Cooking » simmiecakes

No Rise Pizza Dough

pizza

After 8 loooonnnggg days, Passover is finally over tonight. I love Passover…for the first two nights. Then, well then I start craving foods that I don’t even normally want to eat (and some that I do). Texas toast? 7 layer bean dip? Entire bottles of corn syrup? I am a girl who once ate an entire loaf of French bread while in line to get into a movie. I had an entire birthday party devoted to corn products. I loves me some leavened food products.

sauce

Almost every year I break Passover with pizza. Soft crust, garlicky sauce, salty cheese…yum. And this year? Well this year I’m breaking Passover with a hamburger. But if I was going to break Passover with pizza, I would make this pizza. Because you don’t have to wait for the dough to rise. It’s a vision. And it’s delicious.

No Rise Pizza Dough

Adapted from Goodfruit

2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 pkg yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 cup warm water
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
Pinch of Sea Salt

dry_ingredients

In a large bowl, combine 1 1/4 cups flour, the yeast, and the salt. Add the warm water and the olive oil.

Beat on low speed with an electric mixer for 30 seconds.

Switch to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Timing is pretty important here, so keep your eye on the clock.

Stir in as much of the remaining flour is needed until you get a nice ball of dough.

kneading

Turn out the ball of dough on a floured surface and knead until it is smooth and elastic.

dough

cheese

Then, roll it out onto a pan and add desired toppings.

Bake for 10-15 minutes in a 450º oven.

Latkes, Latkes, Latkes!

potato_latkes

Now what’s Hanukkah without some good old fashioned potato latkes? Nothing like taking some grated potato, mixing it with a few simple ingredients, and frying them in a whole lotta oil. Which is exactly what we did.

I have to admit, I’m not the biggest latke fan. It’s something to do with the fried-surface-area to potato ratio that I don’t like. I like lots of potato. I think that’s why I like home fries instead of hash browns and steak fries over crispy fries. But for Hanukkah, I’ll have a few latkes. And gosh darn it, I’ll enjoy them!

grating_potatoes

Instead of just making some of the regular potato latkes, we decided to mix it up a bit and expand our latke horizons. In addition to the heaping number of traditional latkes, we also made a plate of potato and zucchini latkes, and some sweet potato latkes. And if I do say so myself…yum!

zucchini_latkes

Traditional Potato Latkes

makes about 20 large latkes

4 to 5 potatoes, peeled and grated
1 medium onion
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp flour
Salt and Pepper

Potato and Zucchini Latkes

makes about 10 large latkes

2 to 3 potatoes, peeled and grated
1 zucchini, washed and grated (I left the skin on)
1 small onion
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp flour
Salt and Pepper

Sweet Potato Latkes

makes about 10 large latkes

2 to 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and grated
2 eggs
2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp flour

All the latkes are made the same way. And it couldn’t be easier!

Mix the grated potato, onion (if there is any), eggs, flour, baking powder, and spices together in a large bowl. Heat up about 1 inch of oil in a frying pan. Drop by heaping spoonfuls into the pan. Flatten with the back of the spoon.

Fry on each side for 3 to 4 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from oil and drain on copious amounts of paper towels. Serve with applesauce and sour cream (not salt and pepper! These are latkes, not hashbrowns!).

Tempura

tempura

Ok, I know. No posts for a few weeks and then I follow up a roasted vegetable post with another vegetable post? What am I thinking? Well, probably not much. Except these vegetables are FRIED. That’s right, dipped in batter and thrown into a piping hot pan of oil. Yum!

I’m not sure what made me want to make tempura. It’s not like I’ve been lacking in hearty meals lately. Last week I had two Thanksgiving dinners, a big pot roast meal, got a pie for running a 5K (speaking of which…anyone want a Tabletop apple pie? Talk to The Jackster), and got up at like 2:30 AM to go shopping on Friday (ok, that last one isn’t about what I ate, (although I did have a steaming cup of hot chocolate while in line) but I felt the need to share) and then ate at Denny’s. I’m pretty sure when I flew back to MD on Sunday, I hadn’t actually been hungry since the previous Wednesday.

But anyways…tempura. It’s delicious. It’s delectable. It’s probably something else that starts with the letter “d” but at this moment I am failing to come up with anything.

The presentation is impressive, but the secret is out:

Tempura is surprisingly simple to make.

And you can make it in a jiffy. Just pick your favorite variety of vegetables (or just one vegetable, maybe tackle an entire pound of potatoes or something, it’s all good) or some seafood (I think shrimp is pretty popular) and 20 minutes later you’ve got a delightful (oh hey! Another “d” word!) dish! The batter is light and crispy and it just feels decadent (again! I can’t help myself) eating tempura.

veggies

Tempura

adapted from Disney’s Family Cookbook

6 to 8 cups of mixed vegetables (zucchini, sweet potato, peppers, carrots, onions, broccoli…whatever floats your boat)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg white
1 cup water
Vegetable oil for frying

Take your lovely selection of vegetables and slice them up in a-few-bites-sized pieces. I sliced the sweet potatoes into 1/4″ thick slices, cut up some carrot sticks and zucchini sticks, and some broccoli florets. And for Andrew, I threw in a couple of shrimp for good measure.

sliced_veggies

So after you’ve got your veggies prepped and ready to go, it’s time to make the batter. To make the batter, start by measuring the flour, corn starch, salt, and baking powder into a bowl.

batter

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg white and the water together. Then mix the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. The batter will be lumpy, but that’s ok.

sweet_dipping_action

In a wok, frying pan, or deep fryer (if you just happen to have a deep fryer lying around) heat at least an inch of oil (or more…you know, if you have a deep fryer) over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, dip the vegetables or shrimp into the batter. Just a light coating of batter will do. Then, gently place in the oil so as to not splatter, and fry until golden brown (4 to 5 minutes).

shrimp

Try not to cram too many pieces into the pan so that they crowd each other and stick. After they are browned, remove from the oil and place on some paper towels to help drain the oil.

cookie_sheet

Serve with some dipping sauce. I made a sauce by combining soy sauce, a 1/2 tsp of sugar, and a few red pepper flakes.

tempura_close

Roasted Vegetables

gourds

Look at all the vegetables! So pretty! I came home the other day determined to eat something besides cereal or pasta for dinner. You know, put a little effort into a meal. Ok, just a little. So I picked up some of my favorite fall vegetables and went nuts. Like, seriously, nuts.

potatoes

It started innocently enough, with a few potatoes. Well, maybe more than a few. I figured I would cut them up, toss them with a little olive oil, a dash of salt and pepper (I used freshly ground black pepper, and freshly ground sea salt, yeah, I’m classy), and maybe some rosemary for good measure. So that’s what I did.

roasting_potatoes

I cut the potatoes in about 1/2 inch pieces, seasoned them, and spread them on an aluminum foil covered cookie sheet in a single layer. I roasted them in the oven for about 35 minutes at 400º, turning them over once after about 20 minutes. They came out warm, delicious, and satisfying.

roasted_potatoes

I ate like a quarter of that bowl 2 minutes after the potatoes came out of the oven. And then I remembered I had lots of squash to cut up.

While walking through the store I got a little carried away and picked up a small pumpkin, a butternut squash, and an acorn squash. We can forget about when I picked up one acorn squash which then led to more acorn squash tumbling to the ground and rolling around on the floor in the middle of the produce section only to be rescued by a nice old lady.

butternut_squash

acorn_squash

pumpkin

And while squash is lovely, tasty, and orange, it’s kind of a pain to cut up. I managed to cut up almost all of the squash into 1/2″ pieces before my shoulders and arms gave out. I found that poking the pumpkin and butternut squash with a fork a few times and microwaving for about 20 seconds first made it a lot easier to cut them up. Getting all of the skin off..well that just took patience.

honey

I tossed all of the squash in some more olive oil, ground pepper, and ground sea salt. Then, for a sweet twist, I drizzled on about a teaspoon of honey and sprinkled them with a bit of brown sugar. They went into the 400º oven for about 20 minutes until soft. The honey glaze and the salt is one of those combinations that just works.

A little apple, chardonnay, chicken sausage rounded out my meal. It was warm and filling and if you decide to not cut up enough vegetables for 10 people on a Tuesday night, it really doesn’t take that long.

dinner

No Rise Pizza Dough

Latkes, Latkes, Latkes!

Tempura

Roasted Vegetables

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