One of my favorite restaurants in Amarillo is Fire Slice Pizzeria.  It is a little hard to find, tucked behind a shopping center, but your efforts in finding it will be rewarded.  The last time Ben and I were there they had some really great live music, which is not something you find very much of in Amarillo.  The pizzas here have a great thin crust, and unique and tasty toppings.  They do have a wonderfully simple Margherita pizza, but they also have a green chile cheeseburger pizza that Ben really likes.  My favorite is The Rudy.  The Rudy is a white pizza topped with bacon, spinach, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese.  It is delicious.  I love it.  I want a slice right now.

I tried to recreate this pizza with my new pizza crust recipe.  While it didn’t turn out quite like Fire Slice, the flavors were good and I’d definitely make it again.

The first thing I needed to do was find a white sauce to use.  The sauce I found was OK, but pretty thick.  I added about an extra 1/2 cup of 2% milk to thin it out.  The flavor was good, and I liked it as the base of the pizza.  The real Rudy may not have any sauce under the toppings, but I liked it this way.

Now to the toppings!  These amounts made enough for 2 pizzas, so double them if you intend to make all your pizzas with these toppings.

Bacon: 6 slices of bacon cooked in a skillet, drained and cooled, then chopped up.

Mushrooms: 8 ounces of mushrooms, roasted with olive oil and garlic cloves for 30 minutes at 375°F.

Spinach: 12 ounces of fresh spinach, sauteed in a little olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper.

Assembling the Pizzas

1. Divide your dough into 4 pieces, roll each one out to 10-12 inches in diameter.  The dough will be thin.  Transfer the dough to a pizza peel (or unrimmed cookie sheet) dusted with corn meal.
2. Spread some of the white sauce on to the pizza, leaving a thin border which you can brush with olive oil is desired.
3. Top evenly with spinach, mushrooms and bacon.  Sprinkle a little shredded cheese (mozzarella or provolone).
4. Bake on a preheated pizza stone at 400°F for 15-20 minutes.

California Pizza Kitchen Pizza Dough

Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients

• 2 tsp yeast
• 1 cup, plus 2 Tbsp warm water
• 3 cups bread/all-purpose flour
• 4 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions

1. Dissolve the yeast in the 105-110 degree water and set aside for 5-10 min. Water temperature should feel like bath water.

2. Combine all ingredients together, if using upright mixer or bread maker. Avoid adding the yeast mixture straight onto the salt since salt will kill some of the yeast. Mix on lowest 2 speeds for 2-3 minutes. (If mixing by hand, start with dry ingredients; when mixed, make a well and add wet ingredients, then knead dough for 5 minutes, until dough is barely beyond sticking to your hands.)

3. Lightly oil dough ball and set inside a lightly oiled bowl; seal bowl with clear wrap and set at room temperature to rise until doubled (1½-2 hours).

4. The dough could be used at this point; or for a more chewy dough, punch it down again and reform the ball, cover airtight in bowl in the refrigerator overnight.

For Chewy Dough

5. About 2 hours before use, remove dough from refrigerator. Divide dough into 8 balls (6 inch pizzas)or 4 balls (9 inch pizzas).

6. Once divided, roll balls out on smooth, clean surface.

7. Place 8 balls in glass casserole dish, leaving space enough to double in size, seal top airtight with clear wrap. Set aside to double. They should now be puffy and ready to use.

White Pizza Sauce

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• 3/4 cup evaporated skim milk
• 1/2 cup shredded reduced sodium Swiss cheese
• 2 tbsp Chablis or other dry white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp ground white pepper

Directions:

1. Combine cornstarch and milk in a small saucepan, stirring until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  This happens fast!
2. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in Swiss cheese, dry white wine, garlic and ground white pepper. Spread sauce evenly over pizza crust.

1. It can be simple or fancy.
2. It can be a meat lovers delight, a vegetarians dream, or you can combine your meat and veggies and create an omnivores dilemma!  Get it?  Anyway…I know Sarah does.
3. It can be made with a red pasta sauce, a creamy white bechamel, or a fresh basil pesto sauce, and others.
4. It can be prepared in advance, frozen and baked later.
5. It can feed a crowd, or it can feed a couple for days and days!
6. It can be enjoyed warm with oozing cheese, or cold from the fridge.

I love lasagna.  This lasagna is a delicious veggie combination of mushrooms and artichokes in a rich bechamel sauce.  Ben and I really enjoyed it, and brought a plate to our neighbor who also was pretty complimentary of the dish.  The only criticism he gave was that it should have had a garnish of cilantro instead of parsley.  He puts cilantro on everything.  I think he might eat it on his cereal…

My iPhone is incredible.  Epicurious has an app that I just love.  I am able to search for a recipe while at the grocery store, get a shopping list, email the recipe to myself and have it waiting for me when I get home to cook.  Modern technology is one of my best friends.  That is how I found this recipe.  Here is the link. I made a few changes to the recipe based on the time I had to make this meal and what I had at home.  I used canned artichoke hearts instead of frozen since I did not have time to let them thaw.  I also used regular lasagna noodles because I had some in the pantry.  I used shredded mozzarella instead of sliced.  I substituted vermouth with dry white wine that I had left over from another recipe.  Despite the substitutions this lasagna was delicious and we enjoyed it for a few days.  It was great reheated, and cold as well.  This is something I would make again and serve at a dinner party or bring to a pot-luck.

Mushroom and Artichoke Lasagna

Bon Appetit, February 2002

Ingredients

Filling

• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
• 1 pound mushrooms, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cans of artichoke hearts, drained, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup dry white wine

Béchamel sauce

• 4 1/2 tablespoons butter
• 4 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 4 1/2 cups whole milk
• 2 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 7 1/2 ounces)
• Ground nutmeg
• 1 package lasagna noodles, prepared according to package directions to al dente
• 1 pound (4 cups) part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions

For filling:

1. Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and garlic; sauté until mushrooms release juices and begin to brown, about 7 minutes. Add artichokes and wine. Cook until liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

For béchamel sauce:

1. Melt butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour; stir 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until sauce thickens and lightly coats spoon, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Stir in 1 1/2 cups Parmesan. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and ground nutmeg.
2. Spread 2/3 cup béchamel sauce over bottom of 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Top with enough noodles to cover bottom of dish. Spread 1/4 of artichoke mixture over. Spoon 2/3 cup béchamel sauce over. Top béchamel with 1/4 of mozzarella.
3. Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons Parmesan. Top with enough noodles to cover. Repeat layering 3 more times, finishing with a layer of noodles, then remaining béchamel. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover with foil and refrigerate.)
4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake lasagna covered with foil 1 hour (or 1 hour 15 minutes if chilled). Remove foil. Increase temperature to 450°F. Bake lasagna until golden on top, about 10 minutes longer.

I made tarragon chicken fricassée the other night and it was great.  Since it made 4 pretty big servings of chicken, I was left with two chicken breasts and some sauce.  What to do with these leftovers?  I was not about to toss them in the trash.  I thought about chopping them up and making chicken salad or combining them with the leftover egg noodles and some sauteed mushrooms and making a baked pasta.  I have no idea what made me think of crepes.  Some supreme culinary power must have influenced me, because it was a wonderful idea.  Chicken and mushroom crepes!

I know what you’re thinking.  Crepes are meant to be eaten for breakfast.  OR with sugar sprinkled in them, wrapped in paper, handed to you by a cute little Frenchman from a food cart and munched on while walking the streets of Paris at 10 pm.  Or is that just me?  I had the luxury of doing that exact thing on a French club trip in high school.  I must go back there.

Crepes are not meant to be confined to the categories of breakfast and sweets.  They can be a perfect thing upon which to serve savory items as well!  There is an adorable little trailer restaurant called Flip Happy Crepes in Austin where my sister and I ate for her birthday a few years ago.  We ate lunch there and didn’t even try the sweet crepes.  This was my first introduction to the savory crepe, and it was spectacular.

Crepes may seem daunting, but they are nothing more than very thin pancakes.  The batter should be made a few hours—or up to overnight—before using it, and it should be chilled before it is used as well.  This allows the flour particles to absorb the milk and be lighter in texture.  The flipping is also a little tricky, but after one or two trials you will get the hang of it.

My first attempt:

After some practice:

A little trial and error will allow you to figure out exactly how long the crepes need to be per side to get nice and set with crunchy edges.  I used a non-stick, 8 inch pan over medium high heat with great results.  I used between 1/3 and 1/2 cup of batter per crepe.  You can adjust based on how thick you want your crepes.  This crepe recipe is easily adapted to sweet or savory toppings or fillings.  The morning after I made the chicken crepes, I used the leftover batter to make breakfast crepes that I ate with a little butter and sliced strawberries.

I found this recipe when I searched “chicken crepes” on Google.  I changed it a little since I had the chicken already.  I did not make the béchamel sauce because there was also some sauce from the tarragon chicken left over that I mixed in with the chicken after I diced it.  I also was not fancy enough to fold them like I was instructed to.  I just folded them in half after filling them.

Here is the original recipe which comes from the chef at Sofitel in Washington D.C.

Mushroom and Chicken Crepes Topped with Tarragon Velouté

Ingredients:

• 12 crepes
• 2 cups assorted mushrooms
• 1  shallot, diced
• 2 chicken breasts, leftover from Tarragon chicken fricassée
• Leftover sauce from chicken fricassée
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons parsley chopped
• 2 tablespoons tarragon chopped
• Salt & pepper to taste

Crepe Dough

• 12 ounces all purpose flour
• 6 eggs
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 quart whole milk
• 4 ounces butter melted

Velouté Sauce

• 2  shallots
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon tarragon
• Seasoning to taste

Instructions:

1. For the crepe dough, mix the flour, salt and egg together adding the milk bit by bit until you get a smooth mixture. Add the melted butter and rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight) before using.
2. Add a bit of water if it seems too thick.
3. Heat an 8 in non stick pan over medium high heat.
4. Pour about 1/3 cup of batter into pan, then tilt pan to completely cover with an even layer.
5. Cook about 2 minutes per side.
6. Keep the crepes in a warm oven separated between pieces of foil on a platter.

For the Filling:

1. Sauté the mushrooms together with chopped shallots and herbs in butter.
2. Dice the chicken in small cubes.
3. Mix chicken, mushrooms and some leftover sauce to bind everything together.
4. Cover and set aside.

For the Sauce:

1. Sauté the shallots in butter.
2. Deglaze with white wine, reduced, add cream, reduce.
3. Finish with herbs and seasoning until you get a smooth sauce.

Assemble the Crepes:

1. Lay a crepe on the plate.
2. Spread some of the chicken filling on half of the crepe.
3. Fold over and pour some sauce on top.  Sprinkle with some chopped tarragon and serve.

Optional Fancy Serving Style:

1. Heat a pan, sauté the crepe gently with butter on both sides.
2. Finish in the oven for few minutes. Sautéed some mushrooms on the side with shallots and herbs in butter.
3. Display the crepes on top of each other, topped with mushrooms then the sauce.