Cooking Pizza with Guardian Service Cookware

Homemade pizza is easy, economical and nutritious (hallmarks of the Guardian Service Cookware marketing mantra, "good health, pleasure and profit"). Although, as I mention in our original post on pizza, the creators and makers of Guardian Service Ware couldn't have imagined the 15" service tray being used for "pizza," a modern staple, which was only gaining popular appeal in America in the mid-fifties, by which time the company had ceased production.

We've cooked many pizzas on our Guardian Service tray (the round, flat, service tray works ideally for thin to medium crust pizzas and the "hammer" finish creates little pockets of air that aid in the crisping of the crust). But Mark Bitmann's recent post on pizza dough inspired us to further employ the Guardian Service griddle as a pizza stone. Placed upside–down on the center rack of the oven, the thick aluminum plate retains additional heat, creating an extra crispy crust.

And then this week, members of a Guardian Service fan group posted that they use the octagonal griddle itself to cook the pizza, which sounds ideal for a deep-dish pizza pie. (We'll experiment and report back with an update).

Pictured: Walnut pesto, caramelized onion and sausage pizza with mozzarella, on a whole wheat and cornmeal crust (see pizza dough recipe and instructions).

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Guardian Service Chicken Schnitzel

As promised, here’s another in our series of recipes adapted for Guardian Service cookware. We've come to call this dish "Chicken Schnitzel," not just because it's fun to say, but because it's an adaptation of a traditional veal Weiner Schnitzel recipe from “Lüchow’s German Cookbook” (by Jan Mitchell, Doubleday, 1952).

Lüchow’s restaurant was a New York destination for fans of traditional German fare, operating for a full century from 1882 to 1982 on E 14th St in lower Manhattan. The restaurant provided an atmosphere of theatrical Gemütlichkeit (arguably the pre-Sardi's Sardi's) while serving celebrities such as operetta composer Victor Herbert (he founded ASCAP in one of Lüchow's booths) and screen star Marlene Dietrich and hosting the post-concert party for Judy Garland’s legendary Carnegie Hall concert.

I’ve simplified their approach to the batter and find it browns to perfection on the Guardian Service Griddle/Broiler. It’s not unlike a “chicken-fried” chicken, although greaseless, one of the chief selling points of the Guardian Service Griddle/Broiler technique.

Chicken Schnitzel

4 6-ounce chicken breasts

3 Tbsp. Grated Parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp. Flour

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp. minced parsley

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

¼ tsp. grated nutmeg

2 cups minced breadcrumbs

Juice ¾ lemon

Parsley for garnish

In a shallow baking dish mix cheese, flour, breadcrumbs, parsley, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Pound chicken breasts until thin; dip in beaten egg and coat well with breadcrumb mixture.

Meanwhile, set the Guardian Service Griddle/Broiler over medium low heat until it passes the “water test”; see previous posts for more info and photos. (NOTE: this is a crucial step for success when cooking with this unit).

Place the breaded chicken breasts on the griddle and cook over medium heat until browned on each side. Remove to platter, squeeze fresh lemon juice over the dish and garnish with parsley and lemon wedges.

Optional: serve with cream gravy with shallots and mushrooms (pictured). Sauté shallots and quartered mushrooms in butter for 10-15 mins, remove from saucepan and reserve. Make a basic white sauce, reincorporate the shallot/mushroom mixture and ladle over fried chicken cutlets.

Guardian Griddle Cakes

A few posts ago I wrote about stovetop broiling steaks with the "Guardian Service Griddle Broiler," so this time we'll put its "griddle" function to task with pancakes. As Betty Gay waxes nostalgically in the Tested Recipes cookbook, "hot cakes or 'flapjacks,' as we called 'em back on the farm, with plenty of butter and maple syrup will make you feel that this old world's not so bad after all."

I had two distinctly different grandmothers. My father's mother Pauline, who lived "back on the farm" in North Dakota and cooked three large meals for the family and farmhands every day, had a more practical approach to cooking. My maternal grandmother, Muriel, was a professional musician and an excellent cook with a few "signature dishes"—and blueberry pancakes was one of them.
Muriel and Grandpa Ken rented a summer cottage in Rhode Island each year and when blueberries were at the peak of season she'd whip up memorable batches of those pancakes: light and fluffy but crisp and riddled with fresh berries running with juice that stained the cakes purple. Of course, she fried them stovetop in a quarter inch of oil in a cookie sheet... but as a once or twice in late summer treat, they were magical.

Andrew and I do our best to buy locally, seasonally and organically grown foods (or whichever of the combination we can find or afford) and while it's far from blueberry season, I have to admit a moment of weakness recently when Chilean blueberries showed up at our local grocer. A few days of unseasonably hot weather this week made it feel like summer and seeing those berries on sale made me long for Muriel's pancakes and ... I snapped. Fretting about the carbon footprint of this "inexpensive" pint of blueberries, I bought them anyway. In retrospect: I'd have been better off with a handful of chopped apple... fruit that's been shipped or stored or ripened out of season is always a disappointment and never ends up being "worth it." But sometimes these lessons have to be relearned...

SLAPPING THE CAKES

There's nothing unique about the GS pancake recipe (just make sure the baking powder is still active; test by pouring some hot tap water over a half teaspoon of baking powder—if it bubbles, it's still fresh enough; if not, the pancakes won't rise). What's crucial here is technique: the timing and the griddle heat.

Who needs Teflon? The trick to non–stick cooking on the Guardian Service Griddle is the heat. To prevent pancakes from sticking and burning, first warm the griddle for 5-7 minutes on a medium heat (1/2 flame on a gas stove) then test with a bit of cold water. I wrote about this "water test" in the steaks post, but I've taken a few more pictures to show you another example of the "dashing around like mad" effect mentioned in the cookbook: when the griddle is at optimum heat a bit of cold water poured on the griddle will retain it's shape, like globules of mercury rolling across the surface. If the water spreads out and sizzles, it's not quite hot enough and if it evaporates instantly it's too hot. Just set it off the heat for a few minutes.

"No need to worry about overtaxing the family's digestive system because Guardian hot cakes are baked—not fried in grease," notes Gay in the intro to "Hot Cakes... without grease or smoke." In effect, you are "baking" the pancakes on a greaseless griddle and, as with all GS cookware, the aluminum evenly distributes heat so you can cook 5 or 6 average-sized (not IHOP big-as-your-head sized) flapjacks at a time.

Timing: when bubbles appear on top, break and hold their shape, the under side has browned. Using a spatula, flip and brown other side. Place cakes in a pre-heated GS unit until ready to serve (keep the cover ajar so the steam escapes and they don't get soggy).

GUARDIAN GRIDDLE CAKES

Makes 2 dozen (approx 4" in diameter)

NOTE: If you're not feeding an army, use 1 egg and halve the remaining ingredients for a dozen.

2 cups flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 1/2 to 1 /3/4 cup milk (according to desired consistency)

2 Tbsp. melted butter

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
2. Combine beaten egg and milk.
3. Stir into dry ingredients, adding more milk if thinner cake is desired.
4. Blend in melted butter. (Optional: fold in 1 cup of chopped fruit (apples, bananas, blueberries in season...)
5. Preheat griddle over medium heat, test for temperature and bake cakes as directed above.

Stove-Top Steaks

The Griddle/Broiler is another "combination" cooker in the Guardian Service line: it handles everything from grilled cheese sandwiches to greaseless pancakes (the subject of an upcoming post) and broils meats, vegetables or fruits efficiently; simple to serve and clean up.

BROILED STEAKS

on the Guardian Service Griddle/Broiler

1. Brush lean cuts with melted butter, fat or oil (or marinate).
2. Place Griddle/Broiler over a 2/3 flame and preheat 5 to 7 min. Test for temperature by sprinkling cold water over the surface. "If drops retain shape and dash about like mad, you're ready to start," notes Betty Gay in Guardian Service Tested Recipes; and "dash" they do—like little glass marbles (see below). "If water spreads out, Griddle is not hot enough; if water evaporates immediately, Griddle is too hot—just set off the flame for a while."
3. Put steaks on Griddle and broil over 1/3 flame (or 2/3 for medium to well done steaks) for about 5-7 minutes, turn and brown on other side.

NOTE: "Surplus fats drain into the groove around the edge so that foods are broiled instead of fried in grease and juices and flavors remain in meats rather than evaporating through contact with a direct flame." For added "New Recession" thrift cooking: retain the excess fat as basis for a gravy; and if you're broiling a bone-in steak, save the leftover scraps and bones for stock (pictured below: the 1/2 qt cooker with left over sirloin scraps and vegetable scraps).