Have You Missed Me?

It's been well over two months since my last post. Did I lose my love for food, for cooking with others, for playing in the kitchen? Not exactly. I will confess that I have been on the sadder side of things lately and part of me hasn't been as excited to get my hands dirty in the kitchen. More often than not, cooking - baking in particular - have offered comfort (or at least distraction) for me when things were tough. So this recent cooking dry spell feels alien, likely influenced as much by the intense winter weather as by happenings in my personal life.

Rather than keep lamenting my lack of creative juices, both in the kitchen and on the blog, I need to start posting again, even if it is accomplished in a super uncreative way. Let me share some of the things that have been keeping my belly full and my taste buds tantalized. Yup, I'm giving you a list. Love it.

The Lockhart at Percy Street BBQ, in honor of Daniel's birthday
Many roast chickens, including one cooked by Mike in a clay pot
Soup dumplings at Dim Sum Garden
Brunches at Green Eggs Cafe
Plans for beef bourguinon and chocolate ginger scones at the Poconos this weekend (remember the Stuffalo adventure from last year?)
Beef short ribs for Christmas dinner
Roasted Brussels sprouts

It's a start.

P.S. And I've missed all of you.

The Stuffalo, kitchenplay style

by daniel k, kitchenplay guestblogger, and kp

A couple of months ago, our friend Samara shared a table in a crowded Fairmount-area coffee shop with a stranger. Casual conversation ensued and an idea was shared... a culinary creation oozing with the influence of our Dominos-inspired food culture: the Stuffalo, a pizza with a crust stuffed with Buffalo chicken. It was inspired.

Or so the story goes…

Who was that mystery man? Could he have been one of the members behind the Stuffalo pizza at Meal Ticket, only unveiled yesterday? Is it possible that our destinies were linked over many months, leading to this week: the week that both teams independently brought The Stuffalo to life?


Or was it someone else entirely? Someone who has been making The Stuffalo all along, in total anonymity?

Regardless, after much talk about the Stuffalo in our friend circle, we here at the kitchenplay test kitchen decided to make The Stuffalo last weekend during an outing to the Poconos. While we considered going the route of breaded buffalo chicken, we opted instead to stuff the crust with a mixture inspired by North Carolina pork barbecue: slow-cooked, shredded dark-meat chicken and diced onions, marinated in Buffalo sauce.

The real debate, however, concerned what pizza toppings would go well with the aggressive flavor of The Stuffalo crust. A Buffalo-style pizza with Buffalo sauce and blue cheese would simply be too much. But a standard red pizza would be too sweet. We decided to do a white pizza topped with six cheeses, caramelized onions and a bit of oregano. And the result was amazing.

I hope the Meal Ticket team gets a look at our version. We should do a Stuffal-off! Or combine forces to create the Ultimate Stuffalo!



The kitchenplay Stuffalo
1 lb dark meat chicken, slow-cooked and shredded
1 onion, diced
Buffalo sauce
Pizza dough
4 oz. Crème fraiche
2 tbsp cream or milk
Assorted cheeses, shredded (mozz, parm, provolone, fontina, Romano and asiago)
1 onion, diced and caramelized
Oregano

Preheat oven to 375. Combine the chicken and onion with enough Buffalo sauce to coat thoroughly. Roll out the pizza dough, leaving about an inch hanging off the edges (this will allow you to roll the dough over the stuffing to form the crust). Spoon stuffing around the edge of the pizza and fold the excess dough over the stuffing, pressing down to seal dough. Combine the crème fraiche and the cream or milk and spread over the pizza. Top with the shredded cheeses, caramelized onions and oregano. Drizzle the top, if you’d like, with a bit of Buffalo sauce. Bake for 20-25 mins, or until crust is golden-brown and cheeses bubbly.

Future ideas: in keeping with the Domino’s way, perhaps some kind of ranch or bleu cheese dipping sauce. Or baking crumbled bleu cheese directly in the crust.