It had been a long week, and it was only Thursday. I was able to do ahead some things for this week's recipes, because I had a phone interview Thursday morning, and I wanted to go to the job fair at my local Workforce Center in the afternoon.
My Cub had disappointed me. I knew that they carried olive tapenade at one time, but I couldn't find it anywhere when I went this week. I decided it wasn't a big deal, because while I was there I Googled a recipe to make it myself. It looked really easy, and I had most of the ingredients. I just needed some olives.
As luck would have it, there was a really good deal on olives, so I threw some in the cart. However, when I got to the checkout, they rang up a different price than the shelf advertised. The cashier couldn't find the price in that week's ad after spending an excruciating amount of time looking for it. He couldn't be bothered to ask anyone about it, so I told him to forget it. Only then, did he suggest that he page someone to go to the olive aisle and check it out, but it had taken so long up to this point (several shoppers had already switched lines), and I was so mad, that I refused. Only when I got in the car did I remember that I needed those olives, because they didn't have any tapenade! Argh!
As luck would have it, there was a really good deal on olives, so I threw some in the cart. However, when I got to the checkout, they rang up a different price than the shelf advertised. The cashier couldn't find the price in that week's ad after spending an excruciating amount of time looking for it. He couldn't be bothered to ask anyone about it, so I told him to forget it. Only then, did he suggest that he page someone to go to the olive aisle and check it out, but it had taken so long up to this point (several shoppers had already switched lines), and I was so mad, that I refused. Only when I got in the car did I remember that I needed those olives, because they didn't have any tapenade! Argh!
Wednesday, I searched my cupboards for options. The cupboards were devoid of olives, but there were calamatas and green olives in the fridge. I also found an almost empty jar of "Bistro Olives" (whatever that means). That was going to have to do, since I refused to go back to Cub (or anywhere else for that matter).
I turned out the tapenade was so easy, I don't know if I will ever buy the commercial stuff again. I just threw everything in my Vita Mix and let it go. That may not have been the best tool for this - all texture was lost in the blink of an eye, but the flavor was definitely there. It was more like a pâté than a tapenade, and it looked like it, too. All of my beautiful olives had turned into a brown pile of goo.
Adapted from The Everything Pizza Cookbook by Belinda Hulin
3/4 teaspoon yeast
3½ ounces warm water
2½ tablespoon olive oil, divided
½ teaspoon sugar
1½ cups bread flour
½ teaspoon salt
8 ounces mixed olives
1 (heaping) teaspoon anchovy paste
2 large cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon pesto
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 ounces shredded Gruyére cheese
3 ounces shredded Emmentaler cheese
Combine the yeast, water, and sugar in a bowl and set aside for at least five minutes. Stir the salt and flour together in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast mixture and half of a tablespoon of olive oil and stir on a low speed until the mixture forms a ball around the hook. Continue mixing a little longer until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Let rest for an hour in a greased bowl in a warm, dry place.
Combine 2 tablespoons of olive oil, olives, anchovy paste, garlic, pesto, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor. Process until well-blended (the length of processing depends on how chunky you want your tapenade - I put it in my Vita Mix and, in less than a minute, it was puréed, but I think I would have preferred it a little grainier...).
Preheat oven to 450º F with a pizza stone inside, if using. Roll or stretch dough out on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or board to a 13 inch circle. Spread the olive mixture over the dough. Sprinkle with the cheeses. Bake for 12 minutes or until crust is brown and the cheese has melted.
Combine 2 tablespoons of olive oil, olives, anchovy paste, garlic, pesto, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor. Process until well-blended (the length of processing depends on how chunky you want your tapenade - I put it in my Vita Mix and, in less than a minute, it was puréed, but I think I would have preferred it a little grainier...).
Preheat oven to 450º F with a pizza stone inside, if using. Roll or stretch dough out on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or board to a 13 inch circle. Spread the olive mixture over the dough. Sprinkle with the cheeses. Bake for 12 minutes or until crust is brown and the cheese has melted.
With that taken care of, I scaled down the recipe for the crust. The original recipe made four crusts, and I only wanted one. I could have made all four and put the additional three in the freezer, but not everyone is a food hoarder like we are. I wanted to see if it could be done, and apparently, it can. It was a little dicey trying to get the measurements exactly right, but it seemed to work. When I was done, I had my teeny little ball of dough - just the one.
This tiny orb made the dough for the Pepper, Leek, and Blue Cheese Pizza look enormous.
It's a little hard to tell from this picture, but my fingers are extended just like with the small ball. The dough itself covered up all my digits!
I wanted to get the frying of the leeks out of the way before Thursday, because it is usually a messy, time-consuming task. At least it is for me. Oil dribbles across the stove as I pull the food out of the pan. Oil dribbles on my shirt as I put some of the food in my mouth. Crumby fried bits fall to the floor as I sneak another sample. And on it goes.
Adapted from James McNair's Vegetarian Pizza
1½ teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
3¼ cups bread flour
6½ tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon salt
8 ounces blue cheese crumbles
3 ounces drained roasted red peppers, cut into strips
10 ounces julienned leeks, divided
Coarsely ground sea salt
Coarsely ground pepper
Vegetable oil for frying
Combine the yeast, water, and sugar in a bowl and set aside for at least five minutes. Stir the salt and flour together in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast mixture and four tablespoons of olive oil and stir on a low speed until the mixture forms a ball around the hook. Continue mixing a little longer until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Let rest for an hour in a greased bowl in a warm, dry place.
Preheat oven to 450º F with a pizza stone inside, if using. Roll or stretch dough out on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or board to a 15 or 16 inch circle. Brush dough with 1½ tablespoons of olive oil. Distribute blue cheese over the olive oil. Evenly distribute the roasted red peppers over the cheese. Sprinkle 3½ ounces of leeks over the red peppers. Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil over the entire pizza. Bake for about 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown around the edges.
Meanwhile, in a medium sized skillet, pour vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Heat over medium-high heat. Add remaining leeks and fry until golden, stirring often. Remove leeks from pan onto a paper towel lined plate. Sprinkle over baked pizza.
Washing the leeks themselves is sort of a task in and of itself, too. They aren't happy with just a quick rinse under the faucet. They have to be sliced lengthwise and de-layered to get all the grit that gets stuck in between. Leeks grow their layers on the outside - meaning that the new layers grow over the old layers, trapping sand and dirt in between them. Apparently, onions do not have the same process - their layers grow inside the outer paper layer, keeping a clean interior.
Leeks are funny vegetables. They mascarade as green onions, but on a large scale. It looks like something Paul Bunyan would grow. They are related to elephant garlic but have a taste closer to an onion (though not as strong).
It took about two medium sized leeks to get the three cups of julienne (about 10 ounces). I guess they weren't julienned so much as shredded. It seemed like an awful lot of leeks for one little pizza. I had visions of the pie being buried alive under the weight of them.
When I started frying the two-thirds of them, they shrunk up right away. I actually just put one in the pan to test the oil, and it curled up and straightened back out like it had a life of its own. Unfortunately, though, I didn't get that on film.
Of course I had to sample them once they were cool enough to handle. My first impression was that it wasn't very flavorful, but by the fifth or sixth sample, I found them to be quite delicious and addicting.
My last task of Wednesday was to shred the cheeses. While I was rooting around in my refrigerator for the Emmentaler and the Gruyére, I noticed the the Gorgonzola that I had purchased for the leek pizza wasn't Gorgonzola after all. It was just a regular blue cheese. It was probably a subconscious decision on my part, because "blue cheese" seems to be cheaper than the blue cheese labeled Gorgonzola. I wondered what the difference was. Apparently, the Italians take it very seriously and have even formed a Consortium for the Protection of Gorgonzola Cheese. According to them, it can only be called Gorgonzola if it is from some select northern regions of Italy around the township of Gorgonzola,and there is a special seal they put on the cheese that indicates that it is authentic. Although, I have noted that the Gorgonzola at Cub is made in Wisconsin, and it has no seal, so maybe my plain old blue cheese would have been the same as the "Gorgonzola" I left behind in the case.
Because of all my preparations on Wednesday, I had both pizzas fully assembled long before my guests started arriving. It gave me a chance to gather the drink ingredients together and have a batch ready for the first person to walk in the door. Originally, I was going to make "Between the Sheets," but I was missing triple sec (an orange liqueur). Jeff said he was going to bring some home, but he worked late and didn't come home with the goods until after everyone had arrived. I couldn't let my people go thirsty, so I used the closest thing I had to an orange flavor: peach schnapps.
1 measure light rum
1 measure cognac
1/2 measure peach schnapps
1/2 measure peach schnapps
3/4 measure lemon juice
1/2 measure agave nectar
Combine all ingredients in a shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a thin slice of lemon.
It was delightful! It was slightly sweet, very fruity, with that deep robust cognac flavor lurking beneath its fluffy exterior. It instantly warmed the belly and brought a smile to our lips. Or maybe that was my new apron Jennifer and Roger bought me on their recent trip to Italy...
Paul and Leslie arrived with the gorgeous little girls, and we all watched in adoration as Allegra delighted herself with a fake mouse she found on our floor. She seemed to like it so much, I wanted to send it home with her. Pele wouldn't miss it.
They brought with them, two fully assembled pizzas that were ready to bake. One was what Paul calls the "Lowden Special," which sounds weird, but it is fabulous. The "sauce" is peanut butter, and the toppings are bacon and jalapeno peppers with mozzarella. It is fantastic - warm and gooey with a little heat and a nice salty crunch. The second pizza they brought was a pepperoni, olive, and bacon. There seemed to have been a theme.
The pizzas were done in a matter of minutes, and we pulled them out of the ovens and brought them to the table. I actually remembered to top the leek pizza with the fried leeks once it came out of the oven. I usually get so excited about eating the pizzas that all post-oven directions are lost.
They were all beautiful (except maybe the tapenade pizza). The tapenade was good. It had great olive flavor, however, I felt that the tapenade was too strong for the cheese. I could no longer detect the subtle nuttiness of the Gruyére nor the sharp tang of the Emmentaler. It could have been regular old mozzarella for as much flavor as I was getting from it. I wonder if cutting back on the tapenade or increasing the amount of cheese might improve it? I may have to put this on the docket to try again with some adjustments.
The Pepper, Leek, and Blue Cheese Pizza was fantastic. I don't think Jeff cared for the fried leeks on top. He claimed that they didn't add anything to it, but I think he really objected to the texture more than anything. He has an aversion to crunchy toppings. Although "crunchy" may not be the right word for the leeks. They were fragile, almost pastry like. I thought it gave the pizza a toasty depth. The cheese was rich, and the red peppers made a nice, sweet, juicy counterbalance to the richness.
As always, the pizzas Paul and Leslie brought us were delicious. The Lowden Special never disappoints, and one can never go wrong with bacon, pepperoni, and olives.
Return to the top of the page.
Return to the Tapenade Pizza recipe.
Return to the Pepper, Leek, and Blue Cheese Pizza Recipe.
Return to the drink recipe.
No comments:
Post a Comment