Magazine Monday #80 and 101 Uses for a Roasted Chicken #27

I'm on a bit of a pizza kick lately, and as mentioned in the previous post, I'm trying to use up things in my freezer. I still have a bunch of that roasted chicken from a catering gig last month frozen, and so I decided to make pizza with it - again! - and use a new pizza dough recipe I came across in Food Network Magazine, a publication I really look forward to receiving each month.

Yesterday, in addition to making blueberry crumble, I made a chicken, red onion, kalamata olive, and mushroom pizza. It was delish!

The pizza dough recipe is here, and it came from the March 2011 issue of the magazine. I really liked this recipe. It made enough that I could divide it in three portions and put the other two in the freezer, and it was quite a light crust that bubbled up attractively when baked.

It's been a great weekend of food around here, that's for sure!

Blueberry Crumble with Coconut Pecan Topping

Out with the old and in with the new! That's what I'm trying to do with my fridge freezer these days. I plan on making some more big batch stuff shortly, and it's also about to become summer fruit season, so I decided to stop hoarding frozen fruits and start using them so I can fill the freezer with fresher stuff. I had 7 cups of blueberries from last summer bagged up, and I took 6 of them out to make a crumble yesterday.

I never use a recipe when making a crumble. I eyeball everything and add what I feel would work. So that's why, apart from the 6 cups of blueberries, there aren't any measurements. Actually, I did measure the butter because, with the price of that particular ingredient, I am hoarding it a bit.

Blueberry Crumble with Coconut Pecan Topping

6 cups of blueberries
juice of 1 lemon
some white sugar (not too much; the blueberries were sweet enough themselves)
cornstarch, so it coats the blueberries lightly

for the topping:

oatmeal
coconut
brown sugar
two handfuls chopped pecans
cinnamon
2/3 cups butter

You'll need a 9x13 pan for this, and I'd bake it on a baking sheet in case the filling boils over. Bake at 375F until the fruit is all bubbly and the top is nicely golden brown.

It was pretty delicious, I must say! All it needed was some ice cream, which I didn't have on hand.

Now, I have a whole whack of pumpkin to use up!

Magazine Monday #79 (on a Saturday): Guy Fieri's Soft Pretzels

Strange cravings are upon me these days, and while going through a pile of magazines taking up space on my coffee table, this soft pretzel recipe by Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives host Guy Fieri caught my eye. I have recently become a Triple D (or, as I like to call it, D3) fanatic. I don't know why it took me so long! Where has this show been all my life! It took a while for Guy to grow on me, but grow on me he has, and now I am addicted. This is probably another reason I wanted to make this recipe.

Unfortunately, I didn't think too much of Guy's soft pretzel recipe, which came in the January/February issue of Food Network Magazine. The recipe is here.

Lately, I have been practicing making bagels, which are boiled. I have posted before (here and here) about some pretzels I've made that are also boiled. I have to say, I much prefer that recipe and the boiling method over this non-boiled pretzel by Guy. Guy's are tasty for sure, and I enjoyed the stuffed ones (I used homemade pesto and mozzarella cheese to stuff mine), but they are, essentially, a pretzel-shaped bun without that nice chewy texture.

So, I'd give this a miss. Sorry, Guy! I love you, but this wasn't my cup of tea!

Scones for a Crowd

This is a recipe we make weekly at work, and they all go up to the hospital coffee shop. We alternate between blueberry one week and cranberry the next. This is a pretty good recipe, I have to say. It makes four big rounds that we cut into eight triangles.

Cream Scones

9 cups flour
4 tbsp baking powder
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 tsp salt
2 cups butter
8 eggs
3 cups cream or milk
egg wash & granulated sugar for topping
blueberries, cranberries - frozen - optional

Whisk together the dry ingredients and cut in the butter until it's small pea-size. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and cream. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet until combined. Add fruit at this point. It's always better to use frozen fruit so the juices don't saturate the batter with tons of colour. It's an aesthetic thing. Don't overwork the dough, but make sure you get a nice consistent dough. It will be sticky. Turn it out onto a well-floured surface and cut into four even pieces. Pat each piece into a circle about 1" thick. Place on greased baking sheet and cut into desired number of triangles. Glaze with egg wash & sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350F until golden brown and cooked through.

Enjoy!

Vegan Black Metal Chef!

OMG! If you haven't seen this video yet, I highly recommend you sit back and prepare to be entertained!

I'm a metal fan, but not really a black metal fan, however, this is awesome! And it's hilarious and clever! I don't really like the looks of the sauce (too much sugar), but seriously, this is funny, brilliant stuff! This video is getting a lot of attention, and so it should! The lyrics are fantastic and there are so many priceless lines in it. This is the most entertaining cooking video I think I've ever seen.

Check it!