Cooking journal: Stromboli and pizza

More experimenting with making a good dough for yummy comfort food.

So I had a couple of things going on here, to test.  The first was to compare the store-bought dough available at my local HEB to my own dough, to see if I noticed any difference.  The second was to try a couple different kinds of options - quick-bake pizza versus a wrapped style like Stromboli.

My dough recipe for this set of experiments was:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 TBSP sugar
• 1 ½ tsp yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/3 cup water
• 1 TBSP olive oil

I mixed these up and divided the dough into two oiled ziplock and tossed them into the fridge to rise for a couple of days.  The commercial dough sat in the fridge for the same couple of days, so it could fully thaw.

For the Stromboli, I sautéed a pound of sliced mushrooms.  I also sautéed a box of frozen spinach with 3 tsp chopped garlic, a generous sprinkle of nutmeg, and a sprinkle of black pepper.  Once it was fully hot I spooned it onto some paper towels to drain and cool.  Before adding it to the Stromboli I squeezed it to get rid of as much water as possible.

I made two Stromboli - one from my own dough (half of the recipe above) and one from the commercial ball of dough.

Preheated the oven to 400.  Rolled the dough out into a large square - about 10x12 inches, which made it a bit less than half-inch thick.  I laid out a thin layer of provolone, leaving a bit of dough uncovered on sides and ends.  on top of that I spread out the mushrooms and spinach.  Rolled the thing up, pinched to seal the ends and edges, set it on parchment paper, slashed the top every couple of inches.  Then baked it for 28 minutes on my hot pizza stone (just slide parchment paper onto and off of the stone).  

Served with jarred marinara.

Result:  The commercial dough came out better than the homemade.  I think because the commercial one had slightly more volume?  The homemade one seemed to take longer to cook and didn't brown up as nicely.  Also, these came out ENORMOUS.  I cut one in half to feed both of us, and it was a large meal.  So the other got left for another night and it wasn't quite a good on re-heating.  So in future - make  only one at a time, or serve more people at once!  

These were tasty and I should probably do them again sometime. :)

For the pizza, I divided the dough into two, rolled out each piece to about 1/2 inch thick, let it rise on a piece of parchment paper while the oven with a stone in it rose to 450.  Then slid the parchment paper onto the stone, baked for 10 minutes, removed and added pizza sauce (Classico), mozzarella, and pepperoni.  Slid back into the hot oven for another 5 minutes.  

These were fine.  I think I used too much sauce, so they were kind of messy.  

The pizza dough recipe above comes out a little bland.  

Conclusion:

I'm not at all sure that the extra effort to make my own dough is worth the result in flavor.  The commercial stuff tasted just fine, wasn't real expensive, and was easy to use.  

Cooking notes: Pumpkin Chili

This is adapted from this recipe - I thought that the idea of thickening the chili with pumpkin had potential.

Ingredients
2 pounds ground turkey
1 lb dried large red kidney beans
2 – 14 oz cans pumpkin puree
3 – 14 oz cans crushed or diced tomatoes
4 cups water
1.5 cups frozen chopped onion
1 cup frozen green bell peppers
2 cloves garlic, diced – large spoonful of pre-diced
3 teaspoons cumin
3 tablespoon chili powder - to be honest, I just dump it in, it's probably more than that.
2 teaspoons dried oregano

Method
1. Set pot to saute.  When hot, brown  ground beef. Brown meat. Add diced onion, diced green pepper and garlic. Stir until the onion is fully thawed.

2.  Add kidney beans, pumpkin puree, water, cumin, chili powder, dried cilantro and dried oregano. Stir well. Switch pot to pressure cook and cook for 30 minutes

3.  Natural release for at least 10-15 minutes, check for done-ness.  When done, add tomato and then adjust seasoning to taste. 

Serves 8 for 395 kcal/serving

Result:  This made very large servings if divided into 8.

The result was palatable but bland.  The pumpkin thickened the chili but you really couldn't taste it.  It needed salt and more spice.  And perhaps something acidic - vinegar or lemon juice - to bring out flavor.  Adding cheese helped a bit, likely because it added salt.

I'd do something like this again but would maybe cut the amount of pumpkin down (in half maybe) and would add more salt, more seasoning, and something acidic to bring out the flavors more.  

Ropa Vieja in instant pot

This was a combination of several different recipes.

2.7 lb beef flank steak
salt and pepper
1 cup frozen chopped onion
4-5 cloves garlic
1 cup beef broth
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cups frozen bell peppers (the ones Keith got were all green peppers)
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup parsley flakes
2 tbsp white vinegar

Season meat with salt and pepper
Preheat instant pot on saute mode, then sear steak on all sides and set aside.
add onions and garlic, cook until soft.
Add broth to deglaze
Add tomatoes, peppers, oregano, cumin, bay, then put meat back in
pressure cook on high for 40 minutes
10 minutes natural release
remove meat to plate, shred with forks.
blend sauce with immersion blender
mix in parsley and vinegar.

Result:  Flavor was nice.  I would've preferred to have the mix of red, yellow, and green bell peppers instead of just green.  there was way too much liquid in the pot.  Next time, I think I can skip the beef broth and just go with the liquid from the can of tomatoes and that released from the onion, peppers, and meat.

Cuban style black beans with brown rice

1 lb dry black beans
3 cups water
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
2 bay leaves
2 tsp Worcestershire

Add all ingredients to pot and pressure cook 22 minutes
natural release at least 10 minutes
blend or mash a bit to thicken juice

Results:  Nice.  A bit bland.  Consider cooking in broth instead of water.  Or adding a bit more seasoning - oregano, maybe?  There wasn't a ton of liquid, I prefer a bit more to soak down and flavor the rice.  Maybe would add an additional 1/4 to 1/2 cup water next time.


Brown rice - 2 cups rice to 2.5 cups water, add a spoonful of bacon fat for flavor, pressure 23 minutes on high.

Tuscan chicken pasta

based on this recipe.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (mine came out to 2.07 lbs)
splash cooking oil
dash salt and pepper
2 tsp paprika
1 cup chopped frozen onion
1 tsp basil
Garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
dash red pepper flakes
4 1/2 cups chicken broth (used BtB)
1 cup milk
14 oz penne pasta
8 oz cream cheese
1 1/2 cup grated parmesan (used the dry kind, not fresh-grated)
4 oz dried sun-dried tomatoes
several large handfuls (about 4 cups?) fresh spinach and baby kale

Rub the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, paprika
Preheat pot on saute, then add dash of oil and sauce chicken (in batches) until browned on all sides; set aside.
add onion, saute until soft
add broth, seasonings, milk, pasta, and lay chicken on top.
Pressure cook for 5 minutes.
Quick release pressure
Remove chicken and set aside.
Stir in cream cheese until softened and fully distributed
Stir in parmesan, tomatoes, and spinach.
Chop chicken into bite-sized chunks and stir back in.

Result:  Tasty.  Made a lot - I divided into 8 portions which were a generous one-dish meal.  I froze some portions and they thawed and reheated just fine.  Keith seemed to like quite a bit.  If I made it again, I might try mixing in some additional veggies?  Some diced red/orange peppers, maybe.

Lemony Lentil Soup

This came from https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/lemony-lentil-soup/ with some variation.

Splash of cooking oil (recipe recommends olive oil)
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced onion (I used frozen chopped)
5 cloves minced garlic
6 cups veggie stock (I used Better than Bouillon)
2 cups red lentils (14 oz bag)
2/3 cup corn (I used frozen)
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp curry powder (recipe said 1.5, I screwed up and read wrong line and put in 2)
pinch saffron
pinch cayenne
2 tbsp lemon juice
(recipe recommended lemon zest but I didn't have on hand)

Heat pot in sauce mode; when hot, add a splash of oil and cook onions and carrots in them for 5 min or until onion is soft.  Add garlic and sauce for another minute or so.  Add all other ingredients except lemon; pressure cook for 8 minutes.  Allow natural release for at least 10 minutes then open.  blend a bit with immersion blender to create a creamy texture.  Stir in lemon juice.

Results:  Not bad.  A bit too intense, flavor-wise.  Maybe make a weaker broth base next time, and cut back a touch on the curry powder.  Also maybe up the lemon or add in lemon zest next time.  The texture was quite thick, especially on reheating.  I think it might be good to add a bit more liquid to have more of a soup-like texture.

For next time:
Acquire lemon zest
Add 2 cups additional water
use a bit less curry powder

Closet thoughts

I have a LOT of clothes. I have a considerably smaller set of clothes that I truly love wearing. Reasons why I don’t wear clothes are varied:

• Too small
• Too big
• Damaged or worn
• Not flattering
• Not my aesthetic anymore
• Nothing to wear it with
• Inconvenient to wear:  no pockets!

Meanwhile I find myself craving new clothes even though my enormous, privileged, first-world closet is pretty full now. 

And, I have a yen to do some sewing. 

So I have this idea I will try to narrow down my closet to a smaller subset of clothes - things that meet all the following criteria:

• Fits well and in good condition
• Has something it will go with (which hasn’t already been tabbed as going with some other outfit)
• I enjoy wearing it. 

Then I will see if that is enough clothing or still have too much... I would define “enough” as at least a week or two of outfits for a category like casual, formal work, casual work, etc.  I guess I would define “too much” as more than a month of same?  Also need to consider summer and winter. 

From there, I would like to start building “capsules” (as seen on the internet) of clothing that can be recombined into different outfits. So for trips, could just grab a capsule or two and be ready to go. But that level of organization would also require some planning for maintenance - 

• Do I store capsules together rather than sorting clothes by type as I do now?
• How to remember what goes in which capsule?
• How to maintain the capsules through the laundry cycle?  (Sew in grranimals tags?)

Rejected clothes will largely go in my growing pile of things to try to refashion, so I can get creative without spending a bundle!

So, here goes. Going to post now as a commitment to myself!