Another night of leftovers

I made potatoes, onion and cheese the other night, and had some leftovers. What better way to use them up and add some eggs and some sliced mushrooms. Almost any left over veggies will work here, broccoli, onions, peppers...



I baked it for about 20 minutes in a 400 deg oven until the eggs were cooked through.

Over Night French Toast

This weekend was my father-in-laws birthday, and by special request he asked for French toast. This was also inspired by my mother-in-law who recently told me about her manicurist's over night recipe.

Luckily, he game me enough time to make the bread...but that is a whole other story.

Over Night French Toast
One loaf challah or brioche, thickly sliced
6 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk, buttermilk, or cream (or any combination)
1/2 white or brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt


Thickly slice the bread.



Lay the slices out in a deep pan. Meanwhile mix the rest of the ingredients, and pour over the bread. Turning to coat both sides. Cover and refrigerate over night.



You can cook the slices in a pan as you may normally would or bake on a cookie sheet in a 375 oven about 15 - 20 minutes, then turn and cook another 5 or so.

I served with some bananas warmed in syrup.

Potato and Rosemary Gallette

Here is another easy potato dish that always impresses. The trick is to lay out the first layer carefully so that when you flip the gallette over you get a nice presentation.

You can slice the potatoes with either a mandoline or a slicing blade on a food processor, the thinner the better. Also make sure to work quickly so that they do not brown as you are assembling.

Potato Gallette with Rosemary and Parmesan
about 1 Tbs butter
about 1 Tbs oil
2 - 3 small baking potatoes
rosemary to taste
Parmesan to taste
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450.
Melt the butter and oil in an oven proof skillet. Remove most of the butter, but leave a coating in the pan.




Using a mandoline or food processor, thin slice one potato. Then lay this out in the pan, over-laping each slice by about half. Cover the bottom.



Brush with butter, then sprinkle with rosemary, cheese and season with salt and pepper.



Repeat this rest of the potatoes, creating three layers. Warm the pan on the stove, until the bottom starts to sizzle. Then place in hot oven.



Bake about 20 - 25 minutes. Sprinkle top with more Parmesan and return to oven.



Flip onto a plate to serve.

Cooking with Auden: Naan

I am always on the look out for great homemade naan to go with my Indian food. Here is another attempt. It was from one of my new favorite sites, The Fresh Loaf.

I made half the recipe and it made 4 loafs. The result was good, but still not restaurant quality. Likely because I used far less butter (Ghee) then they do in the restaurants.

Naan

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry active yeast
1 1/2 cup milk, heated to 110F
1 tsp sugar
ghee or melted butter to taste

Activate the yeast in the warm milk with the sugar added or if using instant yeast just add all the dry ingredients together, as there is no need to activate the yeast.

Combine the flour and salt. Once the yeast is active, combine the yeast mixture with the flour mixture.

Mix in a stand mixer on medium speed for 5 minutes, or knead by hand until the dough is smooth and elastic.



Allow to rest for two hours, covered with a towel or plastic.

After the dough has rested turn it out onto a floured surface and divide into 8 - 12 equal pieces and round them into balls. Cover with a towel and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

While the dough rests heat your oven to 500 F and place a pizza stone, or cast iron skillet, on the bottom rack of the oven.

Once fully rested roll out the dough until it is thin, use a touch of flour to prevent sticking.

Moisten your hands with water, gently pass the dough between your hands to moisten gently, then lay on the hot pizza stone. Bake for about 5 minutes, or until puffed and beginning to get brown spots.

Remove from the oven, brush lightly with ghee (or melted butter) and cover with a cloth to keep warm.

NYE 2011

New Years Eve was another chance to have some fun with food. I served up a few favorites, crab cakes, seared tuna, and warm chocolate chip cookies.

Dinner was for eight, so timing was a bit of an issue, but the trick is to prepare. Lay out all the plates and make the cold salads and dressings while the warm items are heating. Then plate the base, here an arugula salad, then top with the warm crab cakes, dressing and garnish. With all the plates set out, it was easy to do each step one after another.



Another great trick for parties is playing with the size of dishes. Shown below is a spicy tomato soup served in shot glasses, topped with an individual grilled shrimp and a splash of cilantro pesto. This also works great for cocktail parties passed, too.

OK OK...

So I've been a bit absent from the blog lately...mostly due to a crazy fall, with lots of travel, but I'm back now and want to get back to things.

While we were in Tucson, I had the pleasure of using my in-laws pizza oven. Coincidentally, my aunt and uncle from Montreal, were passing through from Mexico and they brought me some Oaxaca Cheese, similar to Jack but stringy like mozzarella. The ball shown below came about the size of a grapefruit and was one long piece, about an inch wide. Its a touch salty, but melts nicely. What better way to use then on pizza?




I topped the pie with the Oaxacian Cheese, thinly sliced red onion and roasted red pepper with a sprinkle of fresh pepper.




It was a hit.

Thanks Rita and Joe!

Making pies for 20 isn't like making them for 4

As you all know I have been working hard to make some great pizza at home. But when it comes to making it for the family, 3 or 4 pies, versus making it for a crowd it is a totally different game. For our daughters first birthday, we served pizza, what else?

First you have to have everything ready... all the toppings prepared, all the cheese shredded, the oil and salt and flour right in hands reach. This is how restaurants are able to crank out so much food. Its much faster (and easier) if i dont have to look for anything. As you can see, I have my toppings all together, my sauces all together and my cheeses all together. That made it easy to stretch out the dough, top the pies and pop them in the oven.

Second, you have to have way more pies going at a time. This makes it a bit trickier as you have to move them around the oven and every time you open the door the oven cools off.




I recently picked up these dough boxes. They allow me to make my dough and pop them in the refrigerator for a few days and not loose an entire shelf because I can put stuff on top. Then its easy to take them out to proof a couple hours before using them. Its much easier then my old system of each dough in a separate container.



After experimenting with different broiler / pan methods, I used a hybrid one here. Just for the record, my oven sucks. The broiler cycle was too short to use and every time I tried the oven cooled down too much. Some of the pies came out good, others a bit too well done on top (with the broiler cranking) but not enough on the bottom (because the oven had cooled).

Here was the run down:
Margherita
Spinach and mushroom


Even the decorations were enjoying the pizza. (It was an Itsy Bitsy Spider Theme)






Giardinera and garlic



Caramelized onion and blue cheese


Truffle with arugula


Grilled eggplant and sliced tomato


Potato rosemary


Oven roasted tomatoes


And another Margherita



I think all in all they were good but not great. I really do need to do more pizza parties....anyone interested in being my Guinea Pigs??