Tilapia Onion and Mozzarella Crepes, Hummus, and Ginger Cookies

So I have a big bag of tilapia that I've been slowly working through, and I decided to make them into a filling for crepes. I got a crepe pan in France and love making them, and this was a great way to make them for a dinner. For the crepes batter, whisk together 1C flour, 2 eggs, 1/2C milk, 1/2C water, 1/4t salt and 2T melted butter. spread about 1/4C around into a thin pancake, and when it loosens when you shake the pan, it's good to go.

For the filling, I started off by boiling a couple tilapia fillets until they flaked, while also sautéing an onion, carrot and some crushed cashews in a little olive oil, Old Bay seasoning and Italian seasonings. Then, I put the filling into a crepe topped with a little mozzarella, then folded and sprinkled with more Old Bay seasoning and coarse salt.

Ginger cookies were a comfort food that I had all the time growing up, and this recipe still is so delicious. To make, combine 2.25C flour, 2t ginger, 1t baking soda, .75t cinnamon, .5t cloves, .25t salt, 3/4C melted margarine, 1C white sugar, 1 egg, 1T water and 1/4C molasses into a dough. Form into walnut sized balls, roll in sugar, then bake at 350 for ~13 minutes. Really good, and freezes well.

This hummus recipe has been tuned for a while, and makes a delicious and quite cheap and tasty dip. This is just as good if not better than the hummus you buy in the store, but is made for a lot lower price. To make, place into a food processor 2 cloves of garlic, 1 15oz garbanzo beans, 4T lemon juice, 2T tahini, 1/2t salt, 1/2t sugar, 3/4t cumin, 2T olive oil and black pepper to taste. Blend, then add more seasonings as your tastes need. Freezes very well; I made a double recipe and froze it in ice cube trays so that I can get out as much as I need whenever I need it.

One other note, the recipe I put up a while ago for thin-crust pizza dough freezes very well. I made and froze a recipe and have enjoyed making a fresh pizza with only a few hours notice. Very nice to have on hand.

Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza

Since I've already had experience with thin-crust pizza, I decided to go to the other end of the pizza spectrum and try a Chicago-style deep dish recipe I found. It is actually made for a 14-inch pan, but I made it work with 3 8-inch cake pans, and it turned out great; be prepared for a lot of pizza though!

To make the dough, combine 3.5C All-purpose flour, 1/2C cornmeal, 2.25t yeast, 1t sugar, 1t salt

1.5C water and 1/2C vegetable oil, then kneed for 7 minutes or until well combined. Then, put it large bowl (it expands to 2-3 times initial size), cover with saran wrap with a couple holes and refrigerate overnight.

To make the pizza, start by taking the dough out of the fridge an hour before you want to work with it so it warms up enough to be malleable. Once it's sat for an hour, move your oven rack to the lowest setting and preheat your oven to 450. Then, coat the bottom of your pan(s) with non-virgin olive oil and spread the dough (or divided dough) to fill the bottom of your pan(s). Next, you need to work it up the edge to form the crust. After some trial and error, I found the best way was to use 8 fingers to draw up the dough while spinning the pan around. The suction created by the oil in the crack of the pan helped, and eventually it held its form, but be patient and just keep working it. Then, spread mozzarella or provolone cheese on the bottom and then layer whatever toppings you want (I did pepperoni). Then, add tomatoes. I used high-quality diced tomatoes (Hunts fire-roasted diced tomatoes), and it worked great, and 2 cans was perfect for my 3 8-inch pans. Then, sprinkle basil and oregano and top with Parmesan. Bake for 20 minutes or until the crust looks deliciously browned, let sit for a few minute and enjoy. I got the pizza out of the pan with a couple spatulas and cut on a cutting board, beware of knives in Teflon pans. End result was a nice lightly crunchy cornbread-y crust that held form and blended with the fillings in a most delightful way. 3 8-inch pans should serve about 6 for dinner. Based on http://www.pizzamaking.com/dkm_chicago.php

Sweet-Spicy Glazed Salmon and Thin-Crust Pizza

The first thing I made a few nights ago that was fantastic and extraordinarily easy is Sweet-Spicy Glazed Salmon. To make it, put up to 4 salmon fillets into a foil-lined pan (makes cleanup a breeze), season to taste with salt and pepper, and bake at 425 for 12 minutes. While that is in the oven, combine 3T brown sugar, 1T low-sodium soy sauce, 4t Chinese-style hot mustard and 1t rice vinegar in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and then remove from heat. After the fish has been in the oven for 12 minutes, take it out and pour/brush the glaze over it, then broil about 3 minutes or until it flakes easily. Makes an absolutely delicious and very easy dish that can be made in a hurry. I forgot to take a picture, so here is one from the recipe. From: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=549833

Next, I decided to try my hand at thin-crust pizza dough. After pouring over many different recipes and opinions on different methods, I finally settled on one. The recipe I chose goes into excruciating detail on every step of the process, but I simplified it quite a bit, and I think it turned out quite well. This recipe makes enough for 4-6 pizzas, each 10-14 inches round. For the dough, combine 4.5C bread flour, 1.75t salt and 1T yeast; then stir in1.75C cold water and 1/4C olive oil if you want. Combine, then kneed for 5-7 minutes or until smooth. Divide into 4-6 pieces depending on how big you want the pizzas to be (I did 4), form into balls, flour the outside and then wrap in plastic wrap. At this point, you can either freeze it and then refrigerate or just refrigerate it depending on how long until you are going to be using it. Either way, it should be in the fridge for a day or two before it is used to allow the gluten to develop. When you are ready to make the pizzas, take the dough out of the fridge and press into about a 1/2 inch thick disk on a floured surface, then let sit for an hour or so to warm up. At some point while the dough is warming up, begin preheating your oven to basically as hot as it can get (I just left mine on broil - it got to about 550 degrees F) with your pizza stone in the oven as well. If you really want to make fresh pizzas, I highly recommend getting a pizza stone, because it results in a much better crust and is not all that expensive; otherwise, a pan would suffice. Regardless, once the dough has warmed up a bit, stretch it into the size and thickness you want. There are many different techniques to doing this, but I like the gravity method, because it is pretty easy and less likely to make a mess. Making sure that your dough remains lightly floured, take your disk by near the edge and hold it like you would a washcloth you are preparing to hang up, then work your way around the edge, stretching it to make the circumference of the outer edge larger and letting gravity pull the center into shape. Watch carefully that you do not tear the dough in the center, and if you do get close, let it sit on the counter for a few seconds and retract, then work carefully to the desired size. One of the two that I did turned out more rectangularly than circular due to avoiding tears, but it had no impact on the taste. Once stretched to your liking, transfer to a flat pan that is lightly dusted with semolina flour or cornmeal, and spread on a thin layer of sauce(I included a picture of the one I used, which was delicious, if a bit salty) and any toppings you want. Keep in mind that fewer toppings can be better, and the crust is quite thin and not of structural integrity for an 'everything'; mine just had sauce and sliced fresh mozzarella. Once topped, remove the stone from the oven (if you are using a stone), and slide the pizza from the pan to the stone, then place the stone into the oven. You can tell when the pizza is done when the bottom of the crusts begins to get lightly browned and it maintains some rigidity when a corner is lifted with a spatula, about 5-8 minutes. Wait a bit after taking it out of the oven for easier slicing, and enjoy your fresh and delicious pizza! Based on: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001199.html