Olive Pizza Duel with Gingertinis

     I am not a great decision-maker, and I like to try new things.  One manifestation of this is that I make the next recipe in the pizza book - whatever it is.  This gets the decision-making out of the way, and we try things we wouldn't necessarily normally - just because it is the next recipe.  

    At one point in the history of pizza night, I found that if I were making two pizzas in one evening out of the same cookbook, I might frequently end up with two very similar pizzas.  Apparently, cookbook authors like to group similar recipes together.  I guess that makes sense, but I saw two similar pizza recipes from the same cookbook as some kind of parallel universe sibling rivalry.  Who is going to want to eat the plain blue cheese pizza, when there is also a garlic, blue cheese, and walnut pizza on the table?  Once, we ended up with two dessert pizzas (we, of course, ate them anyway and were happy about it).  

     Since I seemed to have a plethora of pizza-themed cookbooks (not to mention several other cookbooks that happen to have pizzas in them also), I decided (yes, a decision!) to have two books at my disposal and make one out of each every week.  At some point in the last year, I decided to throw a third book in the rotation, alternating the two new books every other week.  On a couple of occasions, two of the recipes from the separate books had turned out to be very similar - in which case, I would go on to a different recipe or use the book that wasn't "scheduled" for that week.

     Anyway, using my convoluted recipe scheduling formula, I still ended up this week with two olive tapenade pizzas.  I was marveling about this out loud while Jeff was in the vicinity and muttered something about having to decide which one to make and which recipe was going to be the non-tapenade pizza.  Jeff piped in and said I should make both and see which one we like better.  I shuttered at the thought of one pizza being left out in the cold while its other, more attractive brother was gobbled up and raved over.  However, I acquiesced, since I did not want to pick a new recipe to shuffle in or go off the "schedule" plan.

     After reading further into the recipes, I noticed that there were some obvious differences in them.  One recipe was for "tarts" or mini appetizer-sized pizzas, and the other one was a whole pie.  One was a mixed olive tapenade and the other was all kalamata olives.  The tarts had ricotta and Gorgonzola, where the whole pie had mozzarella.  

    The original recipe for the tarts called for a whole wheat crust, but I was gun-shy about making another attempt at whole wheat crust after the "rave" reviews I had from the last one.  I decided I was going to double the recipe for the crust for the whole pie and use half of the resulting dough for the tarts.  The other advantage to this was a more level playing field.  I didn't want either recipe to be ousted based on the crust.  If they were the same crust, there should be no problem there.

     

OLIVE PIZZA TARTS

Adapted from The Everything Pizza Cookbook by Belinda Hulin

3/4 cup warm water

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1-3/4 cup bread flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

7-1/2 ounces whole-milk ricotta cheese

1 cup mixed olive tapenade

4 ounces Gorgonzola cheese

Combine the water, yeast, and sugar in a small bowl.  Set aside for at least five minutes.  Combine the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Stir together on a low speed until well combined.  Add the yeast mixture and stir at medium speed until the dough comes together, clings to the hook, and looks smooth and elastic.  Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a damp towel or drape loosely with a piece of plastic wrap.  Set the bowl in a warm, dry place for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 500º F.  Divide the dough into eight equal pieces.  On a cornmeal or flour dusted board, roll or stretch each piece out to a four inch circle.  Press each portion into a lightly greased tart pans, spreading the dough evenly up the sides of the pans (alternatively, if you do not have tart pans, pinch the edges of the dough up to form a rim and place on a greased baking sheet).  Divide the ricotta up evenly among the tarts, spreading them across the center of the tart.  Top this with two tablespoons of tapenade for each tart, followed by 1/2 an ounce of Gorgonzola cheese.  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until dough is browned and cheese has started to melt and brown.  Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

     I started out, thinking I was going to cook the tarts directly on a cookie sheet when I remembered that I actually have tart pans.  There was a previous recipe that had called for tart pans, and I didn't have them, so I did the cookie sheet method and had told my sisters about the inadequacy of my kitchen equipment.  Shortly thereafter, they bought me two sets of tart pans (for a total of 12 pans) for my birthday.  Have I mentioned that I love my sisters?

     Even though I couldn't quite get the dough to fit in the pans just right, these were infinitely cuter than the flat disks they were before.  I hoped that their cuteness didn't give them an unfair advantage in the judging phase of the evening.

     Looking at the amounts of ricotta and tapenade, I didn't think that it would fill the tart very well, but it did.  I had to use the back of a spoon to sort of mush the ricotta to cover the bottom of the tart without ripping the dough.  I used the same method to spread the tapenade over the ricotta, so they didn't combine.  I wanted the layered effect.

     Next came the Gorgonzola (which I don't think is actually a true Gorgonzola, since it was made in Wisconsin).  I thought this, too, was a little skimpy, but I was going to trust the measurements.

TAPENADE PIZZA

Adapted from All the Best Pizzas by Joie Warner

3/4 cup warm water

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1-3/4 cup bread flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup Kalamata olives

1 teaspoon anchovy paste

1/4 cup olive  oil

8 ounces mozzarella cheese

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Combine the water, yeast, and sugar in a small bowl.  Set aside for at least five minutes.  Combine the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Stir together on a low speed until well combined.  Add the yeast mixture and stir at medium speed until the dough comes together, clings to the hook, and looks smooth and elastic.  Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a damp towel or drape loosely with a piece of plastic wrap.  Set the bowl in a warm, dry place for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 500º F with a pizza stone inside, if using.  On a cornmeal or flour dusted pizza peel or board, roll or stretch the dough out into a 14 inch circle.  Combine olives, anchovy paste, and olive oil in the bowl of blender.  Puree until mixture becomes a rough paste.  Spread paste over the prepared dough, leaving a small bare border around the outside edge of the pizza.  Cover the tapenade with the mozzarella. Sprinkle the orange zest over the cheese. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until cheese starts to brown.  

     I was anxious to see if the home-made tapenade was better than the purchased tapenade.  Mine was definitely smoother than the store-bought variety, thanks to my VitaMix.

     While the tarts were cute (as I have already mentioned), the large pizza had a certain elegance to it, with the contrasting colors of the mozzerella and the orange zest.  At least before it was cooked.  And, while it was cooking, we got our tinis going...

GINGERTINI

2 measures gin (I used Hendrick's - I love the refreshing cucumber-y finish)

½ measure ginger liqueur (I used Domaine de Canton)

¼ measure dry vermouth

¼ measure sugar syrup

lemon twist

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.  Pour all ingredients (except twist) over ice and shake vigorously.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with the lemon twist.

    These were wondeful!  I thought that they were a little too sweet with the simple syrup AND the Canton, which is sweet in its own right.  Once I cut back (and eventually eliminated) the syrup, I thought it was perfect.  The zing of the ginger came at the first sip, and then I got a wave of refreshing cucumber flavor.  This is definitely a drink that will have to come back.

    Both pizzas were beautiful right out of the oven.  There ended up being no clear decision or ruling on the winner.  The tartlets were convenient - no cutting involved (unless you didn't want a whole one, but that certainly didn't happen).  One complete package - no worries about some of your toppings getting whisked away with errant cheese from someone else's piece.  The creamy, tanginess of the blue cheese went well with the tapenade, making it a rich little bundle.  The whole pizza was delicious, too.  The tapenade was almost indiscernible from the store-bought version.  It, of course, was better just because I made it, but I might be biased on that subject.  The mozzarella and orange zest combo cut the richness a little and kept everything together.  The reduced richness was nice against the smaller ratio of tapenade to bread.
   So, from a scientific standpoint, our experiment failed.  From a social standpoint, we had two great pizzas that had different merits and a lovely evening with our family.

Southern Stewed Okra Pizza and Gin Daisy

     Having lived my entire life in Minnesota and Wisconsin, I was not familiar with okra.  To the best of my knowledge, I had never had it before.  I had heard of it, and all the things I had heard about it were not complimentary.  I heard it was slimy and vegetal - not a ringing endorsement.  Wikipedia called it "mucilaginous," which sounds to me like a fancy way of saying snot-like.  When this recipe came up, I thought about skipping it altogether.  However, I thought of all the good experiences we had by trying new things or trying things we thought we hated.  I decided to give it a shot.
     Jeff said he would do the grocery shopping this week, and when I gave him the list, I got a lip-curl and a "Come on!  Okra, really?" in an incredulous voice.  He knew about okra.  He was one of the people that told me how slimy and gross it was.  He is from Nebraska, and apparently, his family had cooked it often.  Who knew? - I thought it was strictly a Southern thing.  None-the-less, he still returned home from  the grocery store with some fresh okra.  He did not come home with two pounds worth, which is what the original recipe called for, and I was secretly glad - I wanted to try it, but I didn't want to overdo it.
     On Wednesday, I made my spicy crust, which I was really excited about.  It had been a while since we had anything but a white or wheat crust, that I was looking forward to a change, and I love anything with a good zippiness to it, and this sounded like it was going to have a nice heat.  The large amount of paprika and cayenne in the dough, gave it a slightly orange color, but it did nothing to reduce it's rising properties

  

     As soon as I got home from work on Thursday, I rolled the dough out.  It was nice and pliable - a little sticky, but nothing that a little cornmeal couldn't fix.

SOUTHERN STEWED OKRA PIZZA

Adapted from James McNair's Vegetarian Pizza

Crust:

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

3½ cups bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon ground cayenne pepper

¼ cup olive oil

Stewed Okra:

4 tablespoons butter

7½ ounces yellow onion

5 ounces red bell pepper (about 1 small pepper)

7 ounces okra, stemmed and sliced crosswise into ½ inch disks

28-ounce can Roma tomatoes, drained

2 teaspoons red wine & garlic vinegar

1½ teaspoons dried thyme

1 teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground hot pepper blend  (or cayenne)

The Rest of the Story:

2 tablespoons olive oil

8 ounces shredded mozzarella

8 ounces shredded cheddar

Make the dough:  Combine the water, yeast, and sugar in a small bowl.  Set aside for at least five minutes.  Combine the flour, salt, paprika, and cayenne in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Stir on a low speed to thoroughly combine the ingredients.  Add the yeast mixture and mix at medium speed until dough clings to the hook and looks smooth and elastic - you may have to stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice to incorporate all of the ingredients.  Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a damp towel or drape loosely with a piece of plastic wrap.  Set the bowl in a warm dry place for about an hour.

Make the stewed okra:  In a large, heavy skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the onion and pepper and cook until the vegetables begin to soften.  Add the sliced okra and cook until they just start to become tender - about 10 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and the next 7 ingredients (through the ground hot pepper or cayenne).  Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally.  Continue to cook until the liquid evaporates, and the mixture becomes extremely thick - about 30 minutes.

Assemble the pizza:  Preheat the oven to 500º F with a pizza stone inside, if using.  On a cornmeal or flour dusted pizza peel or board, roll or stretch the dough out to a 16 inch circle.  Brush the dough with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, making sure to get the edges of the crust really well.  Pour or spread the stewed okra mixure over the crust, leaving a bare 1/4 around the edge.  Top the okra with the cheese.  Transfer the pizza to the stone in the oven, if using, or to a greased pizza pan and place it in the oven.  Bake for about 8 minutes or until the cheese melts and starts to brown in spots.

     Then, it was time to make what seemed like a chunky pizza sauce with okra added, starting with slicing the okra.  They looked like a fuzzy, ribbed, hot peppers.  It didn't seem slimy when I cut it up.

  

     The sauce started out with the good stuff - onions and peppers sautéd in butter - before adding the okra.  It couldn't be all bad with butter, right?  The peppers, onions, tomatoes, vinegar, and seasonings reassured me that this was going to be a good dish (I hoped).  After a stint on the stove, it was an extremely thick mixture.  It smelled really good, and I was really starting to look forward to trying it.

 

     It was so thick, in fact, that when I spread it on top of the beautiful pumpkin-colored crust, it was almost as thick as the crust, and I literally had to pile it up to get it all on there.  I was hoping that the pound of cheese that went over it was going to hold it all on top of the crust and prevent it from becoming bottom-of-the-oven "cookies."

 

     My gorgeous sous chef, Jeff, relished in assisting the transfer to the oven.

  

     Once the pizza was in the oven, I was ready to make my drink of the week.  Gin Daisy, in name only, sounded like it was a good Southern drink.

GIN DAISY

2½ measures gin

¼ measure green chartreuse

¼ measure grenadine

¼ measure freshly squeezed lemon juice

Pour all ingredients into an ice-filled cocktail shaker.  Shake vigorously.  Strain into a chilled martini glass.

     This was a wonderful drink.  My first impression was it was too sweet, but then the chartreuse invaded my tongue and made it tingle.  The lemon soothed it and added a little tart to the sweet.  I couldn't get enough of these.

     Once the drink had been tasted and determined acceptible (meaning it was gone and ready for a refill), the pizza was ready.  The cheese was a beautiful golden and brown combination, and it held the stewed okra in quite nicely.  Some of the tomatoey mixture had oozed closer to the edge of the crust, but there was very little, if any run-off.

  

     The pizza itself was fantastic!  The crust was a perfect combination of crispiness on the outside with a fluffy interior.  It definitely had a zip, but it wasn't overwhelming.   The pizza was hearty, a little sweet with the tomatoes and peppers, and then the hot peppers swooped in and jazzed it up.   The okra was tender, but still had a nice texture to it - almost like a pepper.  I detected no sliminess whatsoever.  After reading about okra on line, I would have to guess that the mucilaginous properties had been cooked out, creating the thickness that held it all together.  Whatever it was, it was delicious.

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Wild Mushroom Calzones; Apple Brie Pizza; and Gin & Sin

     Mushrooms intrigue me.  They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and even colors.  It amazes me that anyone would have looked at any of them and said, "hey, I want to eat that!" It's especially baffling since most of the time they are growing on something gross, like a rotten log, a pile of decomposing leaves, and even piles of excrement.  Yum!
     However, now that we are eating these things, it is nice to know that they do have some nutritional value. Apparently, they are higher in potassium than bananas.  Potassium can help lower blood pressure.  It is high in vitamin B, which can help boost energy.  It also has a surprising amount of fiber and water, which help increase metabolism.  All this, and they taste great, too.
     Exotic species of mushrooms are scarce at my local Cub.  I could have gone to Lunds, but I don't like to pay their prices on the regular items, and I like one stop shopping.  The recipe called for "wild mushrooms". Whatever Cub had to offer this week was what I was going to go with.  I ended up with Enoki mushrooms and Shiitake mushrooms.  Enoki mushrooms look a little like bean sprouts.  They are tall and skinny with a little ball on top.

They grow in clumps or clusters.  If you cut the caps off of a cluster, it looks like a coagulated pile of cooked spaghetti and seems to have about the same texture.

      Shiitakes look a little more like a traditional mushroom - big wide cap and short, squatty stems.  The caps are somewhat thin, and the gills on the underside of the caps are feathery and white.  They are much more delicate in texture than a Portabella or a button mushroom.

WILD MUSHROOM CALZONES

Adapted from The Everything Pizza Cookbook by Belinda Hulin

½ cup warm water

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

½ teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup bread flour

½ cup wheat flour

1½ teaspoons + 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided

7½ ounces of ricotta

3½ ounces Shiitake mushrooms

3½ ounces Enoki mushrooms

3 green onions, minced

1 tablespoon minced garlic

¼ cup chopped fresh basil

4 ounces shredded mozzarella

Combine the water, yeast, and sugar in a small bowl.  Set aside for at least five minutes.  Combine the salt and flours in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Stir to combine well.  Add the yeast mixture and 1½ teaspoons of  olive oil.  Set at medium speed until dough begins to cling to the hook and looks smooth and elastic on the surface.  Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a damp towel or drape loosely with a piece of plastic wrap.  Place bowl in a warm dry place for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 500º F.  Cut dough in half.  On a cornmeal or flour dusted pizza peel or board, roll or stretch each dough half into a 10 inch circle.  Spread half of the ricotta over half of each circle.  Chop the mushrooms.  Combine them with the green onions, garlic, and basil.  Spread half of the mushroom mixture on top of the ricotta on each circle, still leaving the other half of the dough circle bare. Cover the mushrooms with the mozzarella (two ounces per circle).  Fold the bare half of the dough over the filled half on each.  Pinch the edges together to form a seal.  With a sharp knife, make three slits in the top of each calzone for venting.  Place the calzones on a greased baking sheet.  Brush the tops of each calzone with olive oil.  Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until crust has firmed up and started to brown.  Allow to cool for about five minutes before cutting and serving.

     I made the dough for both pizzas the night before, froze them overnight, and let them thaw and rise on my counter all day while I was at work.  I had also chopped all of the mushrooms and green onions and combined those with the garlic and basil.  When I got home from work on Thursday night, it was mostly about assembly for the mushroom calzones.

     Pam arrived first, just after I had sliced the apple for the Apple Brie pizza.  I put her to work coring the slices while I rolled out the dough.

APPLE BRIE PIZZA

Adapted from All the Best Pizzas by Joie Warner

3/4 cup warm water

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1-3/4 cup bread flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Braeburn apple, cored and sliced

1 tablespoon lemon juice

5 ounces of brie (without the rind)

2 tablespoons butter

Freshly ground nutmeg

Combine the water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl and set aside for at least five minutes.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, stir together the bread flour and salt.  Add the yeast mixture and stir at medium speed until the dough comes together, clings to the hook, and looks smooth and elastic.  Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a damp towel or drape loosely with a piece of plastic wrap.  Set in a warm, dry place for an hour.

Preheat oven to 500º F with pizza stone inside, if using.  Toss the apple slices with the lemon juice to keep them from browning.  On a cornmeal or flour dusted pizza peel or board, roll or stretch the dough out to a fifteen inch circle.  Spread the brie over the dough.  Arrange the slices of apple over the brie.  Dot the apples with the butter.  Bake for 5 - 10 minutes or until cheese starts to brown.  Remove from the oven and grate a little nutmeg over the top.

     The original recipe instructed the brie to go on after the apples, but the brie was too soft to slice.  I suppose I could have dotted the apples with the brie once they were on the crust, but I wanted to make sure I got good coverage of the cheese over the crust.  It was spreadable, but if the apples were on first, I would have had to spread the cheese over the apples, and I didn't see that working either.  So, I spread the cheese over the crust before putting the apples on it.  I also decided that since the apples were now on top, they needed more than the original teaspoon of butter that the recipe had called for.  I upped it to 2 tablespoons to make sure that my apples didn't dry out in the oven (even though they really weren't going to be in there for very long).

     Jennifer arrived with snacks (vegetables and artichoke-spinach dip), and I put her to work on our drink.

GIN & SIN

2 measures gin

1 measure freshly squeezed lemon juice (about ½ of a lemon)

3/4 measure freshly squeezed orange juice (about ¼ of an orange)

dash of grenadine

Pour all ingredients into an ice filled shaker.  Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with an orange zest twist, if desired.

     If I had known that my sisters were going to dress to match the drink, I would have joined in, but apparently I missed the memo.

     We really enjoyed this concoction.  It was tart and sweet at the same time, with a slightly bracing ginny finish.  And it was a lovely pinkish/orange color.  It was very festive.

     With the drinks to urge us on, we assembled the mushroom calzones.  Creamy, rich whole-milk ricotta was spread over half of each dough circle.  The mushroom mixture, so gorgeous with its flecks of green onion and basil running through it, came next, followed by the mozzarella.  Then, Pam did her magic calzone-sealing act, and we were almost ready for the oven.  A quick swipe of a knife across the tops for ventilation and a generous brushing of olive oil for browning, and into the oven they went.

     The crust goldened up nicely in the oven.  The crust was golden a crisp.  The filling was very rich and earthy.  We detected an almost chicken-broth like flavor with the mushroom combination.  It was hearty and delicious.  Jeff, once again, declared his distaste for the wheat crust.  He said he would have preferred something lighter, fluffier, and softer.  I am not sure if Jennifer agreed or was peeling her crust off, because she was avoiding gluten, but I thought it was pretty good.

     The apple-brie pizza was fabulous!  Jennifer had reservations about trying it, because she doesn't like cooked apples, but she declared it delicious and perfectly cooked.  The pizza had only been in the oven a short time, so the apples didn't have a chance to become mushy.  They were hot, but still retained a firm bite.  The contrast between the tart apples and the creamy, rich, cheese was amazing.  A tarter apple may have even elevated it further, but the Braeburn was a fine choice.

     While the pizzas and drinks were good, our special treat of the evening was that our long lost neighbor - Becky - was in town from Colorado with her new baby.  OK, she wasn't ever really lost, we just hadn't seen her for a while (a little over nine months prior, when she told us she was pregnant again). Jennifer ensured that Becky would never have to hold the baby while she was here, as she monopolized the baby's time.  It was a lovely finish to a lovely evening.

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