Friday, July 10, 2009

Classic Combinations

Pizza and Beer

90% of the meals I ate in college involved one of those two food groups. With that in mind, here is a recipe for how to make homemade za. College credit is available.

Pizza Recipe

Before you do anything go to Home Depot and get an unglazed Ceramic tile. This will cost you about $1.99. Place it on the bottom of your oven and let er rip. Mine goes to 11 (550 degrees), but 500 works well. Just leave it in there at all times.

In a Kitchen-Aid Mixer (or just a large bowl) combine one packet of yeast, a lil bit of honey or sugar, and a 1/4 cup of warm water. Let this sit while you listen to Freebird in its entirety. The whole thing.

Now with the paddle attachment on low speed slowly add 3.5 cups of flour in half cup increments. Depending on the humidity, you may need more flour, more water, or more cowbell. Throw in a healthy handful of salt and a few good glugs of olive oil. Allow mixer to chug along, slowly blending the elements into a compound. When the dough begins to come together, remove from bowl, knead on a floured surface, and form into a ball. I like to knead for about 10 minutes, so I can tell my doc that I exercise.

Place ball into a oiled bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel, place in a warm area, and fuhgedaboutit for 3 hours.
While this is going on, you can make a pizza sauce. Saute onions, garlic, chili flake, some oregano. Add 1 can whole tomatoes that you pop by squeezing in between your grubby hands, a bay leaf, some red wine, and a good amount of tomato paste. Slowly simmer this. Salt, pepper to taste. At the end tear in some fresh basil.

The dough by this point will have risen. When it has, punch it down and re-knead for about 2 minutes. Cut dough into 4 pieces. On your counter, set up a well-floured area and a floured pizza peel or the bottom of a sheet pan.
Shape out pizza dough, either with a rolling pin, your fingers, a wine bottle, or by tossing it in the air(easier than you think). Place on peel or baking sheet. Top with a small amount of pizza sauce.
Add cheese of your choice and whatever toppings you want. Basil will do you just fine.
Slide za onto a smoking hot stone. Monitor and remove when dough and cheesy are bubbly and brown. It won't take long.
Here is one with mushrooms and olives.
And, of course, the beer. Recently emerging from brewery located in the Blackened Out Cellar is this Miami Weiss (say it out loud, hint: the W is more like a V). This perfect summer beer matches an almost creamy hefeweissen with orange peel. Delicious. Plus it looks damn sexy in a glass from NOLA Brewing.

Have a good weekend, readers.

6 comments:

RBPoBoy said...

I find sprinkling a little corn meal on the pizza stone before you put the pizza in makes for much easier retrieval.

Oh, if you're in Chicago this October:

http://baconfestchicago.com/

Donnie Boy Riguez said...

UFC 100 this weekend is a total clash for this recipe. Human cockfighting requires $5 1 toppings from Domino's. We'll probably secure 15 of those and 12 cases of Bud Light. That's living.

Rémy said...

anything with the big lebowski and/or christopher walken is more than okay. I can't wait to try this recipe.

BC said...

BC is wondering if Blackened Out is intentionally glossing over John Besh's embarrassment of himself and the city the other night on national television. Once again, the left wing media shows its bias and protects their own. BC lost money on that uncooked egg.

BlackenedOut said...

Blackened Out feels that commentary on a cooking competition in which we a) didnt taste the food b) realize an inherent bias by the Bravo Team against chefs from New Orleans/Louisiana would do little to advance the cause of Blackened Out.

Bottom line: he choked. Ohh well, his restaurants are still good. And giving Besh's stunning performance (and the ensuing robbery of the title) on The Next Iron Chef, its fair to say screw it.

Ohhh, and we write articles weeks ahead of time. We arent what you would call responsive and story-breaking.

Legend said...

If I didn't know any better, I would say judging from the picture all of that pizza and beer consumed during the glory daze went just to your fingers...but I know better.