Artichoke Pizza

I'm having a lot of fun with artichokes these days. The ones I use are canned, as I have yet to find fresh ones, but it's still something different than the ingredients I have used regularly in the past. The artichoke has that slightly sour and fresh taste, a bit like asparagus, but a bit more unique. It goes extremely well with peppered steaks or chicken, and in wok with soy sauce.

The artichoke pizza is an idea I'm loaning from the pizza restaurant in New York, aptly named Artichoke Pizza. What struck me then was the absence of tomato sauce, which I had always assumed was essential for any pizza. Instead, they used a cream-based sauce with artichokes. I loved it, and I had intentions of recreating this masterpiece.

I usually make a great pizza, and I ended up trumping Artichoke Pizza's artichoke pizza. The dough played a big part in this, but also the addition of meatballs. Because, you know, meatballs.

Either way, read on for a recipe on how to make an artichoke pizza.

Chicken Sticks

If you want to do something slightly different...

It's exactly what it looks like, so I don't feel the need to explain in details what's going on here.

Enjoy!

Two Hot Dog Sauces

Crif Dogs was inspiring.

Ever since I ate at Crif Dogs in New York, I've been thinking of doing some hot dog sauces. When ever I have eaten hot dogs in the past, I have usually added ketchup and mustard. That's fine and all, really, if you want your entire meal to taste like ketchup and mustard. But the relatively powerful taste of the pre-fabricated sauces tend to hide the taste of the dog itself, and the entire meal ends up tasting vinegar.

So why not make your own sauce?

At Crif Dogs, I had a fantastic dog with something that resembled salsa sauce and a sour cream sauce. That's where I began.

First up was a tomato based sauce. I added garlic, basil, onion and tomatoes, everything very finely chopped. I also included salt and cayenne pepper, a tiny drop of vinegar before I ran it a round or two with the handheld blender.

Next up was the sour cream sauce. A couple of table spoons sour cream. Again with garlic, salt and a serious amount of black pepper. This one also had thyme.

And that was it. Definitely my new favorite way of eating hot dogs! Use them one at the time, or simultaneously. Enjoy your dogs!

The Difference Between Boys and Girls (How to make Cinnamon Rolls)

Cinnamon rolls aren't difficult to make...

..or so I thought.

Read on for a good recipe, pictures of some nice looking rolls, some awful looking ones, and how I needed to be rescued by my girlfriend.

How to make a Meatball Pizza

It's hard to argue against the awesomeness of a meatball pizza, and I will assume most readers will know how to make their own variant of the king among pies. I will try to keep this short and simple with no nonsense. No anecdotes about vacations, no pictures of cats or dogs, no rants about brand managers who just fail to see the reason why people are reluctant to order the subscriptions.

So click in for nothing else but meatball pizza.

How to make fries

1. Cut the potato in strips of preferred size. Large bits should boil a bit first.
2. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, oil.
3. In oven at 225C/437F for 25 minutes
4. Enjoy

Ten Days of Chicken

"If you could only eat one type of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?"

This question always amused me. Am I allowed to say pizza? Because if so, then a pizza can be customized to pretty much anything. Basically, pizza is just a flat bread with leftovers, and the variations are endless. Am I allowed to say eggs in any form? If so, then I could boil them, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, I could add milk, flour to make pancakes, I could add ham and onion to make a great omelet, and so on.
What I'm asking is this: Am I allowed to do variations, add other ingredients? If so, then my answer is chicken.

Would I grow tired of chicken? Probably. But chicken doesn't taste a whole lot, and it's mainly the other ingredients that leave the taste. To find out, I gave my self a challenge. I would eat chicken for ten straight days, but it would have to be different every day.

Click in to read and see the result!

How to make a Club Sandwich

It's a remarkable thing, how easy it is to impress people. Just give them what they want. People want a sandwich with chicken and bacon. Why not make just that? Everyone loves a good club sandwich, specially if it's well made, with home-made bread and other quality ingredients. While we're at it, why not make extra bacon on the side as well?

A club sandwich can disappoint. I mean, I could use bad chicken, I could switch out the tomatoes with eggplant. Or just use less/no bacon. But then I would do just that. Disappoint. I will not disappoint. I will make an awesome club sandwich, not just because I want to, but because it's in my power to do so. 

So hop on in for my example of how to deliver what is promised, and Mattel's example of how to absolutely disappoint (Yup, this is another "Recipes and ranting"). 

Baked Creamy Chicken

I'm not sure what to call this, but it's nothing special really. Oven baked chicken, and a cream sauce with mushroom and broccoli. I was a bit indecisive whether to place the chicken fillets directly in the pan, or have them on a grate. I ended up using my cheese graters, but I'm not sure if it had any effect what so ever. The idea was that juices from the fillets would drip down, leaving the chicken crisp - and the juices would be used for the sauce. Of course, there are almost no fat in a fillet, so not really a lot of juices for the sauce. Certainly not enough to leave a significant imprint on the sauce.

Chicken was in the oven for 20 minutes at 225 degrees C, but it could easily have been 250. Rub garlic, basil and oil on the fillets first.
Sauce is made by frying spring onion and adding cream. Fry some heavily peppered mushrooms in lots of butter. Steamed broccoli adds some color. Enjoy.

Recipes and ranting: Turkey Pie/Motuc at retail

Pie is not a dish. It's a concept. Much like the pizza, the pie can be customized in almost any way you can imagine. Maybe even more so than the pizza, the pie leaves you endless possibilities. And I like the thought of that. And I would like to try out more pies in the future.

I'll not show you how to make pie, because I honestly don't know. Obviously, what I make here ends up being a pie, but the main part about the pie has to be the lid of pie dough. And I just don't know how to make that. All I know is that it's actually a bit tricky. Unlike the bread, which is extremely simple, the pie dough can't be made while blindfolded.

So with this dish, using leftovers from the new years turkey, I used a pre-fabricated pie dough.

Read on for "recipe".. and another rant about toys.

Asceticism

Happy New Year, good people! I hope 2012 was fortuitous for you all, and that 2013 will be even better. I'll at least start off with a solid one: recipes and ranting! (I should copyright that phrase)

Read on for fried salmon in sour cream and almond sauce, quasi-asceticism, and a serious rant!

Girlfriend Cooks: Curry Chicken Soup

As the title says, it's nice to share the joy of cooking, and she's definitely not lost in the kitchen. Awesome chicken soup, spicy, healthy, and relatively easy to make.

Read on for the Curry Chicken Soup!

Dinner suggestion: Chicken-Pasta salad

I made a proper Christmas dinner this weekend, just for the fun of it. The entire kitchen was utilized, all plates on the stove were in use, it took me a good hour to make. It really was fun. But that won't do in the normal weekday. Here's a recipe that will take roughly around 10 minutes, if you time it perfectly: The chicken-pasta salad. 

Start by boiling some pasta. Any will do, but the spiral-shaped fusilli is obviously the best...

Fry some chicken properly. Add spices if you want. I used some oregano and black pepper. 

While you let the pasta cool, slice up some tomatoes and cucumber. Larger bits looks more delicate, in my opinion anyway. 

Add feta cheese if you want. Parmesan will of course also work. 

Oil, salt and pepper, and you're good to go. Pesto on the side, and you have a really simple, quick and tasty dinner. 

Enjoy!

Brie with walnuts and honey

The Brie cheese is a great one. It has a very mild and neutral taste, and a creamy, delicious texture. You can use it with salt food, or sweet. On bread with salami, on bread with jam, the Brie works perfectly. 

I guess this is another one of those desserts that's embarrassingly simple to make, yet it will impress almost anyone. Considering that it's also ridiculously fast to make, and you have an obvious winner for almost any  nice dinner party. The recipe is pretty much self-explanatory. Slice up some brie, add walnuts and honey. The honey can be replaced with maple syrup, and you can obviously use any nuts you want. I prefer the walnuts though. Feel free to experiment with spices like pepper, chili and cinnamon - at your own risk of course. 

Enjoy!

How to make tomato sauce

I believe this was the best option with the tomatoes I  got from a friend. They didn't taste enough to use in salad, but ended up being a decent sauce. 

Read on for how-to and pics. 

How to make mashed potatoes

I expect my sister to let me know how potatos is spelled. I get a red line under the word "potatos", so I guess it's "potatoes", but that doesn't look right either. I'll stick to the one that doesn't set off the spell check. 

Mashed potatoes is extremely simple to make, and there's absolutely no need to use pre-fabricated stuff, that thing has the taste and texture of glue. Keep in mind, you can actually use potatoes to glue stuff, so it's not that surprising. 

But I digress. Read on for how to and pictures. 

How to make nachos...

Renovating an apartment is taking it's toll. I failed to publish anything - even a simple picture - last Friday and this Monday, and I apologize to loyal readers of Toys and Bacon blog.

But things are shaping up, and a friend told me I should get used to having lots of spare time as soon as the apartment is done.

As an update, I can tell you that the kitchen is gradually taking shape. It is a temporary solution, as I aim to redo the entire kitchen. But for now, it will do. A few final touches, like painting the horrific original floor in a more neutral color, and we're talking business. But that's not to say I'm not making food. I have assembled quite possibly the greatest piece of furniture in the world (yes, better than the late, great Benjamin), which I will show in better detail on Friday, and I've gotten used to not having induction plates. So I'm making food again. Simple stuff for now, more complex stuff will follow in the near future.

Today: One way to make nachos. Read on!

How to Make Crepes

Dessert doesn't have to be a complicated thing. Sure, you could make a big cake, confection or something elaborate that takes a lot of planning. People like that thing, and are impressed by it. 

But realize that people are generally easily impressed, and it will take far less than stuff like this to have people praising your skills in the kitchen. 

The Crêpe is essentially a pancake, but the way it's presented separates it at least from what I consider a pancakes. It's thinner, it's made of more eggs, and it's served in a slightly different way. 

Read on for how to make Crepes!

Chicken in tomato sauce

Chicken is versatile. It tastes almost nothing alone, but will easily take on the characteristics of any spice - or anything that has a taste. This is a fairly simple recipe, that can be customized to a great extent.

Click in to see the best pictures I could possibly hope to take with a phone. 

How to make Bouillabaisse

This is my mother's recipe of a dish she calls Bouillabaisse. She's a skilled cook, and more willing than most others to try out new recipes, and new ways of making old  recipes. With that in mind, I have no idea if this actually is Bouillabaisse or not, but it was a really tasty dish using various seafood.
Relatively quick to make, this was a dish that could be a welcome change on a boring Monday.

Read on!