Feast 18 – The Lost Weekend

It has been one of those weekends where at the end of it all, you ask yourself “where did it all go?” the time, the contents of my wallet, where did it all go?

Four day weekends have their positives, no doubt about it. in addition to a trip to Seoul (for the electronics market and that bastion of western culture, Hooters), i have shot many a game of pool, drank more than a few beers and also managed to find the time to perform a cooking demo.

okay, nothing major, i just decided that it would be fun and instructional to invite Eddie over and let him see the entire process, start to finish, of making a meal. Oh, and to up the ante a bit, i videotaped the entire thing. That’s for you Cath, i can’t be there in person to show you how to cook these things but hey, instructional video is the next best thing.

so, a few hours later, Eddie and i are left with a very nicely done steak and portabello mushroom pizza and about 80 minutes of video for me to digitize and burn to DVD. well, thats the good news. the bad news is that i seem to have misplaced my firewire cable so i have to track one down, hopefully tomorrow, to get this video thing rolling. it is in the works though and i even hope to have a few clips posted into the blog as well. for now, here is my recipe for homemade pizza. it’s something that i have been working on for a few years and combine a few different techniques into the whole. the sauce isn’t a traditional smooth tomato sauce, its more of a chunky vegetable sauce but it works for me. i use a blend of smoked gouda and mozzarella cheese for the topping and mozzarella inside the rim of the crust for that tasty stuffed crust appeal. since this is Osan, Korea, i was unable to get duck breast so instead seared some beef round steak and sliced it thinly in the same manner as described below for the duck. Also, since i was videotaping, the pictures fell to the wayside, i have one of the completed pizza but you will have to wait for the video clips for the additional details.

This one is really simple, i hope all of you try it at some point.

The Finished Product

Duck and Smoked Gouda Pizza

Ingredients

For the Dough
3 1/2 cups Flour
2 tbsp Yeast
1 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 1/4 cup Warm water

For the sauce
4 tbsp Olive oil
1 Large yellow onion, diced
6 cloves Garlic, minced
1 Sweet red bell pepper, diced
2-3 Small chilis, minced
6 Medium sized tomatos
Majoram
Parsley
Basil
Oregano
Salt
Pepper

For the toppings
2 tbsp Olive oil
2 small beef round cuts
Salt
Black pepper
1 large portabello
1 lb fresh mozzarella for the stuffed crust
1/4 lb Smoked gouda, shredded
1/2 lb Mozzarella, shredded
Parmesan

Preheat oven to 375

Preparation

The Crust

Sift flour and salt into large bowl. make a well in the middle of flour and pour in yeast. drizzle olive oil around edge of flour. pour water over olive oil. Mix with a spoon until dough begins to stick together into one mass. dump bowl onto a floured surface and knead for ~5 minutes. pour 2 tbsp olive oil into bowl and place dough in bowl to rise, turning dough to coat all surfaces with oil. cover with towel and place near oven to rise 1 hour or until doubled.

The Sauce

Heat oil in saucepan and cook onion, garlic and peppers until soft. puree tomatoes in blender and add to onion mixture. add spices to taste and simmer down until thick, usually around the time the dough is done rising.

The topping

heat oil in heavy pan. place beef on a cutting board and cover with salt and pepper. pound beef with flat side of a meat mallet until salt and pepper and infused in the flesh. repeat on both sides. cook beef in oil for a few minutes per side until done. thinly slice beef and set aside. slice mushroom and set aside.

Putting it all together

Roll the pizza dough out to cover a pizza pan or pizza stone. roll the edged out until the overlap the edge of the pan by about a 1/2 inch. make a circle of cheese around the edge of the pizza and fold over the excess crust, sealing with the base of the pizza to make a rim filled with cheese. top with oregano, basil, parsley and parmesan. blind bake for 3- 5 minutes.

pour sauce onto pizza crust and smooth out evenly. Top with meat and mushrooms, cover with cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes until nicely browned.

let stand a few minutes, cut and enjoy.