Trio of Pizza Dough and Waffle Cut Parmesan Fries with Kaffir Lime Aioli

I'm heading Houston this weekend and still refuse to do any grocery shopping. I was going to just make pizza but that was too simple so I decided to utilize the pizza dough in 3 different ways. From left to right there's your standard margarita pizza with fresh tomatoes and basil, calzone stuff with mozzarella and pepperoni, and an open pizza roll stuffed with pineapples, mushrooms, basil, tomatoes, and tomato sauce. For an appetizer I made waffle cut fries topped with Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.

Pizza dough ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup warm water

Directions:

Add yeast to warm water and let it rest for 5 minutes. Then add yeast and water mixture along with salt, sugar, and olive oil to flour. Knead dough well and let it rest for an hour.

Pizza sauce ingredients:

14 ounce San Marzano tomatoes

1 large shallot diced
2 garlic cloves diced
2 sprigs fresh basil
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a sauce pan and cook on medium high heat. With an immersion blender blend mixture until it is all the same consistency. Set aside and keep on simmer until ready to use.

Margarita pizza ingredients:

1/3 of pizza dough

Pizza sauce

Roma tomatoes sliced

Fresh basil
Mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Cut 1/3 of pizza dough, create a ball and begin rolling out the dough into a circular shape (you can make it as thin as you like it). Add pizza sauce with a ladle on top of the pizza in a circular motion. Then add your toppings, for this application simply add mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and basil. Bake for approximately 10 minutes at super high heat (500 plus degrees).

Calzone ingredients:

1/3 of the pizza dough

Pizza sauce

Pepperoni

Mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Roll out pizza dough into a circle. On one half of the dough add, pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese and pepperoni. Fold the empty side of the dough over the top of the filled side. With a fork seal the edges of the dough and brush with olive oil. Cook at 500 degrees for 10 minutes. Serve with a side of pizza sauce.

Open pizza roll ingredients:

1/3 pizza dough

Pizza sauce

Pineapples

Mushrooms

Basil

Mozzarella cheese

Directions:

This one is a little tricky. I was trying to find a way to roll the pizza dough into a cone shape and the only thing I could find was an empty tomato sauce can that I split in half and roll into a cone. Roll out the pizza dough and then cut it in half. Then wrap the dough around the metal cone and brush with olive oil. Cook in a 500 degree oven for 5 minutes. Retrieve the crust and let it cool down before pulling it off of the metal cone. Stuff crust with ingredients other than the pizza sauce and place in oven for another 3 minutes. Add pizza sauce into the roll prior to serving.

Waffle Cut Parmesan Fries:

1 russet potato

Grated Parmesan cheese
Parsley finely chopped
Canola oil

Directions:

Cut your potatoes with the waffle fry insert into a bowl of cold water. Heat oil to 375 degrees while drying potatoes on a towel; when oil is ready, cook potatoes for approximately 5 minutes. Immediately after you pull fries out of the oil add cheese and parsley and mix well.

Kaffir lime aioli ingredients:

1 cup mayonnaise (store bought or homemade)
7 large kaffir lime leaves (spine removed)
2 garlic cloves

Directions:

In a food processor add garlic and kaffir lime leaves. Blend to very fine consistency and add mayonnaise. Continue blending until all ingredients are incorporated.

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Sour Soup "Canh Chua"

This is just a very basic version of this refreshing dish. I was very limited in ingredients while making this dish but no need to worry I'll tell you what other goodies you can add to this dish. After a long labor day weekend I'm still too lazy to go to the grocery store. Thanks to Tropical Storm Hermine and the constant downpour I'm definitely not heading to the store today. Actually, it doesn't make any sense to do so since I'll be heading out of town again this weekend. I did manage to purchase a fresh whole pineapple the last time I was at the market though. Every time I'm getting ready to carve up a pineapple it always reminds me of my mother since she's the one who taught me how to properly spiral cut a whole pineapple. I'm willing to past that on to anyone who cares to learn.

Ingredients:

5 cups water
1 cube Knorr chicken bouillon
1 tablespoon tamarind powder
1 fresh jalapeno (sliced)
1 cup fresh pineapples (cubed)
2 small Roma tomatoes (quartered)
8-10 shrimp (shell on)
1 cup roughly chopped cabbage


Directions:

Bring water to a boil in a stock pot and then add chicken bouillon and tamarind powder. Reduce heat to medium low and add all other ingredients except for the shrimp (add the shrimp 3-5 minutes prior to serving to prevent over cooking).

Optional/alternative ingredients:

Fresh okra (I normally always have okra in my soup) thickly sliced on bias
Rice patty herb "Ngo Om"
Elephant ear stalks "Bac Ha" peeled and cut into 3 inch french fry shapes
Catfish (peeled and chopped into 3-4 steaks)

Bonus:

If you're reading this post and would like a free 1 year subscription to Bon Appetit magazine let me know. The first person that responds will win this prize. You can respond in the comments section, thanks!

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Spicy Beef Noodle Soup

I used shredded cabbage here since I served all of the
bok choy and mustard greens to the guests.

This is one of those dishes that tend to work like magic on a Saturday or Sunday morning after drinking heavily the night before. With the knowledge that I would be hosting guests this past weekend I actually started this dish on Thursday so that it'll be ready for Friday night and Saturday morning. The true cook time of this dish is about 3-4 hours. I was first introduced to this dish at an Austin downtown restaurant, Chinatown. At that time my friend was a bartender there and after bar hopping all night long, this was the perfect dish to cure the hungriness that was a result of too much alcohol consumption.  There are many variations of this dish that use different noodles and vegetables, the Vietnamese have Bun Bo Hue and the Laotians have Kow Poon (both use vermicelli noodles). The variation that's presented here is closer to the Chinese version.

Ingredients:


2 1/2 pounds boneless beef shank (you can also use beef shanks with bones) (2-3 inch cubes)
1 large yellow onion (diced)
4 tablespoon granulated sugar
6 tablespoon chili soybean paste
6 garlic cloves (crushed)
12 cups water
2 tablespoon sea salt
4 tablespoon soy sauce
6 whole star anise
2 scallions (chopped)
5 Roma tomatoes (quartered)
1 tablespoon crushed peppercorns
3 tablespoon canola oil
1 package Shandong noodles

Directions:         

Add oil to a stock pot on high heat. Add meat and brown on all sides. Add
onions and garlic and half of the chili soybean paste. Cook until onions become
translucent. Add water and bring soup to a boil. Now add all other ingredients
and wait for water to boil again. Reduce heat to low to medium low and continue
cooking soup for another 2-3 hours or until meat becomes tender. Feel free to
adjust your soup with fish sauce for extra saltiness, sugar for sweetness,
chili soybean paste for spiciness, or lime juice for tartness. You'll also want
to precook the noodles in a separate pot of boiling water for 5-8 minutes prior
to building your bowl.

Accompaniments:

You can add almost any type of vegetables and herbs to compliment this
soup. I've listed the basic accompaniments and some other options as well and don't be afraid of using your own imagination to match with your palette preference.

Basic accompaniments:

Baby bok choy (blanched)
Pickled mustard greens (roughly chopped)
Scallions (sliced on bias)

Optional/alternative accompaniments:

Cilantro (roughly chopped)
Purple or green cabbage (paper thin slices)
Red or white onions (thinly sliced)