Whole Wheat Crust Pizza, A Work in Progress

As mentioned before in this very blog due to my reading of Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It, I have been experimenting with a couple of diets so as to have a better standpoint to refute some of his postulations, if not completely anecdotally.

The first diet has been to avoid high glycemic index carbs and to make sure that my fat and protein intake is equal to or outweighs my carb intake. The jury is still out. 

One of the things I must avoid is white flour and white flour products. This Sunday we had pizza night for which I would usually (and did indeed) use Daddy Bread dough. For myself I purchased some stone ground whole wheat flour and attempted to make dough in my bread machine.

I found the simplest recipe I could online; basically 3 cups flour, 1 1/4 cup water, a packet of yeast, 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Put everything in the canister with the flour going in last and turned on the bread machine. The dough had crept up the side of the canister in my absense and was immune to any kneading the machine attempted to dole out. What I had was clumps of dough-like substance.

I transferred this to the KitchenAid Stand Mixer with the dough hook attached and let it run for a few minutes. I shaped the still not contiguous mass into a rough ball and put it in a draft free place to rise, which it did, slightly. Then into the fridge until pizza day the next day.

My recipe was still basically this except that I rolled out half of my "dough" ball instead. It roughly stayed together, it was not round, it was not very thin. I topped it with delicious toppings and into the oven for 5 minutes.

The resulting pizza had a thick, dense, chewy, wheaty, yeasty crust and was actually quite tasty. I made another one the next day in a hot cast iron skillet on the stove to similar results.

I think I will have to become in the know about adding gluten for rise for my next batch.

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Banana Bread

Lately we have been ending up with bananas at the end of the week.

It makes sense that I would soon be Googling banana bread recipes.

This is the one I landed on. It appealed to me because it uses few ingredients, lots of bananas and nothing I didn't already have in the kitchen. Also, my wife hates nuts and this recipe doesn't call for them. Its nice not to have to wonder how the exclusion of nuts is going to affect the texture.

Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed, overripe bananas (I actually just use however many bananas are left at the end of the week)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar.

Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.

Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.


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Pan Roasted Broccoli

This is my favorite way to make broccoli and I think I've finally achieved a decent technique.

In a large bowl toss;

a few broccoli crowns broken into bite sized pieces
3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
a tablespoon or 2 of olive oil
salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste

Flip the contents of the bowl a few times to coat the broccoli pieces with the oil and seasonings.

Heat another couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a non-stick skillet over high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the broccoli. Let it cook with out moving it for 2 minutes. Shake the pan to redistribute the broccoli and cook 2 minutes more.

Add a few tablespoons water, cover, and cook 2 more minutes. Turn out onto a plate and enjoy.

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Friday Thoughts about a Couple of Local Businesses

I don't really have a recipe to write about today so I am going to mention 2 local businesses that my family loves.

The first is La Baguette, the bakery that is like an annex to Ghini's French Caffe. They are at 1797 East Prince here in Tucson. They have awesome artisanal breads, croissants, pies, cookies and cakes. We buy all of our bread there. I am especially fond of their pain de campagne when they have it and on the low G.I. diet I've been experimenting with, their rye, pumpernickel and whole grain loaves mean I can still have bread.

Their cookie selection changes with the seasons and I love their little white chocolate-lavender ones. Finn likes the sugar cookie with sprinkles.

The other place is Plaza Liquors & Fine Wines at 2642 North Campbell. They have a huge selection of individual bottles of craft beers cold. Mark, the owner, says that as a kid in the grocery store he always wanted his mom to but the variety pack of cereal. This led to 7 refrigerators whence you create your own six pack. I like to create a tasting series of six beers going from say light and hoppy to dark and robust in six perfect steps. It's always fun to see how it comes out.

Other specialties include 3 fridges of bombers, a huge selection of tequila and a fridge dedicated to ciders and fruit beers.

I strongly encourage you to check these folks out if you haven't. They appreciate the business and you'll appreciate the quality and service.

Happy Friday!

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Grilled Flat Iron Steak

I have been cooking through a few of Steven Raichlen's recipes as I was invited to mention his new product site. Also I needed some inspiration as I have been in a bit of a grilling rut.

The flat iron steak (also called chicken steak or top blade steak) is very beefy tasting and, therefore, delicious. There is a ribbon of connective tissue running through the middle so a presentation where the steak is finally sliced (as for fajitas much like this recipe) works out really well. You can slice the meat away from the gristle before your guests know its there.

Flat Iron Steaks Seasoned and Waiting for Marinade

The marinade has a beer base but the beer almost seems superfluous. I think any complimentary water type liquid in a small amount (I assume his 8 ounce bottle is a reference to "cook's treat") would work fine.

Grilled Flat Iron Steaks

For the steaks:

2 flatiron or skirt steaks (about 2 to 2-1/2 pounds, each about 3/8- to 3/4-inch thick)
salt & pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil

For the marinade:

1 bottle (8 ounces) dark Mexican beer
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 to 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and finely chopped (for hotter steaks, leave the seeds in)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

For serving:

2 bunches scallions, trimmed
4 to 8 jalapeño peppers
4 flour tortillas
lime wedges
your favorite salsa

Generously season the steaks on both sides with salt and black pepper. Place the steaks in a nonreactive baking dish just large enough to hold them and drizzle the olive oil over them. Turn the steaks a couple of times, rubbing them with your fingertips to coat with oil.

Make the marinade: Combine the beer, lime juice, onion, garlic, chopped jalapeño(s), and cilantro in a nonreactive mixing bowl and stir to mix. Pour the marinade over the steaks and let them marinate in the refrigerator, covered, for 1 to 2 hours, turning them a couple of times so that they marinate evenly.

Mmmmm! Swimming in Marinade, Very Limey!

Set up the grill for direct grilling.

Place the scallions and whole jalapenos on the hot grate and grill until nicely browned on all sides.

Grillin' with Friends, Aparagus

Transfer the grilled vegetables to a plate.

Remove the steaks from the marinade and drain, discarding the marinade. Place the steaks on the hot grate and grill until cooked to taste, 4 to 6 minutes per side for medium-rare. Season the steaks on both sides with salt and pepper. Transfer the grilled steaks to plates or a platter and let rest for 3 minutes.

Warm the tortillas on the grill, about 15 seconds per side, and transfer them to a cloth-lined basket. Serve the steaks with the grilled jalapenos, scallions, and tortillas and salsa on the side. To eat, wrap bite-size pieces of steak in a tortilla with some of the scallions, jalapenos, and salsa.

I would like to thank Steven Raichlen and Weber for the inspiration.

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Spaghetti and Meatballs

I told Finn that someday soon we should make meatballs. He said, "Real spaghetti and meatballs?! We have never made that!". This is a much stronger response than he normally generates for food so when I was presented with a pound or so of hamburger meat (second week in a row I didn't make hamburgers, the bane of my dieting existence) and only missing ground pork and veal from this well-worn recipe, I set out to not disappoint the boy. Plus he got to help!

As usual (except for the Celebrity Cookbook entries that I will get back to soon), this recipe is written as I made it.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

1 1/3 pound 85/15 ground beef
1 pound lean ground pork
2 cloves garlic, run through a garlic press
2 eggs
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups bread crumbs
2 cups or so lukewarm water
enough olive oil to fill a couple of skillets 1/8 - 1/4 inch deep

Combine beef and pork in a large bowl. Add garlic, eggs, cheese, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. In order to ascertain "to taste" at this point, I fried a tiny bit, tasted and added more.

Blend bread crumbs into meat mixture.

Slowly add the water 1/2 cup at a time.

The mixture should be very moist but still hold its shape if rolled into meatballs. Shape into meatballs.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Fry meatballs in batches.

When the meatball is very brown and slightly crisp remove from the heat and set aside.

And this is where the recipe ends... which is fine. And here is how we finish it;

After all the meatballs are browned, add back into the skillet with either a jar of your favorite marinara sauce or an equivalent amount of your favorite homemade marinara sauce and simmer for 45 minutes. Use the resulting mixture to dress a pound of spaghetti cooked per the directions on the box and serve with lots of grated grating cheese.

If you happen to have too much meatball mixture for your liking, press it into a loaf pan and cook at 350 degrees F until you're like, "what is that smell? Oh god, I forgot the meatloaf!". Allow to cool and eat out of the pan while you're waiting for your friends to arrive.

I remembered to take a pic before it was gone!

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Beer Can Chicken

Steven Raichlen is a guy I have been enjoying on television for years. Even if I generally don't cook his recipes verbatim, I always learn something new and get great ideas. He is the beer can chicken guy. I mean that's like being the "Melba" in "Melba toast" or the inventor of food or something.

One of the issues with this recipe is that the bird becomes unruly; wobbling around, dancing, flinging itself on the floor, or simply tapping it's knee? knuckle?, hands on hips, looking impatient, annoyed and headless.

Steven himself has come up with a solution for this here; a stainless steel beer can chicken apparatus that solves the stability problems and includes a reusable canister that can be filled with all matter of liquids (wine, broth, wine and broth, juice, wine and juice, the permutations are simply incalculable) if in some ridiculous fit of pique you tire of beer. I think what I'm trying to say is click the link and buy the thing... for me, actually, as I don't have one... yet.

So on my recent rereading and recooking of this old saw I had to deal with a truly unruly chicken made unrulier by my oversized can of Tecate brand beerlike product. I could barely impale my bird upon it and once impaled, it kept bumping it's (missing) head on the roof of it's Weber kettle resting place, necessitating paver bricks to keep the lid and chicken in place.

Beer Can Chicken

1 can beer, partially drunk
1 chicken
2 tablespoons rub (my recipe follows)
2 teaspoons oil

Start a fire set up for indirect heat including drip-pan. Rinse and dry your chicken with paper towels and rub or brush with oil. sprinkle rub on outside and inside of chicken and into the beer can. Rub rub into skin of chicken.

Impale chicken on the upright beer can. The can and the legs create a tripod to (ostensibly) keep the chicken upright.

Place over drip-pan (and indirect heat), start checking for doneness after 1 hour and fifteen minutes. If you are using coals, you'll need to add twelve fresh coals per side after 1 hour.

Then, according to Steven, "Present the bird to your guests. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes, then carefully lift it off its support. Take care not to spill the hot beer or otherwise burn yourself. Halve, quarter, or carve the chicken and serve."

I quickly improvised this rub;

1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoons Kosher salt

Mix together in small bowl.

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