Thursday, November 27, 2014

For this thanksgiving, it's bulgogi brine for the turkey

This year I wanted to do something a little different. I've been reading David Chang's momofuku book and wanted to figure out a bulgogi brine. After looking at various recipes and Maangchi, I came up with this recipe.

4 small asian pears
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 bulb of garlic
2 inches of ginger
1 bunch of scallions
1 cup of soy sauce
1/2 cup rice wine
1/4 cup sesame oil
2 small onions or 1 big onion
1 tb sriracha

A couple of hours before I was reading to brine the turkey, I put the salt and brown sugar in a pot with 1/2 gallon of water. I didn't really measure, just kind of eye balled it. I brought the water to a boil and stirred the mixture until the salt and sugar were dissolved. I turned the stove off and let it cool.

Cut the asian pear into chunks, quarter the onions, peal the ginger and garlic. Blend the mixture with soy sauce, sesame oil, sriracha and rice wine. Combine the pear mixture with the chilled water solution and add another half gallon of cold water.

Rise the turkey and place in a brining bag. I get them at stop & shop and it fits a 12-16 lb turkey without any problems. I made 2 12 lb turkeys, so this was enough to brine both. It it marinate over nite and up to 1 day.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

MexiGoat Pizza

For my son's birthday, he wanted to a Magic tournament, so that's what he got. I asked him what he wanted for the food. I suggested a couple of things and he chose pizza. I'm glad he did, since that's easy to make and feeds a lot of teen age boys. I listed a couple of different flavor combinations, taking into consideration his friends likes/dislikes.

He decided on 1 cheese and 1 vegan. The dough is Jim Lahey's no-knead pizza dough, which is very similar to no-knead bread recipe. The ingredients for the vegan pizza was basil pesto, garlic slices, bella mushrooms, bell peppers, coarse salt, cracked pepper and spinach. I didn't get to taste it, since it disappeared pretty quickly with 12 boys.

The cheese pizza I used 2 kinds of moz. The first was fresh moz, which I broke into pieces by hand. The second was a low moisture moz, which I cut into thick slices. I did try that one and boy was it good. The two kinds of moz gave it two different textures. Unfortunately, I couldn't take a picture in time.

The third pizza was for the wife and I. I'm calling it MexiGoat pizza. Here's the ingredients

thin layer of tomatoe sauce
avocado
crumbled goat cheese
coarse salt
cracked pepper
spinach


The trick to a nice thin pizza crust is to spread it out on the pan and let it rest. The dough is pretty, but not so thin that it breaks. I spread about 4 tablespoons of sauce to make a thin layer. Next I put on the avocado, feta, coase salt and cracked pepper. Bake it at 550 degrees for 4 minutes. Take it out and put the spinach on top and bake for another 2 minutes. When it's done, transfer to a cutting board, cut and then eat!

The reason I'm naming it MexiGoat is simple. Avocado is native to Mexico and central America. Feta is made from goat cheese and originates from Greece. MexiGoat is partly inspired by Antonio's pizza in Amherst (Antonio's Pizza). My favorite pizza there is the Black bean avocado. If you're ever in Amherst or East hampton, I highly recommend it.