Showing posts with label pizza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pizza. Show all posts
Monday, 24 December 2018
Identity Theft, Pizza, Burger, Spain
There is definitely something wrong! I know it! Lately, things are going quite differently around here. Just today, we did our spring cleaning, while winter just started a few days ago. My mind is off the track. Yes, you know, but this time it's even worse. I think I lost my identity. Someone robbed it. While I was thinking about writing something for the blog after such a long time and for not having just two entries for the whole year, the thoughts didn't come up in German, no, not even in English, but it was Spanish. I guess Rodrigo or Rodriguez is taking over again ...
Monday, 17 April 2017
Game Over?! Beer Butt Chicken with Cheese and Onion Bread
Do you like to play? I don’t mind a good game of … different things. I even used to like computer games a lot. I also used to have a dart board in my flat … I had to paste over a lot of holes in the wall. However, I still appreciate a game of darts once in a while. I’m not so good at it, but why not relax a bit and have some fun. The fun stops when you are playing a game of elimination and you have reached far some points and could even go as far as winning and then … someone scores your number and you go back to zero, nada, zip.
There is simply no fun in starting at the bottom again.
Still, there is food, there is comforting food. Fine, a bit of chocolate once in a while isn’t bad, however, there is no way you get it away from your hips again at some point.
So, talk other food …
A lovely homemade pizza always works for me. For sure it also will settle on the hips, but at least you got something for it.
This time, I made double the amount of dough, though. Not to have more pizza, but to make some bread as well.
I just made my normal pizza dough with 1000 g of flour – a mixture of normal wheat flour, strong baking flour and semolina flour – 600 ml of water, a splash of olive oil, 14 g of dried yeast, a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of sugar. Well … eh … mix the yeast, olive oil, water and sugar together. Leave it for some minutes and then pour it into the bowl with the flour and salt and make your dough.
Now, all this pizza and bread making business takes a while with all that rising proving and baking and everything. Luckily I could enjoy the pizza right away after baking and while the bread went into the oven.
Well, in between I prepared some kind of dessert, which, though, could not be eaten right after the pizza. At least I can say, I poached my first pear …
Anyway, this post is not about poaching pears or pizza. It’s rather about a chicken that is going to be baked in a special … eh … way.
Still, before we go to this, some more details regarding the cheese and onion bread. Remember, I already showed you the pre-baked loaf. The dough had to make it’s way from pizza dough to cheese and onion bread dough. Therefore I fried some onions with a bit of garlic (no, now it’s not cheese and onion and garlic bread, although … technically) and added them along with some 100 g of grated cheese to the dough, kneading all the ingredients in.
Here is the finished bread. It had to wait for it’s turn a while, because part of it was going to be consumed with a Beer Butt Chicken.
So, here goes my meal planning … off to the shop, because there are some essential parts missing for next weeks breakfasts …
Here comes the meat area … “Oh they have some decent chickens on offer. I could take one home and stick a beer can up its -censored- … eh … well, I could do a Beer Butt Chicken.”
Home!
I know I have a recipe for it somewhere. It must be in one of Jamie’s book. So I leafed through all possible books and couldn’t find anything. Ask the Internet!
Oh, there we go with the recipe: It’s in Jamie’s America. Fine, could have taken that one from the shelf as well and have a look.
We’ll do that then!
As a bonus you are to drink have the beer before you start cooking. Well, you could set half a glass of beer aside for later consumption, but … what’s the point in that.
Important things done: beer can is ready.
Now we need a spice rub for the chicken. Basically it’s quite simple: Heaped teaspoon of fennel seeds and level teaspoon of cumin seeds bashed up in a mortar. Then add a level teaspoon of smoked paprika, chilli powder and a heaped teaspoon of brown sugar. Salt and pepper and a bit of olive oil to bring it all together.
Just before we go to the part were beer and butt meet, we gentle rub the chicken with the spice rub. The oven is heated to 200 °C.
Now the chicken is ready to go to the oven for 70 to 90 minutes on the lowest possible rack.
Sometimes, that is if you can and if you want to, it’s good to plan ahead. When you start with all this at the time you normally would be ready to eat, all this doesn’t sound like such a brillant idea.
I never said I was a smart one!
What to do in this 90 minutes, while you are in fact hungry? Good question, next one, please!
I had some grapes and got the idea for a quick dessert for later on. Additionally I prepared a tomato salad as some kind of alibi for my meal.
Still, so much time left!
In fact, quite often there is a lot of time left, but … I feel like I rather want to do nothing, just sitting there with some music blasting from the speakers. Today I feel a bit brave and have a surprise mix from all my music.
So it goes like quiet music maybe classic or a tune from a movie. Bam! A smashing hit with some music that wants you to dance. Blob! A tune that rather wants you to cry. Bam! Get up, some feel good music (didn’t know I would react to some songs like that). Blob! Oh that one makes you think about … eh … something. Speaking of thinking, today I saw a girl that reminded me of someone that I used to know … some 20 years ago. I was shocked at first sight, don’t know why, though. Bam! I should remove the chicken from the oven …
… get some smoke from the oven into the entire flat. I might consider opening a window or two.
Here we are with the chicken. Now remove the beer can. My first thought was to grab the can with my bare hand and pull off the chicken with the other … I told you … smart – not!
A more sensitive approach finally brought the chicken from can to plate. Finally, ready for eating. We just manage to avert starvation.
You see my alibi on the top edge and the cheese and onion bread at the bottom. Now I was willing to make use of my hands and dig into that chicken …
Already at the slightest touch the meat comes off the bones. It’s so tender and juicy and … ouch … yes, still hot.
Either I must have slept away most of my brain in the past few weeks or I have an increased willingness to take unnecessary risks or I was simply too hungry to be careful.
Anyway, these days I have to make the most of bright moments. Then I especially enjoy to drive my car like a racing car in day to day driving and … I enjoy some good food. I reckon, I succeeded this weekend. Already the pizza yesterday was a killer one (oh, I like the sound of it) and now the chicken: relish. Have a closer look again.
If you think I ate that chicken alone, then … you are … eh … forget about it.
I’d rather go to the fridge and grab my previously prepared creme chantilly with grapes …
And this is all for today … eh … Game Over!!!
Saturday, 15 March 2014
Chain Reaction: Italian Week - Tomato Sauce, Pizza and Lasagne
Sometimes one thing leads to another. I like to have some kind of cooking chain reaction, when the leftovers of a meal come to star in another meal or two or even more. I dreamt of five meals or so. Well, I will be satisfied with less ... for now.
It all started with a tomato sauce. No, not exactly, it started when I found some lovely celery sticks and carrots smiling at me. When celery and carrots smile at a man, the only thing you can do is smile back and ... cook with them.
Meal 1: Pasta with Tomato Sauce (call it vegetarian bolognese, if you like)
Before I go on, I just want to tell you, I couldn't find the photos of the pasta with tomato sauce. Maybe that's because I didn't take any.
I put a large pan with olive oil on medium heat. Then I went about finely chopping two cloves of garlic, an onion, four celery sticks and two large carrots. All the tiny bits of vegetable ... eh, maybe I didn't chop them that fine ... went into the pan in order to be soften. Have patience and enjoy the process.
Next I poured a tin of tomatoes (400 ml) into the pan with some extra water. I better should ave taken two tins or a larger one. That's why I added some fresh tomatoes and a bit of tomato puree later on. Oh, some chopped up red chillies will give the sauce some extra heat, too.
It's important not to forget the seasoning. Good I didn't forget it the same way I forgot the photos and (you will see later) something else.
Anyway, now you want to get the content of the pan boiling and then leave it simmering for 30 minutes.
At this point you check the seasoning again. Better safe than sorry.
Now a splash of red wine vinegar comes in handy and ... you have to make a decision. You could just break up the tomatoes with a spoon or put the whole sauce into a blender and ... let things go. I went with blender. I wasn't in the mood for coarse consistency this time.
Finally I added some chopped up fresh basil.
Cook your pasta according to the package instructions, if you are not doing fresh pasta.
Again, if you don't forget, you could catch up some of the cooking water to add to the sauce.
Whatever the case, have a plate of pasta with the tomato sauce and some parmesan on top. It won't disappoint you.
Of course we have some leftover tomato sauce in order to continue ...
Meal 2: Four-cheese Pizza
I had to do this. It was about time I do a post with pizza again. You can never have too much.
I want some tomato sauce for my pizza before I put the final topping on, no matter what it is. At least that is what I think right now. Well, I can't remember it otherwise right now, I forgot it (with all this forgetting, I reckon I am getting old).
Fine, we already have our tomato sauce for the pizza. What else? Of course, the pizza dough. You can use your favourite pizza dough or have a look here for a recipe.
More? Sure, the four cheeses. I took buffalo mozzarella, gorgonzola, parmesan and a fourth very delicious Italian cheese, which unfortunately I (here it comes again) forgot the name of. The cheese was very creamy and in fact you get the most of that cheese when you eat it just the way it is. Yum!
Once you have all the components read, heat up the oven to 250 °C (unless you have a pizza oven). Roll out your dough and thinly spread on some of that tomato sauce. Then scatter as much of the cheese all over the pizza. Make sure to taste small bits of cheese to survive the time until the food is ready.
If you feel like it, you can finish off the pizza with a splash of olive oil. Since we are having an Italian week here, in fact, you can put a splash of olive oil to anything we are having.
My pizza was ready after 15 minutes ... well, I cut it into pieces ...
... and went for it ...
It was so yummy, I could have had more. Luckily, I already had frozen the remaining pizza dough. In time, that would be meal 4, but until then it is resting in piece.
So, if you love cheese, that's your pizza. At least it's mine. Even now while I am writing this done I am starting to salivate again. Or is this due to the fact I had some of meal 3 ...
Meal 3: Lasagne (do I have to say more)
Still I am doing Italian ... thanks to that lovely tomato sauce. I was so glad I still had that much left over.
Another pan goes onto the oven and again some olive oil is heated up.
I have 500 g of minced pork that needs some browning in the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Watch as the heat does it's job. Add the tomato sauce when the meat is ready. Stir through well and heat the sauce up.
Meanwhile you have a sufficiently large tin (mine was 35 cm x 25 cm) ready. Add some - I told you so - olive oil to the bottom of the tin. then lay out a layer of lasagne sheets.
Oh, we would need some kind of bechamel for the lasagne as well, I reckon. Nah, forget about it. We are doing a cheat version. Mix 200 g of crème fraîche with salt, pepper, a large hand full of grated parmesan and an egg.
Next onto the lasagne sheets goes a half of the minced pork tomato sauce, then half of the bechamel cheat, then some lasagne sheets again, followed by the remaining meat, followed by the remaining bechamel cheat. Well, how does that look?
Obviously something is missing. Ah, here we go, I topped the whole thing with 200 g of grated mozzarella cheese and ... you know.
30 - 35 minutes in the oven, which has been heated up to 200 °C, will do. The cheese will turn brownish.
Now you would only need to slice the lasagne up and serve it. Dig in! The lasagne was as delicious as the pizza. Dangerously delicious!
You might get some further ideas and serve a rocket and tomato salad on the side. However, I was satisfied with as it was. After all, I know about all those vegetables hidden in that meal.
When some lovely ingredients smile at you, smile back and get cooking.
Now, what about you, do you have any chain reactions going on in your kitchen? While I don't want to turn this into a blog challenge necessarily, why not share your Food Chain Reaction Stories with us by linking up a post in the comments and ... see what will happen.
Since I also made good use of the leftover tomato sauce, this is a fitting post for Elizabeth's from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary No Waste Food Challenge, which ... what a coincidence ... is hosted by my own self this month.
It all started with a tomato sauce. No, not exactly, it started when I found some lovely celery sticks and carrots smiling at me. When celery and carrots smile at a man, the only thing you can do is smile back and ... cook with them.
Meal 1: Pasta with Tomato Sauce (call it vegetarian bolognese, if you like)
Before I go on, I just want to tell you, I couldn't find the photos of the pasta with tomato sauce. Maybe that's because I didn't take any.
I put a large pan with olive oil on medium heat. Then I went about finely chopping two cloves of garlic, an onion, four celery sticks and two large carrots. All the tiny bits of vegetable ... eh, maybe I didn't chop them that fine ... went into the pan in order to be soften. Have patience and enjoy the process.
Next I poured a tin of tomatoes (400 ml) into the pan with some extra water. I better should ave taken two tins or a larger one. That's why I added some fresh tomatoes and a bit of tomato puree later on. Oh, some chopped up red chillies will give the sauce some extra heat, too.
It's important not to forget the seasoning. Good I didn't forget it the same way I forgot the photos and (you will see later) something else.
Anyway, now you want to get the content of the pan boiling and then leave it simmering for 30 minutes.
At this point you check the seasoning again. Better safe than sorry.
Now a splash of red wine vinegar comes in handy and ... you have to make a decision. You could just break up the tomatoes with a spoon or put the whole sauce into a blender and ... let things go. I went with blender. I wasn't in the mood for coarse consistency this time.
Finally I added some chopped up fresh basil.
Cook your pasta according to the package instructions, if you are not doing fresh pasta.
Again, if you don't forget, you could catch up some of the cooking water to add to the sauce.
Whatever the case, have a plate of pasta with the tomato sauce and some parmesan on top. It won't disappoint you.
Of course we have some leftover tomato sauce in order to continue ...
Meal 2: Four-cheese Pizza
I had to do this. It was about time I do a post with pizza again. You can never have too much.
I want some tomato sauce for my pizza before I put the final topping on, no matter what it is. At least that is what I think right now. Well, I can't remember it otherwise right now, I forgot it (with all this forgetting, I reckon I am getting old).
Fine, we already have our tomato sauce for the pizza. What else? Of course, the pizza dough. You can use your favourite pizza dough or have a look here for a recipe.
More? Sure, the four cheeses. I took buffalo mozzarella, gorgonzola, parmesan and a fourth very delicious Italian cheese, which unfortunately I (here it comes again) forgot the name of. The cheese was very creamy and in fact you get the most of that cheese when you eat it just the way it is. Yum!
Once you have all the components read, heat up the oven to 250 °C (unless you have a pizza oven). Roll out your dough and thinly spread on some of that tomato sauce. Then scatter as much of the cheese all over the pizza. Make sure to taste small bits of cheese to survive the time until the food is ready.
If you feel like it, you can finish off the pizza with a splash of olive oil. Since we are having an Italian week here, in fact, you can put a splash of olive oil to anything we are having.
My pizza was ready after 15 minutes ... well, I cut it into pieces ...
... and went for it ...
It was so yummy, I could have had more. Luckily, I already had frozen the remaining pizza dough. In time, that would be meal 4, but until then it is resting in piece.
So, if you love cheese, that's your pizza. At least it's mine. Even now while I am writing this done I am starting to salivate again. Or is this due to the fact I had some of meal 3 ...
Meal 3: Lasagne (do I have to say more)
Still I am doing Italian ... thanks to that lovely tomato sauce. I was so glad I still had that much left over.
Another pan goes onto the oven and again some olive oil is heated up.
I have 500 g of minced pork that needs some browning in the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Watch as the heat does it's job. Add the tomato sauce when the meat is ready. Stir through well and heat the sauce up.
Meanwhile you have a sufficiently large tin (mine was 35 cm x 25 cm) ready. Add some - I told you so - olive oil to the bottom of the tin. then lay out a layer of lasagne sheets.
Oh, we would need some kind of bechamel for the lasagne as well, I reckon. Nah, forget about it. We are doing a cheat version. Mix 200 g of crème fraîche with salt, pepper, a large hand full of grated parmesan and an egg.
Next onto the lasagne sheets goes a half of the minced pork tomato sauce, then half of the bechamel cheat, then some lasagne sheets again, followed by the remaining meat, followed by the remaining bechamel cheat. Well, how does that look?
Obviously something is missing. Ah, here we go, I topped the whole thing with 200 g of grated mozzarella cheese and ... you know.
30 - 35 minutes in the oven, which has been heated up to 200 °C, will do. The cheese will turn brownish.
Now you would only need to slice the lasagne up and serve it. Dig in! The lasagne was as delicious as the pizza. Dangerously delicious!
You might get some further ideas and serve a rocket and tomato salad on the side. However, I was satisfied with as it was. After all, I know about all those vegetables hidden in that meal.
When some lovely ingredients smile at you, smile back and get cooking.
Now, what about you, do you have any chain reactions going on in your kitchen? While I don't want to turn this into a blog challenge necessarily, why not share your Food Chain Reaction Stories with us by linking up a post in the comments and ... see what will happen.
Since I also made good use of the leftover tomato sauce, this is a fitting post for Elizabeth's from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary No Waste Food Challenge, which ... what a coincidence ... is hosted by my own self this month.

Labels:
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onion,
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Tuesday, 17 December 2013
Chuck Away the Telly ... Have Some Twisted Round Pizza Bread
Right there in the most of the time dark corner sits a piece of equipment, the television set. I got it from work some months - or was it years? - ago and I almost never used it for tuning in into some television programs. Fine, once I connected a free SAT receiver to try to connect to the already installed satellite dish for the house. The receiver broke before the seek run was over. It never recovered.
Sometimes I watch a DVD using the television, but ... I don't really need it. I might as well chuck it away. I never switched it on since I live here.
Do I believe that television broadcasting is entirely evil and good for nothing?
Well ... eh ... um ... eh ... no, not really. A workmate told me how I can watch telly on the Internet ... after all a lot of channels give the opportunity to watch their program online ...
Since then I discovered some nice programs.
For instance, since we are visiting South Africa for Bloggers Around the World, I started watching Masterchef South Africa from 2012 and ... I love it.
Now I would stop talking about television programs and get to some cooking, but ... eh ... just briefly ... the following dish is inspired by Paul Hollywood's Bread, which I watched once. Maybe it was the last show that was running.
I didn't really remember the recipe, but just took up the basic idea. What did I do then?
Sometimes I watch a DVD using the television, but ... I don't really need it. I might as well chuck it away. I never switched it on since I live here.
Do I believe that television broadcasting is entirely evil and good for nothing?
Well ... eh ... um ... eh ... no, not really. A workmate told me how I can watch telly on the Internet ... after all a lot of channels give the opportunity to watch their program online ...
Since then I discovered some nice programs.
For instance, since we are visiting South Africa for Bloggers Around the World, I started watching Masterchef South Africa from 2012 and ... I love it.
Now I would stop talking about television programs and get to some cooking, but ... eh ... just briefly ... the following dish is inspired by Paul Hollywood's Bread, which I watched once. Maybe it was the last show that was running.
I didn't really remember the recipe, but just took up the basic idea. What did I do then?
Labels:
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Thursday, 30 May 2013
We are doomed ... an Invasion is coming ... a Pizza Invasion
Beware! Do not be mislead, there is danger lurking. Something terrifying beyond your imagination. I'm not talking about an invasion of mutated evil killer something. No! It's worse. Be warned and be careful and ... continue reading anyway.
Well, I'm not a fan of such kind of movies anyway. However, what we are talking about might pose a real threat to your possibilities to wear a proper swimsuit or bikini or that sort of beach apparel this summer. That is, of course, if find time during that week or day of summer.
On the other hand ... moderation might help. Decide for yourself!
It's been some time now I last posted something about pizza. So I thought I could go for it again. I've gathered some ... eh ... photos of ... eh ... some pizza I had over the last few weeks. Strangely, they look not much different. One day I might get some lovely ideas on how to take picture of pizza in a nice way.
Basically I want to mention a few toppings I tried. The basic dough and sauce you can find in another post.
Let's get this invasion going.
We start with this meaty version with Leberkäse and onions. You might remember Leberkäse from an older post. Well, anyway, that pizza was alright, but lacked in certain burning abilities. Cannot always have that.
Speaking of burning ... chorizo and chilli might do the trick. At least it always works for me. You might need to be a bit cautious with this one. It might bring you some extra weight. Or will the fire of the chorizo and chilli help burning some undesirable ... eh ... things. We will never know.
What about some fish. Putting some tuna on a pizza ... no big deal, anyone can do that. Therefore I decided to add some salmon and and some anchovy fillets as well. That was a pizza I enjoyed, too, although it wasn't burning hot.
More to come. If I tell you were the idea came from, you might think it's fish again, but ... alright, start at the beginning. This one I topped with the leftover sauce from the Tonno di Nonna Fangitta, though, without the tonno.
It isn't over yet. This now is the overly cheesy version, not just mozzarella, but also some Gouda and French Camembert. I would have added even more cheese, but hey ... was I supposed to call it Quintuple Cheese Pizza. I guess triple cheese will do ... for now. For just the minute I mention this I feel the challenge coming up on me to really try this quintuple something. Funny what this writing is doing to my brain.
Pizza invasion, yes, some more ... this time with pieces of merguez sausages in the sauce.
Now all that talking about pizza made me hungry.
I hoped you enjoyed the invasion in some way. Now, if you would have a few slices of each of those pizzas, that would pose a real threat to your bikini figure something hopes or ... alternatively ... to your wardrobe, which would need replacement due to shortage of material at certain spots of your body. Go, figure it out for yourself.
However, what do you like to throw on your pizza?
Well, I'm not a fan of such kind of movies anyway. However, what we are talking about might pose a real threat to your possibilities to wear a proper swimsuit or bikini or that sort of beach apparel this summer. That is, of course, if find time during that week or day of summer.
On the other hand ... moderation might help. Decide for yourself!
It's been some time now I last posted something about pizza. So I thought I could go for it again. I've gathered some ... eh ... photos of ... eh ... some pizza I had over the last few weeks. Strangely, they look not much different. One day I might get some lovely ideas on how to take picture of pizza in a nice way.
Basically I want to mention a few toppings I tried. The basic dough and sauce you can find in another post.
Let's get this invasion going.
We start with this meaty version with Leberkäse and onions. You might remember Leberkäse from an older post. Well, anyway, that pizza was alright, but lacked in certain burning abilities. Cannot always have that.
Speaking of burning ... chorizo and chilli might do the trick. At least it always works for me. You might need to be a bit cautious with this one. It might bring you some extra weight. Or will the fire of the chorizo and chilli help burning some undesirable ... eh ... things. We will never know.
What about some fish. Putting some tuna on a pizza ... no big deal, anyone can do that. Therefore I decided to add some salmon and and some anchovy fillets as well. That was a pizza I enjoyed, too, although it wasn't burning hot.
More to come. If I tell you were the idea came from, you might think it's fish again, but ... alright, start at the beginning. This one I topped with the leftover sauce from the Tonno di Nonna Fangitta, though, without the tonno.
It isn't over yet. This now is the overly cheesy version, not just mozzarella, but also some Gouda and French Camembert. I would have added even more cheese, but hey ... was I supposed to call it Quintuple Cheese Pizza. I guess triple cheese will do ... for now. For just the minute I mention this I feel the challenge coming up on me to really try this quintuple something. Funny what this writing is doing to my brain.
Pizza invasion, yes, some more ... this time with pieces of merguez sausages in the sauce.
Now all that talking about pizza made me hungry.
I hoped you enjoyed the invasion in some way. Now, if you would have a few slices of each of those pizzas, that would pose a real threat to your bikini figure something hopes or ... alternatively ... to your wardrobe, which would need replacement due to shortage of material at certain spots of your body. Go, figure it out for yourself.
However, what do you like to throw on your pizza?
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
"Empty chairs at empty tables" ... Beef wrap and beyond
Here comes another strange beginning of a post ... after a few days of silence. Don't be disappointed, if you are not able to grasp the full meaning of what I'm going to say. I try not to stir up too much confusion ...
"There's a grief that can't be spoken.
There's a pain goes on and on.
Empty chairs at empty tables
Now my friends are dead and gone."
There's a pain goes on and on.
Empty chairs at empty tables
Now my friends are dead and gone."
Well, to clear things up right away: no one of my friends died. I simply didn't want to tear the strophe apart.
While it may be of advantage to have it quiet and enjoy some peace, under other circumstances the same situation could be a cause for grieving. When all the chairs at the tables in a restaurant would be empty for a long time that would be very disadvantageous.
Fine, I don't have a restaurant, no worries! There might be empty chairs at empty tables, but no one pays me for my food anyway.
It's only I have to manage to eat up all the amounts of food by myself.
Along that line it happened to be the case there were still some unused wheat tortillas left that needed attention. Therefore it was only natural to have some wraps. I went to buy some minced beef and then the story begins to unfold ...
Beef wrap:
A bit of oil
300 g minced beef
1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
1 tbs tabasco ... or more (?)
1 tbs tomato puree
300 g kidney beans
Salt and flaked chili
Some wheat tortillas
Red onion, in rings
Iceberg lettuce
Grated cheese (hopefully)
Go for it:
Start frying the beef in a bit of oil until it takes on colour. Then add the tomato puree and tabasco and stir.
It's time for the beans to join. Just do it! Let it warm through and season with salt, chili and the crushed fennel seeds.
A bit more on the fire and the meat is ready.
Now heat up the wheat tortillas somehow. After that it's time to wrap it up.
Take some of the beef, a bit chopped iceberg lettuce, a few onion rings and some grated cheese. If you like you can add a bit of your favourite sauce.
Sadly I forgot to add the cheese, but originally I wanted to use it.
As you see, though, such an amount of beef and bean mixture would be just too much for one person in one go. So I had to come up with something else.
No worries! Have some pizza, I thought. While preparing the dough I got confronted with other ideas. I prepared too much dough anyway ... good for two pizzas.
A not so cleverly taken photo doesn't reveal, what happened to the beef and bean mixture, but you simply have to belief me that it is inside.
What about the other half of the dough?
Bacon and egg pizza. Can you imagine to eat those two alone? Or what about pizza for breakfast ...
... you wouldn't do that, would you?
Back now to were we began our journey of this post. For those of you who have a bit of interest in music or musicals, to be a bit more precise, may have already noticed those lines at the beginning ...
While roaming the streets of London on my own, suddenly I had the idea to go and see it. I wasn't disappointed.
Afterwards, it wasn't too late, I still needed some food. Nearby I found an empty table with empty cairs at the Cafe España. Altough the food wasn't looking too fancy, I enjoyed some good tapas.
Some patatas bravas, bread with garlic cream and some aubergine. There was also some chicken with a lemony sauce. However, that was last year and I didn't manage to take some nicer photos.
Now it happened to be the case that they managed to make a musical movie of Les Misérables behind my back. Nevertheless, I noticed it finally. So I have no chance, but to see it on it's own and see how it is.
At least, the music is already in my head and ... "Empty chairs at empty tables" ...
Labels:
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Friday, 1 February 2013
Mexican Leftover Management: Tortilla Soup and Pizza
We managed already one month of 2013. What do you think? So far it was pretty much the same as in 2012. Well, there have been a few negative changes over the past few days, but ... it's always better to focus on the positive aspects of life ... hm ... like food, for example Mexican food.
You have still have nearly half a month to participate in the current Bloggers Around The World with the theme Mexico. As I was preparing my own entry the other day, Pimiento Mexicano con Huevos, I promised you to tell you what I did with the leftovers I had.
That pizza was one thing. In fact it was quite easy. Just prepare you usual pizza dough and then top it with the leftover Pimiento Mexicano con Huevos. Well, it was not exactly what I did. There were a few more ... eh ... special things I did.
First of all I substituted the semolina flour I usually add to my pizza dough with corn flour. Fine, this was the main thing. I also added a bit more cheese and sprinkled a bit of black pepper and olive oil on top. Now, that's all!
This pizza was quite nice and enjoyable. What a shame I can't have pizza right now. Maybe next week again ...
Now it happened also to be the case that there were leftover tortillas. In fact that was already kind of cunningly schemed beforehand. I wanted to have a tortilla soup.
Here is how you could do it as well ...
Ingredients:
50 g bacon, chopped into small bits
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 red chili, finely chopped
4 wheat tortillas, cut into stripes
500 ml beef stock
Salt
50 g grated cheese
Method:
To start with we slightly brown the bacon, onion and chili together in our pot.
Then we add the stripes of the wheat tortillas and pour over the beef stock. Season the soup according to your taste and bring to the boil.
Ready! You can fill the soup into individual bowls. Toss in some grated cheese and put it either briefly under the grill or if you don't have one, just go for it ...
Have you noticed something else in connection with this blog? Well, maybe you can check it later, but on Monday it will be one year after my first post. Just saying!
You have still have nearly half a month to participate in the current Bloggers Around The World with the theme Mexico. As I was preparing my own entry the other day, Pimiento Mexicano con Huevos, I promised you to tell you what I did with the leftovers I had.
That pizza was one thing. In fact it was quite easy. Just prepare you usual pizza dough and then top it with the leftover Pimiento Mexicano con Huevos. Well, it was not exactly what I did. There were a few more ... eh ... special things I did.
First of all I substituted the semolina flour I usually add to my pizza dough with corn flour. Fine, this was the main thing. I also added a bit more cheese and sprinkled a bit of black pepper and olive oil on top. Now, that's all!
This pizza was quite nice and enjoyable. What a shame I can't have pizza right now. Maybe next week again ...
Now it happened also to be the case that there were leftover tortillas. In fact that was already kind of cunningly schemed beforehand. I wanted to have a tortilla soup.
Here is how you could do it as well ...
Ingredients:
50 g bacon, chopped into small bits
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 red chili, finely chopped
4 wheat tortillas, cut into stripes
500 ml beef stock
Salt
50 g grated cheese
Method:
To start with we slightly brown the bacon, onion and chili together in our pot.
Then we add the stripes of the wheat tortillas and pour over the beef stock. Season the soup according to your taste and bring to the boil.
Ready! You can fill the soup into individual bowls. Toss in some grated cheese and put it either briefly under the grill or if you don't have one, just go for it ...

Have you noticed something else in connection with this blog? Well, maybe you can check it later, but on Monday it will be one year after my first post. Just saying!
Monday, 6 August 2012
Scotty, beam me up ... frustration or pizza
Space: The final frontier. These are the voyages of ... To boldly go where no man has gone before ... (Just play the video in the background to get the proper atmosphere!)
... well, not quite. How about the following?
Food: The final frontier. These are the voyages of Cooking Around the World ... To boldly cook what no one has cooked before.
Facing the facts, though, it can be quite challenging to cook something that no one has cooked before. A lot of people are cooking a lot of wonderful things around the world and many a thing has be done before ... mainly.
No worries, though! I didn't really plan to do anything like that. In fact, very often I just prepare things I have done before (and others of course). Maybe there is just a slight change of amounts or ingredients or something else.
Well, that line of thought is not getting to far.
It was time for pizza again. The main things were ready to go. I wanted to have half semolina and half strong baking flour for the dough amounting to 500 g of flour combined with 300 ml of water and 7 g of dried yeast, a bit of olive oil, sugar and salt.
OK, clear this up a bit. The flour goes into a bowl with a pinch of salt. The 300 ml of water get the dried yeast, oil and sugar. So far so good. Well, I didn't have 250 g of semolina left. No worries, just take a bit more of the other flour. Salt, and ready!
Now pour the water with the yeast to the flour and ... have a real wet dough, nearly swimming. What's wrong? I always use 300 ml of warm water. Hm, mixed it up and filled water until the 300 marker for flour ... so it must have been about 600 ml of water. A bit confused today, aren't we?
So, simply add flour until the dough gets fine ... yes, and well, some more yeast. Fine, we saved that, time for the dough to rise and to get the thoughts on the sauce for the pizza.
We start off with frying some sliced garlic in olive oil and throw in some basil leaves later. Then only a 400 ml tin of tomatoes and some extra water, bring to the boil and then simmer for some time.
Why not use the time for a change and bring down some rubbish. Said and done. Oh, let's get a new bag for rubbish. There we have a new roll of bags. Get one. Hm, strange, the bag has to openings ... useless! What about the next? Two openings! The next? Two openings ... all of them. Great!
Oh, what is that over there? Why is it that the door of the freezer is slightly open? Oh, oh! That was not on purpose. Let's think ... it must be like that for three days now. Have a closer look. It seems like the meat must be defrosted ... for some time now ... and all the other things. To cut things at least a bit shorter ... most of it for the bin and mopping up some water and cleaning up the freezer.
I decided only three small chocolate cakes could be saved and the thing I had put in three days ago ... (oh, that's how it happened ...). Scotty, beam me up! It gets to frustrating down here! So after working some time on that ... yes, the tomato sauce was still going and reducing itself towards nothingness or worse. Save! Turn it off and remove it from the heat.
Take a few breaths. We just wanted to have some pizza. So let's get on with it. The dough had enough time. Roll it out and top it with some lovely things. We have here this sauce ... kind of. We put some slices of chorizo and mozzarella on it. There on the windowsill are also these nice chillies. Some already have turned red. Get some of those. Taste check! Hm, just taste like normal peppers, not really hot. Put them on anyway. By the way, the sauce couldn't be finished properly and so I discovered, before it was too late, that it could need some seasoning. Done!
Finish the pizza with some olive oil and dried oregano and bake it at highest heat possible for 15 minutes. At least that worked with no further incidents.
Now there is some dough left (the water and flour thing). What do we do with it? Do some bread.
As we see it, life is not always smooth sailing. However, it's not the cards you get that matters, but how you manage to play with them. Well, I managed to write that up here ... somehow. I only hope there are no further surprises for me in the coming days ... Well, then: "May you live long and prosper!"
Sunday, 27 May 2012
Turkish Pizza: Lahmacun
The problem is, when I have a certain image in my mind of wanting something special to eat, I'm not satisfied, if I get it only in a different way. Did this sound logic or understandable. Or should I say: When I want something, then I want it in certain way, or I am not happy with it. Whatever, forget it.
In the town where I grew up, there was this Turkish food place called „Sivas“ something. They used feta cheese and chillies on their doners and lahmacums. But not often I have found something like this again, if at all. Then you have to do it yourself again.
So, let's try to do our own lahmacun. The word lahmacun come from an old Aramaic expression which means "meat with dough". So that's what we are going to have, more or less.
So, let's try to do our own lahmacun. The word lahmacun come from an old Aramaic expression which means "meat with dough". So that's what we are going to have, more or less.
Ingredients:
500 g flour
7 g dried yeast
300 ml lukewarm water
250 g minced meat (lamb or beef)
400 g of tinned tomatoes
one onion finely chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
oil for frying
parsley
salt, paprika, pepper, chili flakes
2-3 handful finely cut iceberg lettuce mixed with lemon and olive oil
200 g sheep (not cheap) feta cheese (nice creamy Turkish one)
some pickled Turkish chillies
Method:
Sift the flour into a bowl. Add a pinch of salt and the yeast. Bit by bit add the water and turn all into a nice smooth dough. Maybe you don't have to use all the water. Or you might end up with the dough being too wet. Then you go and add more flour and it is too dry, then you add more water and it gets too wet, then more flour ...
So better be careful in the first place to avoid this back and forth thing. When you finally managed to get the dough right and you didn't use the double amount of flour you can put the dough for rising in a warm place and cover it with a wet kitchen towel and leave it for one hour.
Meanwhile you can give your attention to the sauce for the pizza. Heat up some oil in a pan and put the garlic into it. You get a nice garlicky smell. If that happens and before the garlic gets black (you definitely don't want that), add the onion to the pan and continue until they get nice and soft.
Then it's time for the minced meat to go into the pan so that you can fry it through. Once that is done, you can pour the tinned tomatoes in. Fill the tin halfway with water and pour it into the sauce as well. Season it properly with all the lovely seasonings you put ready for this dish. Make sure that you get it right. If you know that others don't like to have it spicy and you don't plan to share, make it really spicy. If you are rather nice and sensible, watch your seasoning.
The dough should be ready, at least after 60 minutes! Divide the dough into 6 balls. Using a rolling pin roll them out in a fairly round way to approx. 3 mm thickness. If it's not too round, no worries.
Spread some of the sauce on each "round" pizza base, leaving a small edge uncovered and make sure you don't put too much sauce on. Spread it just thinly.
So better be careful in the first place to avoid this back and forth thing. When you finally managed to get the dough right and you didn't use the double amount of flour you can put the dough for rising in a warm place and cover it with a wet kitchen towel and leave it for one hour.
Meanwhile you can give your attention to the sauce for the pizza. Heat up some oil in a pan and put the garlic into it. You get a nice garlicky smell. If that happens and before the garlic gets black (you definitely don't want that), add the onion to the pan and continue until they get nice and soft.
Then it's time for the minced meat to go into the pan so that you can fry it through. Once that is done, you can pour the tinned tomatoes in. Fill the tin halfway with water and pour it into the sauce as well. Season it properly with all the lovely seasonings you put ready for this dish. Make sure that you get it right. If you know that others don't like to have it spicy and you don't plan to share, make it really spicy. If you are rather nice and sensible, watch your seasoning.
The dough should be ready, at least after 60 minutes! Divide the dough into 6 balls. Using a rolling pin roll them out in a fairly round way to approx. 3 mm thickness. If it's not too round, no worries.
Spread some of the sauce on each "round" pizza base, leaving a small edge uncovered and make sure you don't put too much sauce on. Spread it just thinly.
Bake it in the oven then at 200°C for approx. 20 minutes or until the edge turns golden or light brown. When the pizza bases come from the oven, it is best to continue to work with them and eat them or if that is not going to happen, keep them warm. You could stack them and then cover them with aluminium foil. Only if you have to. I would eat them right away.
Well then: Give some of the salad onto the pizza, some cubes of sheep feta and three chillies. Finally you can roll it like a wrap (if you got the base right) or if that doesn't work just fold it in the middle (I had to do it last time). Enjoy!!!
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