Blog Party #3: The Big Game Night

Stephanie from Dispensing Hapiness is the wonderful hostess for Blog Party #3: The Big Game Night. Thanks Stephanie for giving us the excuse to have fun cooking up something for the party! By the way, this is my first time joining a blog party and I'm really excited!

For this month, Stephanie asked us to think about a favorite sport (or someone we know who is into sports) and what we would serve on the night of the big game... Super Bowl, World Cup, World Series ...etc. And I thought about serving homemade Pizza!

Actually, I am not a sports junkie. Neither do I enjoy excercise. The only excercise I enjoy is shopping or running around the kitchen whipping up something to eat (if you classify that as excercise ; p). Pizza came to my mind because I recalled how my mom used to bake pizza for my dad when he watched football games last time. I thought it was a good idea to make some for this party too since it is very filling and easy to eat. So I'm making 3 kinds of pizza (including 1 dessert pizza) and a refreshing drink for this party. Recipes are as follows...

Pizza Dough Recipe:
(yields 2 pizza - each approx. 10 inches in diameter)

11 gm active dry yeast

1/3cup boiling water + 1/4 cup room temperature water (mixed together with 2 tablespoon sugar)

500 gm plain flour1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup room temperature water

Method:

In a medium sized bowl, dissolve yeast in sugar water mixture and allow to rest for 8 to 10 minutes. In a separate large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Pour in the yeast mixture and mix it with the flour. Add water a little at a time (or as needed) and knead for 5 to 10 minutes until dough become smooth and doesn't stick to the bowl. Allow the dough to rest for approximately 20 minutes or until dough has become double in size.

Divide it into 2 portion and press it onto greased pizza pan (I used a 10 x 9 inch square pan). Leave it to rise again for approximately 10 to 15 minutes, then brush the whole surface with olive oil. Spread on tomato puree (except for the dessert pizza in the 3rd recipe), topping (as recommended below) and bake at 190 celcius for approximately 20 minutes or until cooked.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

1 cup cubed chicken breast
1/2 cup BBQ sauce (any flavour, I used Heinz garlic BBQ)
1/4 cup honey
3 - 4 tablespoon sesame oil
Thinly sliced onions, green bell pepper, tomatoes, button mushrooms and a couple of weiners/hotdogs
1 cup cheddar or mozarella cheese
Oregano

Method:

In a pan, heat the sesame oil and lighty saute chicken. Add in BBQ and honey. Set aside once done. On the pizza dough (work in this order), spread tomato puree, arrange slices of vegetables, top with BBQ chicken, slices of hotdog and cheese. Sprinkle with oregano. Bake and serve warm.

Hawaiian Tuna Pizza

1 can of tuna flakes - drained

3/4 cup of chopped fresh or canned pineapples

Thinly sliced onions, tomatoes, button mushrooms and a couple of weiners/hotdogs
1 cup cheddar or mozarella cheese
Oregano

Method:

On the pizza dough (work in this order), spread tomato puree, arrange slices of vegetables, top with tuna flakes, pineapple, slices of hotdog and cheese. Sprinkle with oregano. Bake and serve warm.

Fruity Pizza

1 apple (peeled, cored and thinly sliced)
1 medium sized banana - thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped pineapples
Brown sugar (as needed)
Cinnamon powder (as needed)

Method:

On the pizza dough (work this order), arrange slices of apples, banana and pineapples. Generously sprinkle brown sugar on the pizza followed by cinnamon powder. Bake and serve warm. This recipe may sound simple, but it taste really good!

Citrus Cocktail Drink

Mix orange and lemon juice together (you can use commercially sold juices which are sweet) . Add some honey (according to taste). Serve chilled with bits of ripe mango. This drink should be good for the cooling down the body (after eating heaty stuff like pizza) and for soothing the throat as well (you know how people can get excited and yell when they watch sports - see, I'm a caring cook ;p).

I had such fun making the pizzas and as usual, I let my fussy eating siblings taste test my cooking. The verdict is... they liked the BBQ Chicken pizza most, the fruity pizza scored "not bad" and the tuna pizza scored average. They also commented that the pizza crust was on the bread-ish side. But this is not something bad, it's just that they were looking forward to a thin crust pizza. There you have it the results from the judges (my siblings). Anyway, hope you'll like my recipes!