"Grilled" Potato Cheese Pizza; Burag B'Jeben; Blackberry Brambilicious

From the Everything Pizza Book by Belinda Hulin

     I looked over the ingredient list here and realized this is a LOT of cheese.  By the time you are done assembling one pizza, it would have over one pound of cheese.  Now, don't get me wrong, I do believe that there can never be too much cheese, but since some of us are trying to become lighter, I thought maybe the pizza would still be delicious with half the amount of cheese listed here.
     I tried to find Butterkase (again), and couldn't find that, much less smoked Butterkase at Cub.  I wasn't surprised in the least and sent a text to the hubby to visit the cheese shop (Rybicki's) across from his wine store (Old Vine Wine) to see if they had it.  They told him they had never heard if Butterkase being smoked.  So, he bought the regular Butterkase, and I bought some smoked Gouda to mix in with it.

From the Complete Book of Pizza by Louise Love

     We already had this beautiful cheddar that my Aunt Lois and Uncle David had given us last time we were in Washington State.  It is called Cougar Gold.  It comes in a can, but it's not what you would think.  It is real cheese, real cheddar - sharp cheddar.  It is made at the University there (where both my mother and father went to college), and is a coveted treat in our family.  It is very sharp and extremely delicious.  I knew that we could get away with using less of this cheese, because it is such a potent flavor.

     I also purchased fat free cottage cheese for the Burag B'Jeben.  If we are mixing it with regular feta, and we are cooking it, I didn't think we would miss the fat there either.
     My Wednesday evening was spent, mostly just slicing cheese. I did decide to make the garlic and oil sauce.  I was hesitant to do any preparing for the Burag B'Jeben, because the Liggetts weren't coming, and I thought with just three of us, did we really need two entrees?  Besides, after reading the instructions, it didn't really seem like there was anything I could do in advance.  I could have combined the feta and cottage cheese, but how long could that take?  I had already decided that their method was silly, and I was just going to throw the two cheese in my Vitamix and combine them that way.  And, because it is such powerful machine, it wouldn't take any time at all if we decided we wanted to make this recipe as well. 

     On my way home from work on Thursday, my friend Paul called and said he and Leslie and their baby Allegra were going to join us.  Fantastic!  I haven't seen them since early August, and probably would see even less of them once their second baby was born (he/she is scheduled to arrive on October 10th).  I couldn't wait to see all 3½ of them!

     Pam was the first to arrive, and I immediately put her to work on rolling out the crust for the grilled pizza.  I had decided at this point, however, that I was not going to grill outside.  The wind was crazy ridiculous.  The temperature was actually decent for a change, but the wind was so strong that it felt cold, and it was irritating.  We still needed crust, though, and this was the only one I had thawed.  I was sure it would perform alright in the oven, too. 

     While she was doing that, I threw the cottage and feta cheeses in the Vitamix for the Burag B'Jeben.  It took a couple of tries to get it all mixed together.  I was worried that if I left it whir for too long, the cheeses would melt, and we would have a gooey mess.  It turned out okay, though.  I do have one complaint about the Vitamix - when you make something that isn't liquid, it is really difficult to get all the good stuff out from underneath the blades.  Pam decided that her finger was the best tool for the job, but the blades on that thing can pulverize ice cubes in 1 minute flat, so they must be very sharp.  Both Paul and I yelled at her to use a spatula.  She finally did.  There was still some cheese left in the bottom at the end, but I just had to rinse it out and not think about the waste of it, because I needed the machine for the Drink of the Week.

     As I started putting these gorgeous, giant blackberries into the machine, I was thinking what a shame it was to pulverise these lovely berries into oblivion.  Just as I was thinking that, Pam asked if frozen berries would have been a better idea.  Of course they would have!  I hadn't even occurred to me when I was at the grocery store.  By the time I got the ten berries the recipe called for into the bowl (I was doubling for two drinks) there were only 4 berries left.  I threw those in, too, and tripled everything in the recipe (except the ice - I didn't want to water the booze down too much).

     This drink definitely had some kick, and I didn't hear Pam complaining about a lack of liquor this time.  The seeds didn't quite disappear in the pulverization phase of the drink, there were several still hanging around throughout the drink.  It tasted fresh and fruity with a slight burn of gin on the back of the tongue.  It froze the mouth and warmed the belly.

Paul & Allegra

     Paul brought ingredients to make two pizzas of his own.  He had made dough earlier in the day and brought it over with a bag full of food to go on top of the dough.
     He told us that he had run into the Liggetts at Jonah's soccer game.  His nephew goes to the same school as Jonah and is a couple of grades behind, but they were both on the same soccer team.  The Liggetts had asked him if he was going to come for pizza soon.  He told them he thought that he would, and they (and by they, I am pretty sure he meant Roger and Jennifer, not the kids) requested the peanut butter jalapeno pizza, so he had decided to make that.  Unfortunately for the Liggetts, they weren't able to come this week.
     I always miss the exact specifications in building this pizza, but I believe  he spreads peanut butter over the crust, tops it with bacon and jalapenos, and covers the whole thing with mozzarella.  It sounds weird, but it is delicious!  The creaminess of the peanut butter calms the heat of the jalapenos, and the bacon adds a smokey element that just brings the whole thing together.

Pre-Oven Peanut Butter Jalapeno Pizza



Pre-Oven Potato Cheese Pizza



     Pam assembled the Burag B'Jeben while I took care of the potato cheese pizza.  I cooked the crust in the preheated oven (450º) for about 8 minutes, then pulled it out, flipped it over and started added the toppings.  First the garlic oil, then the Butterkase and the Smoked Gouda (alternating).  The cheddar was laid out on top of those cheeses, and the potatoes went on top of that (I had "baked" them in the microwave Wednesday night and sliced them).  The next step was to sprinkle the home-grown rosemary over the top of the potatoes and cover everything with Monteray Jack.

     Paul also made a pepperoni black olive pizza.  While he was assembling that, I put the Burag B'Jeben in the oven.  There is a warning in the recipe that the burags should be lightly brown after about 15 minutes, and you shouldn't over cook them.  I think I know now why it says that.  I didn't think it was brown enough after 15 minutes, so I left them in a bit longer.  Some of the cheese leaked out of the logs.  I am not sure, though, if this was an over-cooking problem or just that the phyllo dough had some broken spots in them, and the cheese found its way through.  Or, maybe it was a little of both.

     We had all three pizzas in the same oven at the same time.  I had the oven set on convection, but there was still some apparent uneven heating in there.  My potato pizza was browner on one side than the other.  I should have given it a spin and put it back in, but I didn't.  We rearranged the Paul Pizzas and let them cook a little longer to firm up the crust and add some bubbliness to the cheese.

     All three pizzas were beautiful, despite the unevenness of the browning, and we made quick work of making them disappear.  The potato pizza was creamy and smokey, and the rosemary just peeked through the flavors of the cheeses.  The pepperoni black olive pizza had the most fabulous crust!  It was slightly crispy on the outside with a soft, fluffy interior.  We had to exert some restraint, though, because Pam had brought a fabulous apple spice cake for dessert.

  Her tree was a little overburdened, so she thought she ought to make something with apples.  It was wonderful.  It was warm and sweet, and the exterior of the cake had a slightly crunchy texture with a concentration of a brown sugar flavor.  It was the perfect ending (even if it did have nuts).