Pizza Rustica!

One night recently I found myself with no plans. The weather was hot and I wanted to enjoy a night in, so I decided it would be nice to make dinner for myself. Pizzas are always super easy to prepare for yourself and are a great way to combine all kinds of delicious ingredients (like this one!). The scorching summer weather doesn't always translate into wanting a hot pizza, but on this night, that is what I was craving. To accomodate the warm weather and my desire to not turn on the air conditioning, I figured I could make one that wasn't too heavy. Not-so-heavy pizza is made possible by leaving out the thick sauce and not using so much cheese. (Or if you're like my friend Alexis and you don't like cheese, leave it off altogether.) And with that, this rustic style pizza of mine was born.

I refer to this dish as "pizza rustica" because it was kind of thrown together using pretty basic ingredients. None of it is refined; in fact I think it's the opposite of refined. And what is the opposite of refined? Well today, it's "rustic!"

I toyed with the idea of using pesto instead of tomato sauce (which I love!), but I wanted to try something a little different. In place of the sauce I used squished grape tomatoes. And for the cheese, I made sure to use some finely shredded mozzarella. This turned out great because it ended up forming a light crust over the top of the pizza, which added extra texture and crunch.

When I'm cooking for myself, obviously all of my recipes are going to be vegetarian. But if you want to add meat to this pizza, I think ground Italian sausage would be a nice compliment to this dish. Just sauté it up separately and add it to the pizza after you top it with the onions and mushrooms, before the basil and cheese.

Lastly, if you'd rather use a pre-made, store-bought pizza crust, feel free to do that. If you decide to do that, follow the instructions on the package for cooking temperature and time instead of following my directions.

Let's get cookin'!


VoraceRachel's Rustic Pizza

Servings: However many people can share one pizza - could be two, three, four, or maybe just ONE!
Prep. time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:
1 ball pizza dough
1 8 ounce container cherry or grape tomatoes
1 small sweet onion, sliced into rings
1 portobello mushroom cap, diced
1/2 cup whole kalamata olives, pitted
2 cloves garlic
5 basil leaves, julienned
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, finely shredded
3 tablespoons corn meal
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon frech cracked black pepper


Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place a pan with high sides on the stove over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons extra virgin oilve oil and all of the tomatoes. Roll the tomatoes around in the pan to coat them in the olive oil. Now add 1/4 teaspoon salt & 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Place a lid on the pan and cook for about twenty minutes. Make sure to jostle the pan every few minutes so that the tomatoes roll around and don't burn from sitting in one place for too long.

At the ten minute mark, remove the lid from the tomatoes and use the end of a spatula to gently press on each tomato, breaking it open slightly so that some of the juice can spill out.

When you've done that to all of the tomatoes, stir them around. Replace the lid and let cook for the last ten minutes, jostling them every couple of minutes.

While the tomatoes are cooking, prepare the onions. Add 1 tablespoon EVOO and 1 tablespoon butter to a non-stick skillet. Place the skillet on the stove over medium heat. Once the butter has melted into the oil, add your onion ring slices.

These are going to cook for about twenty minutes as well, until they become translucent and slightly golden. Stir them around occasionally as they cook to make sure they don't burn. At the ten minute mark add 1/4 teaspoon salt & 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

When the tomatoes have finished cooking, remove them from the stove and place them on a flat surface that can stand the heat, like a wooden cutting board. Take off the lid and gently squish the tomatoes using a potato masher or the back of a fork. Be careful when doing this because the liquid inside the tomatoes will be very hot and will squirt out at you. Learned that lesson the hard way! Ouch!

Once the tomatoes are all squished, set them aside to cool until you're ready to assemble your pizza.

By now the onions should be done. Place a couple paper towels over a dinner plate and then scoop the onions out of your pan and onto the paper towels to soak up some of the fat.

Use that same pan to cook the mushrooms. Place it back on the stove over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon EVOO to the pan. Next, add the mushroom bits and drizzle one more tablespoon EVOO over top of them. Stir.

The mushrooms will need to cook for about ten minutes until they have softened. Stir occasionally.

While the mushrooms cook, roll out your pizza dough. Sprinkle the corn mean onto your clean countertop. Knead the dough to open it up and use a rolling pin to roll it out. It should end up in either a rectangle if you're going to cook the pizza on a baking sheet, or a circle if you're going to cook it on a pizza stone. (Notice mine is kind of an in-between shape! But I did manage to mold it into a circle once I got it onto the pizza stone.)

The mushrooms should be about finished by the time you've rolled out the pizza dough. Line another dinner plate with paper towels and then scoop the mushrooms on top of them to drain off some of the oil.

Last, make the olive tapenade. Place all of the olives and the garlic in a food processor.

Pulse to chop and combine the olives and garlic until it's all very fine, almost like a paste.

Time to assemble the pizza! Woohoo!

Place the crust on either your baking sheet or pizza stone. Spoon the tomatoes onto the crust and spread them around in an even layer over the entire crust, leaving about a half an inch around the edge.

Next, use a spatula to spoon out the olive tapenade over the tomatoes. Spread out in an even layer.

Then, sprinkle the onions over the tapenade. Make sure they're evenly distributed across the whole pizza. Do the same with the mushrooms.

Sprinkle the julienned basil over the top of all the other ingredients.

Finally, top the pizza with the cheese. Here's a little tip my boyfriend, Travis, taught me: put more cheese around the outter edge of the pizza and less in the center since it will all merge to the center during the cooking process. Doing it this way guarantees that you'll have an even amount of cheese around the entire pizza.

Place the pizza in the oven to cook for twenty minutes.

When the pizza is done cooking, remove it from the oven and slide it off of your cooking aparatus onto a large cutting board.

Cut the pizza into squares.

Serve hot. Salute!

Backyard Barbeque Basic

Now that summertime is finally here (I believe the summer solstice was yesterday!), our inboxes and mailboxes are crammed with invitations to backyard barbecues. The ones I am accustomed to going to are usually potluck style where everyone brings a dish to contribute to the meal. Everyone knows there are certain dishes that are backyard barbecue basics and staples - pasta salad (try this one!), fruit salad, corn on the cobb, hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecued chicken, and the ever popular potato salad.

I love making potato salad because I have been perfecting my recipe since I was in college. I think I have finally gotten it down pat, so I always offer to bring it when I'm invited to barbecues or picnics during the summer. My dad was throwing a small family barbecue at his house this past weekend, and I insisted that he sign me up to bring the potato salad (unlike he did last year! Inside joke!). I figured as long as I was making my favorite tater salad, I might as well share it with my blog readers.

Now I wouldn't say this recipe is anything fancy. It's definitely a basic potato salad recipe, but I love it all the same. I'm not a fan of hard boiled eggs in potato salads in general, so I opt to leave them out when I make mine. I also like to leave the skin on the potatoes. I like the texture the skin adds to the dish and it also makes life a lot easier when you don't have to peel a bunch of potatoes! Another thing I like about this salad is that I use two different kinds of mustard. When I was in college in South Carolina, there was a restaurant that served the BEST tuna fish sandwich I have ever tasted (The Trestle in Conway). I think the secret was that they added mustard to the tuna salad, so I decided to borrow that idea for my potato salad. I am here to tell you - it works just as well with potatoes as it did with the tuna!

So for your next backyard barbecue, you don't have to worry about what to make. Bring this potato salad recipe and it's guaranteed to be a hit!

Let's get cookin'!


Basic Potato Salad

Servings: 10-12
Prep. time: 20 minutes + 1 hour for potatoes to cool after cooking
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
3 pounds red skinned potatoes, skin on, cubed
1/2 cup mayo
3 teaspoons spicy brown mustard
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons dry dill
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
pinch of ground red pepper (cayenne)
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

Place a large pot filled about half-full with water on the stove over high heat. Put the potato cubes in the water and bring to a boil.

After the potatoes have been cooking for about 20 minutes, test some to make sure they're fork tender. They should still have some firmness to them; they shouldn't be completely mushy.

Drain the potatoes into a colander in the sink and then place the colander over the pot you cooked the potatoes in so that the residual heat will dry off the potatoes.

After they have sat there for two minutes or so, place the potatoes in a serving bowl and then put it in the fridge to cool.

Leave them in the refrigerator to cool for about an hour. You want them to completely cool off before dressing them.

After they've completely cooled, dress them in the same bowl you will be serving them. Add the mayo & mustards and stir to fully combine and incorporate them into the potatoes.

Then add the salt, pepper, celery salt, dill, and cayenne. Stir to combine.

When all is combined an stirred in, use a damp paper towel to wipe down the inside of the bowl so that it looks nice and clean for serving.

After it's all cleaned up, sprinkle the top of the salad with the paprika and smoked paprika.

Place back into the fridge until you're ready to serve. Serve chilled alongside your other favorite barbecue favorites. Salute!

Mo'rockin' Veggies & Couscous

I have been seriously craving Moroccan food lately for some reason. What's the best thing to do when you're craving something? Make it yourself! That's what I like to do anyway... especially since I have this here food blog ;-)

The first time I ever had Moroccan food was in Morocco actually. I spent some time in Spain when I was a child and we made a family trip to Gibralter and then took a ferry across the Strait of Gibralter to Tangier, Morocco. I was small when we were there and there were crowds of street vendors surrounding and hounding us everywhere we went, so I didn't exactly have the best time in Tangier. As a child, that was scary. The greatest part of the visit for me was the very calm and welcoming restaurant our tour guide took us to for lunch. I can still smell the aroma of mint in the air and see how they poured the mint tea for us (much like this). So when my dad and I traveled to Miami, FL, my senior year of high school to assess a college I was considering attending and we passed a Moroccan restaurant, I insisted we try it since I had such fond memories of the restaurant in Morocco I visited as a kid. And that is where the inspiration for the following recipe was born.

I can't recall the name of the restaurant in Miami, or even where it was, but I do remember being so impressed with the meal I ate there that I still consider it some of the tastiest food I have ever had. I loved it so much that I decided to figure out how to make it myself when I got home. This recipe comes pretty close, actually, and that is why I am proud to share it with you today.

This recipe includes couscous, which looks sort of like some funky kind of grain or rice, but it is actually a pasta. Some people aren't fans of couscous (which I don't understand - it tastes like pasta to me!), but if you've never used it before, give it a try. And if you've had it before and don't care for it, I say still give this recipe a shot. Try it one more time, for me. I mean the simple fact that it's so easy and fast to prepare should convice you that you need to be a fan!

You will note that I use turmeric in this recipe, which is traditionally a spice used in Indian cooking. I love turmeric and it is very good for you, so I tend to use it in a variety of recipes. The amount used here is small, so the finished product still tastes like a Moroccan dish and not an Indian one.

Before we get started, I want to give a shout out to two very special people who are celebrating birthdays today! My dad's girlfriend, Elaine, and my friend Grace's son, Paxton, who is celebrating his very first birthday today! Happy Birthday guys!

OK, let's get cookin'!


Moroccan Style Veggies with Couscous

Servings: 3
Prep. time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Veggies
5 1/2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
1 medium sweet onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon salt, sea or grey
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon powdered yellow curry
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/3 cup vegetable stock
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 small head broccoli, cut into small florets
1 teaspoon fresh mint, chopped

For the Couscous
1 cup water
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon powdered yellow curry
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of salt
3/4 cup dry couscous

Heat a skillet (that has a matching lid) on the stove over medium-low heat. Add 4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil. Add the carrots and sweet potato to the skillet. Toss to coat them in the oil and then allow to cook for about five minutes on their own.

Next, add the onion. Stir to distribute it amongst the potatoes and carrots. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper.

Now add in your spices. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of the powdered yellow curry, 1/8 teaspoon of the ground cinnamon, along with all of the turmeric and crushed red pepper flakes. Stir to coat the veggies with the spices.

Place a lid over the skillet and let it simmer for five minutes. After five minutes, remove the lid and add the veggie stock and raisins to the mixture. Stir. Place the lid back on and cook for ten minutes.

After ten minutes, add the broccoli florets. At this time we're also going to add the last bit of our ground cumin and powdered yellow curry, which should be 1/4 teaspoon of each. Stir to combine and then place the lid back on and cook for five more minutes.

While the veggies are finishing up, prepare the couscous.

Place the water in a medium sized pot that has a lid. Add all of the spices designated for the couscous, which should be: 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/4 teaspoon powdered curry, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Also add the 2 teaspoons EVOO at this time.

Stir the mixture, place the pot on the stove over high heat, and bring the water to a boil.

Once the water is boiling, add the couscous, stir, place the lid over the pot, and remove from the heat. Let stand for five minutes with the lid on.

Back to the veggies real quick. Once the broccoli has been cooking covered for five minutes, remove the lid and turn the burner off.

After the couscous has stood covered for five minutes, remove the lid and fluff it with a fork. Do so by pressing the back of the fork into the couscous. Stir.

Scoop a large spoonful of couscous onto the center of your serving plate. Spoon some veggies on top of the couscous.

Drizzle about 1/2 teaspoon EVOO over each serving of the couscous and veggies. Sprinkle all the tops with a bit of cinnamon and 1/3 of the chopped mint.

Serve with some hot or iced mint tea and enjoy! Salute! Or as they say in Morocco, saha wa'afiab!

Farmers' Market French Toast

Every spring I look forward to the beginning of farmers' market season in the D.C. metro area. The county I live in hosts a farmers' market every day of the week where farmers from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia come to sell their products and produce. I frequent the one held on Tuesdays, usually with my farmers' market buddy, Paloma. Last summer I decided to use my weekly trips to the market to inspire meal creations. I would buy whatever ingredients struck my fancy, looked interesting, or smelled good and create a recipe around them. I would go in with no preconceived notions of what I wanted to make - I let the produce make that decision for me. It was not only tasty but really fun, thus I decided to do it again this year.

So for the rest of the season, I'm going to do a regular feature on my blog about the meals I come up with as a result of my trips to the farmers' market. It won't always be a weekly thing but you'll be able to recognize these special entries by the titles: they will all start with "Farmers' Market..." Pretty easy, right?

For the first Farmers' Market feature, I'm going to share with you a recipe for French toast. This recipe was not only inspired by my first trip to the market this season, but by a local restaurant as well. The Carlyle is probably the most well-known restaurant in my neighborhood, and with good reason. The food is fantastic! My favorite meal to consume there would have to be brunch. They have crabcakes Benedict, omelettes, but MY absolute favorite thing is the French toast. It's coated in finely ground granola (I know this because a friend and I were so curious one time, we had to ask!), which makes it so sweet and crunchy, it's impossible to not finish the entire plate full. I have made my own homemade version of this before, but my trip to the farmers' market encouraged me to try again with some new components and ingredients.

The Atwater Breads stand was selling a bread that I nor Paloma had ever heard of. It was called struan. According to the merchant, struan is a type of Irish harvest bread and is great for toast. When I heard her say that, I immediately thought of French toast and my favorite recipe from The Carlyle. I decided to use this new (to me) bread for some French toast and promptly picked up some fresh, organic strawberries to slice on top. While perusing the rest of the market, we came across a stand selling jams, fruit butters, pies, and honey. The merchant there told us that his best seller was a low sugar blackberry butter and shared a spoonful with us to taste. I was sold! I bought a jar and decided to use it to make a fruit compote by combining it with the strawberries. My French toast was coming together nicely!

I pulled a few ingredients from my fridge and cabinet to complete the recipe, and the result was this decadent meal perfect for any homemade brunch. It is almost like a dessert so get your sweet tooth ready!

If you can't find struan, not to worry. Use Texas toast or any sweet bread you like - such as challah (which is what I usually use for French toast) or a friend recommended Hawaiian bread.


I am *so* excited to share this one with you! Let's get cookin'!


Granola Crusted French Toast with Berry Compote

Before we get started I would like to share a trick for some prep work. Since the strawberries I got are organic and from the farmers' market, I wanted to wash them to make sure any mold spores are killed before putting them in the food. I learned this trick from, where else? Pinterest.

You simply fill a big sealable baggie with ten parts water and one part white vinegar. Put the berries in the mixture and toss them around.

Then drain them into a colander and rinse with cold water. You can do this as soon as you get home from the market, dry them off, pop them in the fridge, and then they're ready to use when you're ready to eat or cook them. This works with all berries, not just strawberries. Pretty sweet, huh?

OK, back to the recipe...


Servings: 1
Prep. time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
10 small strawberries, sliced
6 teaspoons blackberry butter/jam
1/4 cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
3/4 cup plain granola
3 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1 egg
2 half-inch slices of bread
4 teaspoons butter
1/4 cup maple syrup


Place the sliced strawberries and blackberry butter/jam in a small pot on the stove over low heat. Stir so that the butter mixes in with the berries. Leave to simmer while you're melting the chocolate and making the French toast.

Speaking of melting the chocolate, do so after you get the fruit compote cooking. Heat it in a double boiler set-up, like we did here.

Start putting together the French toast. Pre-heat a non-stick or cast iron skillet over medium heat so that it's ready to use as soon as you're prepared to cook the French toast.

Place the granola in a large plastic baggie with a seal. Seal the baggie closed and place it between a folded kitchen towel. Using a meat tenderizer, hammer the granola until it's broken down to about half the size grains it was to begin with.

Open the baggie and add the cinnamon, ginger, brown sugar, and regular sugar. Seal the baggie once again and shake to combine all of the ingredients. Open the baggie and dump the granola mixture onto a dinner plate.

On a second dinner plate, crack one egg and use a whisk to scramble it.

Place your slices of bread one at a time in the egg to coat them. Flip the slices over and make sure each side is completely covered in the scrambled egg.

Next, use tongs to transfer each egg-coated slice of bread to the plate with the granola. Gently press the bread into the granola using the flat side of the tongs. Flip the slice over and coat the other side.

Once both sides of the bread slices are covered in the granola mixture, they're ready to be cooked. Place one teaspoon of butter into your pre-heated skillet and allow it to melt. Move the butter around with a spatula to coat the bottom of the pan.

Once the butter is melted, immediately place your coated bread slices in the pan. Let it cook for about three minutes. When it's ready to flip over, add another teaspoon of butter to the pan. Flip it over and allow to cook on that side for three minutes.

While the French toast is cooking, use this time to check on the fruit compote and the melting chocolate. Give them both a stir. They should both be ready by the time the toast is ready, so turn both burners off. Remove the compote from the heat.

Warm the maple syrup in the microwave in 15 second intervals until it's liquified.

Once each side of both of your French toast slices are golden brown and toasty, remove them from the skillet and place them on your serving plate. Pour the heated-up maple syrup over the toast.

Next, spoon the compote over the toast - use as much or as little as you want. (Leftovers would be great over vanilla ice cream as dessert at the end of the day!)

Last, use a spoon to drizzle the melted chocolate over the toast. I know it looks like kind of a hot mess in this picture, but whatever - it tastes insanely delicious!

Serve alongside some bacon or fruit salad (for me it was filling by itself!) and enjoy. Salute!