(a.k.a. What To Do With Leftover Pizza Ingredients)
You know this past Saturday I made my first attempt of making a Buffalo Chicken Pizza. I borrowed a recipe from AllRecipes.com and modified it to suit my situation. I compromised on the crust I wanted due to availability, and regretted that because the crust was rubbery and tough. The pizza tasted wonderful, despite the set back.
The problem was: I was stuck with two cooked extra chicken breast and two extra pizza crusts.
The solution was obvious: Make more pizza.
The challenge: I had to do it with what was currently in the house.
I didn't have pizza sauce. I had Classico Four Cheese Spaghetti Sauce, and I decided that might be an interesting twist. I had fresh mushrooms (stored in a paper sack in the fridge like you're supposed to), plenty of shredded mozzarella, and I always always have plenty of onions on hand.
- Because of the rubber crust, I decided to put it on my trusty pizza stone, slide them both into the oven, and then pre-heat it all together to 425 degrees.
- While that heated, I shredded one chicken breast.
- Chopped half a medium-sized onion
- Once the oven was ready, I pulled the whole pizza stone out, and added all the ingredients (again, when spreading sauce, start at the center and "float" your way out; when adding ingredients, start on the edges and work your way in).
- Added the standard spices, including garlic, oregano, and basil.
- Didn't set the timer, just kept an eye on it for the cheese to adequately melt since the chicken and the crust were precooked.
It worked out well. The crust still lacked any sort of taste or flavor, but at least it was crisper. And the spaghetti sauce was a flavorful change and a nice surprise, which means that in the future, I'll experiment sometimes with it instead of standard homemade or store bought sauces (many brand name sauces are too sweet for my taste, which has turned me off to a lot of them over the years).
Lessons Learned:
1. Even the worst crust can sometimes be brought up to a tolerable level and doesn't need to be thrown away. Although I'll never buy this brand again.
2. Spaghetti sauce can be a fun way to experiment.
Until Next Time....
Here's a video of a man who claims to have survived on nothing but pizza for 25 years. I'm highlighting this one because TLC removed the Freaky Eaters: Pizza episode I wanted to share.
Saucily Yours,
Michael
This weekend I made my famous Buffalo Chicken Pizza.
Okay, it's not famous.
Oh okay, I've never made it before. But Saturday evening I made it. And if I hadn't compromised on the crust, it would have nearly been perfect.
The recipe is quite simple. I began with a basic template I grabbed from AllRecipes.com and modified it for a 12-inch pizza crust instead of the 16-inch the recipe called for.
Ingredients:
1 chicken breast, baked and then shredded.
2 ounces of melted butter.
2.5 ounces of hot sauce (for this I picked Franks Red Hot because that's the hot sauce that the inventors of the original Buffalo Chicken Wings used)
Half bottle of Blue Cheese salad dressing
8 ounces of Mozzarella cheese
12-inch pizza crust
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Mix shredded chicken, melted butter, and hot sauce in a bowl.
Spread dressing over pizza crust (the secret is to pour in the middle and spread with a spoon in a counter clockwise direction (if you're right handed) but do NOT push down on the spoon. Let the spoon float on the dressing with a minimal amount of pressure and it will distribute more evenly --- this is a skill that takes practice but is easy to master)
Distribute the chicken mixture evenly over the pizza crust.
Distribute the mozzarella evenly over the pizza (the secret is to start on the OUTSIDE as close to the edge as you can and work your way IN towards the center. Many people start in the middle, which makes it difficult to spread to the edges.)
Pop that puppy in the oven for about 10 minutes or more, but keep an eye on it, and cook until it's done to your level "done-ness."
Yep, it's that simple, folks - a ten year old can do it. And let me say it's damn good, especially if you like Franks. Pair it with some good breadsticks, a salad, and a decent beer and you have a complete meal.
Lesson Learned:
This time, I used Roma pizza crust, and even using my trusty pizza stone (which has NEVER failed me) the crust came out soft and weak. Never again. Next time I think I'll use Boboli or make my own.
Until Next Time...
You can watch Laura Vitale make Buffalo Chicken Pizza via a slightly different route to achieve the same results (and her crust is much better than mine - this time <wink>).
Buffaloly Yours,
Michael
I figure it's time to post a recipe, and I think it's best if I start with something easy -- a grilled cheese sandwich.
Growing up as a latchkey kid, I taught myself some basics to cook so I could survive that long, grueling fast between when school let out at 3:10 pm and Mom got home at 5:30 pm. It was simple: two pieces of bread, a little butter on both sides of each piece of bread, and some American cheese (which, by the way, was the only cheese my parents ever bought). Easy peasy, and all I had to do was make sure I didn't burn it and to turn the burner off when I was done (or Mom would yell at me when she got home about burning the house down).
Flash forward to today, and those occasions when I make a grilled cheese sandwich I don't much stray from that basic combo. Until now...
My next project after my failed attempt to make the perfect Chorizo queso was to make a more complex version of a standard grilled cheese sandwich. I decided to include some different types of cheese and maybe a few additional ingredients. With my first attempt, I threw some slices of ham lunch meat on there as well. Which means technically, I created a hot ham-n-cheese sandwich instead of a strict grilled cheese. Considering the ratio of cheese to the skimpy amount of lunch meat I added, many could successfully argue that it still remained a grilled cheese, but I'm not going to pick a side on that debate. In the end, the ham wasn't as hot as I would have liked, and I was so overly full (a sign of too much cheese) that I was miserable for the next hour.
My second attempt was a cross between a breakfast sandwich and grilled cheese. The plan was to use the concept of this video recipe (Inside-Out grilled cheese sandwich) which encompasses cheese on the outside of the sandwich as well as inside, but I had a little too much action going on and my timing was off. The first batch of fried eggs stuck to the pan and burned. The second batch went better, but the sandwich was still overly difficult to manage and The Boss had to use a fork and knife to eat portions of it. The taste was wonderful, but the sandwich was unmanageable.
The Boss has said that she'd like me to master the art of gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, so I'm going to keep trying. She's my full-time guinea pig anyway, which means I will definitely get some honest feedback, but I don't want to burn either one of us out, and since I'm watching my weight, I can't afford to make too many of these calorie bombs.
I've picked up a few tip and tricks from various resources, and once I develop a workable recipe that passes both my standards and The Boss's I'll post it here first.
Until Next Time...
Be sure to watch this woman nail it (!!!) when it comes to making the perfect grilled cheese. And remember,
I'll always be Cheesely Yours,
Michael
