Cinco de Mayo Cornbread Pizza with a Caribbean Cruise

 
     Okay, we were in the throws of winter.  My outdoor thermometer seemed to be stuck somewhere between -10º Fahrenheit and "get the f*** out of here".  Last week, I was getting sunburned on a beach in Cabo San Lucas, tipping Amando to rearrange my lounging chairs and umbrella.  I wanted to bring that feeling back, and the closest I could come was a Mexican-ish pizza recipe and a fruity cocktail.  I had to take what I could get.
     There was no one to join me this week.  My husband was out of town, Pam was in Mexico (that lucky lady) with my parents (also very lucky), Jennifer was away on business, Roger and the kids had kid-stuff to attend to, and my friends were incomunicado (that's Spanish, by the way, for incommunicado).
     I had told my co-worker that I was probably going to skip the drink of the week, because it was just going to be me, and it really wasn't worth the trouble of making pineapple juice and mixing a bunch of ingredients just for me.  However, when I got home, I thought - why aren't I worth the trouble?  I really wanted the whole experience of pizza night, and who deserved it more than me?  If we can't pamper ourselves, pampering others just isn't any fun any more.
     I wasn't about to go whole cerdo or anything and make two pizzas just for me.  I kept it to the one, and I actually cut that recipe in half.  I didn't want to have to eat pizza for every meal afterward for the next few days.  The beauty of it was that I didn't have to prepare for it.  I had all of the ingredients on hand, and it was going to be done when it was going to be done.  I didn't have to worry about anyone having hunger pains or snacking away the time while waiting for the finished product.

Cinco de Mayo Cornbread Pizza

Adapted from The Everything Pizza Cookbook by Belinda Hulin

1½ cups cornmeal

½ cup bread flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 jumbo egg

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 whole pickled jalapeño, minced

½ cup picante sauce (such as Pace medium)
10 ounces ground beef
1 teaspoon taco seasoning
½ teaspoon granulated garlic
½ teaspoon ground cumin
Salt to taste

6 ounces Mexican style cheese blend

1 avocado

Preheat oven to 400º F.  In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the cornmeal, flour, a teaspoon of salt, baking powder, and baking soda.  Stir on low to combine.  In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, egg, and butter.  Add this to the cornmeal mixture and whisk until smooth.  Stir in the minced jalapeño.  Spray a 9x9 pan with cooking spray to coat.  Pour in the cornmeal batter.  Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes or until cornbread is just starting to firm up.  Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, brown the ground beef with the taco seasoning, garlic, cumin, and salt to taste.  Remove the cornbread from oven and spread picante sauce over it.  Drain the ground beef (you may want to add more salt or other seasonings after draining, as you may lose some in the process).   Sprinkle the beef over the picante sauce.  Top with the cheese.  Bake for another 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and browned.  Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes.  Cut into squares and serve topped with sliced avocado.

     It would have been nice if I had prepared a little bit - like if I had taken the 3 pound package of hamburger out of the freezer to thaw.  Instead, I tried to hack off 3/4 of a pound from the solid mass with a boning knife, with the idea that I only needed to thaw a little bit.  I was less than successful.  I did have to snip the metal closures off of either end and thaw it in the microwave for five minutes or so to even get my knife into the meat.  It was a small sacrifice to make.  I can say that now that I know I didn't lose any fingers over it.

     The original recipe called for already browned and seasoned beef.  I don't know if one can buy such a thing, but I had beef and I had seasonings, so I wasn't willing to find out.  I used a taco seasoning I had purchased at Sam's club recently, but I haven't been crazy about its flavor (or lack thereof), so I added more garlic (of course I did) and more cumin, hoping to liven it up a bit.  In hind sight, I should have added some ground hot pepper to it, too.  It browned up in less time than it took my cornbread base to cook.  I drained it and let it cool a bit while I mixed the cornmeal batter.
     I didn't have any canned chiles on hand to put in the cornmeal crust.  I ended up using some pickled jalapeños Pam had canned herself.  I was hoping for something a little spicier - I have found that most pickled jalapeños don't have the same kick as fresh or canned.

     I cheated a little and didn't make the home-made picante sauce the recipe had called for.  I had a big jug of Pace Chunky salsa in the refrigerator, and it seemed superfluous to make more (especially when it is just for me - where do I get these ideas??).  The half a cup barely wet the surface of the cornbread.

     The hamburger made a nice appearance over the salsa, and I had high hopes for this pizza.  Mounds of cheese covered the meat, and my "pie" was ready for the oven.  It took a little bit longer than ten minutes to get the cheese to brown up in places the way I like it.  By the time that happened, the entire mound of ingredients were pulsing with heat.

     A short rest for the pizza, and I was ready to dig in.  The original recipe suggested that it be topped with black olives and sour cream.  While I am an avid fan of sour cream and often dream up different ways to use it or even just dip a spoon in and eat it, I had an avocado that needed to be eaten (they were on sale at Cub this week) right away, and I didn't want to take away from the rich silkiness of a perfectly ripe avocado by smothering it with sour cream.  The olives - well, I am decidedly not an avid fan of them.  I am growing to like them a lot, but not enough to open an entire can for myself.

    It really was a pretty pizza.  It wasn't the great Mexican masterpiece that I had hoped it would be.  I thought that there was a little too much cornbread in comparison to the toppings.  I may revisit this recipe at a later date and use the same amount of cornbread batter, but spread it into a 9x13 pan and double the topping ingredients.  Or, I might add more jalapeños (or replace them with fresh jalapeños) to the batter and some cheese!  I would definitely sprinkle a little cilantro over the top of it when it came out of the oven - for color and a little extra something.

,Caribbean Cruise

1½ measures light rum

1½ measures coconut rum

4 measures pineapple juice

1 spoon grenadine

Shake all ingredients in an ice-filled shaker.  Strain into an ice-filled glass.  Serve with an umbrella straw and garnish with a wedge of pineapple on the rim.

     The drink, on the other hand, was absolutely perfecto!  It was slightly sweet with the coconut undertone and the lovely fruitiness from the pineapple.  It brought me straight back to Cabo and reminded me of the piña coladas we had on the beach.  I turned the heat up to 80º F, made myself two of these little brebajes, closed my eyes, and envisioned the beach.

     

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Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Pizza with Avocado Salsa; Casino Martini

     Jeff and I had a very special pizza night.  We got Gracie all to ourselves.  Pam was out of town, Jen was out of town, and Roger had taken Jonah to the Civil Air Patrol.  Roger dropped Grace off on the way, and he had given her a frozen pizza, in case she didn't like what I was making.

     For most of the evening, it was just Gracie and I.  Jeff was working until after six, and he made a stop at the grocery store to hunt for bargains on the way home, and I think he had lost track of time.  I thought Grace would be bored with Jeff and me, but I was relieved to see she brought her homework.  I cleared off the table, so could have space to work.

     She informed me that her homework was super easy, and she could do it in ten minutes before she caught the bus in the morning.  She said she would rather help me.  Hmm, homework avoidance or a genuine desire to hang with her old auntie?  I chose to believe it was the latter of the two options.

Roasted Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Pizza with Avocado Salsa

Adapted from James McNair's Vegetarian Pizza

Crust:

1 cup warm water

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

2¼ cups bread flour

1 cup cornmeal

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup olive oil

Salsa:

1 cup corn kernels

½ cup finely chopped red pepper

½ cup finely chopped red tomato

2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint

1 tablespoon minced jalapeño (seeds removed for a mild salsa, leave the seeds in for hot salsa)

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

1 cup finely diced ripe avocado (cut and add just before serving)

Pizza:

1 recipe cornmeal crust dough (see above)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons minced garlic

10 ounces soft goat cheese flavored with herbs and sun-dried tomatoes
3 ounces roasted red peppers

8 ounces shredded mozzarella
Salt
Pepper

Make the crust dough: Combine the yeast, water, and sugar in a bowl and set aside for at least five minutes.  Stir the flour, cornmeal, and salt together in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Add the yeast mixture and the 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.

Make the salsa:  Stir together all the ingredients except the avocado.  Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.  Return to room temperature and stir in the avocado just before serving.

Assemble the pizza:  Preheat the oven to 500º F with a pizza stone inside, if using.  On a corn-meal dusted pizza peel or board, roll or stretch the dough to a 16-inch circle.  Brush the dough circle all over with a tablespoon of olive oil.  Sprinkle the minced garlic over the olive oil.  Crumble the goat cheese up and distribute all over the pizza.  Cut the roasted red pepper into strips and arrange the strips over the goat cheese.  Sprinkle the mozzarella over the peppers.  Salt lightly.  Add a few grindings of black pepper over the mozzarella.  Slide the assembled pizza onto the hot stone in the oven (or place assembled pizza onto a well-oiled pizza pan and slide pan into oven).  Bake for 5-10 minutes or until the crust is crisp, and the cheese is starting to brown.  Remove from oven.  Allow to cool for few minutes.  Scatter the salsa over the pizza, slice, and serve.

     I put her to work right away.  I had made the dough for the pizza the night before, but I had forgotten to take it out of the freezer that morning.  Thawing the dough would require several hours, so we had to start with new dough.  I had measured out the flour, cornmeal, and salt into my mixing bowl before she arrived.  She was very curious about the whole process, so I explained each step.  I had her turn on the mixer and stir the flour, cornmeal, and salt together, explaining that we wanted to make sure that the salt and cornmeal was evenly distributed throughout the flour to keep it from all being in one spot on the dough.

     I filled my Pyrex measuring cup with warm water and added sugar.  She asked why I put the sugar and the yeast in the water first.  I told her that the yeast is a living organism.  The warm water sort of wakes it up.  The sugar is what the yeast likes to eat.  So, the yeast eats the sugar and farts, making bubbles that form a foam on the top of the water.  These bubbles are what makes the dough rise.  I had her smell the yeast-sugar-water concoction, and her eyes lit up.  "It smells like bread!" she said.  I smiled.  Grace shared my love of bread, and I had hoped she would get excited about the process, too.

     After she mixed the yeast mixture and the olive oil into the flour mixture, I had her roll out the dough.  I sprinkled the pizza peel with cornmeal, telling her that the reason we do this is so that the dough doesn't stick to the board.  We want it to slide off evenly and easily so none of the toppings get jostled or out of place while we transfer it to the oven.  She has been a witness to many a transfer disaster, and she nodded her head gravely.  "That's what gives it 'slip factor!'" she said, quoting one of the phrases my sisters and I use frequently when discussing whether the completed pizza is going to go easily into the oven.

     While she rolled out the dough, I opened the goat cheese logs and crumbled them up into a bowl.  When I was at Cub, they only had one little log of plain goat cheese.  It was only four ounces, and I was looking for ten.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some over-packaged goat cheese that looked like it had been rolled in sun-dried tomatoes.  Lo and behold, it was also on sale, AND there was a coupon!  I decided a little extra flavor wouldn't hurt.  I bought two five ounce packages for only a little more than the price of the four ounce log.  Even if I decided to scrape off the tomatoes, I think I was still money and one extra grocery trip ahead.

     She did a great job of rolling out the dough.  It was thin and even, and it was really, really circular.  I should have been watching her technique to pick up some pointers on roundness.  I handed her a bowl of olive oil and a brush and told her to brush the olive oil all over the crust.  She asked what that did for the pizza.  I honestly wasn't sure.  "I think it makes the crust a little crispier," I conjectured.  EHow told me it is to give the pizza a nice "sheen" and act as a sauce.  OK.  For this recipe, there was garlic over the olive oil, so I could see where they were going with it, but I wouldn't exactly call that a sauce.  However, it was on the Internet, so it must be true.  Also, I am not sure that we need to have a "sheen" under the cheeses, but that is what the recipe called for.

     When I handed Grace the bowl of cheese to distribute over the pizza, she asked what she should use to get it out of the bowl and onto the crust.  "Your hands!" I exclaimed.  It's no fun to cook unless you can get gooey!  

    I cut the roasted peppers into strips while she sprinkled the clods of goat cheese over the crust.  Once that was accomplished, I handed her the bowl of peppers.  While she did that, I ran downstairs to the freezer for the mozzarella.

     BY the time I came back up, she had the peppers arranged beautifully and was ready for the mozzarella.  She laughingly objected a little bit to the coldness of the cheese against her hands, but proceeded to distribute it all out over the pizza without complaint.  She did have to spend a little time under the faucet, trying to get her hands to warm back up afterwards.

    I took this opportunity to start making my drink.  When I thought it was going to be more than just me drinking the drink of the week, I had chosen one called a Caribbean Cruise.  When I had gotten home from work Thursday, I decided I didn't want to make an entire pitcher of pineapple juice for just me, and I really didn't feel like futzing with trying to make just enough for the drink.  I wanted to pour, shake, and drink.  No extra steps, nothing in-between.  I chose a new drink called Casino - mostly because I had all of the ingredients in my kitchen, and there were no extra preparations for them.

CASINO

2½ measures gin

½ measure maraschino liqueur

½ measure lemon juice

3 dashes orange bitters

Pour the ingredients into a shaker filled with ice.  Shake vigorously.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with a cherry.

     I know I must say this about a large number of the drinks we make on Thursdays, but I really liked this.  The gin gave it a subtle zing on the finish, the cherry liqueur sweetened it up, the lemon counterbalanced the cherry, and the bitters gave it that nice, bracing edge.

     I had made the salsa (up to adding the avocado) the day before and quickly added the avocado while our pizzas were baking.  I chose not to put the salsa over the pizza (which would have made a great picture...), because I wanted Grace to try the pizza, and I wasn't sure that she would like the salsa.  Grace and I had just placed the pizzas, salsa, plates, napkins, and silverware on the table when Jeff arrived with his hard-sought bargains of the evening.

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     The pizza was fantastic.  I don't think it would have been nearly as good without the sun-dried tomatoes and herbs in the goat cheese.  Although, once the salsa was sprinkled over the top, it was elevated to a whole new level.  There was crunch, and spice, and citrus, and the rich, luscious, creaminess of a ripe avocado.  The corn added sweetness and pop.  It was a fabulous combination.  Grace tried the pizza itself without the salsa.  I couldn't changer her mind about that, which is too bad for her, because I really think she would have enjoyed it.  Well, she would have another opportunity, because I sent all of the leftovers home with her parents when they came over to pick her up.  I hope she gives it a shot.

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BBQ Brisket Pizza; Pesto Pizza; Canteen

     The brisket pizza was the third installation of the Fourth of July pizzas in Belinda Hulin's The Everything Pizza Cookbook.  I had learned my lesson, with a previous brisket pizza recipe, that you cannot rush the brisket.  I had thought about "cheating" and buying precooked brisket, but I really wanted to try to make it the right way.  I started with a recipe from Food Network for Texas Oven-Roasted Beef Brisket Tuesday night.  I thought if I got it done a couple of days early and found that it wasn't any good, I would still have time to go out and buy the already-cooked version at Cub.
     I started with a little less than a two-pound roast.  This posed a little bit of a problem, since the recipe called for a four pound roast.  I cut the seasonings in the rub in half, but I really wanted a moist and flavorful beef at the end of it all, so I kept the same amount of beef broth.  I figured the additional liquid might facilitate a juicier end result.  The Food Network recipe had the roast in the oven at 350º F for an hour, then covered at 300º F for three more hours.  I had two problems with this.  First, my roast was less than half of Paula Deen's, and second, if I have learned anything over the years, it's that a low, low roasting temperature is the best thing for a tough cut of meat.  I had read in a Cook's Illustrated magazine that there are enzymes in the meat that tenderize it, but only at a temperature between 110º and 120º.  The article went on to say that the longer you can keep the meat between those temperatures, the more tender it would be.  I thought my little two-pounder was going to shoot past that sweet spot in no time at all in a 300º oven, especially after an hour stint at 350º.
     I opted to cut the initial time at 350º to a half hour.  I believe that the idea is to quickly cook the extreme outside of the meat to create a seal for the juices.  I really think it should be a higher temperature, but I had some confidence that Paula knew what she was talking about and 350º might just do the trick.  Then, I also decided to lower the second temperature to 250º.  Jeff has had great success cooking prime rib at a really low temperature (200º or less), but I didn't want to have to stay up until midnight waiting for the roast to cook, either.  I did figure, though, that at this lower temperature, I was probably still going to need to keep the meat in the oven for the full three hours to get it done.
     After the three hours, I let it cool completely, then dared to try and "pull" it or shred it with a fork.  To my disappointment, it wasn't falling apart.  Jeff sliced some off and made a sandwich out of it.  He said it had great flavor, but agreed that it was still a little tough.
     I put it back in the oven Wednesday night at 225º for another hour.  That seemed to do the trick.  It wasn't quite as juicy as I had hoped, but it was very tender and flavorful.  Was it too much broth?  Was it the cooling and recooking?  Was the first cooking temperature just too high?  I will have to try a brisket for the sake of brisket another time, but that will have to be an entirely different blog entry.  Tender and slightly dry I can live with when I am placing it on top of a bed of barbecue sauce and smothering it with cheese.

BBQ Brisket Pizza

Adapted from The Everything Pizza Cookbook by Belinda Hulin

Crust:

1/2 cup water

1-1/4 teaspoons yeast

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1-1/4 cup bread flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 ounces minced onion

2 ounces minced green pepper

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 ounce lemon juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

3 tablespoon brown sugar

1 ounce bacon

3/4 cup ketchup

dash Tabasco sauce

Pizza:

Crust (see above)

Sauce (see above)

10 ounces shredded beef brisket

2 ounces Provolone cheese
2 ounces sharp cheddar cheese
4 ounces mozzarella cheese


Make the crust:  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 the 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.

Make the sauce:  In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine oil, onion, green pepper, and garlic.  Sauté for a few minutes until the vegetables start to soften.  Put vegetables and remaining ingredients into a blender and purée until smooth or use an immersion blender inside the saucepan and blend until smooth.  Pour sauce back into the saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for about twenty minutes or until thickened.

Assemble the pizza:  Preheat the oven to 450º F with a pizza stone inside, if using.  Roll or stretch the dough out into a 15 inch circle on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or board.  Spread the barbecue sauce from the center of the circle almost to the edges.  Arrange the shredded brisket over the sauce.  Sprinkle the cheeses over the brisket.  Slide the pizza onto the preheated pizza stone or onto a pizza pan and into the oven.  Bake for about 15 minutes or until the crust is lightly browned and the cheese is melted.

     While my brisket was re-cooking, I started in on my barbecue sauce.  Last time I had made this sauce, I poured everything into my Vita Mix after sautéing, but I was looking at all of the dishes I had already created making the rub for the brisket, cooking it twice, cutting vegetables for the sauce, etc., etc., and I really didn't want to have one extra thing to clean.  I broke out my immersion blender I had gotten as a birthday present a while back.  It did a lovely job inside my little sauce pan.

     I am not sure that it actually saved me any washing time, because now I had to wash the immersion blender rather than the Vita Mix, but I can put those parts into the dishwasher with everything else.  Also, I wasn't wandering around my kitchen with a hot pan and then back around to the stove with a hot Vita Mix bowl.  As long as I kept the immersion blender immersed, it seemed like it was less mess, less chance for spilling.  Or at least that it what I am going to tell myself to make me feel better about neglecting the Vita Mix.

      I had also made both the dough for the brisket pizza and the dough for the Pesto pizza while I waited for the brisket to tender up.  Once the doughs were combined, I threw them in the freezer for a nap.  Thursday morning I pulled them out again and left them on the counter to thaw and rise while I was at work (haven't been able to say that for a while....).

     Thursday after work, I was ready for assembly.  I rolled out the dough for the brisket pizza and slathered on the sauce.  It looked like the perfect amount of sauce - not so much that you wouldn't be able to detect the myriad of spices I patted the brisket with, but enough to cover the fact that the brisket had lost a little juice in its journey.

     I was too impatient to actually shred the brisket, so I ended up slicing it. I tore some apart with my fingers, just to prove that it was "shredable".

     Next came the massive amounts of cheese.  The original recipe would have had me put the cheese under the brisket, but as I mentioned before I wanted the beef to come in contact with the sauce to give the illusion of juicy meat.  Also, I like having cheese over toppings to secure them to the dough.  Well, with this amount of cheese, the beef was definitely going to be secured!

      With the brisket pizza ready to go, I was ready to work on the pesto.

Pesto Pizza

Adapted from All the Best Pizzas by Joie Warner

Crust:

3/4 cup warm water

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1-3/4 cups bread flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Pesto:

1/2 cup fresh basil (tightly packed)

1 large garlic clove

1 tablespoon pine nuts

1 ounce Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons olive oil

Pizza:

Crust (see above)

Pesto (see above)

1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts

1 ounce Parmesan cheese

Make the crust:  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 the 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.

Make the pesto:  Place the basil, garlic, pine nuts, and Parmesan cheese in the bowl of a food processor or blender.  With the blender running, pour in the 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a thin stream.  Continue processing until well blended.

Assemble the pizza:  Preheat the oven to 450º F with a pizza stone inside, if using.  On a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or board, roll or stretch the dough out into a 14 inch circle.  Spread the pesto over the dough, leaving a small border around the edge.  Sprinkle the toasted pine nuts over the pesto.  Distribute the Parmesan cheese over the pine nuts.  Bake for 5 to ten minutes or until crust starts to brown.

     As it turned out, I ended up using my Vita Mix anyway to make the pesto.  Well, at least I didn't have to clean the barbecue sauce out of it before I whirred up the basil.  My pesto was done in a flash, as is the case with everything I put in that lovely machine.
     The girls arrived just as I was spreading the pesto over the dough.  The "rustic" looking dough that I could not make into a circle to save my life.  It just added a look of authenticity to it, I think.  I sprinkled my toasted pine nuts over the sauce, and I was just about ready.

     I put the Parmesan cheese over the pine nuts and slid the ensemble into the oven, not realizing that the directions instructed me to put the Parmesan on after it was done baking.

     It was time to make the drinks.

Canteen Martini

1½ measures light rum

1½ measures Southern Comfort

½ measure Amaretto

½ measure freshly squeezed lime juice

Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice.  Shake vigorously and pour into a chilled martini glass.  Garnish with a cherry.

     This had good potential, and I was glad for a recipe that used up the Southern Comfort that has been hibernating in my basement for probably more than 15 years.  This was a sweet drink - a little too sweet for me.  Pam thought it perfect.  For my second round, I cut back a little on both the Southern Comfort and the Amaretto and increased the rum, and that was almost perfect.  It still left a slight sticky feeling on my tongue after I swallowed.  It didn't matter.  Mission accomplished - the SoCo was gone!

     The pesto pizza didn't look a whole lot different fresh out of the oven than it did going into it - the crust was brown and everything was a little glisteny, but it was still basically the same.

     It was light and crispy, slightly salty, and very garlicky.  It was a great little appetizer, and everyone seemed to gobble it down.  It definitely didn't fall into the outstanding category, but it was really good and really flavorful.  If there had been any leftovers, it would have made a great lunch - even cold.

     The brisket pizza was very good.  It was messy and bold and extremely cheesy.  Every mouthful was a pile of gooey goodness.  It was spicy and tangy.  It was sweet and earthy.  It was a nice array of flavors working in harmony.  Had it actually been made from leftover brisket, it would have been an easy pizza to make, too.

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Barbecued Chicken Pizza; Corn & Tomato Pizza; Caiprissima

     The barbecued chicken pizza was the second installment of a triple play in The Everything Pizza Cookbook by Belinda Hulin that was titled "Fourth of July Three-Pizza-Party."  I made them separately, because I really didn't think we needed three pizzas at one time, and certainly not three pizzas with the same sauce and cheese.  How boring would that be?  Now, I might have changed my mind had it really been summer, and I really had three different barbecued meats left over in my refrigerator.  That being said, it is far from the fourth of July, and I had no leftover barbecued meats in my refrigerator.  So, I faked it.
     The chicken started out as frozen boneless skinless thighs I had in my freezer.  I love these pieces of the chicken.  They have the extra flavor and juiciness of the dark meat, but the bones and icky parts have been removed for me.  They are especially resistant to drying out, so overcooking is rarely a danger.

Barbecued Chicken Pizza

Adapted from The Everything Pizza Cookbook by Belinda Hulin

Crust:

½ cup warm water

1¼ teaspoons active dry yeast

¼ teaspoon granulated sugar

1¼ cup bread flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1½ teaspoons olive oil

Sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 ounces minced onion

2 ounces minced green pepper

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 ounce lemon juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 ounce cooked bacon

3/4 cup ketchup

3 tablespoons water

dash of Tabasco

Pizza:

crust (see above)

sauce (see above)

2 ounces shredded provolone cheese

2 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese

4 ounces mozzarella

7.5 ounces grilled or broiled chicken thighs

Make the crust:  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 the 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.

Make the sauce:  In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine oil, onion, green pepper, and garlic.  Sauté for a few minutes until the vegetables start to soften.  Put vegetables and remaining ingredients into a blender and purée until smooth.  Pour sauce back into the saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for about twenty minutes or until thickened.

Assemble the pizza:  Preheat the oven to 450º F with a pizza stone inside, if using.  Roll or stretch the dough out into a 15 inch circle on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or board.  Spread the barbecue sauce from the center of the circle almost to the edges.  Sprinkle the cheeses over the sauce.  Arrange the chicken over the cheese.  Slide onto the preheated pizza stone or onto a pizza pan and into the oven.  Bake for about 15 minutes or until the crust is lightly browned and the cheese is melted.

     I actually broiled the chicken.  Wednesday was too cold and snowy to go outside and grill.  Granted, it wouldn't have been too cold or snowy to send Jeff out to grill, but he wasn't around, and I wanted to get going on it.  I cooked the entire package of chicken, even though I only needed about two-thirds of it, so Jeff and I could have some for dinner Wednesday night.  I sprinkled both sides of the thighs with a chipolte pepper rub blend I had from Pampered Chef.  I added a little bit of garlic granules and threw them on a piece of tin foil with the edges folded up to keep any juices from spilling into the bottom of my oven.  I broiled them for a little over four minutes per side, and they were beautiful.  I used the larger pieces for the pizza, just in case they didn't get cooked all the way - they would be cooked again on top of the pizza.

               

   

     I left the rest of the preparations for Thursday, because I just had one job interview in the morning, and the rest of my day was pretty much clear.  I would have plenty of time to get everything ready before people started arriving.  Or, so I thought.
     During my interview, I received a voice mail from a company I had previously interviewed with, asking me to come in for a second interview.  I called them when I got home and got their voice mail - I left them a message, requesting that the interview be sometime today.
     While I was waiting for the call back, I made the dough and started in on the sauce.  When the sauce was starting to thicken, I got the call that they wanted to see me in thirty minutes.  I quickly changed my clothes and flew out the door (I turned the sauce off before leaving).
     Once I got home, I was ready to start in again on my pizzas.  I rolled out the dough.  My sauce was now cool enough to handle, so I spread it over my newly rolled-out dough.

     The cheeses and chicken went on next, and it was ready for the oven.

    With that done, I was ready to work on the Corn & Tomato pizza.

Corn & Tomato Pizza

Adapted from James McNair's Vegetarian Pizza

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon yeast

3/4 teaspoon sugar

1-1/8 cup flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil (divided)

2 cups tomatoes, freshly diced

2 cups fresh, drained canned, or thawed frozen corn kernels

1/4 (packed) cup fresh basil

salt and pepper to taste

6 tablespoons spicy mustard (such as Koop's Arizona Heat)

8 ounces shredded Havarti cheese

5 ounces shredded Parmesan 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 a ½ tablespoon of the 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 pizza stone inside, if using.  Roll dough out into a 15 inch circle on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or board.  In a bowl, stir together the tomatoes, corn, basil, salt, and pepper.  Brush the dough with one tablespoon of olive oil.  Spread the mustard over the olive oil, leaving a small border around the outside edges of the pizza.  Sprinkle the Havarti cheeses over the mustard.  Evenly distribute the tomato-corn mixture over the Havarti.  Top the pizza off with the Parmesan.

     I had sent Jeff on a wild goose chase for the cheese that was originally called for in this pizza.  It was supposed to be teleme (which I had never heard of) or Bel Paese (which sounded familiar but I didn't know what it tasted or looked like).  He couldn't find it at the cheese shop at all.  In fact, he had to explain to them (after calling me, of course) what it was.  When he went to Festival, there was a tag in the cheese case that said "Bel Paese" but the actual cheese was not there.  I had already purchased Havarti at Cub on Monday in case we couldn't find those cheeses, so I was ready to go anyway.

     The dough recipe didn't really make much dough, especially compared to the amount of ingredients in the pizza, and I think if I were to make this again, I might either double the dough or decrease the amount of toppings.  I really had to stretch and pull and strongly roll out the dough to make it to fifteen inches (the original recipe instructs a 10 inch circle, but there is no way all the ingredients would fit on a 10-incher).

     Pam had arrived by the time I was ready to start putting stuff on this dough.  Her eyes bulged when I heaped the six tablespoons of mustard onto the dough.  "That's too much," she said.  I shrugged and explained that it was the amount the recipe called for, and it was really yummy mustard, so I thought we could handle a larger amount than we would a regular mustard.

     Once I had that on, it was time to "shred" the Havarti.  Havarti is a very soft cheese, and I figured that I would end up pushing it through the grater like an extruder rather than actually grating the cheese, so I cut into little pieces that resembled shreds.  It wasn't pretty, but I figured it was on the bottom, and it was all going to melt together anyway.

     I enlisted Pam's help with the vegetable topping.  She diced the tomatoes while I shredded the basil, and she tossed it all together with the corn.  It was colorful and fantastic-looking.  I wanted to eat it right then without the pizza.

     After draining it a little to get rid of the excess tomato juice, we packed it on top of the Havarti.  It was quite thick, and there were no signs of my ugly shreds once we had all the veggies on there.

     The original recipe had all of the cheese underneath the tomato-corn mixture.  We opted to put the Parmesan over the top to aid in cohesion.  And, there was a lot of Parmesan.

     With the pizzas in the oven, it was time to concentrate on our drink of the week.  I was really looking forward to it.  The pizzas were sort of South American-ish, and so was the drink.  It was like a daiquiri without the blending, but don't ask me to pronounce it - especially after drinking a couple of them (which I did).

Caipirissima

3/4 fresh lime cut into wedges

2 measures light rum

3/4 agave syrup

Muddle the lime wedges in the bottom of a rocks glass.  Add the rum and the agave.  Fill the glass with crushed ice. Stir, sip, repeat.

     It was fabulous!  It was refreshing and limey without being too sour.  It was tart and sweet and utterly delicious.  I was excited to be able to use my new suction cup glass markers, too!

     Jennifer brought us a fantastic spinach, candied walnut, cranberry salad to round out our meal.  It was dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette.  It was tangy and crunchy and sweet.  It had a great earthy flavor punctuated with a nice pop of dried cranberry.   The richness of the blue cheese just pushed the ensemble right over the top. This is a great way to eat your vegetables.  I am hoping she comments on this page with the recipe for everyone to share.

     The pizzas came out of the oven, and they were well worth the wait.  The barbecued chicken pizza was sweet and spicy and zippy.  The blend of mozzarella, provolone, and cheddar kept all of the toppings secured to the crust.  The sauce gave it a zip with a slight hint of brown sugar on the finish.

     The corn and tomato pizza was the true star of the show.  Again, the creamy cheese kept everything together.  The corn was sweet, the tomatoes juicy and flavorful.  The basil gave it the right amount of licorice kick.  We couldn't get enough of it.  It wasn't exactly pretty, because I had issues loading it and unloading it from the oven, but it was definitely filling and gave us enough energy to play a few rounds of dice games - or was that the Caipirissima that did that?

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