Cheesy Bread

Mmmm....cheesy bread. Who doesn't love it? I happen to love it. Love the smell, the cheese, the softness, and, especially, the taste. I was craving for cheesy bread while I was studying late at night for my classes. Did not want to order from Pizza Hut or Dominos (Dominos was just a walk away) because I know I can make just as good cheesy bread without paying extra. I had 2 different kinds of cheese in my fridge and flour so I decided to make it all from scratch. 3 words...well worth it. I used the most simple ingredients and it tastes just like the delivered cheesy bread sticks. I don't have much experience with making the perfect bread, but I always go with a simple bread recipe.

Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour,plus more for dusting
2 tablespoons unsalted butter,softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon fine salt

Topping:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter,melted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 of 1 lbs block of cheddar; shredded (about 2 cups shredded cheese)
1/4 of 1 lbs block of mozzarella cheese; shredded (about 1 cup shredded cheese or less)

Place 1/4 cup warm water in the bowl or mixing bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Set it aside until it's foamy which is about 5 minutes. Add the flour, butter, sugar, and salt. Mix with the paddle attachment or with a wooden spoon until a slightly sticky dough forms. this takes about 5 minutes. If you have to use your hands....go right ahead.

Knead the dough by hand on a floured surface until very smooth and soft for about 2-3 minutes. Cover with a cloth and let it rise in a warm spot until almost doubled in size. This takes about 45 minutes and then divide the dough in half. Use a lasagna pan or a 9 x 13 baking pan and spread the dough to the bottom of the baking pan. If it doesn't touch all sides or corners, it's okay.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Brush the dough with the half the melted butter for each bread dough and sprinkle with half the kosher salt to each. Sprinkle the oregano seasoning along with the shredded cheese to both bread dough. Bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly golden.

I baked hald the bread dough on an 8x8 baking pan...
which came out to be a think bread.

Serve with some marinara sauce and voila`.....
no need for delivered cheesy bread sticks!

Red Curry Chicken Wings

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post. I've been busy with school and taking care of my son by myself so it's been a little crazy. However, I do remember to write down recipes and take pictures of what I cooked new. Just don't really have the time to post them up.

Anywho, I am a huge fan of chicken wings. Buffalo wings, honey BBQ, or hot spicy wings...you name it. I decided to come up with my own chicken wing recipe since I think that every household should have their own unique chicken wing recipe. I was inspired by Pizza Hut's wing wednesday and surprised that they have so many varieties of wings. Never tried them yet, but I wanted chicken wings with something new and different. Voila!! I came up with thai curry chicken wings using two different thai curries. I am a huge fan of thai curries especially in curry noodles so I decided to combine the two together. I've created chicken wings that is sweet with a kick and still has all the familiar taste of curry. My husband, who can't handle much spicyness, actually enjoyed these wings very much.

Ingredients:

1 tsp yellow curry (Karee)

½ tsp red curry (Panang)

1 tsp vinegar

1 Tbsp honey

1 ½ cup water

2 Tbsp butter

2 tsp brown sugar

Direction:

In a pan, melt butter and add in both curries. Stir until both curries are cooked. Add in vinegar and water. Bring to a boil and add in honey and brown sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Simmer on low to medium heat for about 30-45 minutes or until it has reduced to half its size and thicken. Let it cool for a bit and toss in 6-12 cooked chicken wings (deep fried, baked, or grilled).

This is a very simple and easy sauce for any wings. You can always add more curry if you like it hotter. Red curry (Panang) is a lot spicier than yellow curry (Karee) so add more red curry if you'd like. There's no dipping sauce for these wings because they are great on their own. But of course, you can always use the good ol' ranch sauce. I made a peanut butter sauce to dip because my husband loves peanut butter and peanut butter goes great with curry.

Curry Fish/ Ntses Khaub Poob

Thai curry is my favorite ingredient to use. It can't make a recipe taste bad, but I haven't been using it because my husband can't tolerate the heat. Well, it's been a long time since I had/made curry so I decided to make it and my husband will just have to live with it. I wasn't prepared to make curry so I used what I had....fish. Fish curry is a very popular dish in Thailand made with fish head. I didn't have fish head so I used fish filet...specifically catfish. It's the same process as making curry noodles, but with less ingredients so the fish can stand out more. Of course, I used red curry so the taste was mainly spicy, but it was delicious!

Fish Curry

3 filet fish, cut into chunks

1/2 cup bamboo strips from can

2 green bell peppers, julienne/strips

2 tomatoes, no flesh and chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

5-6 thin slices of fresh ginger

1 tsp fermented fish sauce *optional*

1 can coconut milk

1 tsp panang red curry (use half if preferred less spicy)

2 tsp karee yellow curry

3-4 kaffir lime leaves

2 stalk lemon grass

2 tsp sugar

2 Tbsp oil

Heat up oil in a large pot to medium heat, add minced garlic and both curry paste. Stir until both paste has browned a bit. Add bamboo strips and fermented fish sauce while stirring. Gently add in the fish and make sure fish is well coated with the curry pastes. Add sugar and lemon grass; mixing well. Next add coconumt milk. Add enough water to cover fish. Add in the rest of the ingredients: bell peppers, tomatoes, kaffir lime leaves, and sliced ginger. Bring to a boil. Taste and add salt to desire taste. Let simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Serve on top of rice.

I didn't have mines on top of rice, I like my fish curry plain
so that I can taste all the yummy curries and ingredients.