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Guaca Pizza

March 23, 2011
Eat, Italian
14 Comments

After our last pizza con avocado, I have gotten more brazen about putting avocado in the oven.

I’m not really sure why it seemed like a bad idea to me in the first place. Clearly avocado in the oven is A-ok and “guacamole” pizza sauce may become the norm around here. It is far quicker and easier to make than red pizza sauce and the creamy texture is kind of addictive.

We liked this pizza so well that we made it two nights in a row. Maybe that isn’t saying much though. Chris would gladly eat pizza or guacamole for any meal. No, the picture doesn’t do it justice.

Now that I have effectively turned my blog into a photo chronicle of Chris’ pizza eating, I need to know: Does anyone out there take outstanding pizza pictures? It is a skill that I obviously have not mastered yet, but it is time that I learn!

Ingredients:

  • Pizza dough (I used 1/4 of this recipe and froze the rest for later.)
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 2 tbsp salsa verde
  • cumin, ground coriander to taste
  • splash lime juice
  • 1/4 cup black beans
  • 1/4 cup hominy (Corn would be fine also, but I prefer the texture of hominy.)
  • 1 small tomato, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 shallot, finely chopped
  • 3 oz Manchego cheese, shredded

Directions:

  • Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees with a pizza stone in it if you have one.
  • To make “guacamole” pizza sauce:
    • Combine avocado, lime juice, and salsa verde in a small food processor and pulse to blend.
    • Season avocado mixture to taste with cumin and ground coriander.
  • Sprinkle cornmeal on a sheet of parchment paper then roll and stretch dough to form pizza.
  • Spread the avocado sauce onto the pizza. (Save leftover sauce for a sandwich spread!)
  • Evenly distribute black beans, hominy, tomato, and shallot over the top of the pizza.
  • Top with shredded cheese.
  • To transfer the pizza to the oven, carefully pick up parchment, place on pizza stone, then slide parchment out from under the pizza.
  • Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and pizza crust is lightly browned.

Servings ~ 2
Calories ~ 542, Fat ~ 23 g, Carbohydrates ~ 63.8 g, Protein ~ 21 g

Sunny Breakfast Pizza

February 28, 2011
Breakfast, Eat, Eggs, Italian
7 Comments

Before our long run on Saturday I was looking for some kind of carby breakfast. Mostly bread, maybe some veggies, and of course eggs because I have been an egg eating machine lately. I am usually a bit hesitant to try new foods before long runs, but we planned on running later in the day and I had already tried out each component of this as a pre-run breakfast, so I decided to give it a go.

I was disappointed that the avocados turned brown in the oven because I thought that took away from the asthetics of the pizza, but the vibrant yellow egg yolks more than made up for it. This pizza was so fresh tasting and the aroma that wafted out of the oven each time I checked on it was just incredible.

Overall, this was a huge win. We both commented that we could definitely serve this to other people and even discussed having it again. Maybe even for dinner.

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup julienned rutabaga (Finely chopped potato would work fine too.)
  • 2 tsp olive oil, divided
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • pizza dough (I used 1/4 of this recipe.)
  • corn meal for flouring
  • 1/4 clove elephant garlic (or 1/2 clove garlic), minced
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 shallot, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup Mozzarella, shredded
  • 1/2 avocado, thinly sliced

Directions:

  • Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees with a pizza stone in it if you have one.
  • Toss rutabaga (or potato) in 1 tsp olive oil until it is lightly coated, season with salt and pepper, then saute over a medium-high heat until lightly browned, then set aside.
  • Sprinkle cornmeal on a sheet of parchment paper then roll and stretch dough to form pizza.
  • Lightly brush the crust with the remaining 1 tsp of olive oil, then distribute minced garlic over the crust.
  • Crack three eggs onto the crust being careful not break the yolks.
  • Arrange rutabaga “hash browns” and shallots on top of the eggs, sprinkle with Mozzarella, and place avocado slices on top of the cheese.
  • To transfer the pizza to the oven, carefully pick up parchment, place on pizza stone, then slide parchment out from under the pizza.
  • Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and pizza crust is lightly browned.
  • Note: If you prefer not to eat the egg yolks, they can be left out or easily removed with a spoon after baking, but they do make for a much prettier pizza.

Servings ~ 2 to 3

1/3 pizza w/whole eggs
Calories ~ 349, Fat ~ 15.4 g, Carbohydrates ~ 37.6 g, Protein ~ 15.6 g

1/2 pizza w/whole eggs
Calories ~ 523, Fat ~ 23.1, Carbohydrates ~ 56.4 g, Protein ~ 23.4 g

1/3 w/egg whites only
Calories ~ 304, Fat ~ 11.1 g, Carbohydrates ~ 37.6 g, Protein ~ 15.2 g

1/2 pizza w/egg whites only
Calories ~ 456, Fat ~ 16.7 g, Carbohydrates ~ 56.4 g, Protein ~ 22.8 g

Shrimpy Thai Pizza

February 3, 2011
Eat, Italian
6 Comments
Shrimpy pizza…big flavor!

Duke supervising the pizza making process.

A few weeks ago while Chris and I were up late sorting Africa pictures, he made himself a snack. It was a pizza-like concoction that he chose to dunk in a mixture of Dijon mustard and Thai sweet chili sauce.

At first, I was mildly grossed out by the whole thing. Finally, curiosity got the best of me and I asked Chris for a taste. It was out of this world! I wanted some.

In fact, I didn’t just want some, I wanted a whole meal centered around this delicious sauce. At first we were thinking some kind of chicken pizza, but after assessing the ingredients we had on hand, this is what we came up with.

As we set out to make it, I never intended to blog this recipe. I simply didn’t think it could possibly be that good. But it was. Maybe our best pizza yet!

Ingredients:

  • ~ 3 tbsp Thai sweet chili sauce
  • ~ 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • Pizza dough (1/4 recipe)
  • 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
  • 2 oz salad shrimp, cooked and blotted dry
  • 3 tbsp red onion, finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
  • 3 oz Manchego cheese, shredded

Directions:

  • Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. (With pizza stone in oven if you have a pizza stone!)
  • In a small bowl, stir together Thai sweet chili sauce and Dijon mustard. Start with a 3:1 ratio of chili sauce to mustard, then adjust to taste based on your preference for sweet or spicy.
  • On a surface lightly coated with corn meal, stretch and shape pizza dough into desired shape.
  • Spread chili/mustard sauce in a light, even coat over the pizza dough.
  • On top of the sauce, layer cabbage, shrimp, onion, cilantro, and finally cheese.
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cheese is melted and the crust is a golden brown.

Servings ~ 2 to 3 (Two for us because we’re piggy.)
Calories (per 1/2 pizza) ~ 444, Fat ~ 11 g, Carbohydrates ~ 60 g, Protein ~ 20 g

Mexican Pizza

November 3, 2010
Eat, Italian, Mexican(-ish)
4 Comments

I am happy to report that I survived the onslaught of Halloween candy and managed to only eat 15% of the goods (but 45% of the Butterfingers). I’m not sure if that is particularly impressive considering that we had 30 full-size candy bars and I ate 4.5 of them in 36 hours. Wow, that sounds gross.

I love Butterfingers.

Thankfully, Chris brought the remaining 20 some-odd candy bars to work with him to eliminate them spread Halloween cheer to his co-workers and gain popularity in his water cooler circle. Ok, we don’t really have water coolers at work, but Chris does have a cubicle right next to his local printer, so he gets pretty heavy traffic at his desk and never has a problem giving away candy or baked goods.

In addition to my Butterfinger binge this weekend, Chris and I also had Mexican Pizza.  We had leftovers from fajitas, but not enough leftovers to have fajitas again, so…

Ingredients:

  • pizza crust
  • Mexican pizza sauce
  • 3 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • 2 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 2 oz leftover steak from steak fajitas, diced
  • 1/3 cup sauteed onions
  • 1/3 cup sauteed bell peppers
  • 1/4 cup corn kernels
  • 1/4 cup black beans
  • 1/4 avocado, diced
  • 1/2 small tomato, chopped and drained
  • sour cream for dipping

Directions:

  • Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees with a pizza stone inside.
  • Roll out pizza dough and sprinkle it lightly with cornmeal on both sides to prevent it from sticking to the pizza stone.
  • Top the pizza first with Mexican pizza sauce, then with cheeses, steak, onions, peppers, black beans, and corn.
  • Place the pizza in the oven on the pizza stone, the easiest way is to use a pizza peel, and bake until the crust begins to brown and the cheese is fully melted, usually 10-12 minutes.
  • While the pizza is baking prepare any additional cold toppings such as avocado, tomato, and sour cream.
  • Remove pizza from oven, top with any cold toppings, then enjoy!

Servings ~ 2-3
Calories ~ I’m not even going to attempt this one, it depends on your toppings and your pizza crust.

Mexican Pizza Sauce

November 3, 2010
Eat, Italian, Mexican(-ish), Sauces Dips and Dressings
1 Comment

After we decided on Mexican Pizza for dinner on Saturday night, we knew that standard pizza sauce wouldn’t do, so I began scouring the internet for a good recipe. Nothing was really catching my eye until I saw this one.

“Chris, do you want to try Mexican pizza sauce from a Mexican inmate?”

“Wait, you found a recipe from some guy in a Mexican jail?”

“Not exactly, he is a Mexican guy in a Connecticut jail. Do you want to try that one?”

“Sure, it has to be good!”

It sure was! The only issue I had was the quantity of sauce it makes. Most of it ended up in my freezer for future Mexican Pizzas.

Note: Vinny works at the prison, he is not the actual inmate.

Adapted from Vinny DiLeo.

Ingredients:

  • 1.75 cups diced stewed tomatoes
  • 6 oz tomato paste
  • 1/4 small onion, diced
  • 1 clove elephant garlic, sliced
  • 1 small jalapeno sliced with seeds removed
  • 1/2 tsp orageno
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp coriander
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder

Directions:

  • Combine ingredients in a food processor.
  • Blend for several minutes until smooth and well combined.

Servings ~ Makes enough for three to four large pizzas.
Calories (per recipe) ~ 251, Fat ~ 2 g, Carbohydrates ~ 57 g, Protein ~ 12 g

Gouda Pizza

August 3, 2010
Eat, Italian
2 Comments

Forgive the picture on this one, it simply does not do this pizza justice.

Last week we were getting ready to grill pizza when we realized that we had snacked on so much mozzarella that there was not enough left to make pizza. Fortunately, we had some gouda and we decided to use it to make what we thought would be inferior pies.

Wrong!

Gouda pizza is so good! Especially when it is topped with sauted peppers, onions, and mushrooms and chicken sausage. Chris and I have decided to abandon mozzarella pizza altogether!

Ingredients (per pizza):

  • pizza dough (1/4 recipe per pie)
  • pizza sauce
  • 3 oz gouda, shredded
  • 1/4 green bell pepper thinly sliced and lightly sauted
  • 1/4 orange bell pepper thinly sliced and lightly sauted
  • 1/4 cup red onion, chopped and lightly sauted
  • 1/2 cup mushrooms thinly sliced and lightly sauted
  • 1 chicken sausage link, fully cooked and thinly sliced

Directions:

  • On a clean surface that is lightly coated with corn meal, begin to stretch out your pizza crust.
  • Stretch dough until it reaches your desired thickness.
  • Lightly brush one side of the crust with olive oil.
  • Before you take the crust out to your grill do the following:
    • Get all of your toppings ready. This means have the peppers, onions, and mushrooms sautéed, the cheese grated, and the sausage cooked and sliced. After the first side of the pizza is finished cooking this process will move fast!
    • Pre-heat your grill. We used a medium heat and used Heidi’s technique of opening and closing the lid to regulate heat.
  • Now that your toppings are ready and you have pre-heated your grill, place your crust, oiled side down on the grill.
  • Cook until it turns a golden brown.
  • Temporarily turn down the heat on the grill so that it is more comfortable to work over.
  • Before flipping the crust, lightly brush the other side with oil.
  • Flip! Carefully. I recommend grabbing the crust with a dish towel to flip it.
  • Quickly spread the toppings, sauce, cheese, and other toppings.
  • Adjust back to your cooking temperature.
  • Continue cooking until the cheese melts and the bottom of the crust is golden brown. Remember, the speed at which the top and bottom cook can be somewhat regulated by opening and closing the lid of the grill.  
  • Enjoy!

Servings ~ each pie serves 1-2 people depending how big of eaters they are

More Grilled Pizza – Sausage, Pepper, and Onion Pizza

May 27, 2010
Eat, Italian
1 Comment

Last night we had our neighbors over for grilled pizza. In keeping with the clean out the refrigerator theme, we needed to use up an onion and the green bell pepper.

So far we are on track to use up the perishables in our refrigerator before Friday morning. Except the milk. We never buy milk because we never drink milk, but Chris bought a gallon so he could devour a box of Chocolate Cheerios. That never happened.

When we first saw Chocolate Cheerios we simultaneously exclaimed, “Why did it take them so long to come out with these?!”

I’ll tell you why. Because they are not good. General Mills must have hired a young chocolate loving flunky into their New Product Development Department. Fail!

I never thought that I could dislike a chocolate flavored cereal, but these make those unflavored bags of puffed rice or puffed oats sound appealing.

Anyway, on to “Mission Clean Out Duke’s Refrigerator”. We are making good progress, here is what remains:

  • Dairy
    • 1/2 cup plain yogurt <– I will eat at some point today
    • 1 cup cottage cheese <– Chris will probably eat for lunch
    • 1 gallon of milk (well, most of it anyway) <– I will try to convince Chris to do a gallon challenge for the pure comedy of it. Kidding…kind of…
    • 1/2 cup sour cream <– This will go on fish tacos tonight
  • Fruits and Vegetables
    • 1 jalapeño <– In guacamole tonight
    • 1/2 bag scallions <– These will probably get tossed
    • 1/2 head cabbage <– Fish taco fixings
    • 2 apples <– Cut up to take on plane tomorrow
    • 1 plum tomato <– Fish taco fixings
    • 1/2 bunch cilantro <– Pico de gallo
    • 1.5 avocados <– Guac
    • 1 onions <– Pico de gallo
    • 1/2 bunch parsley <– This will also probably also get tossed

Last night’s pizza turned out great. Chris claimed that it was the best “non-California” pizza that he had ever had.

He has this “everything is better in California” bias, so I’ll take that as a win. I’d like to get him in a debate over barbeque with someone from Texas sometime. I think they would throw down, tri-tip might lose to Texas.

Just kidding Chris. Not about the bias, that’s real. But I genuinely wouldn’t want your beloved tri-tip to lose the better barbeque debate. You are confident that it would not. I trust you. 

**Pizza picture coming soon. I’m still getting the hang of the new camera.**

Ingredients (for 4 “personal” pizzas):

  • 1 batch pizza dough
  • 1 batch pizza sauce
  • 1 lb fresh mozzarella cheese, drained in a strainer – This is an important step that we neglected but will be sure to do next time.
  • 1 green bell pepper, lightly sautéed
  • 1 onion, lightly sautéed
  • 4 thinly sliced sausage links, we used chicken sausage (pre-cooked)

Directions:

  • On a clean surface that is lightly coated with corn meal, begin to stretch out your pizza crust.
  • Stretch dough until it reaches your desired thickness.
  • Lightly brush one side of the crust with olive oil.
  • Before you take the crust out to your grill do the following:
    • Get all of your toppings ready. This means have the peppers onions sautéed, the cheese grated, and the sausage cooked and sliced. After the first side of the pizza is finished cooking this process will move fast!
    • Pre-heat your grill. We used a medium heat and used Heidi’s technique of opening and closing the lid to regulate heat.
  • Now that your toppings are ready and you have pre-heated your grill, place your crust, oiled side down on the grill.
  • Cook until it turns a golden brown.
  • Temporarily turn down the heat on the grill so that it is more comfortable to work over.
  • Before flipping the crust, lightly brush the other side with oil.
  • Flip! Carefully. I recommend grabbing the crust with a dish towel to flip it.
  • Quickly spread the toppings, sauce, cheese, and other toppings.
  • Adjust back to your cooking temperature.
  • Continue cooking until the cheese melts and the bottom of the crust is golden brown. Remember, the speed at which the top and bottom cook can be somewhat regulated by opening and closing the lid of the grill.  
  • Enjoy!

Servings ~ 4-5
Calories ~ This will depend a lot on your toppings.

Pizza Sauce

May 21, 2010
Eat, Italian, Sauces Dips and Dressings
3 Comments

Back in the days before grilled pizza and home-made pizza dough…you know, like last week…one of Chris’s most frequent complaints about my pseudo pizza experiments was that I never used “pizza sauce”.

I completely agree with him, pizza sauce and tomato sauce are not the same thing even though I relentlessly insisted on using them interchangeably.

The problem is that I had never tried a grocery store pizza sauce that I liked. For that matter, I am pretty sure that the only good pizza sauce ever made was made by Naples Pizzeria in Oak Ridge, New Jersey. We love what we know, what can I say?

Sadly, Naples and their pizza sauce are no more. It was basically like pizza sauce doomsday when that bomb was dropped on me. The sauce makes the pizza and good pizza became a thing of the past.

Anyway, back to our pizza. Now that we are making grilled pizza creations that even the best pizzeria in town can’t compete with, I decided that it was time to get serious about pizza sauce.

I read many recipes until I found one that sounded about right and I am convinced that this one may become the Duke’s House standard pizza sauce.

Enjoy!

Based on Exquisite Pizza Sauce.

Ingredients:

  • 6 oz tomato paste
  • 3/4 cup warm water
  • 3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 2 tbsp honey (We were out of honey, I used Splenda. The sweetness is just meant to cut the acidity of the tomato paste.)
  • 3/4 tsp onion powder
  • 1/4 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/4 tsp dried marjoram
  • 1/4 tsp dried basil
  • 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/8 tsp dried red pepper flakes
  • salt to taste

Directions:

  • Combine ingredients.
  • Let sit for at least 30 minutes to let the flavors combine.

Servings ~ Calculations are for whole recipe.
Calories (with Splenda) ~ 212, Fat ~ 5 g, Carbohydrates ~ 34 g, Protein ~ 14 g
Calories (with honey) ~ 340, Fat ~ 5 g, Carbohydrates ~ 68 g, Protein ~ 14 g

Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza

May 18, 2010
Eat, Italian
1 Comment

Friday night as we sat at home channel surfing (exciting, right?) I happened upon a TV show about pizza and was quickly drawn in.

This isn’t too surprising because, as Chris will verify, if I am watching TV it will probably be:

  •  a show about food
  • Jeopardy!
  • Mad Money
  • or American Idol

I guess that means that if none of the last three items are on TV, but the television is on anyway, I will be watching food-related television.

The pizza show, I do not recall which show I was watching, highlighted Ed LaDou, “The Prince of Pizza”, who supposedly invented California style pizza, specifically the barbeque chicken variety. That is a serious claim to fame. I thank him for making his mark on American cuisine and for inspiring our delectable Sunday night dinner.

After watching a special on barbeque chicken pizza, I obviously had pizza on my mind all weekend. Who wouldn’t?

By Sunday afternoon I could not put off the pizza eating any longer. I got out my mixer and started making dough. Not only was I going to make dough from scratch, but I was going to enlist Chris to help grill some pizza.

After a little research, Heidi Swanson’s 101 Cookbooks was especially helpful for pizza grilling instructions, we got started.

My amoebic looking pizza. Maybe I went a little overboard on the onions? I don't think so, I was digging it.

 

Chris's "fancy" round pizza.

Lucky and Dusty moved to the front porch from their usual back porch hangout during the pizza grilling episode. We must have been a little too rowdy for their liking.

The pizza turned out great! We are already talking about grilling pizza again on Friday night. I highly recommend giving this a try.

As Chris said, “I don’t think I would even order pizza again. There is no reason to.”

Ingredients:

  • pizza dough
  • BBQ sauce (We each used our favorite variety. My store brand honey-flavored sauce tasted best.)
  • mozzarella cheese, grated
  • several ounces of pre-cooked and chopped chicken breast
  • 1 red onion, lightly sautéed
  • corn meal
  • olive oil

Directions:

  • On a clean surface that is lightly coated with corn meal, begin to stretch out your pizza crust. We initially got out a rolling-pin, but stretching was a far better technique.
  • Stretch dough until it reaches your desired thickness. I made mine a super thin crusted amoebic shaped crust. Chris went for a slightly thicker crust which he formed into a nearly perfect circle with neatly rolled up edges.
  • Lightly brush one side of the crust.
  • Before you take the crust out to your grill do the following:
    • Get all of your toppings ready. This means have the onions sautéed, the cheese grated, the chicken chopped. After the first side of the pizza is finished cooking this process will move fast!
    • Pre-heat your grill. We used a medium heat and used Heidi’s technique of opening and closing the lid to regulate heat.
  • Now that your toppings are ready and you have pre-heated your grill, place your crust, oiled side down on the grill.
  • Cook until it turns a golden brown.
  • Before flipping the crust, lightly brush the other side with oil.
  • Flip! Carefully. Chris used his fingers, I think I would have used a dish towel to grab it with because from the look on his face I would say the crust was hot.
  • Quickly spread the toppings, sauce, cheese, then other toppings, in this case chicken and onions.
  • Continue cooking until the cheese melts and the bottom of the crust is golden brown. Hopefully this happens at nearly the same time. Again, the speed at which the top and bottom cook can be somewhat regulated by opening and closing the lid of the grill.  
  • Enjoy!

Calories ~ You probably don’t want to know. The nutrition information for the crust is located here. I recommend either not calculating or guestimating based on your toppings and serving size.

Pizza Dough

May 18, 2010
Breads, Eat
9 Comments

I am pretty sure Chris thought I was nuts this weekend as I got out the mixer and began to make pizza dough. I will admit that I was even a little unsure of this adventure.

It did not start well. I threw away my first batch of yeast because it didn’t look frothy enough. After mixing up a second round of yeast which I still wasn’t happy with I decided to just dump it in the mixing bowl and see what happened.

While the dough was rising, we made a trip to the grocery store for mozzarella cheese and propane. Not only were we making “from scratch” pizza for the first time, but I was adamant that we had to grill the pizza. I decided to buy a tube of Pillsbury pizza dough in case mine didn’t rise correctly. I was nervous because the yeast looked funny.

All was well, we got home to a big fluffy ball of pizza dough and were ready to begin our mission.

Adapted from Branny Boils Over, Brown Eyed Baker, and Baking Illustrated.

Ingredients:

  • 1 package active dry yeast
  • 1/4 cup warm (about 110 degree) water
  • 4 cups flour
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 1/4 cup room temperature water

Directions:

  • Combine yeast with 1/4 cup of warm water. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes.
  • Briefly mix flour and salt in a stand mixer.
  • Add yeast mixture, olive oil, and remaining 1 1/4 cups of water to the mixer.
  • Combine until a dough forms.
  • Kneed (I used my dough hook) for 7 minutes.
  • Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a dish towel, and let rise in a warm place for about 2 hours.
  • Divide dough into desired number of sections. I divided into four sections. Each of my four sections is the right size to make one very satisfying personal sized pizza for Chris or a pizza big enough for two meals for me.
  • After dividing the dough, let it rest for 10 minutes or so.
  • I froze two sections of dough to use later and we made pizzas from the other two sections.

Calories (per 1/4 recipe) ~ 464, Fat ~ 1.5 g, Carbohydrates ~ 97 g, Protein ~ 14 g