The Logrus - Main Dish

Pizza Dough

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 13:02:37 -0800

Combine water, sugar, and yeast. Let sit until the yeast is bubbling.
Stir in one cup of flour, then the olive oil and salt. Add another 4 1/2 c flour, mixing with a large spoon until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and holds together.

Sprinkle the last 1/2 cup of flour on your kneading surface. Turn the dough out and knead it until it feels cohesive. Let it rest while you clean and grease the bowl for rising. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth and spongy.

There are three options for rising: regular, slow, and non. Slow means making the dough in the morning, and resting it in the fridge until evening. For regular, or slow, the dough should double in size. For a no-rise dough, let the dough rest 5-10 minutes.

The original recipe calls for using a rolling pin to shape the dough, but this doesn't always work as well for some people. This recipe makes either two thick-crust or three thin crust 12 inch pizzas, or 4 nine inch pizzas.

A good shaping method is to flatten a ball of dough and put both hands under it with fingers interlaced. By pulling fingers apart, turn the dough on top of them, and stretch slowly and evenly. Alternate which ball of dough is being stretched - don't stretch one all the way at once.

For a crunchy crust, sprinkle corn meal on whatever surface the crust is going to be baked on. For a softer crust, grease the baking sheet or stone. Brush the top with olive oil to prevent the sauce from soaking through the crust.

Apply toppings.

For a really crispy crust, bake at 475 for 10 minutes before decorating. Otherwise, bake as soon as it's decorated or let it rise again for 15-30 minutes before baking. The pizza should go on the bottom rack of the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes. Check at the 5 or 10 minute mark and lower the temp to 450 if the pizza cooks too fast.

Chicken spice mix

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 11:41:16 -0800

Mix well and put in a shaker.

Cover one side of chicken with a spice mix. There's no salt (the brine has plenty). Place that side down on the grill and repeat on other side. Grill 3-4 minutes per side.

Merlin's Cajun Prawns

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 11:29:19 -0800

Combine all spices in a small bowl.

Melt butter in a skillet on high. When butter is mostly melted, drop in prawns and cover with spices. Stir-fry prawns for 3-4 minutes or until done. Remove from heat. Serve.

Optionally, double the butter and toss with noodles such as linguine.

Merlin's Jambalaya

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 11:23:45 -0800

Combine everything except the shrimp and rice in a pot. Simmer for at least an hour, or two.

Half an hour before serving, add the shrimp.

Cook the rice separately, just before serving, add the rice.

Fettucine in Tomato Cream Sauce

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 20:11:26 -0700

Sprinkle the prawns with the mixed chili powder, cayenne pepper, garlic powder and kosher salt. I realize I have no actual amounts here, but it's pretty much 'until it looks right'. Oh, cumin and/or mexican oregano would be good in that combination too. Probably chili powder will be the heaviest, but don't skimp on the salt.

Saute the prawns in 1/2 tbs butter, and be careful not to overcook them, lest they turn rubbery.

Melt 3-4 tbs butter in a sauce pan over medium low heat. Add garlic and saute until fragrant. Add cornstarch and kosher salt. Saute until you have a good paste, and let this go 3-4 minutes, but if it starts browning it's time to move on.

Add 2 pints of heavy cream, and thoroughly stir. Simmer until sauce thickens. Add the parmesan cheese and tomato paste. Mix until cheese and paste are fully integrated into sauce.

Combine sauce with cooked noodles; arrange noodles in sauce on plate, top with prawns. Serve with grated parmesan.

I'm told a nice chianti would go well with this. I recommend a green salad and a crisp vegetable on the side; or, make less and serve as an accompaniment to any main course.

Merlin's Turkey Chili

Sun, 24 Jul 2005 20:55:06 -0700

Rinse and pick over the beans. Cook them in 4 cups of water for 1-2 hours until beans are grown to their full size and tender.

Combine the turkey, onions and garlic in a skillet and sear until the meat is lightly browned.

Transfer this mixture to a large pot, add the remaining ingredients, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour. I'm pretty sure sticking all this in a crockpot and cooking all day will net you a very nice chili.

Put a dallop of sour cream (fat free works just fine here--trust me), and cheese. And if you like 'em, some cut raw onion.

Turkey Shepherd's Pie (Merlin's Modifications)

Sun, 24 Jul 2005 20:50:27 -0700

Prepared mashed potatoes by first boiling the potatoes, then mashing them together with the sour cream, margarine, buttermilk and salt. Set aside.

In a pan, saute the onion, carrot and mushroom in the olive oil until everything is soft, and the mushrooms are cooked down a bit. Then add the turkey, and cook until it's brown. Add the thyem, rosemary, flour and salt; stir until the flour is fairly uniformly distributed into the mess. Add the broth, simmer until thickened.

Spoon into 7 ounce ramekins, and top with potatoes. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes, or until golden brown and delicious.

Sauteed Dou Miao with Garlic

Sun, 24 Jul 2005 20:31:00 -0700

Heat the wok to a good, hot wok temperature; the highest setting on your stovetop, or like I do, over the grill outside. (The burner from a turkey fryer is great for this).

Put the vegetable oil in the wok and get it hot. You can use about half the oil here if you want. Add the garlic and toss until fragrant. This will take less than 30 seconds, probably.

Add dou miao and salt in batches; let dou miao wilt slightly before adding more.

As moisture from the leaves evaporates, add water if necessary. (I haven't found it necessary to do so yet).

Note: Finding nutritional info on this is hard, in part because I'm not sure what kind of pea sprouts these are; I think they're probably snow pea sprouts, which are 40 calories and 3g/fiber per cup.