Fred's Famous Breakfast Pizza

Breakfast Pizza!

Caramelized onions, Scrambled Eggs, Italian Sausage, Pepperoni and sharp cheddar cheese on a fluffy garlic bread!!!

Background;
Many years ago Breakfast Pizza was quite a novelty. I still remember my first one – some folks at work heard that a local pizza shop was making them and they delivered. So one Friday morning we chipped in and ordered one. Quite frankly once I got the concept I thought I could do better, so I set out to make a better Breakfast Pizza!

This recipe makes a big pizza – about 14” x 1 ½ to 2”. When I’m in the mood for breakfast pizza I’ll make it the night before, let it cool, wrap it completely in plastic wrap, put it back in the pan and into the fridge. It travels well if, when you make it, you spread the cheese to the edge. When the cheese melts it keeps everything else in place. At work I’ll find a piece of cardboard, place the pizza on it, open the plastic wrap, slice the pizza into pieces (grab my piece!) then cover with plastic wrap. My coworkers can then microwave their piece individually – about 35 seconds.

Recipe
 
 My early breakfast pizzas were made with the dough from a bread machine, the machine had a “Manual” setting which mixed the dough then stopped, and didn’t bake it  into bread. I now make the dough with my Kitchenaid.  A dough recipe is included at the end of this recipe.

Oil a deep dish pizza pan (I use a 14” diameter x 1 ½ high pan ) with vegetable oil (not olive oil) place dough in pan - flip dough over – stretch it to the edge of the pan, and cover with plastic wrap (doesn't need to completely cover pan) - I stretch the plastic wrap tight –so I can watch it rise towards the plastic wrap - place in warm draft free place for about an hour.

While the dough is rising:
Caramelize a large onion – cooking down an onion brings out the natural sugar in it. Slice the onion into small slices, place in a heated well oiled skillet, as the onion cooks down, turn down the heat every so often until they are limp and browned, you can “cheat” a little by sprinkling some sugar over the onion half way through the cooking process.
Brown 1/3 to 1/2 lb of sausage, I’ll cut a 1 lb breakfast sausage into 3rds or a 12oz chub in half and freeze the remainder. Brown until dry & crumbly.
Scramble 3 eggs, I like to season with salt & pepper – scramble until dry and crumbled.
Grate 1.5 cups cheese. Almost any cheese will do – I prefer a sharp cheddar.

 I put the onion, egg, sausage, sometimes mushrooms, pepperoni and whatever else I'm in the mood for, on the dough. I top with cheese, making sure it’s spread enough to secure all the toppings when it melts. Bake at 400 for about 15min or until the cheese is melted and crust is slightly browned. It’s a good idea to rotate the pizza half way through.

Dough Recipe

Here is the Kitchenaid recipe for bread:
Using the Dough Hook.
This makes a big Pizza - I use a 14 1/2" pan
1/2 Cup Low-fat milk
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons butter
2 pkg Dry Yeast or 4 1/2 teaspoons of jar yeast
1 1/2 Cups warm water 105-115 degrees
5-6 cups bread flower or all purpose flower

Put milk, sugar, salt & butter in small saucepan - heat on low till butter melts & sugar dissolves - cool to lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixing bowl. Add lukewarm milk mixture and 4 1/2 cups flower - mix on speed 2, when mixed add remaining flower 1/2 cup at a time, until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl - continue to kneed for another 3 minutes (now is a good time to add spices- while kneading)

If  I REALLY wanna kick it up - I add about a tablespoon (or two) of Garlic Powder, Italian Seasoning, Caraway, Fennel & Dill seeds - It's pretty spicy for "White-Bread" people.

Sea Shells - Jumbo Pasta Shells - stuffed with Shrimp, Crab & Swiss Cheese!

This is one of my favorite hors d' oeuvres to make, and eat!


This appetizer is WONDERFUL on so many levels, first and foremost they are delicious, quick and easy to make, have eye appeal, can be made ahead, and they are served chilled.

I often keep a box of Jumbo Pasta Shells, cans of tiny shrimp and canned crab in my pantry at all times. I usually have at least 2 or 3 of the remaining ingredients: shallots, Swiss cheese, celery and mayonnaise in the refrigerator, so I may only have to go out for one or two of the ingredients before I can whip this appetizer up on short notice.

Makes about 20
 
Ingredients
1 box Jumbo Pasta Shells (16 oz.)
1 can tiny shrimp, drained approx 4.5 oz
1 can crab meat, drained approx 6oz
8oz (1/2 lb) shredded Swiss Cheese
1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
2 tablespoons thinly sliced celery
2 tablespoons chopped shallot

Stuffing Mixture
Place the Shrimp, Crab, Cheese, Mayonnaise, Celery, and Shallot in a bowl, then gently mix the ingredients together, trying not to mash it all together.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate while cooking the shells.

Cooking the Shells
Boil an adequate amount of water - approximately 6quarts, add salt, approx. 1/8 cup.
Add the shells to the boiling water, making sure they all become submerged quickly to ensure even cooking.
Gently stir the shells every so often, making sure they don't stick to the bottom.
To test for doneness: Pull out a shell, with the edge of a spoon or a knife blade snip off a piece of pasta and make certain that it's fully cooked, not “al dente”.

Stuffing the Shells
When the shells are fully cooked, drain them in a colander, and rinse in cold water, to stop the cooking process and to cool them to a comfortable working temperature.
Put the shells back into the pot used for cooking them, and add enough cold water to cover them half way, this keeps them moist while stuffing them.
Choose the best shells – some will have broken in the cooking process and there'll be some excess.
Remove a shell from the pot, and shake off excess water. Hold the shell open with one hand, and scoop about 1 tablespoon of your mixture into the shell. Form the shell into a natural shape and place on the plate.
When you’ve used up all of your stuffing mixture, cover the dish with plastic wrap to prevent them from sliding around and from drying out. Refrigerate until it’s time to serve them.

Tips
One annoying part about bringing a dish to a get together - is after it's over - remembering to retrieve your dish! I've lost some dishes that way! My solution - if it's not a really fancy occasion is to take a sturdy paper plate - the oval ones are my favorite. Cover it in aluminum foil and you have a semi fancy serving dish that's disposable. Placing another inverted dish on top, makes them ready to travel.

Put the leftover pasta in a baggie, later on, put pasta sauce over them and microwave, for a quick meal.

Clam Fritters

Background
In my younger days I’d study the Tide’s Tables, when there was a low tide in the winter during daylight AND on one of my day’s off – I’d head to Tamale’s Bay near the Point Rey’s National Park to an area called Lawson’s Landing. I’d arrive early, sometimes with my crab nets to throw off the pier and fishing rods to catch whatever would bite. At the proper time my friend & I (or at times by myself) would hop in my kayak and as the tide went out – head to the emerging island(s) out in the bay, beach the kayak and dig for the famous “Horse-neck clams’ they were huge! Each clam weighed about 3 pounds and had a “neck” on it that could stretch about 3 feet – which meant the clam was 3 feet deep in the sand and mud. If you’ve ever dug a hole in the sand at the beach you know that you’d only get so deep before the hole collapsed in on itself. I had a 3’ x 16” piece of PVC pipe that I’d shove into the sand. Shovel sand out of it, push it down, and shovel some more – by time it was completely buried – I’d found my clam! The limit was 10, so on to the next one! By time the tide came back in I had 30 pounds of clams! LOTS of material to make all kinds of epicurean delights with – mostly a killer clam chowder and clam fritters! That was many years ago!
Recently my wife came home with a package of Razor Clams – thinking “They look cool, and Fred can probably make something yummy with them’. Well they stayed in the freezer for a little while, then came the time to cook them, my mind sifted thought the possibilities and I settled on an old recipe of mine – Clam Fritters – would these new clams prove suitable? – the verdict YES!

Recipe
Clam Fritters
I’ve only made these with Horse Neck clams and now Razor Clams (I can’t guarantee results with other species of clams)
I grind up the clam meat with a meat grinder attachment for my Kitchenaid, if you’re using a food processor – “pulse” it until you get a “rough chop” or if you don’t have a grinder or food processor, you can “mice” the clam meat to about 1/8” bits.
You’re looking for a 1:1 ratio of Clam meat to Cracker Crumbs
1 cup minced clam meat
1 cup cracker crumbs (crush them by hand in a bag – rough crush not “dust’)
1 egg
1 TBSP minced fresh Flat-leaf /Italian parsley (if you have to use dried ½ TSPB)
1 TBSP minced fresh ginger
1 TBSP minced fresh garlic
1 pinch salt (I like to use a “big grain’ salt like “Kosher” salt
1 pinch black pepper
Mix together to get a sticky mix – if it’s too lose add more cracker crumbs

Over a medium heat in a frying pan add enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of the pan. When the oil is hot, form a golf ball size portion of the mixture – roll it into a ball then flatten it into about ½’ patty – drop into the oil and brown on both sides. Remove to a paper towel lined dish to drain. They are wonderful all alone but for variety, serve with dipping sauces of, Cocktail Sauce, Tartar Sauce, Sweet Chili Sauce, Teriyaki Sauce or a 1:1 mix of Mayo and flavored mustard (Wasabi, Dijon, Orange, Raspberry)
You can easily make these the day before and microwave or reheat in the oven, they freeze well up to a month.
Bon appetite!


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Asian Salmon Lettuce Wraps

These make a great appetizer/hors d'oeuvres or even a lite main dish.

Asian Salmon Lettuce Wraps:
Ingredients
Butter Lettuce (1 or 2 heads)- you can expect to get 4-6 good sized leaves off each head to make each wrap.
1 Good Sized Carrot
1 Head Cabbage
Sesame Oil
Salad Oil/ Vegetable Oil
Sesame Seeds
Soy Sauce
Sweet Chili Sauce
Cucumber
Salt
Pepper
Butter
Olive Oil
Rice Wine Vinegar
Sugar
1 Med/Large Shallot
1 Piece of Salmon Fillet about 4-6" wide

Butter Lettuce Head
Finely sliced cabbage (cut the main vein out of the leafs and thinly slice it separately, stack the leaves, roll them tightly then thinly slice them)
Shredded carrot (for shredding - a julienne peeler makes short work of this task)
About a 4 to 1 ratio of Cabbage to carrot is good (1 cup cabbage 1/4 cup carrot)
If you like cuccumber - cut a chunk in 1/2 lengthwise, scoop out the seeds then cut the halves again into quarters and thinly slice them.

Asian Dressing
1/8 Cup Sesame Oil
1/8 Cup Salad Oil
2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

Thinly slice the salmon meat  Slicing it crosswise (knife running from tail to head instead of back to belly) holds it together a bit better. Slicing with the knife running back to belly is most common. Slice straight towards the skin then once the knife makes contact with the skin twist your wrist and slice the meat off the skin instead of all the way through the skin.

Make your salad by mixing Cabbage, Carrot, Cucumber, & dressing together in a bowl.

Preheat a shallow frying pan with 1/2 olive oil & 1/2 butter mixture - just enough to coat the bottom of the pan.
Dredge the pieces of salmon in seasoned flower (salt, pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika) and brown both sides. Place salmon pieces on a paper towel covered plate to drain. Add 1/2 Butter 1/2 Olive Oil mixture as needed.
When all of the salmon has been cooked and removed, Put 1/4 cup minced shallot in the pan, when the shallot turns translucent, add 1/4 cup of soy sauce and 1/4 cup Sweet Chili Sauce, when it begins to boil, turn the heat off and place in a bowl or gravy boat.

Assemble your wraps by placing a leaf of Butter Lettuce down on a plate, scoop some salad on top, then slices of salmon, topping it off with the sauce and a sprinkle of sesame seeds, fold and eat!


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If you found the contents of this BLOG useful - any donation amount, will help contribute to the further development of this site - ALL donors will be redirected to a Thank You page where you can download a Free Electronic book "The Ultimate Chicken Wing Cook Book"

Hot Basil Chicken Stir Fry

There was this little Chinese Restaurant in downtown Sacramento on K Street, that I used to stop in and grab this dish for lunch and go eat in the park. They went out of business. (I guess I didn't stop in often enough!)
I began to miss this dish, so I set out to recreate it! It took me SEVERAL tries and I'm not sure it's an exact duplicate of the original but I'm pleased with it - I hope you enjoy it!

Hot Basil Chicken:
This is a spicy dish and can vary in heat depending on the peppers - they can vary in heat from one to another.

6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs (buy them or remove the skin and bone yourself)
6 to 10 Leaves Fresh Basil
5 good sized Mushrooms
Vegetable Oil
Fish Sauce
Onion or Shallot
3 Jalapeno Peppers
White Rice

Start the Rice (Bring 1 1/2 Cups water to a boil, add 1 cup rice, cover the pan and turn the heat to low.)
Quarter the Mushrooms
Thinly slice 2 of the peppers into rounds (discard the tops), remove the seeds and veins from the 3rd pepper and coarsely chop.
Cut the chicken into 1" chunks


Heat oil in a large frying pan, when the oil is hot, add the chicken. When all of the chicken has turned opaque/gray-brown, add the peppers, mushrooms, onion (to taste). Now would be a good time to give your rice a stir with a clean spoon. Continue to stir on Med-High heat until the peppers all wilt. At this point take the basil leaves and tightly roll them lengthwise and slice the roll every 1/4 inch - fluff the basil ribbons then add them to the pan. If you cut the basil at the beginning of the dish, it will oxidize and turn black (bunch like a sliced apple left out in the open would turn brown) it's best to wait before slicing the Basil until the dish is ready. Once the basil is stirred in, add the fish sauce (most fish sauce comes in squirt bottle - so squirt it all over your dish generously) if the fish sauce doesn't have a squirt bottle - add 3 tablespoons to 1/4 cup - fish sauce is salty therefore you're adding a salt component to the chicken and the rice it's being served with.

Serve next to, or over the rice. Serves 2 or 3 people as a main dish.

How to Butterfly Fillet a Trout, Salmon, Kokanee, Char:

Background

I grew up fishing Lake Ontario for Yellow Perch, Rock Bass, and Smallmouth Bass with my dad. When I was old enough to handle a knife, my Dad taught me how to clean my catch. Back then we cleaned them the traditional way by scaling them, removing the head and the entrails.

Later, someone taught my Dad how to fillet fish and he passed it on to me. The Butterfly Fillet method came about after years of filleting fish. After catching an especially fine example of a Rainbow Trout and wanting to honor my catch, as well as the people I planned on serving it to, with an over-the-top stuffing. Now I've Butterfly Filleted so often it's hard to clean fish any other way.

How to:

The Butterfly Fillet method works best on fish in the Trout, Salmon, Char family - it removes the meat from the fish in one piece, without removing the head, tail, or entrails. You end up with one virtually boneless piece of meat in about the same amount of time it would take you to clean one the traditional way.

Caring for your catch:

A good meal starts with a good product. If your fish hasn't been properly cared for the meal probably won't be as good as it could be. I live in California where the summer temperatures get over 100 and the surface temperature of the lakes can be like bath water. The cold water species we're discussing are fatty fish, which can spoil quickly. If I catch a fish from 100 feet deep where it's nice and cool, put it on a stringer and drag it behind a boat all day in 70+ degree water - isn't an ideal situation. By putting fish immediately on ice in the ice chest to keep it cool. Pour the ice in the sink and put the bag of fish on top of the ice and remove the fish one at a time to clean them then put the meat back on ice untill you ready to do something with them, will insure a fine meal.

Over-The-Top Fish Stuffing

You are going to have to gauge the quantity of the stuffing that you'll need.

For several smaller fish or one large (say 5#)

2 small cans of tiny shrimp - drained

2 small cans of Crab Meat - drained

1/2 to 1 Cup Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs

1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic

1 minced green Onion

2 chopped Mushrooms

2 tablespoons chopped Italian/Flat Leaf Parsley

1/4 Cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese cut into 1/4 cubes

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

On a large fish be sure to remove the pin bones (run your fingers from front to back, across the highest ridges of the meat to feel them) use tweesers or small needle nose pliers to pull them straight out. On smaller fish the pin bones are small enough to not be a choaking hazard and in most cases never noticed.

Put a layer of foil on a cookie sheet and spray with nonstick spray. Lay the fish on the foil. Salt & Pepper the inside of the fish. With your hands spread the stuffing across one half of the fish. More stuffing will fit in the belly cavity. Lay thin slices of cold butter on top of the stuffing. Fold the unstuffed half of the fish over the stuffed half. At this point you can see how well the stuffing fits. You can take some out or add more, pack some into the opening at the fish's back. Salt & pepper the top of the fish's skin and put thin slices of cold butter on top.

Bake at 350 - time is determined by the size of the fish smaller fish will take 20-30 minutes a large fish ill take 45min to 1 hour. Half way through I like to spoon the melted butter from the cookie sheet over the fish. I like my fish a bit on the dryer side so I pull it out when the skin is starting to brown and the exposed part of the meat is firm and slightly dry.

Presentation - visual presentation is part of the dining experience. On smaller fish a long thin spatula/icing spreader under the length of the fish can support it from cookie sheet to plate. On a larger fish lifting the foil from cookie sheet to serving platter then removing the foil in pieces works best. Now is a good time to remove the remaining fins, simply pull them out.

When carving a large fish it's best to use a serrated knife it cuts through dried skin better with minimum amount of distortion. Use a flat spatula pressed firmly against the end of the fish, then slice. Use the knife to help flop the slice onto the spatula, and serve. For young children and elderly - the portion of fish past the ribs to the tail is the safest section to serve if bones are a concern.