Weekly Dish

After my revelatory butternut ravioli, I had half of a roasted squash left to use (the ones at our market this fall have been enormous). I also had some Italian sausage left over, and that combination worked so well that I came up with this very fall pizza. Super-thin, crispy crust worked well with this robust flavor combination, although now I’m thinking that these ingredients would also work well in a calzone. Maybe I’ll try that next week. Like the ravioli, this pizza would be good without the sausage for a vegetarian alternative.

What follows is not so much a recipe as a suggestion; I’m sure there are tons of ways to vary this with good success. Amounts for pizza are always for me a matter of taste — if you love blue cheese, throw on a hefty portion; if you only like it a little at a time, sprinkle less liberally. I could be wrong, but I think it would be difficult to mess this up.

Fall Pizza

Your favorite pizza dough or shell
Half of a large butternut squash, cooked and mashed (I cook it like this)
Olive oil
One or two links Italian sausage, sliced and cooked
Blue cheese, amount to taste
1 ripe pear (I used an Asian one and it was delicious), thinly sliced
A couple of handfuls of arugula leaves, washed and roughly chopped or torn

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. If you’re working with uncooked dough, rub it with a bit of olive oil and bake it for about 5 minutes. Spread the warm dough with the mashed squash, using olive oil as needed to thin and spread the mixture. Don’t worry if you don’t get an even coat, just try to cover as much surface area as you can. Top with the pear slices next, distributing them evenly. Sprinkle with as much blue cheese as you desire, and then finish with the cooked sausage rounds. Bake the pizza for another 5-8 minutes, until the pears are very soft and the cheese is melted. Cover the hot pizza with chopped arugula; slice, and serve.

I served this pizza with an extra mound of arugula, dressed with olive oil, fresh lemon juice, cracked pepper, Kosher salt, and shavings of Parmesan cheese.

This pizza sprung from my current love affair with figs and a hankering for grilled pizza. The restaurant where I worked in college — aptly named the Brick-Oven Cafe — served the most delicious wood-fired pizzas, baked, as you might expect, in a huge brick wood-burning oven. The texture of the crust was nice: a balanced blend of crisp and chewy, but the rich, smoky flavor was of the sort you can only get when flames are involved. Currently without a wood-burning oven of my own, I’d been thinking that grilling a pizza might impart a similar texture and flavor.

The trick, I learned from this experiment, is to roll the dough as thinly as possible. What happens in the cooking process is that the fiery heat licks the bottom of the crust, imparting its smoky flavor within a matter of minutes. But if the dough is too thick, it won’t cook all the way through, leaving you with a gummy texture in the center. We ended up pulling the pizza off of the direct grill, reducing the flame, and cooking it the rest of the way through on a foil-lined cookie sheet. It worked, but I would have liked it more if the crust had been thinner and more evenly crisp.

The toppings, inspired by recent fig pizzas at A Mingling of Tastes and at Milk and Honey, were figs, grilled in a drizzle of basalmic vinegar and cane syrup; grilled pieces of prosciutto; and large dollops of goat cheese, which melted nicely into the figs. David, not as big a fan of figs as I am, was a bit skeptical about this sweet/salty combo, but he admitted after several slices that he was pleasantly suprised. Given my penchant for contrasting flavors, fresh figs, and pizza, it should come as no surprise that I loved every bite.

The labor of this meal is in the prep work; once you get everything ready, it takes almost no time to cook on the grill. The grilling times I’ve included are guesses: my best advice is to stand at the grill the whole time and watch carefully. The amounts are also estimates, as it will depend on how much you want to load down your pizza, how big your crusts are, and how many figs you can get your hands on. As you can tell, this is no exact science.
Grilled Fig Pizza

Half recipe of Basic Focaccia/Pizza Dough or other dough of your choice
Figs (I used about a pint)
Basalmic vinegar
Cane syrup (honey would work too)
Kosher salt
Prosciutto, thinly sliced
Goat cheese (I used about 4 ounces)
Olive oil
Cooking spray

Heat the grill to a medium-high flame (we have charcoal, so I imagine a gas grill would be easier to keep consistently hot).

While the fire is heating up, get everything ready: Slice the figs in half, and spread them in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet (preferably with a lip) that will fit on your grill rack. Drizzle with a tiny bit of vinegar and syrup, and sprinkle with salt. Place the prosciutto slices on a doubled piece of foil that’s been sprayed with cooking spray. Divide the the dough into two balls, and roll each one out as thinly as you can manage with a rolling pin and place on wax paper sprayed with cooking spray. Rub a little olive oil onto both sides of each pizza crust.

Take everything outside: prepared figs, prosciutto, dough, and the goat cheese. (If you live in the hottest, stickiest climate you can imagine like I do, spray yourself copiously with bug spray first and be prepared to sweat.) You’ll also need a big metal spatula (or two regular-sized ones) to flip the pizza. Grill the prosciutto first on the foil, just until it crisps up; this won’t take but a minute. Next, place your baking sheet of figs on the grill, and cook until the juices are bubbly and the figs are very soft; maybe 5 minutes? Now you’re ready for the pizza. Place the oiled dough directly on the grill rack, and let it cook (we covered the grill because the wind was fanning the flame too much) until it’s brown and crispy on the bottom; it took ours about 3 minutes. Flip, and immediately cover with figs, prosciutto, and goat cheese, being careful not to let any of the fig juices drip into the fire (like I did). Cook for another few minutes until the bottom is crispy and brown. Remove from the grill and drizzle with olive oil; repeat the process with the next pizza. Eat immediately!

Recipe links:

Mushroom-Arugula Risotto (I subsituted spinach for the arugula and served the risotto inside roasted portabello mushroom caps, which was pretty, and also added more mushroom-y goodness to the risotto.)
Sweet-Hot Grilled Chicken
Angel Hair with Goat Cheese and Caramelized Vegetables
Blue Cheese and Mango Quesadillas

Here’s an idea for pizza inspired by the restaurant where I worked in college. The chef there invented this pizza as a way to make the peanut sauce and grilled chicken–both of which he prepared in great abundance each week–serve double duty. Whenever I have leftover peanut sauce and a chicken breast that needs to be used, this simple preparation often finds its way into my oven.

Authentic Thai cuisine it is not, but I love the combination of the cooked and raw ingredients atop a fluffy crust. I keep meaning to experiment with different recipes for pizza crust, but so far, I tend to stick with the basic crust/foccacia recipe both because I have it memorized and because it takes so little time to throw together. But any crust will do if you have a recipe you prefer.

Thai Chicken Pizza

One half recipe pizza dough
One grilled chicken breast, sliced
1/2 cup Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce plus more for serving
A handful of shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Stretch the dough to fit a round pizza pan or a rectangular cookie sheet, and prick the dough all over with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes. Spread the pre-baked crust with the peanut sauce, sliced chicken, and cheese. Bake for another 5 or 6 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the crust is light brown.

To serve, top with any combination of the following:
Cilantro leaves
Basil leaves (I used lemon basil)
Chopped peanuts
Shredded carrots
Sliced green onions
Bean sprouts
Snow peas or sugar snaps

Drizzle with remaining peanut sauce.

You know how at some restaurants, no matter how much you want to be adventurous, you just keep going back to the same familiar dish? That’s how I felt every time I ate at Amerigo in Jackson, Mississippi, a great little Italian restaurant where I seemed to always end up on special occasions. My dear friend Angie took me there for my 16th birthday, and what I ordered then (12 years ago this Thursday!) is what I would order if I was there right now. Amerigo has a fantastic menu, with seasonal specials and lots to choose from, but regardless of how long I stared at my choices, I always returned to shrimp scampi.
Shrimp scampi is not a complicated dish, but for some reason, I could never quite capture the flavor of Amerigo’s version. This most recent effort comes closest, and I think I’ve discovered at least two secrets: lots of very fresh garlic and straight-from-the-Gulf-shrimp. Because there are so few ingredients, it makes sense that the ones that are required should be as fresh as possible. The rest of the recipe, really, is super easy and comes together in about 20 minutes.
Since I’m not in Jackson anymore, away from the comfort of familiar restaurants, it’s nice to know that I can create an old favorite myself. Until, that is, I find a new menu favorite to cling to.

Favorite Shrimp Scampi
1 pound angel hair pasta
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound peeled shrimp
1/2 cup good white wine (I used a buttery Chardonnay)
Parmesan cheese
Lemons and green onions, for garnish

Cook the pasta in boiling water until al dente; drain and rinse and set aside. Heat the olive oil and butter over low heat. Add the garlic and cook slowly, stirring, being careful not to let it brown, for about 12 minutes. It should be very soft and fragrant. Turn the heat up to medium-high, and add the shrimp. Cook for about 2 minutes and turn. Pour the wine over the shrimp, and continue to cook for another 2 or 3 minutes, until the shrimp are pink and opaque. To serve, spoon a handful of noodles into shallow bowls or rimmed plates, and pour shrimp and garlic sauce over. Cover with a layer of grated Parmesan cheese. Serve with lemon wedges and chopped green onions or chives. Serves 4 as a main dish.

Apologies for my long absence–life has taken over.We have managed to eat here and there in the midst of that life, so this week I hope to share more of the busy-life dinners that have become so much a part of our routine. One of the ways I’m surviving this tornado of grading papers, writing, reading, discussing, tutoring, planning, committee-sitting, and teaching is by spending a little time in the kitchen to prepare for (at least) two meals at a time. This focaccia recipe doubles as a homemade pizza crust, and the dough is freezable. If I make two batches at once, then I have two nights of pizza and two nights of sandwiches (look for it to appear on Thursday or Friday as part of the cheese sandwich protest movement), plus some leftover to accompany soup or salad.

Having dinner on the table every night for me is not a matter of culinary brillance but of efficient time management: this bread recipe is one of my secrets. For this pizza, I topped it with glorious Meyer lemons, which the lovelies Rorie and Darla have both waxed poetic about in recent weeks (and if you are unfamiliar with these huge, thin-skinned, most flavorful of lemons, please go and read their posts about them), garlic, jalapeno peppers, and plenty of good olive oil. The topping sings with a zippy tart spice that suits the smooth, mild focaccia in perfect pizza harmony.

And, if you’re lucky, you’ll have a piece or two leftover to grab for lunch the next day.

Basic Foccacia Bread/Pizza Dough

1 pkg. yeast
1 t. sugar
2 cups very warm water (like for a bath)
5 cups flour (I use 3 cups all-purpose and 2 cups bread flour)
2 t. Kosher salt, plus more to sprinkle on top
2 T. olive oil, plus more for the top

In the bowl of a electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, stir the yeast, water, and sugar together. Let the mixture stand for about 5 minutes; it should be fizzy on top. Add the flour, salt, and olive oil. Knead with the dough hook for several minutes. The dough should come together in a ball and start trying to climb out of the bowl. Let it knead like this for a few more minutes. Knead with your hands for a minute more, working out any knots of flour. (A trick here: coat your hands with olive oil.) The dough should feel smooth and elastic. Return to the bowl, cover, and let it rise in a warm place (I put it in my pantry) for at least an hour. At this point, you have a few options: get it ready to bake, refrigerate if you’re planning to use within a few days, or freeze it for a later use.

To bake as focaccia: divide the dough in half and form into rounds. Place on cookie sheets and allow to rest for about 15 minutes, covered. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Dimple the dough with your fingers, drizzle olive oil on top, and spinkle with Kosher salt (and chopped rosemary if you so desire). Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the top is just beginning to turn golden.

For the Meyer Lemon Pizza:

2 Meyer lemons, thinly sliced and seeds removed
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 jalapeno peppers, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 sprigs rosemary, minced
Zest of one lemon
Olive oil
Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the lemon slices. Cook for about 10 minutes, turning occasionally until the rinds begin to soften. Add the pepper slices and garlic, and cook for 10 minutes more, or until the garlic and pepper are very soft. Stir frequently to make sure the garlic doesn’t brown.

Spread one half of the dough thinly over a cookie sheet, stretching it with your hands. You may have to be forceful, but try not to tear it or leave any holes. Drizzle the dough with olive oil, salt, the crushed garlic, lemon zest, and minced rosemary. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, and spread the lemon topping evenly over the dough. Grate Parmesan cheese (about 1/2 cup?) evenly over the pizza. Bake for 10 minutes more.

Refrigerate the other half of the dough, freeze it, or bake it as bread to have the rest of the week.

Well, faithful readers, the end of the semester is nigh for me–my last essay is due tomorrow afternoon. Until then, I shall have to turn all of my attention on my studies, but I leave you with this quick recipe for BLT pizza. It is a favorite from my old waitressing post in Jackson, the Brick-Oven Cafe, and the red and green I thought appropriate for the season. Plus, I can hardly imagine better study food than pizza. Here’s the recipe:

BLT Pizza

Prepared pizza crust dough or shell

8 slices bacon, cooked

Ranch salad dressing

4 Roma tomatoes, diced

1 cup of chopped green onions

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Romaine lettuce, arugula, or other greens

Preheat oven to 475. Once crust has been properly prepared, drizzle the surface with Ranch dressing, spreading to coat. You will want a thin layer over the whole crust, so the amount depends on how large your pizza is. Crumble bacon and sprinkle evenly across pizza. Follow with the chopped tomatoes and green onions. Sprinkle cheeses on top last; bake until the crust is golden and the cheese melted, about 10 minutes. To serve, top each slice with shredded lettuce or arugula and drizzle with a tiny bit of dressing.

David and I sure seem to eat a lot of pizza. I have written about it several times just in the last few weeks without even realizing it! Maybe because it’s so versatile, maybe because I can throw anything on it and it tastes good, maybe because it hardly ever turns out badly–whatever the reason, whenever I find myself with an extra day on the menu and no grand ideas, I usually turn to pizza.

When David and I were in college, we spent a semester studying in London. One long weekend, we thought we’d be adventurous and take a quick trip to Italy. The cheapest flights we found were to Venice, so that’s where we headed. As luck would have it, we headed there right in the middle of Carnival. No hotel rooms in the whole city, we were told.

So we took a train to Verona. What was in Verona? Romeo and Juliet once–that’s all we knew, and that didn’t seem to be a good omen. But someone told us we could find a room there, since it was less touristy, and it was easily accessible by train. It turned out to be the most magical place I’d ever been, and half the magic had to do with the fabulous food. I think I ate pizza at least once every day. One night, it was late and we were starving, and we wandered into this cute little cafe off the sidewalk. Called very simply Pizza Bianca, the pie they served me was the best I’ve ever eaten. This recipe is my attempt to replicate it, which I am sure I’ll never be able to do. Unless I live in Italy one day; the place itself imparts an inimitable flavor to the food. Nonetheless, this version is simple and tasty and makes me think of Italy.

White Pizza with Ham and Artichoke Hearts

1/2 recipe pizza dough (I had half of my calzone dough leftover)

Olive oil

Ham

Artichoke Hearts, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

Capers

Feta cheese

Parmesan cheese

Proportions are really up to you–scatter the toppings as you please. Roll out the dough and bake for about 7 minutes at 475. While it’s cooking, chop the garlic and artichokes. Brown the ham in a skillet with a tiny bit of olive oil. When the crust comes out, drizzle liberally with olive oil, and spread to coat. Sprinkle the garlic into the oil. Top with the remaining ingredients, ending with the feta and Parmesan. Bake for another 5-7 minutes more, until the cheese is melted and the crust is brown. I served it with a simple green salad: spring mix lettuce, green onions, some more of the feta, lemon juice, olive oil, and a sprinkle of Greek seasoning.

Alright, enough already of all of that vegan stuff. You can see that I wouldn’t last very long as a vegan. Meat I could do without, but dairy? No way. I love cheese too much. But it was fun to try. Now, back to my regular cooking routine: I used up the last of my marinara sauce and made a very delicious calzone with all my favorite pizza toppings. When David and I were dating, we used to have dinner sometimes with Jessie and Jerrod in their tiny on-campus apartment, and this is one of the dishes I remember Jessie making. It’s pretty quick, and so versatile–you can throw whatever you like in the middle of the crust, and it will cook up to a nice gooey flavor medley. For this one, ham and olives are the things I love, so they take center stage. Here’s how the rest of it shakes out:

Ham and Vegetable Calzone

1 cup warm water

1 package yeast

3 cups flour

1 T. sugar

1 t. pesto (optional–sub other herbs if you wish)

2 T. olive oil

Marinara sauce (if you’re running low, add a can of crushed tomatoes or half a jar of Ragu to make it last)

Several slices ham, cut into slivers

Mixed vegetables: I used pepperoncini, green and black olives, chopped artichoke hearts, and slivers of garlic

Mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 8 ounces for 4 calzone)

Mix water, yeast, flour, sugar, pesto, and olive oil with the dough hook in your mixer until a ball forms. Let it rise, covered, for about an hour. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Coat with oil and divide into fourths. Let it rest while you prepare the toppings. Roll out the dough into an oblong shape (see below) and cover one half of each calzone with sauce, then vegetables, then ham, then cheese. Fold over and seal with a fork. Pierce the top also with the fork, and brush with olive oil. Bake for about 20 minutes until the crust is nice and golden. Serve with extra sauce, warmed, and a rich red wine like Chianti.

ENJOY!

Moving to a new city has been hard on my entertaining sensibilities. I love to have people over for dinner, but how do you do that when you don’t really know anyone? I have made friends with a girl in my program named Casey, who is from Missouri, also new to Baton Rouge, and with her sister, Christy. They were officially our first Baton Rouge dinner guests, and pizza was on the menu the night they came. I was too embarrassed to take a picture of the food while they were here, and as you can see, of the two whole pizzas I made, the four of us only left these two pieces (a successful meal, then, no?). It was lovely to have nice people to share our table with and reminded me why I enjoy entertaining so much.

Speaking of friends, I’d like to wish a happy anniversary to Jon and Hannah, who are vacationing in Yellow Stone right now, and a happy birthday to Jerrod, whose wife Jessie is being induced today! Their family will have another birth to celebrate, which I hope to report to you tomorrow.

Although I didn’t plan to invite our new friends over when I made this pizza, it turned out to be a good choice for first-time guests–not too fancy, but the pesto and homemade crust still made it dressed-up enough for company. This recipe is another one I learned at the Brick-Oven; I ate their version of this pie many, many afternoons between the lunch and dinner shifts.

The crust takes a bit of planning, but it isn’t difficult; it has to rise for an hour or so, but once it does, assembling the pizza is a snap. I used the pesto leftover from the Pesto Chicken Salad last week and the roast chicken from last night’s dinner. Here’s how it came together:

For the crust:

1 package yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 tablespoon sugar

3 1/2 cups flour

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for kneading

1 teaspoon pesto

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

1 teaspoon garlic salt

In the bowl of a mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the water and sugar; stir to combine. Let it sit until the yeast dissolves, about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix on low speed until all ingredients are combined. Knead with the dough hook for about 8 minutes, until a ball forms. Knead for a few more minutes by hand, coating your hands with olive oil as you work. The dough should be smooth and stretchy. Put back in the mixer bowl, cover, and allow it to rise for about an hour or an hour and a half.

To assemble pizza:

1 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes

4 tablespoons pesto

Olive oil

Roast chicken, chopped (about 1-2 cups)

3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Separate the dough into 2 balls and let them rest while you prepare the other ingredients. Grease and flour two baking sheets. Toss the chicken with a tablespoon of the pesto and some olive oil, until coated. Stretch the dough by hand, or roll out with a rolling pin. Drizzle lightly with oil, rubbing it into the surface. Bake for about 7 minutes. Remove from the oven. Spread the rest of the pesto over the crust, diluting with oil as necessary to make it spread. Sprinkle the chicken and sun-dried tomatoes evenly over the pesto. Cover with mozzarella cheese. Bake for another 8-10 minutes, until cheese is melted and crust is brown at the edges.