyster
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 Cups short grain white rice (paella rice)
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 Teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 Teaspoon saffron threads, soaked in a bit of warm water
2 Cups chicken broth
Chopped parsley (garnish)

Allioli recipe (Served with paella)
4 garlic cloves, halved and center germ removed
1/2 Teaspoon fine salt
2 large egg yolks
3 Tablespoons water
2 Tablespoons sherry or red wine vinegar
1 Cup light olive oil
Fresh black pepper

Helpful Equipment:
Cast Iron Skillet!

Directions:

1) For allioli, smash garlic cloves and add them to a medium bowl. Use a fork to mash them up even more. Whisk in egg yolks, vinegar, water, and salt.

2) Set bowl over a water bath with simmering water (don't let the bowl touch the water). Whisk continuously until temp is 140 degrees. It should take about 3 minutes and be hot to the touch, but not boiling. Continue to whisk, keeping it at that temperature for 3 more minutes.

3) Let yolk mixture cool and then whisk in oil in a steady, slow steam. Whisk constantly and it should thicken up. Season with black pepper. This can be made in advance and stored in the fridge.

4) For Paella, bring 3 cups of water to a boil and add to a bowl with dried mushrooms. Let reconstitute for about an hour. Then strain broth and squeeze any liquid you can out of mushrooms.

5) Dice fresh mushrooms, onion, garlic, and chicken.

6) Add a few tablespoons of oil to a cast iron skillet over high heat. Sear chicken in two batches for about 5 minutes per batch. Chicken doesn't need to be cooked through, just seared.

7) Remove to a bowl. Add a bit more oil and sear mushrooms. After a few minutes add onions and garlic and continue to cook. Season with salt and pepper and cook for another minute or two until slightly soft, but not completely cooked.

8) Add mushrooms and onions to chicken and set aside.

9) Add a bit more oil to pan along with rice. Stir over medium-high heat for about a minute to coat rice.

10) Add mushroom broth, spices, tomatoes, saffron (and broth), chicken, onions, mushrooms, and 1/2-1 Cup of chicken stock. The liquid should just cover all the ingredients.

11) Bring to a simmer on the stove and then add to a 400 degree oven. Cook for 30-40 minutes, checking frequently. If it is dry at any point and the rice still isn't cooked, add a bit more stock.

12) It's done with the edges are a bit crusty and the rice is cooked al dente.

13) Serve with chopped parsley and allioli.

Crazily adapted from this recipe.

Variations aplenty!

Like I said, I made a few changes to this recipe. One, I think, was a particularly good idea and one was a particularly bad idea.

I decided to not use any shrimp in my version, but if I had access to really good, large shrimp, I would totally use them. I think the lightness of the seafood would help the dish. But this was neither here nor there.

I think my good idea was to make this in a cast iron skillet. It allowed for even heat distribution and you ended up with some crusty edges which is what paella is known for. Normally paella is made in a very specialized pan, but if you aren’t making it regularly, it makes sense to use something that you probably have on hand.

My bad idea was using brown rice instead of white rice. It took forever to cook. Don’t do this. Just use short grain white rice (although not the instant kind) and you’ll be in much better shape. If you can find specially labeled paella rice, even better.

The Allioli

There some good spicy flavors going on in this dish and a garlic-packed sauce is the perfect complement. Allioli, or aioli, is almost like a mayonnaise, but slightly different. You heat the egg yolks first and pack in other flavors: mainly garlic.

So you’ll need these things!

Kinda like mayo!

Start by smashing your garlic cloves and adding them to a medium bowl. Use a fork to mash them up a bit in the bowl. Then whisk in the egg yolks, water, vinegar, and salt.

Set this bowl over a simmering water bath, but make sure that the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Continue to whisk until the eggs reach about 140 degrees. A thermometer really helps, but if you don’t have one handy, it should be hot to the touch, but not burning or simmering at all.

Continue to whisk, maintaining that temperature for 3 minutes. Be careful not to let it get too hot or the eggs will completely cook. Then remove it from the heat and let the yolks cool completely to room temperature.

Next, gradually whisk in oil in a very thin stream until mixture is thick. Cooking the yolks makes it a bit easier to incorporate the oil. Then season with pepper!

You can make this in advance without a problem. I think it gets a bit better after a chill in the fridge.

Aioli is a weird word.

The Paella

To start the paella, be sure to prep all your ingredients. This is one of those dishes where it’s kind of annoying to have to stop to chop an onion or something, so just make sure you have everything ready.

To start this, bring 3 cups of water to a rolling boil and add it to a bowl with the dried mushrooms. Let these sit for about an hour to reconstitute.

Flavor town.

When you’re ready, strain the broth out and squeeze as much liquid as possible from the mushrooms. Even though it’s kind of gross, I literally pick up the shrooms and wring them out like a wash cloth. There’s tons of flavor in those guys that you don’t want to waste.

Meanwhile, dice up the fresh mushrooms and an onion, and cube up the chicken.

Some basic choppin'

In your cast iron skillet, add two tablespoons of oil over high heat. Add the chicken in two batches, searing the pieces well on each side.

After the chicken is seared (about five minutes), remove it to a bowl and add a bit more oil. Then add the mushrooms and cook for another few minutes until they are seared. Finally add the onions and chopped garlic and season with a good pinch of salt and pepper.

Cook all this for just a minute or two on high heat. You goal is just to get them started and bring some flavor to the party.

Then you can add your mushrooms and onions to your chicken.

Lightly cooked.

Working with saffron is super-fun. This is the first time I’ve had my hands on some really good stuff.

I added my saffron to about 1/2 Cup of water to let them kind of bloom and start giving off some color.

Just look at that color!

Devil sperm.

To get the paella ready for the oven, add a few more tablespoons of oil to the pan along with the rice over medium high heat.

Again, don’t use brown rice like me people. It was a bad idea.

Use the right rice please.

Once the rice is coated well with oil and hot, add 3 cups of the mushroom stock the pan. Also add the tomatoes, spices, saffron (and broth).

Then stir in all the chicken, mushrooms, and onions. Add about 1/2-1 Cup of chicken stock to the dish. The liquid should basically cover the other ingredients.

Ready for a bake!

Bring this all to a simmer on the stove top and then add it to a 400 degree oven, uncovered.

It will probably need to cook for somewhere between 30-40 minutes.

Check it frequently if it looks really dry at any point, but the rice isn’t cooked, add a bit more chicken stock. It’s done when the liquid is gone and the rice is cooked through.

If you were to add seafood to this, you would want to add it in the last few minutes. Cooking shrimp for 30 minutes is never a good idea.

Great color.

This dish had lots of really good flavor, but my rice never really cooked all the way through. Brown rice is just too sturdy to use in a dish like this.

I ended up cooking mine for about 75 minutes and eventually the rice softened enough that we could eat it.

But it was a struggle.

So feel free to make this. It was delicious. Just use the right kind of rice.

Good crust.

Someone once told me:

“If it can be made on a grill, it’s probably better on a grill.”

That was a very wise person who I can’t remember at the moment. I swear I’m not making it up though. Even if I am, it’s true. So whatever.

Grilled pizza won the poll by a long shot last week and I was happy to see that because I figured pizza is probably better on the grill, like most things. I’ve only grilled pizza once before and I was excited to try it again.

Grilled pizza is kind of a dish that requires a bit of faith. It doesn’t make sense at all that you should be able to toss dough on a grill and have it hold up. So there’s this moment where it’s kind of a leap of faith. I mean… not Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade leap of faith, but still.

But even though it seems a bit strange, it isn’t actually that hard. In fact, it might be a bit easier than oven pizza.

Grilled Veggie Pizza

Yield: 4 pizzas

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes + dough time

Ingredients:

Dough: (From American Pie)
5 Cups (22 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Teaspoon instant yeast (or active dry yeast, dissolved)
3 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 3/4 Cups room temperature water

Toppings: (Enough for 4 pies)
2 pounds mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 large bell pepper, chopped
1 large red pepper, chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
2 Cups sweet corn
4 scallions, diced
Fresh oregano or basil

Simple sauce:
2-3 Cups tomato sauce (depending on how saucy you like your pies)
1-2 Teaspoons red pepper flakes
2 Teaspoons garlic powder
2 Teaspoons onion powder
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
Big pinch of salt and pepper

Helpful Equipment:
A grill (of course you can get one on Amazon)

Directions:

1) To make dough, combine water, oil, sugar, salt, and yeast in a mixing bowl. Stir together and let sit for 5 minutes to make sure yeast is active. It should bubble.

2) Stir in flour until it's well-incorporated and forms a ball. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Then mix either with your hands or with a stand mixer. If using hands, repeatedly dip one hand in water and work the dough vigorously until it's smooth, about 8 minutes. If using a mixer, mix with dough hook until smooth, about 6 minutes. If at any point, the dough is very sticky, mix in more flour.

3) Cut dough into 4 even pieces, coat with olive oil and add to a large plastic bag. Let rest for 20-30 minutes.

4) Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but ideally overnight.

5) Remove from fridge at least an hour before making pizza.

6) Prepare other ingredients. If you're using any meat or large veggies, pre-cook them.

7) Mix sauce and shred cheese.

8) Heat grill to high and clean it well. Rub the grates with some oil.

9) Roll out two pizzas and lay them directly on the grates. Most grills should be able to fit too pizzas at once.

10) Cook dough for about 2 minutes or until bubbles start to form on the surface of the dough.

11) Remove from heat and flip pizzas over on a baking sheet that's been lightly oiled.

12) Top pizzas with sauce, cheese, and toppings.

13) Slice pizzas back onto grill. Turn heat down to medium-high. Close lid.

14) Cook pizzas for 8-10 minutes, turning pizza 90 degrees half way through. The crust should be a deep brown and very crispy.

15) Remove from grill and cool for a minute before serving!

Making the Dough

This is a pretty standard pizza dough and is very similar to some other pizza doughs that I’ve used. At the end of the day, I’m pretty sure that most doughs would work fine on a grill. I think it’s more technique than recipe honestly.

But, this one works for sure!

Start by combining all your liquid ingredients, yeast, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Let those sit for a few minutes until your yeast starts bubbling. Then either mix in your flour with a dough hook attachment on a stand mixer, or with a big wooden spoon.

Once the flour is incorporated well, let the dough sit for a few minutes to relax, then continue mixing until you end up with a smooth ball of dough. If you’re using your hands, dip one hand in water and use it to vigorously work the dough.

By hand it’ll take probably 8 minutes of kneading. By dough hook, it should only take around 6. If your dough is particularly sticky (like sticking to the bottom of the bowl) add more flour.

Eventually you should end up with a nice smooth ball.

Hands or mixer... don't matter to the dough.

Cut this into quarters and coat them all with some olive oil. Add them to a large plastic bag and let them sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes, then move them to the fridge.

Ideally, you could let them sit overnight, but I was super-rushed on this day so I pulled them out of the fridge after just two hours. The dough worked fine, but the flavor will be better if you can give it overnight in the fridge.

Same day...

You’re ready to grill some pizza after these guys come back to room temperature, probably an hour at minimum.

Other Stuff

The key to this recipe is to make sure you have all your ingredients ready before you cook. You don’t want to be chopping while your dough is on the grill!

I mixed up a quick sauce with some tomato sauce and dried spices. Feel free to customize it to your liking.

As simple as sauce gets...

I also chopped up a bunch of veggies to throw on the pizza. I did a meatless version but you could 100% add pepperoni or anything else that you would add to a pizza to a grilled pizza.

Various goodies.

NOTE: If you’re using big pieces of veggies like this, it’s a good idea to pre-cook them a bit (on the grill maybe) before adding them to the pizza. You’ll see why soon.

Not pictured here is a pound of shredded mozzarella.

The Technique

On a normal grill, you can probably do two pizzas at a time. Roll out your dough into a large circle, or if you’re me, into a random shape of the day.

Then heat your grill to high. It needs to be hot. Clean it off well and rub it down with some oil. I used olive oil, but you could use whatever you have available.

Then the moment of truth. Toss on the dough! Just try to get it evenly on the grates.

You don’t want to top the pizza at this point, just pre-cook it a bit. If your grill is hot, two minutes should do the trick.

If you see bubbles forming on the top of your dough, it’s done.

Bubbles means done.

Use a big metal spatula or pizza peel to pull the pizza off the grill. Lightly oil a sheet pan and invert the dough on the sheet pan. The oil just makes it easier to get the pizza off when we put it back on the grill.

This is the side you add your toppings too!

Ready to top!

Now, if you’re incredibly confident in your abilities, feel free to just flip the pizza on the grill and top it quickly. I like to take my time with pizza toppings so I took my off.

When your pizza is topped like you want it, you should be able to slide the pizzas back onto the grill. Again, a pizza peel or big spatula is pretty key.

This time when the pizza is on the grill, turn the heat on the grill down to medium-high and close the lid so it can heat evenly.

It’s a pretty thing though!

Pretty things.

The Snag

Sometimes, when cooking something new, a little improvisation might be necessary to avert disaster.

So, if you’re grill is really hot, like mine was, your crust will be done after about 8-10 minutes once you’ve topped it and put it back on the grill.

But if you don’t pre-cook your veggies, they won’t be. I was shocked to find my veggies almost raw after 10 minutes even though my crust was done.

The problem, of course, is that a grill isn’t as insulated as an oven so even though the grill itself is very hot, the area around the grill isn’t as hot as my 500 degree oven. Especially because I kept opening it to take photos!

So you have two options:

1) Pre-cook your toppings a bit. You could grill them for just a minute and then chop them up and that would do the trick. Obviously, the bigger the veggies the more important this is. I should’ve pre-cooked my peppers and ‘shrooms for sure.

2) OR you could do what I did and rig a small raised area in your grill. I set a baking tray on the grill, supported by a small tray. This kept my pizza off the direct heat so I could close the lid and cook them for another 5 minutes or so until my veggies were finished cooking.

Option 1 is easier obviously.

Improvise!

The Finished Product

The best thing about improvising is when it works. And my method definitely worked.

I’m telling you, grilled pizza makes some of the best crust I’ve had. Very crispy and delicious. Just look at this crust!

SO crispy!

It’s very hard to get that kind of crust in an oven honestly.

So, if you’re a pizza fan, take a leap a faith and hit up the grill next time you’re in the mood for your favorite pie.

Great spring flavors!

With Spring comes some of my favorite veggies of all time. Artichokes. Asparagus. Fresh sweet corn.

I’m in veggie heaven.

All of the dishes in the poll last week were veggie-packed but I was especially excited about the Veggie Stew idea since it gave me the opportunity to just cram in as many things as possible.

The end result wasn’t just tasty, it was also health in a bowl!

Spring Vegetable Soup

Yield: Serves 4-6.

Prep Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients:

3 fresh artichoke hearts, cut into eighths
2 leeks, minced
1/2 bundle asparagus, chopped
2 ears fresh corn, cut off the cob
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 Lemon (for artichokes)
1 Quart veggie stock, enhanced (see below)
3/4 ounce dried mushrooms, reconstituted
3 Tablespoons olive oil or butter
Pinch of salt and pepper
Fresh parsley, garnish

Enhanced Veggie Stock:
1 quart store bought veggie stock
2 Cups water
1/2 onion
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
1/2 garlic bulb
15-20 black peppercorns
Few stalks of parsley
Salt to taste

Directions:

1) Prep all veggies before starting soup. For artichokes, cut off pointy tip and cut the stalk down to the bulb. Then pull off outside leaves and use a paring knife to carve down to the heart of the artichoke.

2) Cut artichokes into eighths and put in cold water with lemon juice until you need them.

3) To make enhanced stock, add all incredients to a large pot, bring to a simmer, and simmer for 45 minutes. Strain out veggies.

4) Add 2 Cups of reconstituted mushroom liquid to stock.

5) When ready to make soup, add a few tablespoons of oil to a pot. Add leeks, celery, and artichokes. Cook for a few minutes over medium heat.

6) Add stock, asparagus, and chopped reconstituted mushrooms.

7) Cook for 10-15 minutes until asparagus and artichokes are tender.

8) Add corn and cook for another minute or two.

9) Serve with crusty bread and parsley.

Veggie World

If you need practice on prepping strange veggies, this is the recipe for you. I used four veggies in this post that are all kind of tricky in their own way.

Spring TIME!

Asparagus is easy enough. Snap off the rough ends and chop into about 2 inch segments.

For the corn, just strip off the husks and stand it on its end in a bowl. Use a knife to carve off the kernels. The bowl will catch the kernels so they don’t fly all over your kitchen.

For the leeks, chop off the roots and most of the greens. You’ll probably be left with about 3 inches of leek that’s edible. Slice each leek in half and run it under cold water, pulling the layers apart to wash out any dirt in between. Then chop them up.

That leaves us with the most pesky of any vegetable: ARTICHOKES.

I’ll be completely honest. I hate prepping artichokes like this. My favorite way to eat artichokes is to steam them and serve them with butter (a separate post). But for this recipe you need to trim them down to just the heart.

No two ways about it… It’s hard work.

Start by using a sharp knife (I like to use a paring knife) to chop off the pointy top of the artichoke.

It’ll be pretty, but vexing.

Strange things...

Use your fingers to rip off any of the outside leaves that you can. Then use your paring knife to slowly whittle down to the center of the artichoke. In the center, there are like a thousand annoying little stamen things. The easiest way to deal with them is just to cut out the whole section in one swoop.

Eventually, you’ll be left with a few ounces of artichoke that’ll be very tender and delicious in the soup.

Whoever ate these first must have been very hungry, but thank god they figured it out because they are really tasty.

Carve out my heart!

I quartered my hearts as I did them, but I think that was a bit big for the soup. I’d recommend cutting them into eighths.

When you’re done with each heart, add it to a bowl of cold water with some lemon juice in it. That’ll keep the hearts from turning really brown.

Soak a 'choke.

Enhancing Stock

PHEW. Seriously, the artichokes are the hardest part of this recipe. It’s smooth sailing from here. If you wanted to leave them out you definitely could.

It’s no secret that a good stock is the most important part of any good soup or stew.

That said, sometimes you may not have time to make stock from scratch. The recipe above is what I do to enhance store bought stock to give it a bit more flavor.

I start with store bought stock and a few cups of water and then add lots of fresh veggies and aromatics. I bring everything to a boil and let it simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes or so.

It’ll end up being very good and trim a few hours off of making homemade stock.

Taking stock...

For this version, I also reconstituted some dried mushrooms by adding them to a big bowl of hot water.

After they sat for about 15 minutes, I added 2 Cups of the mushroom broth to my stock also which gave it a great earthy flavor. You can chop up the mushrooms obviously and add them to the stew as well.

Lots of flavors here...

Making the Stew

Before you get started on the stew, make sure you have everything ready. It comes together pretty quickly actually and you don’t want to overcook it or your veggies will get really soggy.

So have everything ready!

Nothing beats fresh veggies.

Start by adding a few tablespoons of oil or butter to a large pot over medium-high heat. Once it’s hot, add the leeks, celery, and artichoke hearts to the pan. Cook them for about 6 minutes until the leeks are starting to get soft and are nice and fragrant.

Starting the soup...

Then add all your stock to the pan along with the asparagus and mushrooms. Bring it all to a boil and let it simmer until the asparagus and artichokes are tender, probably another 10-15 minutes.

You want them tender, but not soggy!

Then stir in the corn and cook for another minute or so. It’ll cook really quickly.

Then you’re all set!

Try not to cook it down to mush...

Before you serve this be sure to taste it for salt and pepper. Depending on the stock you use, it may not need much. Mine needed a good pinch of both though.

Serve this garnished with some fresh parsley and lots of crusty bread.

Artichoke pieces were a bit large.

When I was picking veggies for this stew, I just went to the produce section and picked out a few things that looked fresh and nice. I’d recommend you do the same. You could use frozen, but fresh is always best! If you can get your hands on some fresh peas, they would be great in this also.

Betsy and I have been eating on this for a few days now and I feel really healthy every time I have a bowl of it.

These weren't bad. Not at all.

Kabobs are a sneaky meal. They seem easy enough and people default to them a lot during the summer. After all, how hard is it to throw some stuff on some sticks and grill it? But there’s definitely some things that can wrong in Kabobland if you aren’t careful.

For starters, if you’re using wooden skewers, you run the risk of scorching them so badly that they fall apart. Meanwhile, it’s pretty easy to overcook or under-cook whatever it is your cooking: veggies or meat.

What this means is that while kabobs sound simple, a lot of times you’ll end up with dry pieces of chicken or soggy veggies falling off of skewers that are burnt to a crisp.

But it doesn’t have to be this way obviously. There’s a surefire way to make great kabobs that’s stress free and relatively quick. So let’s get to it!

Grilled Kabobs

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

Chicken Kabobs: (I used a method from last month's Cooks Illustrated)
4 small chicken breasts, cubed
2-3 slices of bacon, processed
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 Tablespoon chili powder
Pinch of salt and pepper

Veggie Kabobs:
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced thick
1 red pepper, cut into chunks
1/2 red onion, cut into chunks
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon herbs de Provence
Pinch of salt and pepper

Yogurt Sauce:
1 Cup Greek Yogurt
1/2 lemon, juice only
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons fresh dill, minced
Pinch of salt

Helpful Equipment:
Skewers
Food Processor

Directions:

1) To prep the yogurt sauce, just mince all the ingredients and combine them. The flavors will get more intense as it sits. Refrigerate until needed.

2) Be sure to soak your skewers for at least 30 minutes before using them.

3) To prep veggie kabobs, cut veggies into chunks and marinate with olive oil and spices.

4) To prep chicken kabobs, mince bacon slices in a food processor until they form a rough paste.

5) Combine bacon with spices and chicken pieces and stir to combine well.

6) Skewer veggies and chicken separate.

7) Grill on high heat. Chicken kababs will probably take 15 minutes. Veggies will take more like 10.

8) Serve with yogurt sauce and rice!

Prepping The Kabobs

If you’re using wooden skewers, the first thing you need to do is make sure you soak them really well. Honestly, if I can I try to soak mine overnight or early in the day just so they have plenty of time to get really wet. If you soak them for 10 minutes, you’re not going to really accomplish much because all of that water will evaporate immediately once they are on the grill.

Meanwhile, the veggie kabobs are pretty easy to prepare. Just cut them all into pretty large pieces and then give them a good drizzle of olive oil.

Get it?

I added a good amount of Herbs de Provence to my veggies which works well on the grill I think. You could use any seasonings that you want or just keep it simple with salt and pepper. The key is to keep the pieces pretty large so the veggies don’t get soggy or overcooked.

For the chicken kabobs, I read a fascinating prep method in last month’s Cooks Illustrated that I decided to try out. To beat the issue of having dried out chicken, they suggested coating all the chicken pieces in processed bacon!

It’s kind of weird, but it totally works. Just take a few slices of bacon and buzz it up in your food processor!

Kinda weird...

Mix the bacon in with your cubed chicken and some paprika and chili powder for a little kick!

All mixed up!

When you’re ready to skewer your kabobs, I highly recommend doing all chicken ones and all veggie ones. Some people might disagree, but I find that if I mix the chicken and veggies together then it’s hard to cook them both to the right doneness. Either the chicken is undercooked or the veggies are soggy. So I just split mine up and it solves the problem.

Good lookin things.

The Sauce

You could just serve these over rice, but I decided to make a quick (and I do mean quick) yogurt sauce for the kabobs. It just greek yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, and some fresh dill all mixed up. It’s very quick to make and tastes great on everything.

Kinda greek.

Grillin’

Once you’re ready to grill, crank up the heat to high. When the grill is hot add the the kabobs! The chicken ones will need probably 15 minutes, turning every five minutes or so. As they cook the bacon keeps them really moist. It’s genius really.

Perfect grillin.

Meanwhile, the veggies will probably only need 10 minutes, but that depends on what you use and how big your pieces are. I like mine to be a tiny bit crispy still.

Veggies were equally good!

A skewer of chicken and a skewer of veggies with some rice and yogurt sauce is a really solid meal!

Hard to go wrong!

Great meal!

Kabobs can be easy, but they can be hard to perfect. The bacon tip is a great one and I highly recommend cooking the veggies and meat separately as well.

If you have any kabob tips, leave a comment!

Colorful and delicious!

As luck would have it, the New York Times published a piece on quinoa just a few days ago and made it clear that while the grain is growing in popularity here in the states, the rising demand for it has made it impossible for Bolivians to purchase the grain that they’ve grown and eaten for hundreds of years.

I feel bad about this, but you guys should feel worse because hey: You voted for it!

No but seriously, I hope that either A) the quinoa trend will die down a bit and therefore the price will go down or B) the Bolivian government will find some way to subsidize the grain for their people so they can afford the grain they’ve lived on for so many years.

I have a feeling that B is more likely because, frankly, quinoa is really good and I expect that it’ll probably only increase in popularity as people catch on.

Quinoa and Veggie Pilaf

Yield: Serves 6.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups quinoa, rinsed
1 Cup vegetable stock
2 Cups frozen peas, 1 Cup for sauce and 1 for dish
1 clove garlic
1/4 Cup fresh mint, chopped
4 Tablespoons butter
1 large leek, white part only diced
3/4 Cups shallot, diced (1-2 large shallots)
8 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms (or any mushroom)
1 14-ounce bunch of asparagus, cut into sections
Salt and pepper
Hot sauce (opt.)

Helpful Equipment:
A blender!

Directions:

1) To make sauce, blend the stock, half the peas, a handful of mint, and a clove of garlic. Once it's smooth, set it aside for later.

2) To make quinoa, add 1 1/2 Cups of rinsed quinoa to 2 1/2 Cups boiling water. Cover and simmer for 15-17 minutes until quinoa is tender and cooked.

3) Dice leeks and shallots. Slice mushrooms thinly and chop asparagus into pieces.

4) Add butter to a large skillet and once melted, add leeks and shallots. Cook until veggies are soft, about 4-5 minutes.

5) Then add asparagus and mushrooms and continue to cook, stirring. Cook for another 5 minutes or so until mushrooms are tender and asparagus is tender, but still slightly crunchy.

6) Once veggies are done, fold in quinoa, pea sauce, whole peas, and season with salt and pepper. Stir until pilaf is warmed through.

7) Serve with hot sauce!

Making the sauce

This dish has a very light pea-based sauce that gives the final dish a tiny bit of sweetness. It’s basically a really simple pea soup.

Frozen peas. So sue me.

The sauce is pretty simple to make. Just add half of the peas, some vegetable stock, a good handful of mint, and a clove of garlic to a blender and blend it up until it’s smooth. Then just set it aside until later.

I used frozen peas for this dish and I think they work fine. No need to go through the trouble of shelling a bunch of peas for it.

Basically pea soup.

Quinoa

I would like to think I was a leader in the quinoa world. I’ve been eating it for many years now and I can say that it’s definitely gone up in price. Almost ridiculously so. I think a bag will run you $4-$5 these days which is more expensive than most grains on the market.

I used to be able to get it wholesale for about $1/pound I think, but I don’t mind paying more for it. It’s still one of the best grains out there in my opinion.

Sorry Bolivia...

The key to quinoa, and one that I’ve messed up a few times, is to make sure you don’t overcook it. If you do, it’ll turn really mushy and not good at all.

To cook 1 1/2 Cups of quinoa (what the recipe calls for), you’ll need about 2 1/2 Cups water. Bring it to a boil with a pinch of salt and then add the quinoa. Stir it and then let it simmer for about 15 minutes covered. That should be enough time for all the water to evaporate, but if there’s still any water, you can uncover the pot so it evaporates quickly.

You should end up with a really fluffy quinoa. The grains should still have some texture to them though.

Don't overcook this stuff!

The Other Stuff

There’s some great flavors in this dish besides the quinoa. Also included is some leeks and shallots which are a great substitute for the standard onion flavor.

If you’ve never chopped up a leek before, don’t fret. Chop off the green leaves, then slice the white part down the center. Under cold water, rinse off the leek halves being sure to get in between the layers of leek. There’s tons of dirt in there that you need to wash out. Then you can just dice up the leek like normal.

Good flavors.

Also, you’ll need some mushrooms and asparagus. I used shiitake mushrooms which have a nice spring lightness to them, but you could use any mushroom you want really.

Asparagus isn’t optional in my opinion for this dish. It really makes it.

Good spring veg.

To start off the dish, add the butter to a large skillet. When it’s melted, add the shallots and leeks and cook them over medium heat until they’re soft. That’ll probably take 4-5 minutes.

This'll smell good.

Then add in the mushrooms and asparagus and continue to cook, stirring every once in awhile. Cook it down until the mushrooms are soft and the asparagus is cooked but still slightly crunchy. Mine cooked about 5 minutes and the asparagus was perfect.

Again. Don't overcook here...

Finally, fold in the quinoa, pea sauce, and whole peas. Stir this all together and once it is warmed through, it’s ready to serve. Season it with salt and pepper at this point. It’ll probably need a pinch of both.

BAM.

Ok. I’ll be honest.

I liked this dish a lot. But I thought it needed something. That something was hot sauce.

Cheating?

Most things are better with hot sauce, but I thought this dish was a lot better with hot sauce.

Betsy liked it without though so do what you want.

But try it with hot sauce.

Gimme the blues anytime!

Last week’s poll was a list of pizzas from a local pizza joint here in town. They make really unique and delicious pies so I thought I’d try my hand at recreating one of them.

Let me start this post by saying that I’ve never actually had their version of the winning pizza, The Delta Blues, but I figured I’d try my hand at it anyway. It’s described as a red sauce pizza with mushrooms, bacon, blue cheese, and spinach.

I figured I could handle that. This turned out to be a very flavorful pizza. My favorite part of it was actually the spinach, but we’ll get there.

Delta Blues Pizza

Yield: 2 pizzas

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour + time for dough

Ingredients:

1 recipe of pizza dough, below (makes two pizzas)
1 Cup pizza sauce, below
16 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
8 ounces bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 pound mushrooms, sliced and sauteed
4 Cups baby spinach, chopped
Salt and pepper

Basic red sauce:
1 Cup tomato sauce or strained tomatoes
1 Teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 Teaspoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 Teaspoon onion powder
Pinch of salt and pepper

New York Style Pizza Dough (From American Pie)
Makes 2 large pizzas.
5 Cups (22.5 ounces) bread flour
1 1/2 Tablespoons honey or sugar
3 Teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 Teaspoons instant yeast
3 Tablespoons olive oil (plus more for the dough later)
1 3/4 Cups room temperature water

Helpful Equipment:
Pizza stone
Pizza peel

Directions:

TO make the dough...

1) Add all the ingredients to a large bowl and stir together with a large spoon until the dough comes together.

2) Dip one hand in a bowl of warm water and vigorously knead the dough in the bowl, constantly turning the bowl, until the dough comes together and starts to firm up, about 4 minutes.

3) Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

4) Continue to work it for another 2-3 minutes until the dough is soft and smooth and very elastic.

5) Cut the dough in half, roll each half into a ball, and add each ball to a plastic bag coated lightly with olive oil.

6) Let dough sit at room temp for 15 minutes and then store in the fridge overnight.

7) Remove the dough from the fridge 2 hours before making pizza.

Making the pizza...

1) Combine all sauce ingredients in a bowl. Feel free to add other ingredients to your liking.

2) Cook bacon in strips in a large skillet, until they are browned, but not quite crispy. Remember that the bacon will cook in the oven as well.

3) Pour out the bacon grease but leave a tablespoon or two. Add your sliced mushrooms and cook for a few minutes over medium-high heat until the mushrooms release their liquid and turn soft and browned.

4) De-gas dough, roll it into a 14 inch round, and add it to a prepared pizza peel. Dust the peel with a bit of flour or cornmeal so the dough slides off easily.

5) Add a light layer of sauce to pizza followed by mozzarella cheese, bacon, mushrooms, blue cheese, and a pinch of fresh ground pepper.

6) Slide the pizza into a very hot, pre-heated 500 degree oven for 14-15 minutes.

7) When the pizza comes out of the oven, add chopped spinach to the top.

8) Let cool for a minute or two and then slice and eat!

Adapted from a Pablo's pizza.

Making the Dough

You could use store bought pizza dough for this, but for my money nothing beats homemade crust. Once you get the hang of it, it really only takes about 10-15 minutes to whip up. Of course, for a really good dough, you do need to let it sit overnight, so there’s some planning involved.

Sometimes I use my stand mixer for this, but on this day I did it by hand.

Get it?

Start by adding all the dough ingredients to a large bowl. Mix them together with a large spoon until they come together (top left). Then dip your hand in a bowl of warm water and knead the dough vigorously. After a few minutes the dough will start to firm up (top right). At that point, let it rest for 5 minutes which will let the dough relax.

Continue to knead it in the bowl with your hand. After another few minutes you should end up with a really soft dough that’s very elastic and stretchy (bottom left). Cut this dough into two even halves and stick them in some large plastic bags with a good drizzle of olive oil (bottom right). Let these sit at room temperature for 15 minutes and then store them in the fridge overnight.

Yes. That’s right. Overnight. That requires you to do some planning, but trust me. It’s worth it.

Making the sauce

I kind of mess around with red sauce and the above recipe is my most current version. Seriously though, I recommend that you just add a cup or two of tomato sauce to a bowl and stir in dried spices until it tastes good! If it tastes good straight, it’ll taste good on a pizza!

Saucy!

The Toppings

There are only three toppings for this pizza: bacon, mushrooms, and spinach. The bacon and mushrooms need to be cooked before going on the pie. Some people don’t cook the mushrooms before adding them to pizza, but I’ve found that this makes the pizza kind of watery because the mushrooms release a lot of liquid as they cook.

If you saute them for a few minutes though, they release most of their liquid and you don’t have that issue.

I cooked my bacon in strips in a large skillet until it was not quite crispy, but definitely browned. Remember that it’s going to cook further in the oven.

Then I used a few tablespoons of the bacon grease to saute my sliced mushrooms for about 5 minutes until they are soft and lightly seared.

The cooked stuff.

You’ll obviously need some cheese also. For this pizza, mozzarella and blue cheese are what you need! Shred the mozzarella and crumble the blue cheese if it isn’t crumbled already.

Cheesy!

Making the pizza

A few tips for making the pizza to really make it exceptional.

The first thing, and most important, is to make sure you get your oven as hot as possible. Hopefully you have a pizza stone you can preheat in the oven, but heat it up to 500 degrees and let it get hot for 20 minutes or so.

Second, be sure to take your dough out of the fridge about 2 hours before you want to make the pizza. Letting it come up to room temperature will make it easier to stretch and shape.

Third, when you’re shaping your pizza, feel free to use a roller to get it in a rough circle, but the dough should be very strong and you should be able to pick it up and fling it around without worry.

Once it’s the right size (probably 14 inches across), lay it on a pizza peel or a baking sheet that’s been coasted lightly with cornmeal or flour.

Fourth, go light on the sauce. A light coating of sauce is all you need.

This is my pie, shaped and ready to go!

Shaped and sauced.

Then I added on some mozzarella, my bacon and mushrooms, the blue cheese, and some extra mozzarella on top. I also added on a good pinch of fresh black pepper.

High and deep!

Slide this beauty onto your very hot baking stone and cook it for about 14 minutes. The crust should be a nice golden brown and the cheese nice and bubbly.

This is about as perfect as it gets.

14 minutes later...

What about the spinach?!

Don’t worry. I didn’t forget the spinach. The key to adding greens like spinach to a pizza is to add them right when the pie comes out of the oven. If you actually cook the pizza for 14 minutes with spinach on top, they’ll just shrivel up and burn.

But if you chop it up roughly, and add it to the pizza right when it comes out of the oven, the heat from the pizza will wilt it slightly, but it’ll still be a tiny bit crunchy.

Chop the spinach first!

You’ll want to let this cool for a minute or two, but then you should slice it up and eat it as soon as possible!

A slice of the blues.

I used a bit of a thicker crust for this pizza than I have with some other pizzas I’ve made because the toppings on this guy were pretty heavy. It turned out to be the perfect combination though. I really liked this pizza!

Homemade pizza is one of those things where the little details make all the difference. Homemade dough, a hot oven, and fresh ingredients can really make something special.

I don’t know about you, but I’m a FAN of The Delta Blues!