Pete's Scallion Flatbread

Last nite I started a scallion loaf for break. This morning, I decided to fry the bread instead to see how it would turn out. I'm happy report, it's awesome!!!! Oh My God, it knocked my socks off and everyone loved it. My wife was going to meditate before breakfast, but after she had a taste she said "I think I'll meditate after break, that is soo good."

This recipe is inspired by scallion pancake and da bing. It doesn't have the layers like either of them, but instead it has this wonderful chewy texture with a crisp cust and moist center. If you want to learn how to make da bing, here is a  video from youtube.

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour - I use king arthurs
1 heaping tsp of salt
1/2 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar

Mix everything in a bowl and let it rise 12-16 hours. When you're ready to fry the bread, divide it into 6 pieces and form a ball. Preheat a 12" frying pan with 1 tbsp of oil. When the oil smokes a little turn the heat down to medium or medium-high. Flatten each ball until it is about 6-8 inches in diameter. Fry the bread for 2-3 minutes until it's golden brown. Flip it over and brown the other side. It should take about 7-9minutes to cook each one.

If you want to make sure they stay warm, preheat your oven to 350. When each one is done, put them on a baking sheet to stay warm until they are all done. When all six are done, serve immediately.

banana peanut brownies

My recipe was inspired by this one. I made some changes to my taste and added more salt to help prevent dehydration. In my quest for yummy home made century fuel, I've been experimenting with various recipes the last 2 years. At the 2013 greylock century, they had brownies at the second rest stop.

Ingredients
10 oz dark chocolate
1/2 cup all natural chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
3 large eggs
1/2 cup honey
1 tbsp Vanilla
1.5 cups king arthur all purpose flour
1.5 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 before you start and line a square or rectangular baking pan with parchment paper.

In a small sauce pan combine the dark chocolate chips, peanut butter and canola oil. On low heat stir until the mixture is melted and combined. Let it cool for 2 minutes.

In a mixing bowl mash the bananas, gradually mix in the eggs one at a time. Next add the vanilla followed by the chocolate mixture.

In a separate mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Give it a quick stir and then pour in the wet mix. Fold until it is combined, but don't over mix.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 20-24min and take it out. Let it cool for 20min - 1 hr. Once it's cool, chill it in the freezer and then cut into squares or bars. Wrap them following the Skratchlabs method here and store in the freezer or frig. If you plan to use them the next day, put them in the frig. They should store in the freezer in a ziplock bag for a couple weeks.

Update
After the brownies were chilled in the freezer, I cut them and wrapped them. Unfortunately they are a bit too gooey and won't survive more than 30min in the back pocket, so I have to go back to the drawing board. They were yummy though

Carrot muffins

This recipe was inspired by Allan Benton's bacon. Yesterday the order arrived and my kids wanted bacon for breakfast. I thought about what would pair with the bacon and felt a carrot muffin might do the trick. As usual I googled for carrot muffin to see what others have done. After looking at 3 different recipes, I came up with this recipe. As usual, I reduce the sugar and add flavor through spices. 1/4 cup of brown sugar instead of 1/2-3/4 cups of sugar is way better. You get to taste the orange juice, cinnamon and carrot.

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 carrots
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp canola oil
1 egg
3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup milk/lactaid
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven at 375F. I used two medium size carrots for the recipe. You can add more if you like. Once the carrots are grated, it is about 3/4 cup. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients and grated carrots. In a second bowl beat the egg, add butter, followed by orange juice and milk. Pour the wet mix into the dry and stir until incorporated. Don't over mix. Divide the batter into 12 muffins. Bake for 20-25min or until golden brown.

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.

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.

apple cinnamon muffin

Last nite I asked my daughter what she would like for breakfast and she said muffins. I started thinking "what kind of muffin should I make?" After a couple of minutes of head scratching, I decided to google for cinnamon muffin. As usual, most of the recipes had too much sugar. Of the first 10 results returned by google, most of them had 1/2-1 cup of sugar. I have to ask "Why?" With all that sugar, you'd hide the apple's natural sweetness and over power the tartness of the apple.

2 cups flour (I use kamut)
2 eggs
2 tbsp butter
1/8 cup honey
1 cup milk
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2-3 tsp cinnamon
1 granny smith apple

Preheat the oven at 375. Chop the apple into tiny cubes, or what ever size you prefer. Combine the dry ingredients with the apple and stir. In a separate bowl mix egg, butter and milk. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir until it comes together.

Put the dough into your muffin pan. I like to use muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. This time I used 2 tsp of cinnamon, but next time I plan to use 3. That should give it an extra kick.

Pumpkin Soup

I don't cook winter squashes, but I thought it would be good to try. Since the only pie I like is Atkins Farms pumpkin pie, I thought making a pumpkin soup would be a good place to start. Here's the ingredients.

1 cooking pumpkin
3 carrots
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
Sriracha
Salt
1 tbsp butter
5 cups of chicken stock
1/4 cup milk or lactaid

Peel the carrots and cut them into big pieces. Cut the pumpkin into big chunks and roast them in the oven at 350 degrees with the 3 peeled garlic cloves and carrots for 30 minutes.

Dice 1 onion and sweat them with some oil and salt to taste. Add the butter, chicken stock and roasted veggies. Bring it to a boil and then simmer for 25-30 minutes. Turn off the heat and puree in a blender or use a hand-held blender. I prefer the hand-held blender, since I don't have to transfer the soup. Once the soup is blended, you can add 1/4 cup of milk or heavy cream. It's optional, but it does add some richness to the soup. Let it simmer for 10 minutes and serve.

Tonight I served it with my Turmeric Vanilla loaf. Both the soup and bread were orange color. Surprisingly, the turmeric vanilla loaf complemented the soup perfectly.