LIL' BITS INSPIRED BY RICK MORTY

For the Tiny Lasagna

For the Fresh pasta

Start by beating large eggs with a little kosher salt into all-purpose flour. Use a bench scraper and your hands to bring it all together for a smooth, cohesive dough.

Knead until it just comes together, place in a plastic bag or plastic wrap, and let rest for 5 minutes.

Make sure not to throw away any excess flour. Sift it out and save for later.

After 5 minutes, retrieve the dough from the bag and knead for 7-8 minutes (dusting with flour when needed) until smooth and taut then place back into the bag. Let it rest for 30 minutes.

For the Sauce

In a small saute pan goes olive oil, grated shallot, and grated garlic. Mix together before adding tomato purée.

Mix everything together and lower the heat before adding a pinch of oregano, dried basil, red pepper flakes (any more than 1 or 2 flakes it will come out spicy), and bring to a bare simmer for about 30 minutes until nice and thick.

Back on the worktop, start rolling out the pasta by dividing the dough into 4 equally sized pieces, set on a well-floured surface rolling out using the smallest rolling pin possible.

Roll until just thin enough that it can pass through the widest setting the pasta roller. Through the widest setting start rolling out the sheet of dough then folding into thirds, rolling back out, and passing through the roller 2 times.

Then one notch at a time on the pasta roller roll the dough out thinner and thinner until it is as thin as the dough allows.

Craft a tiny lasagna dish using a box of tea and aluminum foil to form a tiny aluminum lasagna dish. **Take note that aluminum foil isn’t the best option for cooking lasagna or anything tomato-based. It’s perfectly safe but aluminum is reactive cookware so anything acidic like tomatoes cooked longer than 30 minutes will have a small metallic taste.**

Start by applying non-stick spray before laying down a small smear of tomato sauce then placing a small layer of pasta noodle down (cut using the tea box as a template), more tomato sauce, a layer grated mozzarella cheese, a small layer of ricotta cheese, grated parmesan cheese then top with a piece of the pasta noodle. Repeat the process for as many layers the lasagna pan will allow. **

Cover with another aluminum foil mold, place on a small baking sheet, and place in a 350°F toaster oven for 25 minutes. Then remove the top and make sure everything is holding together.

Optionally add another layer of parmesan cheese and return to a 400°F oven for 5-10 minutes until golden brown and bubbly on top.

Let rest until completely cool for about 30 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil then slice and serve!

For the Tiny Pizza

In the bowl of a stand mixer goes bread flour and kosher salt. In a measuring cup goes tap water and yeast. Whisk both (separately) together, letting the yeast bloom for 30 minutes at room temperature before adding to the flour and salt mixture.

Attach a dough hook to the stand mixer and mix together for 2 minutes then knead on medium speed for 6-8 minutes until the dough is smooth.

After the 6-8 minute mark, remove the sticky dough and place onto a nonfloured work surface and knead a few times before rolling into a smooth taut ball. Place and cover in a well-oiled bowl for 18 hours followed by an overnight stay in the fridge (cold-fermenting it).

After 18 hours, retrieve the cold dough and place on a well-floured surface and cut in half. Roll each piece on a non floured surface into a taut ball and let proof for 2-3 hours (for normal size pizza dough). For little pizza dough, cut into smaller pieces to form a miniature version of the pizza dough and let proof for 1 hour.

Once done, grab a small dough ball (leave the rest to proof), place in a small bowl filled with all-purpose flour, and cover completely. Press and stretch the dough out into a small pizza, about 3” wide. Stab repeatedly with a knife to limit the bubbling of the dough.

Top with a spoonful of sauce, small torn pieces of buffalo mozzarella, and small pieces of pepperoni. Place into a 900°F pizza oven while rotating and letting it sit for 60 seconds.

For the Tiny Apple Pie

Into the bowl of a food processor goes all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, a hefty pinch of kosher salt, and then pulse together until well combined.

Once combined, add thinly sliced pieces of 1 stick of cold unsalted butter and pulse together 15-20 times until the mixture resembles wet sand.

Transfer the butter-flour mixture into a large bowl and sprinkle ice-cold water over the top. Mix together with a rubber spatula and your hands until it just barely holds its shape.

At which point, press it into a disc, place in a plastic bag/plastic wrap and fridge for at least 1 hour, ideally up to 4 hours.

For the Apple pie filling

Peel, core and finely mince medium honey crisp apple. Cutting pieces into tiny even pieces.

Throw the apple pieces in a bowl the combine with a granulated sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, light brown sugar, cinnamon, and a tiny sprinkle each of ground cloves, ground ginger, and freshly grated nutmeg.

Mix all together by stirring with a spatula and taste for doneness. If it has reached the desired taste, add all-purpose flour and mixing together.

On a well-floured surface, roll out the pie dough before cutting into pieces slightly larger than a cupcake tin and pressing the dough into the cupcake tin/cavity with a ½” overhang outside the cavity.

Apply non-stick spray to a cupcake tin then fill the tiny pie shells with the filling and cut smaller rounds of dough that only cover the overhang. Brush each of the dough covered with little beaten egg whites to form a seal. Place over the filling and press the pieces of dough together and try to fold under itself.

Crimp the edges decoratively like a normal size pie. Cut X shape vents on top and brush down with egg whites and sprinkle the top with demerara sugar.

Place in a 325°F toaster oven for 30 minutes then remove from the tray and place on a cooling rack to cool completely for about 45 minutes.