Lil' Bits inspired by Rick & Morty
Rick and Morty is back and it's Ricker and Mortier than ever - to celebrate, we're making some normal foods but all tiny and small so they don't get stuck in your lips. Take a sneak peek at my new house, chop up some kalaxian crystals, and settle in for an unusually long Binging with Babish!
Ingredients
**All ingredients are for normal-sized batches**
Tiny Lasagna Ingredients:
3 large eggs
Kosher salt
14oz all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp olive oil
¼ shallot, grated
½ clove garlic, grated
1 cup tomato purée
Pinch oregano
Pinch dried basil
Pinch red pepper flakes
Mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
Ricotta cheese
Tiny Pizza Ingredients:
500 grams bread flour
8 grams kosher salt
350 grams tapped water
2 grams of yeast
Pizza sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Pepperoni
Tiny Apple Pie Ingredients:
175 grams all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
Kosher salt
1 stick of unsalted butter, cold
100 ml ice cold water
1 medium honey crisp apple, minced
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 lemon
¼ cup light brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
Sprinkle ground cloves
Sprinkle ground ginger
Nutmeg
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
Method
Tiny Lasagna Method:
For the fresh pasta, start by beating 3 large eggs with a little kosher salt into 14 ounces of 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 1 tablespoon of olive oil, ¼ grated shallot, and ½ clove of grated garlic. Mix together before adding 1 cup of 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!
Tiny Pizza Method:
In the bowl of a stand mixer goes 500 grams of bread flour and 8 grams of kosher salt. In a measuring cup goes 350 grams tap water and 2 grams of 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.
Tiny Apple Pie Method:
Into the bowl of a food processor goes 175 grams of all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon of 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 100 milliliters of 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 1 medium honey crisp apple. Cutting pieces into tiny even pieces.
Throw the apple pieces in a bowl the combine with a ¼ cup of granulated sugar, the zest of ½ lemon, the juice of ¼ of a lemon, ¼ cup of light brown sugar, ½ teaspoon of 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 1 tablespoon of 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.