Pizza Experiment #6: Kimchi Pizza with Bacon on a Beer Bread Crust

This is a dearly beloved brain-child of mine which I believe will have only a handful of lovers, yet for me, it is worth it!

I've lived in South Korea. I've mastered the art of making and fermenting Kimchi. And now I'm bringing the two worlds - East and West - together in a truly delectable fashion.

I was pleased with this pizza experiment. And truth be told, so were our guests (all family...who did visit us in South Korea). Definitely something that has potential to be a 'signature' dish.

And, I tried out another Beer Crust, with much success!

Raised Beer Bread Pizza Crust:

You can either throw these ingredients into your bread machine per bread machine directions (our machine requires wet ingredients on bottom). Or you can follow these simple directions:

Mix together 4 cups Flour, 2 1/2 tsp. Active Yeast, 1 tsp. Baking Powder, and 1 1/2 tsp. Salt. Add to these dry ingredients 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil and 1 1/2 cups Beer, mix together.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead about 10-15 minutes.

Place in lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise until about doubled 2-3 hours. Proceed as with other crusts.

For the 'sauce', I heated up a bit of Sesame Oil before tossing in some fermented Kimchi, Soy Sauce and Go-ju-chang (Korean red pepper paste). This was then spread on the crust, topped with Mozzarella Cheese and Green Onions.

Definitely unique and ultimately, delicious!

Pizza Experiment #7: Bacon, Mushroom and Green Onion on a Quick Beer Bread Crust

Extended Shelf Life for: Bacon, Tomato, Mushrooms

Interesting piece of information: On Facebook I follow a few different Pizzeria's. On the day I set out to create this pizza, one of these pizzeria's posted that the daily special was...you guessed it! A Bacon, Mushroom and Green Onion Pizza - with RED SAUCE! Unbelievable!

Anyway, I made the sauce from scratch, using the same recipe as did for Pizza Experiment #2.

I placed that sauce on top a new crust:

Quick Beer Bread Crust:

Preheat oven to 450.

Mix together 3 cups Flour, 1 Tbsp. Baking Powder and 1/2 tsp. Salt.

Slowly mix in 12 oz. Flat Beer, dough will be sticky.

Knead the dough on a floured surface. Split dough for thin crust or use as one thick crust pizza, roll out, top and bake!

From there, all I had to do was add the Toppings:

Bacon, Mushrooms, Green Onion and Mozzarella Cheese!

Easy-peasy and delicious to boot!

Kimchi!

If you need to extend the life of cabbage, this is a great option. However, we simply needed to have some kimchi re-enter our life and this includes nothing salvaged, except perhaps an onion.

For me, it was relatively important to prepare some kimchi in November, as November/the fall is generally the time when all the old women come out from the woodwork gathered around piles and piles of cabbage and working together to make sure the Korean staple is ready for the long winter ahead.

A few other notable mentions about my kimchi making day: It was the Korean "holiday" of Peppero Day (11-11) AND I had the great joy of being assisted by a sweet Korean family that is here on behalf of the man of the household serving an exchange as a visiting professor, making my first kimchi experience feel that much more authentic and valuable.

Now, on to Kimchi making...

There are essentially three parts to preparing Kimchi: Soaking, Making the Red Pepper Paste and Assembly. I will give you a rough sketch of each one of these parts followed by a link to a very detailed explanation of each step just in case you are in need of more photos and great explanation. 

Part 1~SOAKING:

Kimchi making will undoubtedly be a two day process, starting with this first step which is, in essence, preparing the cabbage by soaking it in salt water.

You will need:

• Two Heads of Napa/Chinese Cabbage
• 3 cups Coarse Sea Salt, preferably from Korea -- no joke
• 30 cups of Water

What you will do:

• Remove the outer 2-3 leaves from each cabbage, but don't discard!
• Cut a 2" slit in the stem of each cabbage, carefully split heads of cabbage in half (easier than it sounds, I promise)
• Salt each leaf of the cabbage, making sure to get plenty of salt on the thick, white parts and extra careful not to tear the leaves or disassemble the cabbage half.
• In a deep, large container (such as the kitchen sink), dissolve 3 cups of Salt in 30 cups of Water.
• Place each cabbage half, face-up into the water and cover with the reserved cabbage leaves.
• Cover with plastic and use rocks, tin cans or a heavy lid to press the cabbage halves down into the water.
• Soak for 8 hours. Flip and soak another 4 hours.
• Check for bend-ability in the cabbage stems, when they are supple it's time to rinse (3 times), halve again (so you end up with 8 quarters of a whole cabbage) and drain (at least two hours, during which you should prepare the next step).

For greater details on soaking, check out this thorough post at Beyond Kimchee (my favorite Korean food blog!)

Part 2~MAKING THE RED PEPPER PASTE:

You will need:

• A few handfuls of dried sea creatures (or one handful if you can't find multiple sea creatures or don't like sea creature flavored items - but one handful is a good idea)
• 3 cups of Water
• 2 Tbsp. Sweet, Glutenous Rice Flour
• 1 Lg. Korean Radish, julienne into 1/8" matchsticks
• 2 bunches of Green Onion
• 4 cups of Korean Red Chili Flakes
• 1/2 large Onion, roughly diced
• 10 cloves Garlic
• 2" piece of Ginger, roughly diced
• 4 (or 2) Tbsp. Anchovy Sauce
• 4 (or 2) Tbsp. Shrimp Sauce/Salted Shrimp
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. Sugar
• 2 Tbsp. toasted Sesame Seeds

What you will do:

• Make a rice glue by boiling your handful of dried sea creatures in 3 cups of water, simmer for 10 minutes, remove from heat and let set, as is for 20 minutes. Strain off sea creatures and discard sea creatures, reserving 2 cups. Bring 1 1/2 cups of stock to boil while continuously whisking in the 2 Tbsp. of Glutenous Rice Flour until the mixture is bubbly and has thickened. Save the plain 1/2 cup stock for later.
• In a blender or food processor, puree 1/2 large Onion, 10 cloves of Garlic, 2" piece of Ginger and reserved 1/2 cup Stock until smooth.
• Pour 4 cups of Korean Red Chili Flakes into a large mixing bowl, add the onion mixture and cooled rice glue, anchovy sauce, salted shrimps, sugar and sesame seeds, mix.
• Add the sliced Radish and diced Green Onions and let set for 30 minutes so the radish can extract some moisture and the mixture will be come more smooth and spreadable.
• Taste test the sauce with a piece of cabbage to evaluate saltiness and flavor, adjust with additional fish sauce or stock for spread-ability as deemed necessary, then move on to assembly.

For greater details and more pictorial assistance, check out Cabbage Kimchee: Part Two from, yet again, Beyond Kimchee. 

Part 3~ASSEMBLY:

You will need:

• Rubber Gloves
• A Cookie Tray or Large, shallow dish
• Airtight containers for storage

 What you will do:

• Gently handle each cabbage quarter and use your gloved hands to spread red chili paste between each and every leaf. Roll up the quarter, place in an airtight container. Let the kimchi sit out on the counter 2-3 days for fermentation and moisture extraction before relocating it to the refridgerator.
• Our Korean assistants explained that the outer leaves can be used to cover a bit of the kimchi, but that it is also generally spread with red pepper paste and then cut up and eaten that day as fresh kimchi with rice, which, by the way, is delicious!

For more details on this final part of preparing your kimchi, head over to Beyond Kimchee one more time!

In our house, we really love this fermented vegetable and have been beyond satisfied with the results of this recipe and process, slightly time consuming, but if you love fermentation, spicy foods, or kimchi itself, it's well worth it!

Thai Chicken Pasta

We returned to our original 519 Kitchen with the added benefit of random condiments remaining in the refrigerator. Ones such condiment was a Thai Marinade from a local Pizzeria. Remembering this very pizzeria's infamous Thail Chicken Pizza, I decided to do something similar replacing the pizza crush with some pasta, marinating some chicken, chopping some green onions and tossing in some mozzarella cheese. A fabulously quick, simple and light meal for the early fall months (or days if you happen to live in Laramie, WY).

SpinachSalad and Home-made Dressing

To accompany the deliciousness that was Brown Sugar Balsamic Glazed Pork Tenderloin and fresh bread with home-made Orange Curd, I decided a nice Spinach Salad would suit our Easter dinner just right.

Ingredients/Directions:

From the Cookbook - Love of Cooking: Salads

Toss together washed and relatively dry Spinach with 1 cup of chopped Mushrooms, 8 sliced Green Onions, 8 slices of cooked and crumbled Bacon and 4 chopped hard-boiled Eggs. For dressing, mix together 1/3 cup of Sugar, 1/2 tsp. Dry Mustars, 1/2 tsp. Salt and 1/3 cup Cider Vinegar in a food processor or blender. Slowly add 1 cup of Vegetable Oil, mixing in between additions. Top salad with dressing before serving and enjoy as a light lunch or dinner or side dish!

Omelet Kimbap

Days of deskwarming in a Korean public school generally leave the foreign English teacher with a few lunch time options:

1. Order in with other teacher's/vice principal...if you can find them.
2. Leave for an hour and find a Kim-bap restaurant or other solo-dining option.
3. Pack your own lunch.

Option 1 and 2 can be great for a couple days or so but quickly begin to drain the wallet, and when you realize one day, while your waiting for some sweet Korean lady to hand over your Kimbap, that you could have made your own with ingredients in your house, you suddenly lean toward option 3.

So, remembering my success with Kimbap in a pinch, I threw some rice in the rice cooker before hopping in the shower.  When the rice was cooked I added directly to the rice cooker container some mayonaise, sesame oil, salt and pepper and mixed it all up.  Set out a sheet of seaweed, spread on some rice and then whisk up an egg and pour it into a lightly greased fry pan.  Next lay the egg out on the rice sprinkle on some cheese and green onions, rolled the sucker up, made a few slices and lunch was ready for the day!

Taiwanese Three Cups Chicken

Perhaps it is in anticipation of soon setting down in Taiwan for a weeks worth of exploration that I suddenly craved a dish once prepared for us by an English expat of Taiwan who visited us via CouchSurfing.  Either way, the dish proved to be exactly what I was wanting for the evening meal and come together quicker than anticipated (minus the brown rice which is incredibly worth it, but incredibly slow in the rice cooker...and probably on the stovetop as well).

Ingredients/Directions:

Original Recipe and Inspiration come from this 'Not Eating Out in New York' post

In a wok/large skillet/whatever you have heat to boiling 1/3 cup Sesame Oil with 10-15 smashed Garlic cloves and 2 Tbsp minced Ginger. Add 2 chopped Chicken Breasts (more authentic recipes call for thighs and dark meat which would result in a more tender dish, my market only had breasts) and stir until all pieces are browned/seared.  Add 1/3 cup Soju (or any other kind of Rice Wine), 1/3 cup Soy Sauce and 3 Tbsp. Sugar, bring to a boil then cover.  Reduce to simmer until chicken is cooked through (roughly 5-10 minutes).  Stir in 1-2 chopped scallions and a handful of peanuts (personal choice, also highly recommended is Thai basil however I did not have that on hand...) and serve with your choice of rice.

Ddeokguk - Korean Rice Cake Soup

You can have a new year in Korea without having a bowl full of Ddoek-guk.  And when we opted to host a Redneck Life game night on the 2nd of January our friend Aaron and a Korean friend decided it was good and appropriate to bring us a bag of ddeok-guk-ddeok (the rice cake noodles specific to this soup - pictured top left and top center). So I did a bit of research and whipped up an incredibly large pot of ddeok-guk one week after the new year!

The original recipe calls for boiling beef in the first step but since I still have an abundance of freezer goods including shredded pork, I went that route.

Ingredients/Directions:

In a large pot bring to boil 1/2 onion, 3 scallions and 8 smashed garlic cloves with 10 cups water (or mix of water and choice of broth).  Reduce heat and simmer (1 hour if you added beef, 20-30 minutes if you're using freezer pork).  Meanwhile, soak ddeok, Korean rice cake, in a bowl of cold water about 20-30 minutes.  Mix 1/2 lb. cooked meat with 2 minced cloves of garlic, a touch of sesame oil, salt and pepper (can be used as topping or thrown into broth after the next step). Strain onion, scallions and garlic from broth pot. Drain ddeok of cold water. Add deok and meat to the boiling broth, let boil for 8-10 minutes until ddeok is soft and chewy. Whisk 2-3 eggs, drizzle into soup, let set about one minute before stirring. Serve soup with crushed seaweed on top and welcome in the New Year!

Eggsplosions and Spicy Black Bean Soup

Pinterest is the source for so much inspiration, it is unbelievable.  This latest 'pinspiration' can be tracked back to this website, and let's just say - my world may never be the same! You may know that we have a deep, deep love for fried eggs, match that up with some toast and a slice of cheese and even the worst of days get to end in a glorious fashion. If you've ever made a grilled cheese and if you've ever made a toad-in-a-hole, you can nail this sandwich.

Using a biscuit cutter or a glass remove a circles-worth of bread from each slice of bread that will soon become a sandwich. Grease a fry pan, throw in one or two slices of bread (depending on space) crack an egg into the hole and let set for a minute or two until bread is toasty and egg is cooked through on the bottom. Flip each slice of bread over, sprinkle or lay on some cheese, let the cook on the other side, but two breads together and you have a eggy, cheesey, amazingly AMAZING sandwich! Serve that up with a bowl of soup and you've got yourself the perfect meal to beat the winter blues.

As for my black bean soup I boiled about 2 cups of Chicken Stock from the freezer added a cup or two of water, roasted about 6 tomatos and an onion, threw them in a food processor with some garlic for a quick chop dumped that into the broth mixture added about 2 cups of black beans and some crisp bacon. Seasoned with salt, pepper, red chili powder, cumin, cilantro (from the freezer) and a roasted green chili mix I had also froze before the chiles could go bad.

(These freezer concepts revolve around a desire to extend shelf life of certain foods, I've posted about the cilantro before, I did the chiles in a similar fashion. Roasted in the oven, threw into the food processor with olive oil and garlic, pulsed and placed in ice cube trays. Now, if I want to add a punch to my dish, I just throw in one or two cubes of 'fresh roasted' chiles from my freezer!)

Ginger Pork Noodle Bowls

Once again, thanks to a plethora of frozen foods, the Man and I plus our friend Aaron had a decent meal regardless of the hours I had spent and still needed to spend sitting at a computer busting out MAED papers and such.

So, with a bag of thawed pork and a few fresh ingredients including: ginger, bok choy, bean sprouts and green onions, I set to work on these Ginger Pork Noodle Bowls

Ingredients/Directions:

(from Everyday with Rachel Ray - September 2011)

Soak rice noodles in warm water.  In a large pot bring 1qt. of beef or pork broth, 4 cups water and a 1 inch sliced piece of ginger to a boil.  Divide 1 cup (or two if you want more meat) pork, 6 baby bok choy, 1 1/2 cups bean sprouts, and 1/4 cup sliced green onions among 4 large soup bowls. Divide soaked noodles into four equal portions.  Using a mesh strainer lower one portion of noodles at a time into the boiling broth for 1-2 minutes. Transfer noodles to soup bowls, continue until all noodles are cooked.  Ladle hot broth into bowls serve with fresh cilantro, lime and hot chili oil.

Red Curry Soup-ness

There's no real reason I should post this as a recipe...

This is one of those times I just need to make a 'mental'/blog note regarding what I've done that is semi-successful when I have random foodstuff in the fridge.

I'm not talented with premade things...hence, soup-ness, it shouldn't have been so soupy...oh well.  It was edible...that's what matters at the end of a long day.

I wanted my veggies (cabbage, bell peppers, onions) to have a bit more character than normal so I prepared them using the same method I did here and then set them aside on a plate.

Heat a bit of oil in a pan, add 1-2 Tbsp. red curry paste and mix. 

Dump in a can of Coconut Milk (I also use a small bit of water to get the extra coconut milk off the tin can insides...so a half cup tin of water contributes to soupiness).

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, throw in some shrimps - 1-2 cups, heat through, add veggies, a touch of fish sauce if you have it on hand, heat through and serve over brown rice.  You'll enjoy it...I'm sure.

Udon with 'Poached' Egg and Veggies

This was uh-mazing. And easy.
Pinterest Inspired.
Original Recipe here - from the Kitchn

Ingredients/Directions:

2 cups of water per Udon Noodle package -- if you're using the one such as that pictured in the bottom right of the above collage. Bring water to a boil then add Udon Noodles, cook 3-4 minutes or until near done. Throw in chopped cabbage, cover with a lid and let cabbage cook/steam for 1-2 minutes.  Mix in sauce packets from Udon Noodle package (soy and such) then carefully put a raw egg (in this case 2) into the boiling water, let it cook until set, dish into bowls, sprinkle on some green onion and enjoy!

Rice Pilaf: For a Month

Rachel Ray cooks her rice in the traditional, stove-top manner. Personally, I opted to throw the rice in the rice-cooker, saute up the onions and such in a pot then add the finished rice when it was ready - so much easier (in my opinion).

Ingredients/Directions:

In a rice cooker prepare 3 1/4 cups Rice (Rachel Ray recommend long-grain ... I used whatever it was Korea could give me), this should require 2 1/4 cups water and another 2 1/4 cups chicken broth. Just before rice finishes heat 3 Tbsp. of Olive Oil then add 3 chopped Onions and salt and pepper to taste, saute 8-10 minutes. When onions are translucent, scoop rice into the pot mix and add in your choice of 16 oz. Frozen Peas, Corn, or Toasted Almonds (I went with Almonds, they're the most available) Freeze in 1 cup increments.

Jap-chae: Korean Stir-fried Noodles and Veggies

All you really need to know about Korean cooking can be learned from one woman...that is Maangchi. She is my number one go-to regarding Korean foods since she is a) Korean, b) quarky and c) speaks English. Additionally, she not only posts recipes for dishes with lots of pictures, but almost always includes a video, which is just nice...perhaps someday I'll go live on YouTube with my cooking skills! (HA!)

One of my all-time-favorite Korean dishes is Japchae. The dish is made with sweet potato (also called starch or glass noodles), a ton of veggies and a simple sauce of soy sauce and sesame seeds.

There's a ton of veggies in this dish and the meat called for can easily be substituted or simply left out for a more vegetarian friendly option.

I realize the polite thing to do would be to re-iterate the recipe here, but I really, REALLY want you to meet Maangchi, because she's a blast, so here's the japchae recipe and a bit of Maangchi herself!

Bacon, Mushroom and Onion Calzones

My most recent batch of Basic Bread from Jamie Oliver was used to make two loaves of Baguettes for the Lemon-Thyme spread and then a few days later to make these calzones. (Regarding the bread recipe, I split it into fours, baked two fourths as bread, used one fourth for these calzones and froze the other fourth! Huu-zah!)

Anyway, these were simple and absolutely delicious!

Ingredients/Directions:

Saute in a touch olive oil a clove of garlic, 4-6 slices of bacon, one or two handfuls of chopped mushrooms and a small chopped onion. Roll out a bit of Basic Bread dough. Spoon in some marinara sauce of choice, top with sauteed mixture and mozzarella cheese, fold dough into a semi-circle/moon shape, brush with olive oil and make a few slits for steam to escape. Bake 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees (200 Celsius) and enjoy in the company of the most fabulous man you can snag ;)

Saving a Crepe

I wanted to eat a crepe...

I had put it in a Ziploc and caused it to crack...a lot.

I wanted to eat a crepe.

So, the solution. Throw it on a skillet. Whisk an egg, pour over, let it fill in the cracks, cook a bit, flip, cook through - stuff it and eat it.

Viola. Saved the Crepe. Enjoyed a solo-dinner.

Thai Veggie Salad

 

Here's the deal...you need some veggies. Your favorites. And then you need to make this Thai style dressing. Throw them together and chow down. That's all.

I used mushrooms, bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes and green onions for my veg.

The dressing? Easy.

1/4 cup fresh lime juice (or orange juice if lime juice is hard to come by)
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or cayenne, or whatever)


Put it in a jar, shake it up, dress the veggies, let set a little bit and enjoy the heck out of this dish! You could probably also use the dressing as a marinade or in a pasta salad and have equally great results ^.^

Original recipe and gorgeous photos can be found here by Andrea Meyers

Tawainese Pancake

Recent CouchSurfing adventures introduced this thick, savory, scallion pancake to me, and for whatever reason - I can't get enough...I also can't quite get the ratio down, nor have I done any measurements...so, here it is, one of many super incomplete recipe postings - just go for it! You can't really go wrong with pancake batter...

Flour + Water...this type of pancake requires a thick batter. I just dump in some flour, perhaps a cup (makes 1 pancake large enough for two to share) and then half a cup to a cup of water. Again, the batter is thick, although I think mine has generally been too thick.

Once you've come to terms with the thickness of the batter, let it set for half an hour or so taking in the view/air/potential yeast in the air.

Throw in a fair handful or two of sliced green onions, add 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil, mix and pour into a well greased and hot skillet. Cook on both sides until crispy and no longer doughy in the center - perhaps 5 - 10 minutes on each side. Cut with a pair of kitchen shears and enjoy the pancake any time of day by dipping into a serving of garlic-infused soy sauce!

Enchilada Suizas Soup and a Re-Make

Occasionally, (or quite often) when it comes to cooking I want something homemade, delicious and quick. I recognize, that sometimes, a meal that takes some time and effort to put together is worth the effort and so often phenomenal in a way quick and easy can't be. Nonetheless, I'm a sucker for easy. And what is easier than taking what appears to be a delicious recipe and tweaking it so that it's a soup. Nothing! Nothing is easier than soup! So, I found a bomb-A recipe for Enchiladas Suizas, decided I was lacking energy and motivation to do the whole saucing, filling, rolling, baking work of enchiladas and opted instead to soupify (in a non-liquefying way) this recipe for enchiladas suizas.

Ingredients/Directions:

Roast some chilies to ensure a bowl full of spicy flavor-ful-ness. Melt a bit of butter and saute a diced onion in a sauce pan. Season buttery onions with minced garlic, cumin and salt, add a bit of flour to thicken and create a roux-like concept. Add 2-3 cups Chicken Broth and simmer for a bit. Add unto the mixture, 2 cups of cooked/shredded chicken and chopped, roasted green chilies. Simmer a bit longer until things smell phenomenal. You are encouraged to add any additional soup ingredients you desire such as: potatoes, tomatoes, etc. Just before serving, add about one cup of heavy cream, some shredded cheese and stir until incorporated. Ladle into a bowl, top with crushed tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream if you are so luck to have it readily available and enjoy my friends, enjoy! (Please note, these are potentially the least accurate measurments and directions I've ever posted, so take caution and don't fear changing things up a bit).

As for the remake...

Reheat left over soup liquid on the stove - just strain it off a bit. Dip tortillas in a thickened liquid (thickend with flour, heating, etc.) Brown up some potatoes, shredd some cheese, use the none liquid part of the soup and begin filling enchiladas or creating an enchilada casserole by layering. Simple. Easy. Delicious!

Black-Bean Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed Cheesey Veggies...can you go wrong? I'd like to propose that you can't, you can't go wrong with cheesey stuffed veggies!

Once again, I've enjoyed some 'Pinspiration' for this recipe and landed myself on this blogger's Spicy Black Bean Stuffed Peppers.

I followed the general guidelines, paired the peppers up with some cornbread muffins and enjoyed a fabulous bit of dinner with my fabulous bit of husband!

Ingredients/Directions:

In a small sauce pan saute some onions and garlic for a couple minutes before adding a can or two (or cup or two) of black beans. Simmer (adding some water/liquid as necessary) for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, slice in half some bell or other peppers - as many as you desire to eat. Place on cookie sheet, brush with oil and roast for 15-20 minutes. (Maybe this should be done first, sorry). Add a small can of corn to the beans and heat 3-5 minutes. Fill roasted and tender pepper halves with bean mixture, top with cheese, throw in the oven for a few minutes until cheese is melty and the peppers look absolutely delcious! ENJOY!