Lazy Thai Pizza

Every week, mostly, I follow a meal plan. Simply put, it's a list of what meals I want to make that week. It's a pretty simple idea but it helps save money and cut down on food waste. Every Sunday morning over coffee, the Fiancé and I go through the fridge, the freezer, the 'on sale' items on our grocery store app, and our fanciful food desires, and figure out what we want to eat the following week. Usually we try to come up with meals that use up fresh produce or leftover ingredients in the fridge. Or meals that make leftovers for lunches (or the freezer - quick defrost dinners = best). Or meals that take advantage of the grocery store sales. While one writes down the meal plan, the other makes the grocery list. It usually take 20 minutes if we're feeling uninspired (that's where cookbooks and the internet come in!).

Making a meal plan may sound super fancy, like I'm making a roast every other day, but it's definitely a lot more casual. For example. Despite my love of cooking, I do Not want to have to cook for 2 hours every night. Some of my favourite meals are done in 20 minutes or less. And I actually make it a point when planning to only have one prep intense meal (if any) on the weekly roster. The following pizza is an example of this. It uses leftover roast chicken, a pre-made pizza shell (I sometimes stock up on these when they're on sale and freeze them) and a 5 minute homemade peanut sauce. Once it's all put together it literally takes 8 minutes in the oven. Sold.

Lazy Thai Pizza

Pre-made pizza shell

Peanut Sauce (See below)
Chicken Mixture (See below)
~ 1 cup bean sprouts
~ 1 TBSP cilantro leaves, chopped

  1. Pre-heat oven to 450'F.
  2. Layer peanut sauce, chicken mixture, bean sprouts and cilantro.
  3. Bake pizza for 8 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Enjoy!

 

Peanut Sauce
3/4 cup peanut butter (I used chunky)
2 1/2 TBSP brown sugar
2 TBSP soy sauce
2 TBSP water
1/4 tsp chili flakes

  1. Combine all ingredients in a sauce pot.
  2. Over medium heat, stir ingredients until well combined and heated through, about 4 minutes. (Add some more water if it's too thick, stir till smooth.)
  3. Remove from heat and set aside till ready to assemble pizza.

Chicken Mixture
Oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 TBSP minced garlic
~ 1 cup roast chicken, shredded

  1. Heat ~ 1 TBSP of oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
  2. Add onion and cook until clear, about 5 minutes.
  3. Add garlic and chicken and stir together. Cook for about 2 minutes until garlic is fragrant.
  4. Remove from heat and set aside till ready to assemble pizza.

Bam. Dinner done in 20 minutes.

Also. Oh gad, it's good.

Meal planning win! ;)

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist

 

My Favourite Holiday

Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday. A giant roasted turkey; bread stuffing poultry spiced out the wa-zoo; a hot mashed potato and gravy volcanos; pumpkin pie with a literal mountain of whipped cream; and last but not least, leftovers. Part of my love affair with the entirely food focused holiday is the fact that leftovers are not a sign that you over did it, but a reward for having done so well. 

This year was the first year we celebrated in TO. We decided that it was also going to be our first thanksgiving just the BF and I. We made a 15 pound bird. That's right. We had a double bunk berth on the train to Leftover Town, and we were excited. So with the pumpkin pie made and the bacon stuffing ready for turkey time, I pre-heated my oven, stuffed my bird and began the magic that is roasting a turkey. The magic = I put a timer on for 3 1/2 hours and walked away from the kitchen. 

Anyways. With turkey cooked and fixings ready we had ourselves a wonderful first thanksgiving. I even managed to get the kitchen cleaned up and food packed away within two hours. Record to beat.

We proceeded to make a meal plan for the days to come: Hot Turkey Sandwiches, Turkey Noodle Soup, Turkey Pot Pie, and, my favourite, Turkey Leftovers Pizza.  

This recipe comes from my days at the test kitchen. It was a weird recipe, I'll give it that. One of those recipes that you'll either gag at the thought of or wonder why you never thought of it before: The goodness of Pizza and Thanksgiving Dinner all in one. 

Turkey Leftovers Pizza

Dough
3/4 cup warm water (104'F/40'C)
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 pkg dry yeast (Or 2 1/4 tsp if you have a jar)
2 cups flour
3/4 cup cold mashed potatoes
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBSP oil

Toppings
1 cup gravy
1 cup turkey, pulled unto pieces
1 cup stuffing, broken apart into chunks
Cranberry sauce (optional)

Gravy, hot (for dipping!)

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400'F.
  2. Add sugar to warm water and stir to dissolve sugar completely. 
  3. Add yeast to sugar/water and let sit in a warm place (like the top of your oven range) for about 5 minutes or until yeast looks foamy. 
  4. In another bowl, mix together flour, mashed potatoes and salt. 
  5. Add oil into the foamy yeast mixture.
  6. Pour foamy yeast mixture over flour/potato mixture. Stir until the dough comes together. Knead dough for a minute until uniform (no potato lumpies). Use extra flour if your hands are sticking.
  7. On a baking sheet covered in parchment, pat out your pizza shell. 
  8. Spread gravy on shell (it's the sauce!). Cover pizza with turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce (optional). 
  9. Bake for 25 minutes or until pizza crust looks browned. Serve hot with gravy for "dipping" sauce. 

Don't knock it till you've tried it! 

As I make the other leftover-insipred dinners I'll post them. Till then, have a peek at the stock I made. Mmm Turkey. 

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist

Adventure to Calzone Land

Pizza is one of those dinners that I enjoy immensely, especially if it's homemade. Yeasty dough, fresh sautéed veg, more pizza sauce than strictly necessary and real cheese. I've made a lot of pizza in my life, but for the first time ever the dough made a fold and my first calzone was born.

The adventure starts with the dough. When I worked for a test kitchen, my favourite recipe tester created an easy and quick pizza dough recipe. 

Pizza Dough

(Sourced from the Blue Flame Kitchen)

1 1/2 cups (375 mL) warm water (104ºF/40ºC) 
1 tbsp (15 mL) sugar
1 pkg (8 g) active dry yeast 
3 tbsp (40 mL) olive oil 
3 cups (750 mL) flour 
1 tsp (5 mL) salt 
Cornmeal 
Olive oil

How to knead. In triple speed.

How to knead. In triple speed.

Combine warm water and sugar, stirring to dissolve. Sprinkle yeast on top. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Drizzle in 3 tbsp (40 mL) oil.
Place flour and salt in a food processor fitted with a dough blade; process to combine. With machine running, pour yeast mixture through feed tube of food processor. Process just until dough comes together and forms a ball, about 1 minute.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 1 – 2 minutes. Shape dough into a ball. Transfer dough to an oiled bowl; turn dough to coat with oil. Cover with a plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm draft-free place for 30 minutes. (Aside: I usually pre-heat my oven before I start the dough. That way the top of the stove is warm by the time the dough needs to rise.)

Preheat oven to 425ºF (220ºC). Grease a rimmed baking sheet or pizza pan and sprinkle with cornmeal. On a lightly floured surface, flatten dough and roll out to fit prepared pan. Pat dough into prepared pan and press dough up around edges to form a rim. Brush dough with oil and prick all over with a fork.

Bake, uncovered, for 15 – 20 minutes or until golden brown. May be frozen. Makes 1 crust.

While the dough definitely makes the homemade calzone mouth wateringly amazing, the filling is just as important. I have two picture sets above. One of Veggie Pepperoni (my first calzone) and the other of Spinach, Goat Cheese and Chili Pulled Beef (respectively, my second).

Veggie Pepperoni Calzone Filling

1 TBSP olive oil
1/2 white onion, chopped
6 - 8 large white mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp coarsely ground pepper
1 large zucchini, sliced into 1 cm rounds, halved
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and halved
200g deli pepperoni
Old Cheddar, grated
Pizza sauce

  1. Heat oil over medium heat in a large frying pan. Add onions. Sauté till translucent. About 10 minutes. 
  2. Add sliced mushrooms. Add pepper. Cook until mushrooms start to reduce in size.
  3. Add zucchini. Stir together. Cook till zucchini is starting to turn translucent and mushrooms start to brown. Remove pan from heat.
  4. Spread pizza sauce on one side of prepared pizza dough. 
  5. Layer pepperoni, mushroom and zucchini mixture, artichokes and cheese on top of sauce.
  6. Fold over non-pizza saucey side on top of toppings, rolling the dough edges together slightly. Cut slits in the top. Bake according to dough instructions. 

Spinach, Goat Cheese and Chili Pulled Beef Calzone Filling

1 TBSP olive oil 
1/2 red onion, cut into rings, halved and broken up
1 bunch spinach, washed and dried
1 lb chili pulled beef (recipe below)
130g goat cheese, crumbled
Pizza Sauce

  1. Heat oil over medium heat in a large frying pan. Add onions. Sauté till they start becoming limp. About 10 minutes.
  2. Add spinach. Stir. Let leaves cook until limp. Remove pan from heat. 
  3. Spread pizza sauce on one side of prepared pizza dough. 
  4. Layer spinach mixture, pulled beef and goat cheese on top of sauce.
  5. Fold over non-pizza saucey side on top of toppings, rolling the dough edges together slightly. Cut slits in the top. Bake according to dough instructions. 

Chili Pulled Beef

Pre-heat oven to 325F. 
In a oven-safe pot or dutch oven, heat 1 TBSP oil. Sear 1 lb chuck beef roast on all sides. Add 4 TBSP of chili powder (two to each side of roast) and 4 tsp cumin (two to each side of roast) to roast. Fry in oil till meat is golden.  Add one can of beer (I did an IPA) to the dutch oven, pouring it over the meat. Bake, with lid on, for 2 hours, flipping over meat every 30 minutes, or until liquid is reduced to about a 1/4 cup (eyeball it!).
To pull beef apart, take two forks and pull meat apart by criss-crossing the fork tines and then pulling them away from each other. 

Now that I have adventured into the land of the Calzone a may only infrequently return to pizza-ville.

Hope you can recreate!

-Andrea 

The Half-Assed Hobbyist