The Minimalist Cooks Dinner (10 page)
Read The Minimalist Cooks Dinner Online
Authors: Mark Bittman
with Brown Sauce
TIME:
20 to 30 minutes
MAKES:
4 servings
You can find fresh Chinese- (and Japanese-) style noodles in most supermarkets these days. They’re a great convenience food, and for some reason seem more successful than prepackaged “fresh” Italian noodles. Here, they’re briefly cooked and then combined with a stir-fried mixture of pork, vegetables, and Chinese sauces; it’s very much a Chinese restaurant dish.
½ to ¾ pound ground pork
1 cup minced scallions
1 tablespoon peeled and minced ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup chicken stock or water
2 tablespoons ground bean
2 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 pound fresh egg or wheat noodles (see above)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
Begin heating a large pot of water for the noodles. Meanwhile, put a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork, crumbling it to bits as you add it and stirring to break up any clumps. Add ½ cup scallions, along with the ginger and garlic, and stir. Add the stock or water; stir in the bean, hoisin, and soy sauces and cook, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat and keep warm.
Cook the noodles, stirring, until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain and dress with the sauce. Garnish with the remaining ½ cup scallions, drizzle the sesame oil over all, and serve.
| WINE | Beer or not-too-dry Gewürztraminer or Riesling |
| SERVE WITH | Green Salad with Soy Vinaigrette, Sautéed Shiitake Mushrooms , and/or Steamed Broccoli (or Other Vegetable) , drizzled with a little soy sauce |
BOTH GROUND BEAN SAUCE
and hoisin sauce can be found in supermarkets, but you can usually find a better selection (and higher quality versions) in Chinese markets. Usually the fewer ingredients they contain, the better they are. If you can’t find ground bean sauce, just use a little more hoisin.
Fresh Chinese Noodles with Chicken
, or Meatless Fresh Chinese Noodles: Substitute ground chicken or turkey for the pork: or eliminate the meat entirely, sautéing the scallions, ginger, and garlic in a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil.
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Toss the noodles with a cup of bean sprouts or lightly stir-fried snow peas before dressing.
Pizzas
Pizza is easy, even when you make the dough yourself. And although we have practically been force-fed pizza with cooked tomato sauce, pizza is even easier, and equally satisfying, when topped with raw ingredients. It may be that there are more possible combinations of pizza toppings than moves in chess or atoms in the universe; in any case, there are a lot. Simple combinations are best; too many ingredients merely serve to muddy the flavors.
What the following pizzas have in common is their uncooked toppings; once you get the hang of it, you’ll find it easy enough to improvise with both raw and cooked ingredients.
TIME:
1 hour or more, largely unattended
MAKES:
1 large or 2 or more smaller pies
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more as needed
2 teaspoons instant yeast, such as SAF
2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt, plus extra for sprinkling
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in the container of a food processor. Turn the machine on and add 1 cup cold water and the oil through the feed tube.
Process for about 30 seconds, adding up to ¼ cup more water, a little at a time, until the mixture forms a ball and is slightly sticky to the touch. If it is dry, add another 1 to 2 tablespoons water and process for another 10 seconds. (In the unlikely event that the mixture is too sticky, add flour, a tablespoon at a time.)
Turn the dough onto a floured work surface and knead by hand for a few seconds to form a smooth, round dough ball. Put the dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap; let rise until the dough doubles in size, 1 to 2 hours. (Or you can let the dough rise more slowly, in the refrigerator, for up to 6 or 8 hours.) Proceed to step 4, or wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to a month. (Defrost in a covered bowl in the refrigerator or at room temperature.)
When the dough is ready, form it into a ball and divide it into two or more pieces if you like; roll each piece into a round ball. Place each ball on lightly floured surface, sprinkle with a little flour, and cover with plastic wrap or a towel. Let rest until they puff slightly, about 20 minutes. Proceed with any recipe below.
| WINE | Chianti or another rough red is usually the best bet. |
| SERVE WITH | Roasted Peppers, Simple Green Salad , and/or Tomato Salad with Basil |
THERE ARE THREE WAYS
to obtain pizza dough: My favorite is making it in the food processor, which does a quick, efficient job. You can also make dough by hand; and although it’s hardly what you’d call convenient it isn’t difficult. Finally, you can buy dough, either in the supermarket (usually in the freezer; use white bread dough if pizza dough isn’t available) or, better still, from the local pizza shop (just ask; you’ll usually be accommodated). But it’s easier to make a batch in the food processor than to go to the store—really.
I SPECIFY SAF
or other instant yeast in the recipe; this is yeast that can be mixed, dry, with the flour—it’s fuss-free, keeps forever in the fridge, and is sold in every supermarket.
BE SURE TO ALLOW
the dough to relax, stretching it a little bit at a time, when you’re ready to roll it out; pressing the dough onto an oiled baking sheet is the easiest way to get this done. And bear in mind that it’s easier to handle small pies than large ones.
YOU CAN BAKE
the pies or grill them. An oven lined with a baking stone (or several uncoated quarry tiles) is ideal, but it requires a peel (a flat sheet of wood or metal with a long handle) to move the pizza about. A baking sheet, with or without a lip, is much easier, because you can press the dough right onto its surface. Since you use olive oil to prevent sticking, the process is a snap.
GENERALLY, TOPPINGS
should never be too wet, or the dough will become soggy. In practice, this means fresh tomatoes should have some of their juice squeezed out and be thinly sliced, and preferably salted for a little while, before using; the same holds true for other moist vegetables like zucchini.
SOME PEOPLE THINK
all pizzas must have cheese in order to bind the other ingredients, but this is ridiculously limiting. What you put on a pizza is entirely up to you—if the kitchen sink is your idea of fun, go right ahead.
TIME:
30 to 45 minutes
(with premade dough)
4 or 5 ripe tomatoes
Coarse salt
1 medium red onion or 4 shallots, chopped
20 black olives, kalamata or oil-cured, pitted and chopped
Extra virgin olive oil as needed
FOR GRILLED PIZZA
, start a medium-hot charcoal or wood fire, or preheat a gas grill to the maximum. Roll or lightly press each dough ball into a flat round, lightly flouring the work surface and the dough as necessary (do not use more flour than you need to). Let the rounds sit for a few minutes, then roll or pat out the dough, as thinly as you like, turning occasionally and sprinkling the top with flour as necessary.FOR BAKED PIZZA
, preheat the oven to 500°F. Oil one or more baking sheets, then press each dough ball into a flat round directly on the oiled sheet(s). Then pat out the dough, as thinly as you like, oiling your hands if necessary. If your oven is equipped with a baking stone, roll or pat out the dough as for grilled pizza, above.Core the tomatoes (cut a cone-shaped wedge out of the stem end), then cut them in half horizontally. Gently squeeze out the liquid and shake out most of the seeds, then slice the tomatoes as thinly as possible. Salt them lightly and let them sit for at least 10 minutes, then drain off any excess liquid.
TO GRILL THE PIZZA
, slide it directly onto the grill. Cook until brown grill marks appear, about 3 to 5 minutes, depending on your grill heat. Turn with a spatula or tongs, top with the tomatoes, onions, and olives, and drizzle with olive oil. Cover the grill and cook until the bottom is crisp and brown and the tomatoes are hot, just a few more minutes.TO BAKE THE PIZZA
, top with tomatoes, onions, olives, and a little olive oil, and slide the baking sheet into the oven (or the pizza itself onto the stone), and bake for about 15 minutes, depending on the oven heat, or until nicely browned.
and Sausage
TIME:
40 to 50 minutes
(with premade dough)
Olive oil as needed
4 small or 2 large zucchini, about 1 pound
Coarse salt
2 or 3 sweet Italian sausages, the meat removed from the casing and crumbled
2 teaspoons minced garlic
FOR GRILLED PIZZA
, start a medium-hot charcoal or wood fire, or preheat a gas grill to the maximum. Roll or lightly press each dough ball into a flat round, lightly flouring the work surface and the dough as necessary (do not use more flour than you need to). Let the rounds sit for a few minutes, then roll or pat out the dough, as thinly as you like, turning occasionally and sprinkling the top with flour as necessary.FOR BAKED PIZZA
, preheat the oven to 500°F. Oil one or more baking sheets, then press each dough ball into a flat round directly on the oiled sheet(s). Pat out the dough, as thinly as you like, oiling your hands if necessary. If your oven is equipped with a baking stone, roll or pat out the dough as for grilled pizza, above.Thinly slice the zucchini. Salt the slices lightly and let them sit for at least 20 minutes, then drain off any accumulated liquid.
TO GRILL THE PIZZA
, slide it directly onto the grill. Cook until brown grill marks appear, about 3 to 5 minutes, depending on your grill heat. Turn with a spatula or tongs, then top with the zucchini, sausage, and garlic. Cover the grill and cook until the bottom is crisp and brown and the sausage cooked through, 5 to 10 minutes.TO BAKE THE PIZZA
, top with the zucchini, sausage, and garlic and slide the baking sheet into the oven (or the pizza itself onto the stone), and bake for about 15 minutes, depending on the oven heat, or until nicely browned.
