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.
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.
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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