Pizza Freak: Shrimp and Feta Cheese Pizza; Ricotta Calzonetti Dolce; Raspberry Berry Martinis

Shrimp - as I mentioned before, a great healt food - paired with kalamata olives and feta make a perfect Mediterranean combination. The saltiness of the olives and feta are balanced out by the soft, sweet, shrimp and the tang of the tomatoes underneath.

For dessert (along with Rum Fudge Bundt Cake for Jennifer's birthday), we had the Ricotta Calzonetti Dolce. These were little pockets of dough, filled with sweetened ricotta that was combined with black cherry jam, chocolate and almonds. Baked to perfection and sprinkled with colored sugars, it made a very festive addition to the meal.

Shrimp and Feta Cheese Pizza

Adapted from All the Best Pizzas by Joie Warner

Dough for Crust:

½ cup warm water

½ teaspoon active dry yeast

½ tablespoon sugar

1-2/3 cups bread flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

Sauce:

1 large garlic clove

9 ounces Roma tomatoes

1 tablespoon tomato paste

½ teaspoon dried oregano

2 large basil leaves, chopped

pinch of red pepper flakes

freshly ground black pepper to taste

Toppings:

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 lb medium shrimp, peeled, deveined

½ cup pitted Kalamata olives

2 ounces thinly sliced red onion

½ teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

4 ounces shredded mozzarella

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Make the dough for the crust: 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 to distribute the salt evenly through the flour. Add the yeast mixture and the olive oil and continue to stir at medium speed until the dough comes together. Turn the mixer off and scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure that all of the ingredients get incorporated into the dough. Stir on medium speed until the dough clings to the hook and looks smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a greased bowl. Cover with a damp towel or drape loosely with a piece of plastic wrap. Set the bowl in warm, dry place for about an hour.

Make the sauce: Push the garlic through a garlic press over a medium-sized bowl. Finely dice the tomatoes, discarding the seeds. Add the tomatoes to the bowl of garlic. Stir in the tomato paste, salt, oregano, basil, and freshly ground pepper. Set aside. This can be made ahead of time and stored in your refrigerator until ready to use.

Assemble the pizza: Preheat the oven to 500º with a pizza stone inside. Roll or stretch the dough out to approximately a 15 inch circle on a cornmeal dusted peel or board. Brush the dough circle with a tablespoon of olive oil. Preheat a large non-stick pan to medium-high with one tablespoon of olive oil in it (I used a combination of harissa flavored and rosemary flavored olive oils). Once heated, add the shrimp in a single layer. Cook for 1-2 minutes per side until they have barely started to change color (do not overcook at this point, because you will be cooking them again in the oven). Remove shrimp from pan and set aside. Spread the sauce mixture over the oiled dough. Arrange the shrimp over the sauce. Arrange the olives around the shrimp. Sprinkle the onion slices over the shrimp and olives. Sprinkle the rosemary over the pizza. Top with the feta. Sprinkle the mozzarella over all. Add salt and pepper to taste. Slide the pizza off the peel onto the preheated stone. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until the cheeses start to brown. Slice and serve.

The "sauce" was easy enough to make, but I still chose to make it the day before. Not only does every little bit of preparation I can make before-hand help get things on the table faster, but I think with sauces and such, doing it a day prior helps meld the flavors together. This sauce was more of a mild Italian salsa or a bruschetta preparation than an actual sauce. It smelled wonderful when I pulled it out of the refrigerator the next day.

I also precooked the shrimp. I started with raw, deveined, tail on shrimp. I sauteed them just a little bit in olive oil until they were halfway pink, Since I was cooking them again, I didn't want to rubberize them. I put those over the tomato mixture and arrange the olives over and around the shrimp.

I filled in the gaps with the feta cheese.

crust, tomatoes, shrimp, olives, and feta

Then the onions and mozzarella made an appearance, blanketing those lovely little sea creatures. A couple grindings of pepper went over that, and the whole thing went into the oven.

Ricotta Calzonetti Dolce

Adapted from James McNair's Vegetarian Pizza

Dough for Crust:

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

3¼ cups bread flour

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup olive oil

Fillings, etc:

15ounces whole milk ricotta

½ cup all-purpose flour

6 tablespoons sugar

4 ounces dark chocolate chips

3 ounces black cherry jam

3 tablespoons sliced almonds

4 tablespoons melted butter

Colored sugars for decorating

Make the dough for the crust: Combine the water and yeast in a small bowl. Set aside for at least five minutes. Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Stir to distribute the salt evenly through the flour. Add the yeast mixture and the oil and continue to stir at medium speed until the dough comes together. Turn the mixer off and scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure that all of the ingredients get incorporated into the dough. Stir on medium speed until the dough clings to the hook and looks smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a greased bowl. Cover with a damp towel or drape loosely with a piece of plastic wrap. Set the bowl in warm, dry place for about an hour.

Assemble and cook: Preheat the oven to 500º F. Divide the dough into 15 equal pieces. Roll each piece out to 4 inch circle on a cornmeal dusted board. Spray a cookie sheet with Pam or line with parchment paper. Combine the ricotta, flour, sugar, chocolate, jam, and almonds in a medium sized bowl. Put about two tablespoons of this mixture onto one side of each of the circles. Fold the circle in half over the filling and pinch the edges to seal. With a sharp knife, cut small slits in each of the Calzonettis for venting. Bruce each piece with the melted butter and bake until they are puffy - about 10 to 15 minutes.

Wednesday night I had combined the filling. The original recipe had called for candied fruit. This is apparently hard to find in October. According to a Cub employee, they only have that in stock around Christmas for people to make their fruit cakes. I decided instead to swirl in some black cherry jam that I had on hand. That sounded to me like a better pairing with the chocolate than candied fruit.
When Pam and Gracie showed up, I put them to work rolling out the little balls of dough for the Calzonetti. They grumbled about it a little, so I started up the martinis (we made a virgin one for Grace, because she really wanted to drink out of the fancy glass).

Raspberry Berry Martini

Fresh raspberries

¼ ounce ginger syrup

3 ounces Red Berry Ciroc

1 ounce fresh lemon juice

Ginger syrup:

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

Put all ingredients for the ginger syrup into a small sauce pan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved. Let sit for 10 minutes to infuse the ginger. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a clean container. Keep in refrigerator up to three weeks.

Place a couple of raspberries in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Muddle the berries with a muddler (in other word, smash the berries with a narrow blunt object, such as the handle end of a wooden spoon). Fill the shaker with ice. Pour the syrup, Red Berry Ciroc, and lemon juice over the ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.