Lamb, Kalamata Olive, and Feta Pizza With a Greektini

   

 Easter was approaching.  Jennifer and family were in Mexico for Spring Break, and Pam was working.  We knew early in the week that it was just going to be me and Jeff for pizza on Thursday.  Jeff did his usual "meat trolling" on Tuesday.  This is where he lurks around the meat department and hunts for meat that is put on clearance, because it is getting close to its expiration date.  This week's find was some discounted ground lamb.  He suggested that we go off schedule this week and make up our own pizza.  I was game.

LAMB, KALAMATA OLIVE, AND FETA PIZZA

A Jeff and Steph Collaboration

Dough:
8oz. cold water
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3¼ cup bread flour

Toppings:
10½ ounces whole-milk ricotta cheese
1lb ground lamb
2 teaspoons Greek Seasoning (such as Midwest Rubs brand)
2 small Roma tomatoes, each cut into four slices
2 oucnes yellow onion, thinly sliced
3 ounces whole kalamata olives, pitted
5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon garlic-infused olive oil

Dough: Whisk together the cold water, salt, sugar, and olive oil in the bowl of a large stand mixer.  Add the yeast and whisk again.  Dump the flour in and mix with the dough hook attachment at medium speed until the dough comes together and starts to cling to the hook.  Remove the dough from the bowl, divide in half,  and knead each half for about three minutes or until the dough becomes smooth.  Form each half into a ball.  Cover with a damp towel and let rest for two hours.  Only one ball is needed for the pizza.  At this point, you can wrap one in plastic wrap and store in the freezer for another use.  Place the other ball on a small baking sheet.  Wrap plastic wrap over the ball and baking sheet and store in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Assemble the pizza:  Take the dough out of the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature.  Preheat the oven to 500º F with a pizza stone inside, if using.  Roll or stretch the dough out to a fifteen inch circle on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or board.  Spread the ricotta over the prepared dough.  In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the lamb with the Greek Seasoning until just barely browned.  Drain.  Scatter the lamb over the ricotta cheese.  Arrange the slices of Roma over the lamb.  Separate the onion slices into rings and evenly distribute the rings over the lamb and tomatoes. Scatter the olives over everything. Add the crumbled feta.  Arrange the garlic slices on the top.  Slide the pizza onto the preheated stone and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the garlic slices start to brown.  Remove the pizza from the oven and drizzle with the garlic-infused olive oil.  Slice and serve.

     With the ground lamb in mind, I had a gyro-type theme started in my head.  While gyros use lamb that has been cooked, processed, and reformed into something resembling meat pieces, I was okay starting out with plain old ground lamb.
     Jeff volunteered to help, and he browned the lamb, while I got the other ingredients ready.  We had a partially used carton of ricotta in the fridge that I wanted to use, so I spread that over the crust.  I was originally going to doctor it up with some seasonings to make it seems somewhat like a tzatziki sauce (the sauce commonly drizzled over gyros), but I had no cucumbers, and Jeff was afraid it would mask the lamb and its seasonings, so plain ricotta won out.

 
                                         He seasoned the meat very simply with a spice blend we picked up at a grilling show that was just simply called "Greek Seasoning".  It's mostly onion powder, garlic powder, and pepper (the rest is a whole lot of big words that I imagine we were never supposed to ingest).  The meat went right over the ricotta.  There was a lot of it, so we could barely see that there was anything underneath.
     Jeff sliced up a couple of romas.  He never does anything small, and this was no exception.  He cut the tomatoes into thick slices - or, rather, slabs.  When I raised my eyebrows at this, he exclaimed, "I want thick slices!"  So, the slabs went on top of the lamb.  It was a good thing Jennifer wasn't here!

     Next, I put paper thin slices of yellow onion over the tomatoes and meat and dotted the entire pizza with whole kalamatas.  I crumbled some feta and scattered that over the top.  It was beautiful and heavy.

                                             While that baked, I worked on my drink.  I thought a Greek-ish pizza needed to have an equally Greek-ish drink.  I rummaged through the liquor cabinet to see what I could come up with.  I found some Ouzo - the quintessential Greek liqueur, and I was off and pouring!

GREEKTINI

3 parts gin (I used Tanqueray)

1 part Ouzo

½ part lemon juice

Pour ingredients into an ice-filled shaker.  Shake.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Sip, swallow, repeat.

     The pizza was fabulous!  It was creamy and meaty, and the olives gave it the right amount of tang and saltiness.  The garlic slices had crisped up and became nutty and delicious.  Everything came together beautifully.  The only complaint I had about the whole thing was that the olives kept rolling off of the slice before it got to my mouth.  I'm not sure if that is a problem with the pizza or the martini...

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Quiche Crust Pizza; Tuna & Roasted Red Pepper Pizza

    A crustless quiche pizza was appealing to me.  Especially since our whole gluten-free experiences in July.  Reading through the instructions, it sounded to me like a giant omelet with all of the ingredients on top of the egg, instead of rolled up inside.

QUICHE-CRUST PIZZA

Adapted from The Everything Pizza Cookbook by Belinda Hulin

8 large eggs

4 egg whites

1 cup evaporated milk

1 green onion

¼ cup chopped parsley

salt and pepper to taste

4 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

4 ounces kielbasa sausage

½ teaspoon dried oregano

8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350º F.  Blend the eggs, whites, evaporated milk, green onion, parsley, salt, and pepper together until the frothy.  Spray a deep dish pizza pan or large cake pan with cooking spray.  Pour the egg mixture into prepared pan.  Sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top of the egg mixture.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove quiche from the oven and top with the kielbasa, tomatoes, oregano, and mozzarella.  Return to the oven and bake until the cheese has melted, about 10 minutes.

     It was a little disconcerting that the egg mixture was so green.  I guess I should have expected it, but it was still a strange color to me.  The pictures don't really do it justice, but the mixture was definitely green.

   

The "batter" for the quiche was really runny.  I was worried that it wasn't going to set up.  But, I kept going with the directions in the recipe and poured it into the prepared pan.  It barely fit, and my pan is an inch and a half deep!

Once the eggs were in the pan, I sprinkled over the cheese.  I thought it might sink, but it stayed floating on top (at least before I put it in the oven).

The eggs became even more green after baking, and the cheese disappeared into the meat of the quiche.

While it was baking, I prepared the toppings.  I started with the tomatoes.  I learned a great trick for speeding up halving grape tomatoes.  I can't remember if it was from Martha Stuart or Rachel Ray, but some t.v. personality suggested putting the tomatoes in a Tupperware lid and place another lid over the top of them.  Put slight pressure on the top lid with one hand, and cut horizontally between the two lids, and you have perfect halves.

The recipe originally called for ham, but in an effort to de-clutter my refrigerator, I decided to use some leftover kielbasa that I already had.

I was a little worried about the tuna pizza, but I was trying to keep an open mind.  I have never been a fan of canned tuna.  It specifically called for tuna from a can, but I couldn't bring myself to buy that.  I bought the tuna that comes in a foil pack.  Somehow, that seems a little more "fresh" and less fishy to me than it's tin counterpart.

Although she didn't voice it, Pam had reservations, too.  I could tell by the look on her face when I asked her to assemble the pizza.  It was there for a moment, and then it was gone - replaced by the forced smile she gets when she doesn't agree with a process but is not going to rock the boat.

TUNA AND ROASTED RED PEPPER PIZZA

Adapted from All the Best Pizza by Joie Warner

Dough:

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

3¼ cups bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup olive oil

Toppings:

1 tablespoon olive oil
6 ounces canned or bagged Albacore Tuna

4 ounces roasted red sweet pepper, chopped

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4 ounces kalamata olives

4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

2 ounces freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

Make the crust:  Combine the water, yeast, and sugar in a medium bowl.  Set aside for about five minutes to allow the yeast to form a thin layer of foam on the top of the water.  Meanwhile, combine the flour and salt in the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Add the olive oil and yeast mixture and run at medium speed until the dough comes together and begins to cling to the hook.  Remove from the mixer and form into a ball.  Place the ball in a medium-sized, greased bowl.  Cover loosely with a towel or a piece of waxed paper and set aside to rise. It should double in size in about an hour.  Divide dough in half.  Reserve half for another use.

Assemble:  Preheat oven to 450º F with pizza stone inside if using.  Roll or stretch dough out to a 15-16 inch circle on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or board.  Brush the dough all over with the tablespoon of olive oil.  Sprinkle the tuna evenly over the dough.  Scatter the peppers over the tuna.  Salt and pepper the pizza.  Arrange the kalamatas over the peppers.  Cover everything with the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted, starting to brown, and somewhat bubbly.  Slice and serve.

I had prepped all of the ingredients Wednesday night, so it was easy to pass off all of the pieces to Pam and have her assemble.  I had actually roasted sweet peppers instead of using the jarred ones, because I had some, and they were thinking about become inedible.  In other words, they were no longer at the peak freshness.  Roasting was easy.  I just cut them in half, discard the seeds, and laid them on a baking sheet with the insides down.  I put them in a preheated oven set to broil on high for a couple of minutes, until the skins started to char somewhat.  I took them out of the oven and placed them in a plastic zipper bag and seal the bag.  After they were cool, I was able to remove them from the bag and slip most of the charred skins off of the peppers.  

   

I really watched the timing on this pizza.  I was concerned that if the tuna were to cook too long, it may become fishy, and I certainly didn't want that.  We pulled it out of the oven as soon as it started to brown around the edges.

We were pleasantly surprised by this pizza.  The tuna was not fishy at all.  It was tender and a slightly sweet.  The roasted peppers complimented the flavor of the tuna, and the olives were a nice contrast to its richness.  Even Pam thought it was delicious (of course, what is she going to say - I made it!).

Gluten Free Sausage Mushroom Pizza that Jennifer made

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