Red Onion and Cherry Tomato Pizza

Dear Devon,

There are some combinations of flavors that should be repeated, and repeated often. For me, red onion and fresh cherry tomatoes with roasted garlic is one of those unbeatable combinations. About two weeks ago, I walked past an artisanal pizza shop. A fresh tray of hot pizza topped with red onions and cherry tomatoes had just been set in the display window. The clean white tiled interior and chalkboard menu drew me into the shop. It was dangerously close to dinnertime, but I bought a slice, anyway, and walked home munching on warm pizza.

Fingers barely wiped clean of grease, I thought to myself: I can do this, and I can do it better. I set a frozen ball of pizza dough out to defrost and made a mental list of ingredients: cherry tomatoes, red onion, garlic, and basil.

Don’t expect to get the most scrumptious results without using the best quality ingredients. Lately, I have been getting some delicious red cherry tomatoes from the local market. Sweet and bright, these tomatoes are great in salads, sauces, or as a refreshing snack. I have taken to eating them cold, straight out of the fridge. My other recent luxury is fresh basil– I was planning to make a big batch of pesto– so a few big leaves made it onto my pizza, as well. A few slices from a wedge of raclette cheese added that last touch to the rich flavors fo the pizza. Requests for a second round have already been recorded!

Red Onion and Cherry Tomato Pizza

Pizza dough
1 red onion
5 cherry tomatoes, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, smashed and sliced
¼ to ½ cup tomato sauce
cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface, forming a large disk. Sprinkle a bit of cornmeal on the pizza board and set the prepared dough on top. Spread a generous spoonful of tomato sauce over the dough. Top with thinly sliced red onions and garlic. Next, top with cheese and tomatoes.

Bake in the oven until golden brown and the cheese is nicely melted, about 15 minutes.

Pizza Dough Part II: Mushroom and Garlic

Dear Devon,

Ever since I discovered how easy it is to make fresh pizza dough, I have made pizza for lunch and dinner several times. I am surprised that I never thought to try it before. How foolish of me, to have avoided yeast-based recipes simply for fear of pulling dense, unleavened bricks from the oven!

While the process of making dough is a constant, toppings offer a freedom of imagination almost unparalleled since the “recipe” for fried rice. Of course, there is the standard use of tomato sauce and cheese, but beyond that… the possibilities are endless. Rummaging through the fridge has produced a lengthy list of unusual, but delicious combinations. In a pinch, I have used smashed garlic and onions. It was all I had in the house. It was delicious, though gum was helpful after lunch. The roasted garlic gave the pizza a surprisingly strong smell and a hint of burnt sweetness. Why isn’t this a standard topping?


Picking my own toppings is definitely the best part of making pizza at home. I don’t limit myself to the ones that you can find in pizzeria display cases. I’ve found success with a variety of toppings both in combination and by themselves. Thinly sliced eggplant rounds, goat cheese, mushrooms, spring onions, rosemary, fresh tomato, and of course, garlic, just to name a few. But don’t let me inhibit your imagination!

P.S. You’ll notice that I’m using a paella pan as a pizza board. I like to think that living in Spain is taking my resourcefulness to new heights.


Mushroom and Garlic Pizza

Prepared pizza dough, enough for a 12 inch pizza
3 to 4 white button mushrooms, sliced paper thin
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 round of fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
¼ cup tomato puree
cornmeal for dusting
salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. To get that crisp texture, make sure the oven is at temperature before putting the pizza in. Lightly sprinkle the pizza board or pan with a bit of cornmeal.

Lightly flour a work surface. Roll the dough roughly circular, adding additional flour as necessary. Carefully lift dough and place onto baking pan. Spread tomato sauce leaving a ½ inch crust. Top with cheese, mushrooms, and garlic.

Bake in hot oven for 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the crust is nicely browned. I like to turn on the broiler for about 2 minutes at the very end. I prefer my pizza slightly burned.

Pizza Dough

Dear Devon,

In recent weeks, my craving for a good slice of pizza has almost brought me to a standstill. I didn’t think I was the type who would miss a hamburger, everything bagels, and a crispy slice of New York pizza, but it turns out I am. My sister had asked me to post something on pizza. Renee is one of the few people in the entire world that I will indulge. Anyway, I wanted pizza.

My New York self six months ago must have anticipated that pizza would bring my daily routine to a halt, because I packed a photocopied pizza dough recipe from Cindy Mushet’s The Art and Soul of Baking. Although I had never tried this recipe, I have found success with many others from her book. Once I succeeded in converting English to metric, I was ready to start kneading pizza dough.
Mushet’s The Art and Soul of Baking is one of my all time favorites, but her dependence on the classic KitchenAid stand mixer disappoints me. I do not have the counter space, storage facilities, or the resources to call this irreplaceable tool my own. It would certainly be handy for making bread and whipping egg whites, but until I own that sprawling California kitchen, I’ll make do with good old arm strength.

After two anxiety attacks, I adapted the recipe to a non-mechanical process. A few practice rounds later, I streamlined the process, making fresh pizza dough a simple morning task.

Mushet’s recipe makes enough dough for 2 large pizzas. I highly recommend making the recipe in full. The dough is relatively easy to make and the results are fantastic. If you halve the recipe, which I did at first, you will regret it as soon as you finish that last bite. After dividing the dough into halves (or thirds, in fact), I make one pizza for the oven and wrap and seal the remaining dough in a ziplock bag destined for the freezer. Defrosting the dough is simple and takes only a few hours in the fridge. I also like to date whatever goes in the freezer. Sometimes, things go in and don’t come out. I don’t recommend eating that two-year-old lamb curry in the back corner of your freezer.

Fresh Pizza Dough
(adapted from Cindy Mushet, The Art and Soul of Baking, p. 77-78)
makes 3 pizzas

¼ cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees F)
2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast, or 1 ¾ tsp instant yeast
3/4 cup water
2 tbsp olive oil
3 ¼ cups bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt


In a bowl, mix together yeast and warm water. Add a pinch of sugar and whisk until well blended. Wait five minutes until the mixture gets a bit frothy and milky. Add water and olive to the bowl, mixing to blend (as best you can). The mixture should smell like fresh yeast, sweet and pungent.

On a clean surface, dump out measured flour and salt. Loosely blend with your fingers. Pull the flour together into a roughly pyramidal mound. Make a large well in the center, pushing flour outwards to create a roughly 8-inch “bowl.”

Pour the yeast mixture into the center of the well. Using a fork, slowly incorporate the flour into the mixture, continuously whisking to get rid of any lumps. Continue adding flour with the fork, moving around the base of the flour mound. When the mixture becomes too difficult to mix with the fork, begin breaching the flour walls by adding flour from the top of the wall. Work quickly or the loose dough will run all over the board. Continue to add flour until a rough dough forms. It should be sticky, pungent, and roughly textured. Work into a lump and set in a bowl to rest for 20 minutes. Cover with a lint free cloth.

On a well floured surface, turn out dough. With floured hands, knead for 8 to 10 minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic. Add more flour as needed. It is a fairly resilient dough. A touch more flour will not affect its final outcome. Set in a lightly oiled bowl to rise for 40 to 60 minutes. Cover with a lint free cloth.

At this point, the dough can be frozen or refrigerated for future use. If destined for the freezer, be sure to divide the dough into halves, wrap in plastic wrap and place into an airtight ziplock bag. Mushet says the dough will stay good up to one month in the freezer. I recently made an eggplant and olive pizza using the frozen dough. It turned out great, just plan a few hours for defrosting and you’re all set.

Fig and Cheese Pizza

Hi Devon,

Eating the contents of your fridge is a daunting and unpleasant task. First, what do you do with your billion jars of condiments: mayo, hot sauces, relishes, jams, hoisin sauce, curries, and mustards? Then, how do you turn the contents of the fridge into a dish, let alone an entire meal? The fridge, a stronghold for all leftovers, frigid life-giver, perpetually extends the stay of leftovers, preservative-filled condiments, dairy products, and fruits. What happens when all this food must be consumed within a short period of time?

My fridge contains the ingredients to cook an array of international dishes. In one week, it will hold green onions, plums, squash, bok choy, milk, rhubarb, cucumbers, and miso paste. The variety challenges my inventiveness and skill, especially towards the end of the week. I am mindful of its contents, and spend the majority of my commute musing on the numerous possibilities.

Tomorrow, our apartment will be blessed with a new fridge, three inches taller, two inches wider, and one inch deeper than our current one. The difference in size seems minuscule, but the novelty of a new appliance has overshadowed the inconvenience of emptying the ice box. I was amazed how quickly fridge raiding went from exciting to strangely chore-like. Tucked in the back, containers of expired yogurt and boxes of leftover your-guess-is-as-good-as-mine went directly into the trash. Half empty / half full jars of mustard, the ones you keep buying because you can never find them, appear like a broad shouldered army ranked by flavor: Dijon, honey, Jack Daniels (!?), spicy, and standard yellow. With the exception of mayonnaise, most sealed jars will survive a few hours on the counter, especially on a crisp autumn night.



The main concern was perishable items, mainly cheese and fruit. I probably spend half my paycheck on cheese, so throwing it out was not an option. I pulled out a box of figs and some olive pita and made an impromptu pizza. A carton of Ben and Jerry's ice cream was dessert.

Olives, figs, and cheese are a natural and glorious combination. Bake until the cheese is melted and the figs are warmed through. Next time, I'm planning on adding proscuitto. I don't think it gets easier or more delicious than this. If I started a tapas bar, I could charge $12 for this (but don't tell anyone, it'll ruin the mystique).


Now the fridge is empty. But don't worry, it will soon fill up!

Fig and Cheese Pizza

Olive flatbread / pita bread
Cheese, I used a French cow's milk cheese called Tomme Noire (aged at least 21 days)
Handful of quartered figs
Salt
Black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil.

Place pita bread on foil. Top with slices of cheese, a salty cheese will work best here, and quartered figs. Finish with a liberal sprinkling of salt. Bake in the oven until the cheese is melted, 8 minutes. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper. Cut into wedges and serve warm.

Fridge off. What's for dinner?
Michelle