Pizza on the grill.

We waited to purchase a grill until we could buy a Traeger because once I tasted the deliciousness made by its wood-pellet burning self I couldn't settle for anything less. Completely worth the wait. (Costco has a Traeger special twice a year by the way.)

A few weeks ago I taught 14 12 and 13 year olds how to make homemade pizza and sauce. I tried out some new recipes and combined a few to come up with what is now my favorite of favorites. Absolutely delicious. We just made them with mozzarella on top but you can do anything you want.

I didn't plan anything for dessert and we had some dough left over so we rolled it out, grilled it, and then topped it with melted butter, cinnamon, sugar, and sweetened whipped cream. It was also amazing.

When I grill pizza I first grill my crust lightly on both sides, then remove and add toppings and return to the grill until it is done. I grill them at 450 degrees. I roll my crust very thin and use semolina to dust my rolling surface. I know the pre-grilling is done when my dough starts to puff up. Here's the recipe:

Pizza Dough

Combine the following in a bowl and stir until dissolved;

¼ c chicken stock (this doesn't taste odd in the dessert version by the way)

¾ c warm water

1 pkg dry yeast

1 T honey

1 T olive oil

Add and mix with a wooden spoon;

1 c flour

Add 2 more cups of flour and stir for 2 to 3 minutes.

Turn dough out on a floured surface and knead for 6 to 8 minutes until dough is smooth and firm. Grease a bowl with 1 T olive oil and then place dough in bowl, turning to coat with oil, cover with a towel and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Pizza Sauce

28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes (drain but reserve ¼ c liquid)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 T olive oil

¼ to ½ t salt

1/8 to ¼ t freshly ground black pepper

1 t brown sugar

3 T tomato paste

2 t dried oregano

1 t dried thyme (ground if you are bothered by texture)

¼ to ½ t fennel seed, ground

Heat olive oil in a NON REACTIVE pot just over medium heat. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant. Add all other dry ingredients and stir until fragrant. Add tomatoes and stir to coat with oil mixture and let cook for 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and ¼ c reserved tomato liquid. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, smashing tomatoes and stirring occasionally. This recipe is easily doubled and is even better the next day.

If you cannot grill your pizzas, try this trick;

Heat a griddle or skillet over medium high heat and precook your rolled out dough on each side until golden brown spots appear. Let cool and then top with sauce and toppings and bake in 500 degree oven until done.

For Lauren - Cookbooks

So here's the truth. I use my sweet cookbooks much much more than my savory cookbooks. Finding 5 to suggest for actual meals rather than meals composed of desserts was difficult. But here are four I use on a regular basis:

The Savory Way by Deborah Madison
My mom found this at DI years ago and it sat on her shelf. She gave it to me 2 years ago and it sat on my shelf. Now I use it all of the time.

Jamie's Italy by Jamie Oliver
I have 5 or so of his cookbooks but I use this one the most. His pesto recipe is perfect and we've eaten pesto pasta for 4 days in a row (because my CSA included a huge bouquet of basil last week) which is amazing considering Bryant has never liked pesto. But he loves this recipe.

Farm to Fork by Emeril Lagasse
I love his recipes. I love the ideas I get from seeing the different flavors he combines.

Sarabeth's Bakery by Sarabeth Levine
Yes, this is a dessert book. But is a recent discovery that I wish I had found years ago because she explains tricks and techniques so perfectly.

I use www.tastespotting.com the most for finding recipes. Especially now that I have a weekly CSA subscription. A few weeks ago I had 2 heads of napa cabbage that I didn't no what to do with so I just went to the website, typed napa cabbage into the search engine, and found a bunch of recipes to look through that I eventually narrowed down to two that we used later in the week.

When we lived in Nebraska and I had nothing to do and free cable I watched the Food Network a lot. And that was a great help because it exposed me to new food ideas and combinations and ingredients I hadn't heard of before. I am finally to the point where I am comfortable making up my own dishes, and I do a lot, but these are the resources I depend on.

I pick up my CSA on Wednesday and payday is Friday so the menu planning/budgeting post is to come. In the meantime here is the perfect pizza.

Pea Shoot Salad

More seasonal eating - I have pea shoots galore. Tonight we grilled some trout and served it with a simple salad of mixed greens, pea shoots, and thinly sliced radishes with this dressing:

3 T seasoned rice vinegar
1 T sesame oil
1 T honey or brown sugar
1 T soy sauce
Juice squeezed from half a lime
1 clove of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Connor drank the dressing from his bowl.

Seasonal Eating

I thought I did a pretty good job eating seasonally. I never bought tomatoes, berries, grapes, or peppers out of season. But this spring we joined a CSA and I quickly learned that my attempts at seasonal eating were pathetic. I have never eaten so many greens in my life. This past week my CSA share included mustard greens, rabe, kale, spinach, arugula, bok choy, pea shoots, and radishes. I still had baby turnips left over from the previous week so I decided to make a green soup. It was surprisingly delicious. I adapted a recipe from Deborah Madison's The Savory Way.

2 T olive oil
2 T butter
8 baby turnips, peeled and chopped or 2 medium red skin potatoes diced
1 small onion, chopped, or 2 to 3 medium leeks, thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
5 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
2 good pinches dried thyme
2 c spinach, chopped
1 c mustard greens, stems removed and chopped
1 c rabe, stems removed and chopped
2 c kale, stems removed and chopped
2 c arugula, chopped
2 qts chicken stock (I used water + better than bullion)
1/4 c cream or evaporated milk
6 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
1 T maple syrup

Warm oil and butter in a wide soup pot. Add the turnips, onion, carrot, garlic, thyme and some salt. Stir to coat, cover, and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the greens and allow them to gradually wilt down, stirring every few minutes.

When they have wilted add the stock and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer about 20 minutes. ***You can puree the soup at this point but Bryant hates pureed soups so I just left this consistency and added bacon.

While the soup is simmering fry the bacon is a dry frying pan until crispy. Add to soup with cream or evaporated milk and stir to combine. Serve with good bread.

The only way we've been able to make it through the mountain of bok choy we've received is by eating stir fry. I use quinoa cooked in chicken stock instead of rice and I chop the stems of the bok choy and tear the leaves and stir fry it with onion, garlic, ginger, shredded carrot, mushrooms, salt and pepper. I serve it with chopped peanuts or almonds, soy sauce, and crushed red pepper. Even Connor devours it.

Happy Spring.

Carrot Gnocchi and Bread

I have had one life changing gnocchi experience, one really good gnocchi experience, and many terrible gnocchi experiences. The life changing one occurred at a completely legit Italian restaurant in San Francisco where their Italian accents were still so pronounced that I could barely understand their English when they spoke to us. The really good gnocchi was at Pizzeria 712 in Orem, UT and it was a ricotta gnocchi with a creamy goat cheese sauce.

Tonight I made this gnocchi. Here are my tips:
*It says it serves 4 but I doubled the recipe and it just fed the three in our household who have advanced past baby food.
*I didn't have any Parmesan cheese so I didn't use it. I also didn't have fresh sage.
*WHEN I make this again I will make the dough in the morning instead of doing it all at once.
*I don't know why it says to boil them for 6 to 7 seconds, mine took much longer.

I made a coconut sauce to accompany them and I just made a roux with some butter, flour and Better than Bullion chicken stock mix (about 1 tsp) and once that was combined and cooked I added about 1/2 a can of light coconut milk. Once it had thickened I added just a bit of cinnamon and ginger.

I also made this bread which can be made in less than 2 hours. I made one loaf instead of three.

We rounded out our meal with some of the wilted maple spinach. Great dinner. My kitchen is now a mess.

Pinto Bean Soup

This soup doesn't sound like much, but it is very good. You just need to remember to soak your beans.

1 1/2 c dried pinto beans, soaked in water for 8 hours or overnight

Drain beans and put in a pot with 2 quarts (I never measure this) of water and slowly bring to a boil. Skim the scum off the surface and reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add 1/4 c chopped onion and some salt and simmer for an additional 30 minutes or until tender. Using an immersion blender if you are fancy like that or just a plain old blender if you haven't gotten around to purchasing an immersion blender yet (someday, someday) blend this mixture to your desired consistency. We like ours with some puree and some roughly chopped beans. Sidenote - I never use all of the liquid when I blend the soup because I think it makes it too runny. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve with:
A good dollop of creme fraiche or sour cream in each bowl
Chopped green onions
Pine Nuts (don't forget these)
Candied Bacon

Candied Bacon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put your bacon on a rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake until crispy, about 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven to cool and then crumble. You will never make bacon again without brown sugar.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Prepare:
3/4 lb sweet potato - peeled, chopped, and cooked until tender in boiling water for about 15 min

Combine in a medium bowl:
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c cornmeal
3 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t ginger

Combine in another bowl or large measuring cup:
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 to 2 c milk
2 T butter, melted
1 t vanilla
Mashed/cooked sweet potato

Blend wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Make pancakes. Serve with coconut caramel sauce or maple syrup.