Pizza Time

Believe it or not, Americans eat 75 acres of pizza a day!

The dinner menu for tonight was home made pizza. We made two different types;

The first pizza was what we call our "traditional" - it's tomato sauce with shredded mozzarella and fontina cheeses with sliced shallots, olives, green bell pepper, mushrooms and turkey pepperoni on top of fresh made pizza dough. (sometimes we add sausage too)

The second pizza was a funky new recipe for us - "pizza with smoked salmon" by Wolfgang Puck. Seriously, the guy's a millionaire, he's doing something right.... most of his recipes are pretty decent.

For this smoked salmon pizza I made the garlic chili oil (see recipe below) the night before by boiling 1 cup olive oil with 1-2 head(s) of garlic for about 15 minutes until they turned golden brown (be careful, don't burn them!), set the pot aside to cool for a while. After the oil has cooled add red pepper flakes to absorb into the oil for a few hours or overnight. Next pour the oil thru a strainer into a bottle. (that's the oil I made pictured to the left)

Our traditional version pizza came out great, the flavors mix together very well, it's no wonder its our favorite classic blend. (click on any photo to see a larger detailed view)

The smoked salmon pizza came out pretty good too but it was rich and a tad on the salty side (from the salmon) I think it would make for a better appetizer cut up into thinner slices, instead of as an entrée in larger slices... but don't get me wrong - it was very tasty.

Here's the recipe for the smoked salmon pizza:

Ingredients
- 6 oz of Pizza Dough (make your own or you can find ready to bake dough at your local grocer - we've found it at Trader Joes and WinCo)
- 1 Tbsp garlic - chili oil (prepare this as described above)
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
- 2 Tbsp dill cream (recipe below)
- 2 1/2 oz of smoked salmon
- 1 Tsp chipped fresh chives

Directions

1. Place a pizza stone on the middle rack of the oven and preheat the oven to 500°F.
2. On a lightly floured surface, stretch or roll out the dough into an 8- inch circle, with the outer edge a little thicker than the inner circle. Brush the dough with the oil and arrange the onions over the pizza. Slide a pizza paddle or rimless baking sheet under the pizza and then slide the pizza onto the pizza stone. Bake until the crust is golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes.
3. With the pizza paddle or a large spatula, carefully remove the pizza from the oven and set it on a cutting board. Use a knife, an icing spatula, or the back of a spoon to spread the Dill Cream over the inner circle. Arrange the slices of salmon so that they cover the entire pizza, slightly overlapping the raised rim. Sprinkle the chopped chives over the salmon. Using a pizza cutter or a large sharp knife, cut the pizza into 4 or 6 slices. Serve immediately

Dill Cream
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream
- 3 Tbsp minced shallots
- 2 Tbsp fresh dill leaves, chopped
- 1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 fresh ground white pepper

mix well in medium bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate until ready to use.

Salmon and Bagels

Lox, Stock and Smoking Bagels

When I first heard of this combination of foods as a kid, I thought "what the heck? that sounds gnarly". It was years before I finally tried it as an adult and discovered that hey! this food combination goes pretty good together!

I smoked some salmon yesterday and this morning Ronda asked for lox on bagels for breakfast, so after slicing the salmon all up, I made a bagel each for her and I.

It's very easy to make (well except for the smoking the salmon yourself part).
I highly recommend you use some good salmon, you can buy your smoked salmon at your local deli or grocery store, or make your own at home like I did.

Ingredients & Directions

Toast 2 bagels
Spread cream cheese on bagel (how ever much you like)
Sprinkle dill over cream cheese
Put smoked salmon slices on top of cream cheese

ENJOY!

Smoking Salmon

BBQ, God's gift to Foodies since the cave man

I've been a bbq chef since I learned to play with matches and roasted my first hot dog over an open flame on my moms bbq in our backyard. I still remember that day, I burned the hot dog to a crisp, but for some strange reason I liked that crunchiness, it seemed to taste good, but heck, what did I know.. I was only a kid.. I've learned a lot since then...

I love to bbq, I think it's some kind of Neanderthal trait in my dna that makes me desire to cook meats over an open flame.... it's that lust for fire that seems to always mesmorize us so much when we're sitting around a campfire at night staring at the dancing flames.

As we all know there'a a lot more to bbq'ing then just slapping some meat on top of some burning coals. There's direct and indirect cooking, there's charcoal and propane and then there's smoking...

Smoking meats is a different and very unique way to cook meats and create incredible flavors.

There's a saying that must always be followed when smoking meats - do it LOW and SLOW. That means cook on a very low heat (150-250 degrees at the most).

I have an electric smoker box (pictured to the left)

Today I made some smoked salmon using the following recipe for brining (which is a necessary process for good smoked fish)

Ingredients
1 cup kosher salt
½ cup sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp crushed black peppercorns
2 large salmon fillets (pin bones removed)

Directions
In a bowl, mix together salt, sugar, brown sugar and peppercorns. Spread extra-wide aluminum foil a little longer than the length of the fish and top with an equally long layer of plastic wrap. Sprinkle 1/3 of the rub onto the plastic. Lay 1 side of the fish skin down onto the rub. Sprinkle 1/3 of the rub onto the flesh of the salmon. Place second side of salmon, flesh down onto the first side. Use the remaining rub to cover the skin on the top piece. Fold plastic over to cover then close edges of foil together and crimp tightly around the fish.

Place wrapped fish onto a plank or sheet pan and top with another plank or pan. Weigh with a heavy phone book or a brick or two and refrigerate for 12 hours. Flip the fish over and refrigerate another 12 hours. Some juice will leak out during the process so make sure there's a place for the runoff to gather.

Unwrap fish and rinse off the cure with cold water. Pat salmon with paper towels then place in a cool, dry place (not the refrigerator) until the surface of the fish is dry and matte-like, 1 to 3 hours depending on humidity. A fan may be used to speed the process.

Smoke fish over smoldering hardwood chips or sawdust, keeping the temperature inside the smoker between 150 degrees F and 160 degrees F until the thickest part of the fish registers 150 degrees. Serve immediately or cool to room temperature, wrap tightly and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

ENJOY!