The Hunt

     I forwent my rainy day cherry pie baking plans for the hunt.  The rain did not come as predicted.  The sky was blue, there were no clouds, and the wind was up.  It was now or never for this pursuit, the catching of the elusive mulberry.
     Mulberries are tricky.  Thousands of plump, ripe fruits dangle from low and high hanging tree branches and can be seen from yards away.  However, once I get close to the tree, the shy berries hid behind green leaves and on opposite sides of thin, wispy branches.  I pulled a branch close to me and find one ripe berry and plopped it into my bowl.  Careful inspection of the branch revealed one more and another.  Three berries in the bowl.  I moved on to the next branch, for my next prey.  A few more dropped into my bucket.  As I started to move to the next branch within reach, I looked back at the first, and found three more plump specimens, jeering at me.  I moved back to the first branch and plucked their petulant corpses from their home.  This same pattern continues for nearly an hour.  I pick a branch clean, and look back at a previous branch, only to find more berries dangling just out of reach.  Lucky for me, the branches were supple and easily pulled down to within my reach.
     My bowl was almost half-way full, and I considered the possibility that, even though there was a storm last night that hurled thousands of berries to their grassy deaths, I still might have gotten enough of the remainder for a pie or at least a little tart.  But, I wasn't quite there yet.  I got greedy.  A twenty foot ladder stood at the ready, just waiting for me to reach new heights.  I climbed to the top, hoping to get the biggest juiciest specimens that were high in the sky.  The bounty was plentiful up there.  I reached and cleared nearly twenty berries off of the first branch.  These were bigger than the lower branch berries, and I got more optimistic about that pie.
     I reached for the third branch, and there was a big, chubby fruit just a little bit out of my reach.  I pulled on the branch to bring it closer to me. Not quite close enough, I put my berry bucket on the top of the ladder and climb up one more step.  Stretching, reaching, I was almost there.  I leaned forward just a little bit more and heard a noise.  I had bumped the bucket and it tumbled to the ground, up side down.  Instead of a bowl full of enough mulberries to make a tart, I had two berries left.  The contents of my bucket laid on the ground in a pile of mud, ants, and rotten berries that had previous fallen from the tree.
     Heartbroken, I sifted through the pile, combing through the grass, trying to salvage what I could from the disaster.  I was able to line the bottom of my container - about one tenth of the amount I had before the fall.  I brought my nearly empty receptacle into the garage where my husband was wiring some lights in.  Surely, it was somehow his fault.  The ladder must have been improperly placed, or the ladder inadequately equipped (my him, of course) with a proper tray for berry picking tools.  Or, perhaps, it happened just because he was in close proximity, willing the bowl to jump from its tenuous perch atop the ladder.
     Patiently, he brought out a tarp from the garage.  He opened it and lay it under the tree, covering as much ground as he could.  He then went up that defective ladder and shook the tree, dropping three or four berries onto the tarp.  Confounded, he moved the ladder and tried another branch.  This time, about ten berries dropped to the covered ground.  After about four or five more ladder positions and branch abuse, there were a small pile of berries (and various bugs and leaves) decorating the tarp.  He gathered the ends, piling the little nuggets into one central area, where I scrambled on hands and knees to pluck them off of the tarp into my bowl.  End result - I know had a quarter of the berries I had before "the incident".
     There will be no pie.  We had gathered enough for a small vat of berry infused simple syrup, that I would use to enhance the vodka I would drown my pie sorrows in and plot my revenge against the mulberry tree.

Raspberry Blueberry Salad Pizza

It was just Jeff and I this week.  No need for two recipes for the two of us.  Next one on the list was a raspberry salad pizza. Since Jeff is allergic to raspberries, I had him pick up blueberries, too, and opted for the half and half pizza.  We are well into grilling season, and so far all of my Thursdays have been rainy.  Today was an extreme exception, and I was glad for it.  This pizza recipe had all of the great things that summer has to offer: grilling, fruit, fresh greens.  I couldn't wait to try it.

Salad Pizza

Adapted from The Pizza Bible by Tony Gemignani

Dough:

1-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/3 cup warm water

3-3/4 cups bread flour

1 cup ice water

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

Toppings:

4-1/2 tablespoons fresh orange juice (about 3/4 of a medium orange)

2-1/2 tablespoons lavender honey

1-1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

6 ounces mozzarella

4-1/2 ounces arugala and kale mixture (or spring greens)

4 ounces goat cheese

10 raspberries

20 blueberries

10 Marcona almonds, roughly chopped

Make the dough:

    In a small bowl, mix the yeast and the warm water.  Stir to combine.  Set aside for at least five minutes.  In a stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook, place the flour.  Add the yeast mixture while the mixer is running at a low speed.  Use a spatula to get any of the mixture still clinging to the bowl.  With the mixer still running, add the ice water.  After a couple minutes of mixing, add the salt.  Continue to mix until the dough starts to cling to the hook.  Remove the dough from the bowl and knead on a clean dry surface for about three minutes or until dough becomes smooth.  Place the dough back in the mixer bowl and cover with a clean, lint-free, damp towel.  Allow to rest for an hour.  Remove the dough from the bowl and divide into three equal pieces.  Reserve two of the balls for a future use (these can be frozen in a freezer bag for a couple of weeks).  Place the third ball on a quarter sheet pan and wrap dough and pan loosely in seran wrap.  Place it in the refrigerator overnight.  Remove the dough from the refrigerator at least 5 hours before you plan on using it. 

Prepare the crust:

     Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to medium high (if using charcoal, build the charcoal only on one side).  Roll the dough out on a cornmeal dusted paddle.  Stretch and roll it into a 15 inch circle (it will be very thing).  Prick the dough all over with a fork.  Check to make sure that the dough still slides around easily on the paddle.  

Make the dressing:

     Whisk the orange juice, honey, mustard, and olive oil together in a small bowl.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Finish the pizza:

     Slide the dough onto the grill grates of the preheated grill (place over the hot side of the grill, if using charcoal).  Allow the dough to cook for a few minutes until grill marks start to appear on the bottom.  Rotate the dough 90 degrees to achieve a criss-cross grill mark pattern on the bottom.  Grill for another minute or so until the new marks appear.  Slide the dough back onto the paddle.  Flip the dough over, so the grill marks are facing up.  

     Scatter the mozzarella over the crust.  Slide the crust back onto the grill (depending on the heat of your grill, you may want to move it to the cooler side to prevent burning).  Grill until grill marks start to appear on the bottom of the crust.  Rotate 90 degrees to get the same criss-cross pattern on this side. Grill until the cheese is melted and the bottom is starting to brown.  Remove the pizza from the grill.

     Toss the greens with the dressing (you may need to whisk again prior to tossing), until the leaves are slightly coated (you may end up with some dressing in the bottom of the bowl).  Scatter the dressed leaves over the mozzarella.  Reserve the dressing from the bottom of the greens bowl to serve on the side with the pizza.  Dollop pea sized pieces of goat cheese over the greens.  Scatter the raspberries over half of the pizza and the blueberries over the other half.  Sprinkle the chopped almonds over the greens.  Cut and serve.

     This was so simple and delicious, it maybe become my new staple.  It is basically a delicious, fruity, green salad served on its own, edible plate!

     I was a little sceptical about the dough.  It seemed awfully thin, but it held its own.  It was almost see-through before I put it on the grill.  I rolled it out first, while the grill was heating and let it rest while I made the dressing and prepared the other ingredients for assembly.

      

     I actually measured the orange juice out.  I had a medium sized orange.  It was about as big as my fist with a not-too-thick peel.  After squeezing three-quarters of it into my measuring cup, I pretty much had the amount I needed.  I used a metal hand-held juicer to extract the juice.  I think if I had just squeezed it with my hands, I may not have gotten that much juice out of it and would have had to use the whole orange.  As it was, I was able to save a little bit for our drinks.

     The grilling went quick.  I had to turn the grill down a bit, as it was over 500º F when I originally went outside to load up my dough onto the grates.  It slipped easily from my paddle onto the rack.  I left the grill cover open to help facilitate the cool-down (it brought it to roughly 375º F), and it only took about 3 minutes to get my first set of marks on the bottom.  I rotated it a quarter turn to get a nice pattern on the bottom.

     It came off of the grill as easily as it went on.  I just picked up the edge gingerly with my fingers and slid it onto the paddle.  A quick flip revealed my artistic browning.

     The recipe only called for 3 ounces of mozzarella, but when I put that amount on over my crust, it seemed rather pathetic (and really not worth-while), so of course I doubled it.

      Now, that was worth while.  It now covered the whole dough and made a nice, gooey base for the salad.

     The recipe had instructed me to only use some of the dressing to "lightly coat" the leaves.  I tried only using half of the dressing, but it didn't seem to get all of them, so I used all of it.  I used tongs to get the now-dressed leaves out of the bowl and onto the mozzarella.  After the leaves were out of the bowl, there was a considerable amount of dressing in the bottom of the bowl (okay, so maybe I could have gotten away with half of the dressing, but I wanted to be thorough).  I placed the leftover dressing in a bowl on the table in case we wanted to add as we ate, but we didn't feel the need.

     The Marcona almonds were a bit hard to find.  I sent Jeff out for them (of course), and he couldn't find them at Cub or Fresh Thyme.  I neglected to tell him, though, that I have only seen them in the deli section of grocery stores, and he may not have been looking in the right place.  They were horribly expensive - ($21.99/lb at Lund's).  While they are good, I am wondering if regular almonds, toasted in a pan would have been just as good (and a whole lot cheaper), especially since it only calls for 10 nuts (although, I think in the future, I will have to up the nut count).

     The finished product was delicious (at least the raspberry side).  It was fresh and bright with the underlying orange flavor to it.  The goat cheese lent it a nice creamy tang that mellowed out the acidity of the raspberries, and the almonds added a nice, buttery crunch.  My only objection to the dish was that it was a bit messy.  I found myself mashing the raspberries into the goat cheese a little bit just to keep them on the slice, but it was a small price to pay for something so delicious.

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