Dennis' Sczechuan Green Beans

Original Recipe

Ingredients

250 g Green Beans, rinsed and trimmed
6 g Sesame Oil (the roasted, strong, Asian kind)
16 g Unseasoned Rice Vinegar
24 g Yeo's Sweet Chili Sauce (or ketchup, maybe with a little sambal oelek or cayenne mixed in)
48 g Soy Sauce
25 g Chee Hou Sauce or Hoisin Sauce
5 g Ginger, grated
11 g Honey or Agave Nectar (if you're a vegan) or Corn Syrup (if you're a soulless corporation)
2 g Szechuan Peppercorn Oil; I got mine at a store, but you could make your own.
One or two drops Vanilla Extract
.13 g Xanthan Gum (optional in the extreme)

Directions

Bring a large pot full of well-salted water (the water should be salty like the sea) to a boil. Have a bowl of ice water or an extraordinarily large bowl or pot of very cold water nearby. Also have a spider or strainer handy. Boil the beans in the salty water for a minute or two or three until they taste how you want them to, texture-wise. Plunge them into the ice/cold water to stop them from cooking further. Let them chill out there for a while.

Combine all the other ingredients. You can do this with a fork or whisk, in a bowl. If you care about the oil and the water not separating, you can slowly emulsify the oils into everything else. If you're a real stickler for emulsion stability, you can put everything in a blender, put the blender on high, and shear in the xanthan gum until fully dispersed.

If the beans are completely cooled by now, drain them and toss them with the sauce. Refrigerate and serve cold or at room temperature.

Dennis Lim is a professional chef in Washington, D.C.  More original recipes can be found on his blog Hell of Tasty: The Afterlife of Flavor 

Jenni and Ben's Spanish Pizzettas

Original Recipe

                                                                                                             Patricia Heal

Ingredients
 
About 13 oz. pizza dough (recipe below)
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp. sugar
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 lb. large yellow onions, thinly sliced
12 cured black Spanish olives, pitted and cut into slivers
1/3 c Spanish pine nuts
Fresh thyme leaves
Semolina flour or cornmeal, if desired for the bottoms of the pizzetas
1 medium eggplant, cut into thin strips
OR
16 oz. jar of roasted red peppers, rinsed well and cut into thin strips

Directions

Preheat oven to 500°F.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pizza dough to 3/8 inch thickness. With a round pastry cutter about 2 inches in diameter, cut out as many rounds as you can (about 25). Using your fingers and pressing into semolina flour or cornmeal if desired, stretch each round out so it’s a little bigger, thinner, and has some meal on the bottom. Lay the rounds on a nonstick baking sheet and prick each one multiple times with a fork.

Pour the olive oil to a nonstick fry pan over medium-high heat, then add the onions and sauté until they start to take on a little color.  Add the vegetable of choice (eggplant or red peppers, or really whatever you feel like using) and sauté for a few minutes until the vegetables start to soften.  Combine the water and sugar and pour over the onion mixture, adding sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to medium-low.  Cook, stirring every few minutes, until the water has evaporated and everything is soft and caramelized, about 20 minutes.  Remove from the heat. Add the thyme, olives, and pine nuts and mix well.

Divide the filling evenly among the dough rounds. Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake until the filling and the edges of the dough are golden, about 15 minutes. Serve warm.  Can be reheated before serving at 425°F for 6-8 minutes.


Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients

1 Tbs. active dry yeast
1 Tsp. sugar or honey
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. lukewarm water
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1/2 cup for working
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

In a small bowl, dissolve the sugar/honey in the lukewarm water, then stir in the yeast and let stand until slightly foamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, stir together the 2 3/4 cups flour and the salt and form into a mound. Make a well in the center and add the yeast mixture to the well. Using a fork and stirring in a circular motion, gradually pull the flour into the yeast mixture. Continue stirring until it forms into dough.

Lightly flour a work surface with some of the 1/2 cup flour and transfer the dough to it. Using the heel of your hand, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Form the dough into a ball.

Alternatively, use a stand mixer with dough hook to mix flour and salt.  Add yeast mixture and let run at low speed until dough is formed and kneaded, about 10 minutes.

Brush a large bowl with the olive oil and place the dough in it. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.

Roll out with flour and cook as directed in your pizza recipe.


Jenni and Ben Zakiland are natives of Salt Lake City, Utah.