Love Those Greens

Looking in my refrigerator last night I realized:

1) I have 2 gallons of kale to eat.
2) I forgot to store my last kohlrabi bulb properly and it was starting to get soft.

So, with those two vegetables in mind and a craving for pepperoni, I whipped up a quick meal. Oh, I also had a craving for olives, which... if you really like olives (which I do), you can add. But, to be honest I felt they overpowered everything else. The olive-less bites were very tasty all on their own. So, if I was to do this again, I'd just have the olives on the side. I added some whole grain crackers, slices of cheddar cheese, and some fruity red wine. When finished with some dark chocolate, it was a great (fast) meal.



Kale and Kohlrabi with Pepperoni

1 tsp black pepper olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thick
1 medium kohlrabi bulb, peeled and julienned
2 inches link pepperoni, quartered lengthwise and then sliced 1/4 inch thick
4 c kale, washed and sliced into 2 inch strips
1/2 c green onion, cut in 2 inch long pieces
salt and pepper to taste

In a cast iron pan, heat the olive oil and garlic over medium heat.
When garlic is fragrant, add kohlrabi and continue cooking, stirring rarely.
Once kohlrabi starts to turn golden, add pepperoni and continue cooking until kohlrabi is very golden.
Add kale, green onion, and salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until kale is wilted, but not soggy.
Serve while warm with cheese, crackers, and olives.

Pepperoni, Roasted Red Pepper and Mozzarella Pizza with Tomato-Mushroom Sauce

There are certain dishes that I rarely use a strict recipe for. My pizza sauces fall into this category. I do use a crust recipe, since I've found one that I love. Why mess with perfection? Well, I suppose that's too much of a simplification. It did take me a few tries before I realized that I needed to reduce my oven temperature, since it runs high. I also discovered that 5 minutes of pre-baking the crust means that I can take the pizza out of the oven as soon as the cheese is melted without the crust being undone. Returning to my sauces, though, I use a rough approximation of a recipe, but I almost never make it the same way twice. I suppose this does mean that pizza can be a little hit or miss, but it's usually a hit. This is probably why I don't bother with following recipes, even if I do write them down. This becomes a problem when friends and family request my sauce recipe. Most of them don't like "add a little this" and "just a bit of that." So, I'm going to provide the specific recipe I followed for a pizza I made earlier this week for a couple friends.

Pepperoni, Roasted Red Pepper and Mozzarella Pizza with Tomato-Mushroom Sauce

2 tbsp oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 portabella mushrooms, stems removed and finely chopped
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 tsp basil
1/8 tsp cinnamon
2 whole cloves
5 dried rosemary leaves
1 red bell pepper
1 8 inch link pepperoni, sliced thin
1 3/4 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c water
1/4 tsp sugar
1 tbsp yeast
butter or shortening for greasing
1 baseball sized ball of fresh mozzarella, sliced into about 12 pieces

Preheat oven to 500 degrees (or less if your oven runs hot).
Heat oil in a cast iron pan over medium heat.
Add onion and cook until it just starts to brown.
Add mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are glistening and have released juice.
Add tomatoes, basil, cinnamon, cloves, and rosemary leaves.
Simmer, stirring frequently, until reduces to a good spreading consistency. You don't want the sauce to be watery, since that will make your crust soggy. Turn off the sauce once it has reached the consistency you want.
While the sauce is simmering, blacken the skin of the bell pepper. To do this with an electric stove, turn a burner to high. Using an oven mitt to grasp a long pair of metal tongs, hold the bell pepper over the burner (about 1 to 2 inches from the burner). As each side blackens, set the bell pepper down and adjust the tongs grip on the pepper to expose an unblackened side.
Once the entire bell pepper is blackened, set aside to cool.
Once bell pepper is cool, cut off the stem end, slice in half lengthwise; remove seeds and slice into strips.
Heat a skillet over medium heat.
Add pepperoni slices in one layer.
Cook until pepperoni starts to curve, then flip over.
Cook on other side for 30 seconds, then remove pan from heat.
Mix flour and salt in a bowl.
In a microwavable measuring cup, heat the water for 2 1/2 minutes.
Be careful when removing water from the microwave, as it may be at boiling point and can boil over.
Add sugar to hot water and stir.
Add yeast to sugar water and stir.
Allow yeast mixture to sit for 8 minutes.
As yeast mixture is sitting, grease a jellyroll pan with butter or shortening.
Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pan and press down.
Use more butter or shortening to grease the top of the parchment paper.
Stir yeast mixture, and then pour into flour mixture.
Stir with a fork until just mixed.
Use your hand to finish mixing (you want to remove the dry parts but not over-knead the dough).
Roll dough between your hands to create a log the width of your jellyroll pan.
Place in the center of the jellyroll pan and use your finger tips to slowly and gently press the dough evenly all the way to the ends.
Bake the crust for 5 minutes.
Remove from oven, spread with sauce. Top with pepperoni, bell pepper and cheese.
Put pizza back in the oven and bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.
Slice and serve hot.

Rockin' Homemade Pizza

I have come to learn that you can learn good recipes from even the most unexpected sources. Recently I discovered that my younger brother has become quite a good cook. I don’t think he gets into quite as much experimentation as I do, but he cooks everyday. (I think it’s cool that both of my brothers have become the main cooks of their relationships, rather than falling into the gender roles that would put the “burden” of cooking on their significant others). He shared a recipe for Thai Chicken Pizza with the family, and I must say it’s pretty tasty. Our only disappointment in making it was our inability to find a decent crust.

Actually, a decent homemade pizza crust has been the holy grail of my family’s cooking adventures; it was always out of reach and sought for. As it turns out, my younger brother had found a great pizza crust recipe and I have it in my possession now. I will now add the disclaimer that my family likes thin, cracker-like crusts. That way, the toppings take the front seat in the flavor-mobile and the crust doesn’t sit in your stomach like a lump of clay.

With the new crust recipe in hand, I embarked on the adventure of making a great pizza. I winged the sauce recipe, knowing that too much of a good thing (oregano) can make for a bitter sauce, that I like sauce that is just a touch sweet and with a slight sting, and that onions and whole tomatoes were a must. We also decided to slightly cook the pepperoni in a skillet before placing on the pizza. This allowed the pepperoni to release some of its oil and increased the likelihood that it would crisp on the pizza, despite the short baking time. I venture to say that the resulting pizza was practically perfect in every way.

Rockin’ Homemade Pizza

1 pizza crust for a 9x13 inch jellyroll pan
pizza sauce (below)
½ c sliced black olives
1 ½ c shredded mozzarella cheese
enough pepperoni to cover pizza to taste

Sauce:
¼ c olive oil
½ medium onion, finely chopped
1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 rounded teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 rounded tablespoon oregano
1 c portabella mushrooms, finely diced
16 oz canned whole tomatoes, with juice
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar

Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat until hot.
Add olive oil.
When oil is hot, add onion and sauté until soft and slightly golden.
Add garlic, red pepper, and oregano and cook until fragrant.
Add portabella mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they have shrunk to half their original size.
Add tomatoes, salt, and sugar and cook, stirring, until reduced to a good sauce consistency.
*You don’t want the sauce to watery, or it will make your crust soggy.

Crust:
1 ¾ c flour
½ tsp salt
¾ c water
¼ tsp sugar
1 tbsp yeast

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl and set aside.
Heat the water in a microwaveable dish for 2 to 3 minutes, until hot but not boiling.
Add sugar to the water and stir until dissolved.
Add yeast to the water mixture, stir, and let sit for 8 minutes.
Pour ½ of the water mixture into the flour and stir.
Add remaining water mixture and stir until just combined (you can use your hands to finish the mixing).

To prepare the pepperoni:
Starting with a cold cast iron pan, add pepperoni in a single layer to the pan.
Turn burner to medium heat.
Once the pepperoni has bubbled up, remove from pan.
If you still have more pepperoni to prep, add another single layer and cook until bubbled up.
Repeat until all pepperoni has been precooked.
Drain pepperoni on paper towel until ready to use.

Pizza assembly:
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
Oil a 9x13 inch jellyroll pan and place pizza dough in the center.
Using your fingertips or a small rolling pin, gently press or roll the dough to fit the pan.
Pre-bake the crust for 4 to 5 minutes.
Remove crust from the oven and spread with pizza sauce.
Add olives, cheese, and top with pepperoni slices.
Place bake in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and slide the pizza out of the pan onto a cutting board.
Cut into pieces and serve.