Skats Easy Cornmeal Crust Recipes

CORNMEAL CRUST

Steps:

• Whisk cornmeal with 1 1/2 cups cold water.
• In a medium saucepan, bring 2 1/2 cups water, salt, and pepper to a boil.
• Gradually stir in cornmeal mixture. Reduce heat; simmer, stirring often, until very thick, 4 to 5 minutes.
• Remove from heat; stir in butter until melted.

CORNMEAL CRUSTED SKATE WITH RICE NOODLE AND PEA SALAD LEMON GRASS CAPER BROWN BUTTER VINAIGRETTE

Steps:

• Season the skate with salt and pepper and dredge in the cornmeal. In a hot nonstick pan add oil and saute skate for about 5 minutes a side until golden brown. Place skate on top of rice noodles. Drizzle with vinaigrette and garnish with pink peppercorns.
• In a saucepot completely melt butter. On low heat, continue heating butter until a brown color is achieved. This will take about 30 minutes. Quickly deep fry capers in this butter which will puff up, sprinkle with salt and strain on paper towel. Do the same thing with the lemon grass, but place into a tall stainless steel container. The butter should still be hot and brown. Add the juice, shallots and Dijon to the lemon grass. With the blender running, slowly pour the hot butter into the mix to make the vinaigrette. Be careful, the butter will foam up. Add salt and pepper and check for seasoning.
• In a large bowl, toss everything together with the vinaigrette. Season and taste.

SAGE-CORNMEAL CRUST

Steps:

• Pulse flour, cornmeal, sugar, sage, salt, and lemon zest in a food processor until combined. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Whisk egg yolks and ice water in a small bowl. With machine running, add to flour mixture through feed tube; process until dough just holds together.
• Turn out dough onto a work surface. Divide in half, and shape each portion into a disk. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate 30 minutes (or up to 2 days).
• On a lightly floured work surface, roll out 1 disk to a 10-inch round. Fit into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom; trim edges flush with rim. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (or up to 1 day). Reserve remaining dough for another use (it can be frozen up to 3 months).
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prick bottom of tart shell with a fork. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let cool.

CORNMEAL CRUST

Steps:

• Prepare the butter and lard, if using. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch (12-mm) cubes (a bench scraper is perfect for this, but a sharp knife works well too), and cut the lard into small pieces. Return them to the fridge to cool.
• In a liquid measuring cup, stir together the milk and vinegar. Refrigerate the mixture until ready to use.
• On a clean flat surface or in a large shallow bowl, toss the flour, cornmeal, cornstarch, sugar, and salt together lightly to blend. Add the butter and lard (if using) to the dry ingredients and, using the tool of your choice, cut the fat into the flour with speed and patience, until the fat has been reduced to small pea-sized chunks. Try to use a straight up-and-down motion, as the more you press on the flour the more tough gluten will develop. Avoid using your fingers, as the heat from your hands will melt the fat and further encourage gluten development. Unlike with pasta or bread, gluten is the enemy of pie dough, so be gentle, and be quick!
• Once your fat has been cut down to size, spread your mixture out to expose as much surface area as possible. Gently drizzle about half of your milk mixture over the flour, trying to cover as wide an area as you can. Using bench scrapers or a large spoon, lightly toss the flour over the liquid, then spread everything out again, and repeat the process with the second half of the liquid.
• You should now have a dough that will just hold together when pressed against the bowl, with visible little chunks of butter. If you need to add more liquid to bind it, do so with more cold milk, adding a tablespoon at a time until you reach the right texture. It's not an exact science, as everything from the humidity in the air to the dryness of your flour will affect the consistency of your dough.
• Once you've reached your goal, cover the dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour. The dough can be kept in the fridge for up to 1 week, well wrapped, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

S'KAT'S EASY PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Stir together the water, yeast and the sugar.
• Let rest until the yeast foams, about 3 minutes.
• Place 2 1/2-cups of the flour, salt and cornmeal in a mixing bowl and combine.
• Add the yeast mixture and olive oil and stir together to form a sticky dough.
• Remove from bowl and knead, adding the remaining flour a little at a time until the dough becomes smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
• The longer you knead, the more texture your dough will have.
• Turn the dough into a lightly oiled bowl.
• Cover with a dry towel and place in a warm, draft free area.
• (I usually stick it in the oven. If your oven is cold, very briefly- about 1 minute- turn to highest temp, then off again, well before placing bowl in oven. Let's not melt any bowls, eh?) Let rise for at least one hour.
• When dough has doubled in bulk, punch back down.
• At this point, add any of the optional ingredients at end of recipe, or as desired.
• Let the dough rise again, until almost doubled, about 30 minutes.
• Or, if there were no extra additions, shape and add toppings.
• Bake at 500°F for about 8 minutes.
• Optional, but worthwhile: fresh herbs (I use basil, oregano and thyme), chopped minced garlic, parmiagiano-reggiano and extra cornmeal for texture.