Playing with my gifts

Published by admin on Tue, 12/31/2019 - 2:22pm
By: 
Keith Bryant
 Christmas has come and gone and now we look forward to the New Year with anticipation of what life holds next for us. 
 2019 has been an amazing year for me personally. I have learned a lot about myself and what I want to do next in life. Being able to share my life with all the readers of this column has been a real blessing in my life. 
 For Christmas day, I offered to help cook the community meal with the Citizens on Patrol at the Senior Center. The folks that put on that meal are great and well organized, to say the very least.
 Also, this past week I have been working with my sous vide cooker to try and cook pheasant breast for Tim out at the ranch. It appears this cooking method is one of the best ways to cook the lean bird without drying out the meat. 
 If you would like to try it place the breast in a Ziploc bag, get all the air out, then place it in 149 degrees water for 1 hour then a quick sear on the outside and it is perfect. 
 Serve immediately with a little rice pilaf.
 I was able to break out the air fryer this past week to try out something I watched on TV with the gift the people at work got for me. 
 I think I told you a couple of weeks ago about the air fryer/instapot combo I received for my birthday. The commercial for the product came on one night and there was a hamburger pizza that looked fun to make so I gave it a try with a couple of twists.
 My annual gift from dad, which is always Maytag Blue Cheese, and the 50-year-old sour dough starter someone gave me made the perfect combo for making one of the pizzas. Here are a couple of recipes to give this a try at home.
Sourdough pizza crust 
(from King Arthur website)
Ingredients
1 cup sourdough starter, unfed/discard
½ cup warm water
2½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon instant or active dry yeast
Stir any liquid on top of your refrigerated starter back into it
before measuring 1 cup into a large mixing bowl. Note: This is a good opportunity to feed the remainder of your starter, if necessary.
Directions: 
 1. Add the warm water, flour, salt, yeast. Mix to combine, then knead for about 7 minutes in a mixer with the dough hook, until the dough wraps itself around the hook and cleans the side of the bowl.
 2. Place the dough in a greased container, cover and let rise until almost doubled in bulk. Depending on the vitality of your starter, this will take between 2 and 4 hours. For a faster rise, place the dough in a warm spot or double the yeast.
 3. For two thin-crust pizzas, divide the dough in half, and shape each into a flattened disk. Drizzle two 12” round pizza pans with olive oil, and brush to coat the bottom. Place the dough in the pans, cover, and let rest for 15 minutes. After this rest, gently press the dough toward the edges of the pans. If it starts to shrink back, cover and let rest for 15 minutes before continuing.
Pizza burger
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
½-pound ground beef
½ tablespoon Mustard
2 tablespoon ketchup
½ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
8-ounce basic pizza dough
3 oz. Maytag Blue Cheese
8 slice dill pickles
½ onion, finely diced
1 egg yolk mixed with 2 tbsp. water
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Directions: 
 1. Place the inner pot in the pressure air fryer. Press the sauté button and then the program dial to select the beef setting. Press the program dial again to confirm the default setting and begin the cooking cycle (340 degrees F/170 decgrees C for 20 mins.). Let the inner pot heat up.
 2. Add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the beef and sauté until browned. Add the mustard, ketchup, onion powder, salt, and black pepper and cook until the liquid from the meat is reduced. Press the cancel button. Remove and let cool.
 3. Roll out the pizza dough into a square and spread the Blue cheese over three quarters of the square, leaving the end of the dough free. Top the cheese with the beef, pickles, and diced onions. Roll the dough up and seal. Brush the top with the egg mixture and sprinkle the sesame seeds on top.
 4. Place the short wire rack inside the inner pot. Place the pizza burger on the rack.
 5. Place the air frying lid on the pressure airfryer. Ensure that the air frying lid’s wire harness is connected with the wire harness on the pressure air fryer. Press the air fry button, scroll to the bake setting, and press the program dial. Press the timer button and scroll to set the cooking time to 25 minutes. Press the program dial to begin the cooking cycle (325 degrees F/165 degrees C).
 6. When the cooking process is complete, press the cancel button. Flip the pizza burger. Press the air fry button, scroll to the custom setting, and press the program dial. Press the timer button and scroll to set the cooking time to 5 minutes. Press the program dial to begin the cooking cycle (370 degrees F/190 degrees C).
 7. When the cooking process is complete, press the cancel button. Serve immediately.
 
 

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18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
 

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