Pizza!!!

Once a month, we have a pizza and wine date. Here are some samples of the pizzas we have made:

Cast Iron Skillet pizza with artichoke, spinach, and tomato sauce

A view of said pizza on plates

The non-cast iron skillet version, with tomato, onion, mushroom, and arugula

I mix up the dough earlier in the day, and since it only needs one rise it is ready whenever we want to eat. Here's a dough recipe below...and a tomato sauce recipe (but you can just use olive oil and cheese too).


Dough:
Mix 2.25 tablespoons active dry yeast with 1.5 cups warm water (around 120 degrees). Let the yeast rise for a few minutes, then add 1/2 cup of flour and a teaspoon of sugar. Mix it up with your stand mixer and dough hook attachment. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a good dash of salt, and 3.25 cups flour (I usually make about 1 cup of that whole wheat). Mix/knead with the dough hook. Dough should be moist and glistening but not sticky...you can add more flour if necessary. Put the dough in a bowl greased with olive oil...and let it rise for about an hour (or more).

Then just roll out the dough on a pan, top as you wish, and place the pizza in a 425 degree oven until the crust is nicely browned and cooked.

Joe's Tomato Sauce:
Saute a red onion in a good amount of olive oil until translucent. Add a couple cloves garlic if desired. Add about a third of a cup of alcohol (cooking sherry or wine) and reduce until most of it burns off. Add a can of either diced tomatoes or crushed tomatoes...salt and pepper to taste. You can also add oregano, basil, rosemary, or similar Italian spices to jazz up the sauce. Add red pepper flakes if you wish. Let the sauce simmer, covered, for 30-40 minutes, then cool slightly before topping pizza. Also great on pasta.

Peanut Sauce

I have a peanut sauce recipe. I know I've had it since high school, because I can remember making up just enough sauce for a single serving of noodles as dinner before going to work at Dairy Queen. I don't remember where I found it, and I don't have it with me, but that's okay -- it's just garlic, ginger, peanut butter, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, and hot water, mixed in whatever ratio gives the right taste and texture. Brown sugar if you want it sweeter. Throw in some green onions. Done.

I learned in college that this kind of stuff-covered-in-peanut-sauce dish is called gado-gado (although I'm sure there's such a thing as REAL gado-gado, which this ain't.) I love peanut sauce so much I made up a song about it.

Gado-gado is the best
Gado-gado beats the rest
You can have it for lunch or have it for supper, 
eat it from a plate or eat it from a cup or
eat it right out of the pot!
Gado-gado really hits the spot!

So, yes. When I found chicken satay sandwiches from SheSimmers.com, an awesome Thai food blog, I was going to make it. But Thai peanut sauce is a little different from my standard.

The recipe is here on the SheSimmers blog, as well as lots of information about Thai peanut sauce, but if you don't want to click the link, here it is abbreviated:

Ingredients:

•  13.5-oz (one can) full-fat coconut milk
• 1/4 cup (half a little jar) red Thai curry paste
• 3/4 cup unsweetened, natural peanut butter
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons apple cider or white vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
  bring to a gentle boil, stirring; simmer 3-5 minutes. Keeps in the fridge.

That's it. But this stuff is magic. Then all that's left is to make homemade ciabatta, flatten some chicken breasts and rub them in Penzey's satay seasoning, fry the chicken on the stove top, and chop up some cucumbers, red onion, chiles (jalapenos are good), and cilantro. Make sandwich.

Invite over a friend or two, if you're feeling nice. Have a beer.

Now, the only problem: this recipe makes about three meals worth of peanut sauce, and you can only dunk plain ciabatta rolls in peanut sauce so many times. What to do with the rest? Here's what we did:

Cook angel hair pasta. Steam some broccoli florets. Pour peanut sauce on top. Now THAT sounds like the gado-gado my high-school self knows.

Oh, and with the peanut sauce that sticks to the Tupperware? Here is what you do.

Remember those broccoli florets? You bought a whole stalk of broccoli because it's cheaper, right? So you have stalks left? While the broccoli is steaming and the pasta cooking, turn the oven on to 350 F. Slice the stalks nice and thin. Whisk up an egg and a little milk, and pour some panko, a little salt, and your favorite mix of spices (salt and onion powder is good!) in a dish. Dredge the stalk chips in the egg mix and then the panko, and place on a baking pan. (You gave the pan a spritz with non-stick spray, right?) Pop in the oven. About ten minutes later, pull them out of the oven. Dip the now hot-and-crispy chips in what's left of the peanut sauce.

If you get these in the oven as you're serving dinner, they become dessert. For me, anyway. But I really like peanut sauce.