Pizza Dough

I have been struggling to make great pizzas. My pizza dough is still not stellar. But, I am perfecting the toppings.

I don't have a great recipie yet, just some notes. I am trying to achieve a thin crisy pizza, not deep dish.

A cheap pizza stone is much better than a pan.

Watch for water. It will cook out while you are baking the pizza leaving you with a soggy mess. Use sauces sparingly and perfer thick sauces. Don't put whole slices of tomato on the pizza. Tomato should be cored and seeded.


These were the ingrediants for my last pizza...
2 tablespoons sugar. 1 tablespoon salt. 1 tablespoon pure olive oil. 3/4 cup warm water. 2 cups bread flour (for bread machines) 1 teaspoon instant yeast

Kneed pizza doughs longer-- this develops the gluten which allows you to stretch the dough thin. 15 minutes worked well.

My dough still came out too tough and not crisy enough. In the future, I'm going to make the following changes....

1. cut back on the salt by one teaspon.
2. Swap in a quarter cup of whole wheat for for a quarter cup of bread flour.
3. Bake at 550F instead of 500F
4. Stretch the dough even thinner.

Rice Pudding.

It's easy to make and tasty.

Take about a cup of left over rice.
Add two cups of milk and a quarter cup of sugar.
Mix.
Simmer for 30 minutes. I started on medium heat then moved to low as the simmer took off.

Beat an egg with a quarter cup of sugar.
Temper the egg/sugar mixture with a cup of the rice-milk mixture.

Add half a teaspoon of vanilla to the rice.
Add the tempered egg mixture to the rice.
Mix
Keep on low heat for about five minutes.

Chill and then serve. I drizzled a little bit of honey, jam and cinnamon on mine.

Pizza Crusts

I've been experiementing with pizza crusts trying to make the perfect thin crust. So far I've only managed to make it work by using bread flower, resting the dough for 24 hours in a refridgerator and by baking on a pizza stone.

I like to include some whole wheat flour in the dough, but it stops being thin crust when I do so.

Also, a pizza stone is mandatory. Without one the crust is sloppy and wet.

I can make a decent tomato sauce from canned diced tomatoes. The secret is to separate the juice from the fruit. Add a little vinegar and wine to the juice and simmer it down. Roast the fruit with some onions till browned-- say 45 minutes at 450F. Then combine the two and blend with a stick blender. Add your herbs, spices and seasonsings.

101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less

From the New York Times. Many of them sound great.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/dining/18mini.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Grilling

I love grilling. I use our propane BBQ year around, but much more often in the summer.

Last night we had grilled shrimp and steak.

The steak was loin tri tip. I enjoy loin tip steaks. They are very tender and easy to grill. Plus they are very affordable. They are smaller and don't look as good as a regular steak so you aren't charged regular loin prices.

The shrimp was also tasty. Next time I'm going to brine them first-- half a cup of salt, half a cup of suger, two cups of water, soke the shrimp for 30 minutes.

Experiments in Whipped Cream

I've discovered that my stand mixer quickly and easily makes whipped cream. I'm trying to use this to my advantage to eat less store bought ice cream and more easily home mode desserts.

Waffles, berries and whipped cream are great. Cherries and strawberries are in season right now, so eat up!

It looks like whipped cream is not a tempermental ingredient. It can take many additions yet still whip up. This is very different from merengues which refuse to foam if they are too warm or touch fat or over beaten or...

Last night I made an easy chocolate mouse.

Melt 6 oz of bitter sweet chocolate with one quarter cup of milk, and honey to taste. I'm really not sure how much honey. Maybe 3 tbsp.

To melt, microwave for 30 seconds, stir, repeat 3 or 4 times.

Once melted add 1 cup heavy cream. stir. Microwave again. Stir again. Repeat until combined. Don't let the mixture get too hot though.

Once mixed chill in a freezer for 30 minutes.

Once chilled froth on hi in a stand mixer.

Spoon into dishes. Chill in a refrigerator. Mouse recipes tell you to chill for four hours or more. To be honest, I ate some right away and it was delicious.

Serve with berries or cream.

Bleach, Water and Vinegar

A combination of bleach, water and vinegar is a better sanitizer than bleach alone. Make sure you add the bleach to the water before you mix in the vinegar. If you don't you will release chlorine gas and send yourself to the hospital.

The ratio of bleach and vinegar to water can be adjusted depending on how much kick you need. For anthrax, the EPA recommends one part bleach, eight parts water and one part vinegar.

I don't need to kill anthrax. For day to day sanitizing try one oz bleach, five gallons of water and one oz of vinegar.

I have a spray bottle that contains one teaspoon of bleach, one pint of water and one teaspoon of vinegar. I spritz it in on cutting boards, in my sink and on my counters.

If you are wondering about the chemistry behind this-- bleach is more effective with a lower PH. But not too low. Something just below neutral. If you Google around, you can find efficacy graphs of bleach at a given PH.

Roast Potatoes with Chick Pea and Vegetables in a Tomato Curry Sauce.

This was easy. I'm just writing it down so that I remember to do it again...

Roast Potatoes for two.

Stir Fry some chick peas and vegis just so that they caramelize a touch.

For the sauce, mix 28oz of canned diced tomatoes with a small can of tomato past. Add a teaspoon of curry powder, teaspoon of coriander and some garlic.

Mix the sauce with the vegis. Serve over the potatoes.

Ice Cream

Last night I made ice cream using the Good Eats "9,8,3,2,1" recipe. The ice cream is very good. I may need to let it churn longer though.

Also, the recipe is not cheap and Mark ate most of it at one serving. I have to figure out what side desserts to serve with it, to help stretch it out.

Loves Landing.

Loves Landing is a neighborhood bar off Airport way in Renton. Mark says the crowd is like a high school crowd that forgot they had grown up.

Loves Landing has two claims to fame.

First claim are their burgers. They are excellent. Big, tasty and on a fine and fresh bun.

Second claim is that they have kareoke every night. Some of the singers are not that bad.I recommend it.

Grilled Chicken and Asparagus salad for two.

Wash and oil about 8 stocks of asparagus. Cut to get rid of the woody parts.

Wash and oil a shitaki mushroom. Cut into eights.

Wash and oil and season four chicken thighs.

Warm up the grill. Set it to indirect heat.Start grilling the chicken and asparagus. Close the cover.

Three minutes later flip the chicken and asparagus. Add the mushrooms to the grill.

Close the cover.Three minutes later flip the chicken, asparagus and mushrooms.

Close the cover.Three minutes later, check that the chicken has hit 160F.

Slice the chicken.

Arrange the chicken, mushrooms and asparagus on two plates of mixed greens. Add a few orange slices. Dress with a good dressing.

Everything turned out very well.

Next time I may try aging the yogurt for seven hours instead of six. Regardless, it is still tasty.

The creme brulie took two and a half hours to set, instead of the ninty minutes listed in the recipie. I glazed the brulie with one heaping teaspoon of sprinked brown sugar. I think one table spoon may be better.

Granola was good. 8 cups of oats may be too much, so next time try 6.

Busy today...

Today I started making Yogurt, Creame Brulie and Granola.

The Yogurt and Creame Brulie are all day recipies. I'm half way through them now. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Yogurt... 4 cups milk, 2 tbsp honey, half cup powdered milk. Heat to 120. Cut off heat. When it's cooled to 115 or below, add one container yogurt with active cultures. Wrap in a heating pad and wait six hours.

Creame Brulie. Joy of Cooking's recipie with the 3 whole egg option. In the oven it took two and a half hours to set. The recipie says ninty minutes. I have to be extra careful with water baths-- remember the water will rise as you add the creme containers to it.

Granola. 8 cups of oats, half a cup canola oil, 2/3 cup honey mized with random nuts and grains until it looked right. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes, stiring every 15 minutes. I never follow a strict recipie when I make granola.

Changes

I'm changing this blog a little. I used to eat out often. But, for the past six months or so, I've started cooking at home much more. I'm also putting more effort into it and making good meals.

I'm going to start blogging about my cooking. Just so that I can remember.

Last night I made Chicken breasts wrapped in bacon and grilled on the BBQ. I used indirect heat with the indirect burners turned to medium. The breast took about 20 minutes. They turned out very good.

The rest of the meal was spaghetti with a cream sauce that I froze a while back. I added some vegi's to the mix and served.

I wish I could remember the details of the cream sauce. I think it's trick was using chicken stock instead of water.

Dino's Pub II

Dino's has remodeled and got new furninture. It's gone from being a decent hole in the wall bar, to being a nice hole in the wall bar.

They have also expanded the menu.

The changes haven't scared off their customers. It looks like it's attracting more.

Dino's Pub

Dino's is a dingie local bar off NE 44th in Renton. The staff is friendly even if the service is slow.

There are three reasons to go to Dino's. The first two... $9.99 prime rib night on Wednesday. and $9.99 steak night on Thursday. In both cases a salad, baked potato with all the fixings and garlic bread come with your mean. The meat isn't always the best, but hey, your paying $9.99.

The third reason... It's not Denny's. There is a Denny's right behind Dino's. However unless it's 3am, and I'm very hungry, and no other place is open, I avoid Denny's.

Mucho Bueno

We went to Much Bueno on the recomendation of the Renton Hipster And, well, RO's margarita ended up having chips of glass in it. Aside from that, the food was good, plenyful and well priced.

The Fin and Bone

A very good restaurant-- seafood and steak house. We had great service.

As usual, Mark ran into martini problems. His martini came back warm. He did complain, but he saw the bartender put his old martini over old ice and a used shaker.

But... good service story... the waiter saw that Mark still wasn't happy with his Martini, so he got Mark a new Martini, and then asked why.

El Guacho vs the Melrose Grill

Let me start off by saying that I have had many great meals at the Melrose Grill. The steaks are excellent, the drinks are large and the service is friendly and efficient. I will go to the Melrose Grill again and again and I will always enjoy myself.

Then there is El Gaucho. El Gaucho is an A list restaurant in the middle of Belltown. Celebreties dine at El Gaucho and for good reason. The food and service are exceptional.

All staff are in tuxedos and they prepare your salads at your table. They bend over backwards to ensure you enjoy yourself. They have great pacing. You receive constant service without being rushed-- you feel like the table is yours for the night.

The food at El Gaucho is excellent-- large, very well prepared portions. Tasty and fresh ingredients. They end your meal with a fruit and cheese plate-- we had an excellent and large wedge of blue cheese.

So, comparing El Gaucho to the Melrose is a bit odd. But, it highlightes the dynamics of Seattle. And those dynamics have a direct effect on me-- I own a home decore in Kent-- a very nice home decore store in a city that A list Seattle would look down upon.

In Seattle, gap between rich a poor, or for that matter between rich and middle class is more prounounced than most cities. Thanks to boom in the 90's, companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks have turned tens of thousands of people into millionares and a half dozen or so into billionares. The result is a vibrant and pricy city.

So then, what about those of use who aren't poor, but still have to work for our money? We have three choices. Go deeply into debt to have a nice house or Condo in Seattle. Rent. Or live in the Burbs.

And that's where Renton comes in.

more later...

The Red House

Another great restaurant. It serves tasty tapas and excellent hand made desserts.

More importantly, they sell wine at retail plus a $5.00 corking fee. Let me repeat that. They sell wine at retail plus a $5.00 corking fee. I love having a good bottle of wine with my dinner that doesn't double the bill.

The chef and owner, Gino, is very friendly. When we questioned the waiter about one of our dishes, he passed the question on to Gino. Gino came out and told us all about our food-- the ingrediants and the recipies.