Eggplant Caviar Pizza

I believe we have already talked about eggplant caviar on these pages, briefly, but I think it deserves a little more attention. I have no idea where this sassy condiment came from, but if you are friends with eggplant, then it can work its way into your menu in lots of ways: as a dip, as a spread for sandwiches, as a base for pizza, as a sauce for pasta (with a little added pasta water), or even as a flavor booster for everything from stuffed vegetables to soups to sauces. Just keep it in your fridge and dump a spoonful (or seven) into whatever you've got going.

What you're gonna do is roast some roughly chopped vegetables, then puree them all together. You'll end up with a smooth, paste-like substance that you can stash in the fridge for any future needs. Luckily, when we wanted last-minute pizza for lunch recently, I remembered this pizza-like crust we had made before and the caviar hanging out on my refrigerator shelf. Lunch in 15 minutes. Brilliant.

Eggplant Caviar Pizza

serves 1-2; takes 40 minutes, including roasting of vegetables--much less if your caviar is already made

For the caviar:

1 medium eggplant, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

1 red pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces

1 medium red onion, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

2 cloves garlic, minced

olive oil, salt, and pepper

2 Tbsp tomato paste

1 Tbsp chopped parsley (opt.)

• Preheat oven to 425º. Toss vegetables with garlic and plenty of S&P in 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil, enough to coat. Spread on a sheet pan and roast for 20-25 minutes, until the eggplant is soft.
• Toss roasted veggies into a food processor. Add tomato paste and parsley; process until smooth. Thin with olive oil as needed if it seems too thick. It should be the consistency of a creamy dip.

For pizza:

1 recipe quick pizza crust

1/3-1/2 cup eggplant caviar

1/2 cup mozzarella (grated or fresh, sliced)

1/4 cup parmesan, grated

2 Tbsp chopped onion

1 Tbsp fresh parsley

• Prepare stove and crust according to instructions here. Once you have cooked crust on first side and flipped, spread with eggplant caviar, sprinkle with cheese and toppings, and cover with a lid or foil to finish cooking.

Squash "Pizza"

What to do with all that summer squash lying around? What to do, what to do...

This is the point in the summer when gardens and refrigerators nationwide are overflowing with zucchini and squash. No matter how many times this happens, each ensuing year we magically forget and plant just as many seeds--if not more--as last year. And then for a month, it's all we can do to come up with ways to down it: squash pancakes, zucchini ice cream, gratins, frittatas--the resulting creativity is directly proportional to the amount of produce rotting in your vegetable drawer.

This summer squash "pizza crust" strategy was quite good in theory, but was not (for me) so good in execution. I can think of a number of reasons for this, but I prefer to blame it on the recipe. Except I kind of didn't follow the recipe.

The concept is all over the 'net (see here for the most oft repeated example) and seems to be some sort of diet strategy for replacing bread in one's meal. Phooey is all I have to say to that. It involves shredded squash, some flour and egg for binding, and a flipping strategy that I left out but might just be necessary, I can say in hindsight.

I just pressed the "dough" into a cake pan, baked it, topped it, and baked it some more. It seems if you get sassy an flip the baked "crust" out, then top and double bake, you might achieve something more akin to a congealed mass. Ours was congealed, but still pretty mushy, though the flavors were great. Maybe you can mess with it and give me some suggestions?

Summer Squash "Pizza"

serves 2; start-to-finish, about 1 hour

2 cups shredded squash or zucchini

1/3 cup flour (I used whole wheat)

1/3 cup grated cheese (I used gruyere, yum, but you could use a combination of parmesan and mozzarella if you want, like the original recipe calls for)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 medium clove garlic, grated

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil

salt and pepper

1. Sprinkle some salt over the shredded squash and let sit in a colander in your sink for about half an hour. This will get rid of a lot of moisture. Preheat your oven to 350º.
2. Squeeze water from squash and combine with remaining ingredients (reserving 2 Tbsp basil). Press into well-greased baking receptacle: I used 9-inch cake pan which made a great thickness. Maybe you just want to mound it on a cookie sheet, I don't know. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until edges begin to brown and mixture is firm.
3. The step I didn't do: flip crust out onto another cookie sheet or the like, brush with oil and bake 5 minutes more.
4. Up the temperature in your oven to 450º. Top your "pizza crust" with thin slices of (preferably heirloom) tomatoes and parmesan cheese. Bake until cheese starts to brown, 5ish minutes. Sprinkle basil over top.

Tasty white pizza + Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Everyone and their moms in the food world have been spewing about a recent book by Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Their premise sounded intriguing enough to me: you make a dough that's wetter than your usual kneaded bread, you let it rise on it's own at room temperature, then you just store it in the back of your fridge, snipping some off when you want to bake. You can take as much or as little as you want at a time, and the dough is good for almost two weeks.

Well, I finally broke down and bought the book. I cracked the spine and started scanning, and half an hour later I had read it cover to cover. I promptly marched into the kitchen and made my first "loaf," and I am now a total convert. If you like the smell, taste, or even just the idea of freshly baked bread, buy this book. If you don't trust yourself with yeast breads, buy this book. If you want to make all kinds of crusty-edged, multi-flavored, savory-and-sweet breads with seriously minimal effort, BUY THIS BOOK. Just buy it.

Now, to dinner. I used the book's European Peasant Loaf recipe for pizza dough. The recipes are written in sizable quantities, because you can mix up a bunch and bake it off for two weeks. I halved the amounts given, and it made the perfect amount for one large pizza (serves 4), or two small (serves 2). I cut off half and made just enough for me and the man.

White Pizza
(total prep/rise/cook time, about 3 hours; if you have the dough premade, only about 40 min)

Dough (European Peasant Loaf)
(adapted from Artisan Bread, total prep/rise/cook time 4 hours)
3/4 cup lukewarm water, from the tap

3/4 Tbsp yeast (active and instant are both fine)

3/4 Tbsp salt

1/4 cup rye flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

In a large bowl or food-safe container, stir together water, yeast, and salt. Add flours and stir to make a shaggy dough (you may need to wet your hands and get in there to incorporate all flour). Cover lightly and let rest at room temperature 2 hours. Seriously, that is IT. It will rise and flatten out on its own.

After 2 hours, you can either move it to the fridge and use it over the next 12 days, or cut off what you need and use it immediately.

Toppings for the pizza
This is a white pizza, which = no tomato sauce. Just plenty of olive oil and cheese.

Caramelized onions (see below)
1 head roasted garlic (see below)
5 thin spears of asparagus
1 baby yukon or fingerling potato, thinly sliced
1/2 cup grated manchego, parmesan, asiago, monterey jack or some combination of the above cheeses
1 Tbsp fresh thyme

To caramelize onions (the cheater way), take 4 medium red onions and slice thin. Place in a microwave-safe bowl and cover with a microwave safe plate. Cook on full power 15 minutes, stirring halfway through. Heat a small skillet with about 1 Tbsp of oil and add partially cooked onions plus a healthy pinch of salt. Stir to coat. Then add 2 Tbsp each of: white wine, water, white vinegar, and brown sugar. Sprinkle in some thyme if you have it. Stir until most of moisture has evaporated. Set aside.

To roast garlic, take 1 head of garlic and slice the whole thing in half. Slather in olive oil, then wrap in foil. Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes at 400º. If not cooked, return to oven or squeeze the cloves out into a skillet and finish there. [This can be done in large quantities and/or ahead of time. Store roasted garlic, wrapped, in the fridge.] In a small bowl, squeeze out the roasted cloves and add a drizzle of oil and a sprinkle of salt. Using a fork, mash it into a paste.

To cook:

20 minutes before baking time, preheat the oven with your pizza stone** to 500º. Flour the surface of the stored dough, snip off about half, and place it on a well floured counter top. Form into a ball, then either roll or stretch into a 10-inch circle. Allow to rest until oven is ready.

When your oven and stone are heated, carefully pull out the pizza stone and awkwardly move the dough onto the stone (it will start to cook immediately, don't be frazzled). Working quickly, smear the garlic paste all over the dough. Then layer caramelized onions, half the cheese, the asparagus and potatoes [toss them in oil first!], and the other half of cheese. Drizzle olive oil over the whole thing. Return to the oven until cooked through, about 15 minutes.

When it's done, sprinkle with fresh thyme, slice, and eat up.

***If you think you're going to be a regular pizza eater, or if you want to make super crusty bakery-style bread, get a pizza stone. You heat it up with the oven, so when the dough hits the hot stone it immediately begins to form a crust. This is the easiest (only?) way to get that crust in a home kitchen. You can get a nice one online or, I've heard, you can just buy a quarry tile from your local hardware store for a lot cheaper.

Homemade pizza in 20 minutes (no yeast required!)

Tonight we discovered a good, last minute stand-in for pizza crust if you don't feel like (or secretly fear the awesome and inexplicable power of) yeasted crust made from scratch. Instead of yeast, it uses a combination of baking powder and beer, which also adds a nice kick. It cooks on the stovetop, right in your hot pan. Could not be simpler.

Except that there's a food processor involved. As usual, you can absolutely make this recipe processor-less, just do some stretches before hand.

Pizza night (like salad night and pasta night) is usually my excuse to clean out the vegetable drawer and dump it on a tomato-ey round of dough. Tonight was no exception. Take yesterday's leftover barbecue pork, throw on some cabbage, green onions, sliced zucchini, and sprinkle it all with zesty jalapeno monterey jack. Maybe your leftovers don't sound like mine, but rest assured, a jarred tomato sauce and cheese will do you just fine. But let this be a lesson, you can put anything on a pizza. This crust recipe makes 2 individual-size pizzas (or one big mother if you have the badass, 80-lb. griddle/grill we do).

Speedy Stovetop Pizza Crust

(c/o Cook's Country)

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup beer (a nice, light lager)

1 Tbsp olive oil

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, powder, sugar, and salt. With the motor running, add the beer and olive oil. Let run until it starts to clear sides and forms a ball, about 30 seconds. Take it out, wrap it in plastic, let it rest 10 minutes.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat with a little bit of oil. Divide the dough into 2 pieces and roll each into a 9-inch circle. Place one circle at a time into the pan and cook 3-4 minutes, popping any bubbles that might appear with a fork. Flip 'er and layer your toppings, then cover with foil or a lid to the pan. In a mere 5 minutes, you will have delicious pizza! (Then you have to do it all over again with the second one, but it'll be just as good, promise!)