De Ma Cuisine

Pizza Archive

Monday

8

June 2015

0

COMMENTS

Fennel Pizza

Written by , Posted in Baking, Cheese, Dinner, Fruit, Gluten Free, Grilling, Herbs, Kid-Friendly, Lunch, Main Dishes, Pizza, Quick and Easy, Vegetables, Vegetarian

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It can be tough to transition from one season to the next. I never quite know what I’m in the mood for… Do I still want a hearty winter veggie soup, or am I ready for snap peas and asparagus? I have a few go to dishes that make the transition a bit easier and blur the lines, if you will. Things like pasta, soup, stir fry, shepherd’s piechicken pot pie, and enchiladas all work well no matter what the season.

So does pizzaaaa!

Ridiculously well.

One of the great things about pizza is how adaptable it is. For example, you could exchange the regular crust for gluten-free, make a cauliflower crust, use corn tortillas, or even grill some eggplants and top them with sauce and veggies. You can omit the cheese, change the veggies, and add more herbs. You can grill it, bake it, or cook it in a skillet.

Hello versatility!

Today I went with the spring variation. It was perfect for what we got in the Abundant Harvest Organics box this week: fennel, carrots, and basil.

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I adapted this crust and cooking method recipe. It’s become a staple in our home. The crust freezes well and is a synch to make.

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The recipe calls for stove top cooking, then finishing in the oven. But, it’s too hot for the oven today, so I just covered it and left it on the stove for a couple of minutes.

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This allowed the veggies to soften just a bit, but they still had some crunch. If you don’t like crunchy veggies on your pizza, no problem. Just do a quick sauté before you top the pizza. You can even use the same skillet. Just wipe out any bits that are stuck to the bottom of the skillet before adding more oil and your crust.

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Here are my variations by season:

Spring

Fennel

Everything feels fresh and new, bursting with color and flavor. Depending on how early it is in spring, I may want to use thinly shaved asparagus instead of summer squash, bright green peas instead of fennel. But, because we’re actually right smack in the middle of one of these transition periods, I’m using what’s in season, and thankful for every bite.

Toppings: Summer squash, carrot, fennel.

Herbs: Basil and parsley (after cooking) and fennel fronds (before cooking).

Sauce: Olive oil and garlic.

Cheese: Cheddar and parmesan, or ricotta and parmesan.

Method: Skillet, grill, or oven.

Summer

EggplantPrep-1

During the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, I love to have a simple pizza. I would probably choose 2-3 of the toppings, so the pizza isn’t overwhelmed. I want light and easy. Serve it with a quick salad of lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and chopped almonds, with a balsamic-olive oil vinaigrette for a perfect summer treat.

Toppings: Summer squash, tomatoes, corn, bell peppers, or eggplant.

Herbs: Basil (after cooking) and thyme (before or after cooking… any time… get it?!).

Sauce: Tomato.

Cheese: Mozzarella, cheddar, or feta.

Method: Skillet or grill.

Fall

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It’s finally cooled down (ahem, maybe, depending on where you live – around here fall is the hottest time of year). The first root veggies are starting to appear. Things like beets, cozy sweaters, and hot chocolate are exciting again. For this pizza, I would go for everything listed.

Toppings: Arugula (or kale or mâche), suuuuuper thinly sliced beets, halved cherry tomatoes, and a smidge of horseradish.

Herbs: Cilantro and chives (after cooking).

Sauce: Tomato.

Cheese: Blue, mozzarella, parmesan, or feta.

Method: Oven, skillet, or grill.

Winter

ChardWraps-7

It’s cold! I want something hearty and filling.

Toppings: Really thinly sliced sweet potatoes and cauliflower, swiss chard (or spinach, mustard greens, collards, or kale)

Herbs: Rosemary (before cooking).

Sauce: Olive oil and garlic.

Cheese: Blue, parmesan, or feta.

Method: Oven or skillet.

Happy Eating!

Fennel Pizza

Yield: 2

Fennel Pizza

Ingredients

  • 2 personal sized pizza crusts
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper
  • cayenne (optional)
  • garlic, minced
  • summer squash, very thinly sliced
  • carrot, very thinly sliced
  • fennel, very thinly sliced
  • fennel fronds, torn
  • 1 C cheese, grated (cheddar and parmesan mixture)
  • fresh herbs (basil, parsley, and thyme), chopped or whole

Instructions

  1. Top crust with olive oil through cheese.
  2. Cook using your favorite method. If grilling or cooking in a skillet, cook one side for 2-3 minutes first, flip, then add toppings. Cook for 2-3 minutes more, and either cover with a lid or cover the grill and turn the heat to low or off and cook for about 1-2 minutes more.
  3. Remove from pan and top with fresh herbs.
http://www.de-ma-cuisine.com/fennel-pizza/

Monday

10

November 2014

0

COMMENTS

Apple Rosemary Flatbread

Written by , Posted in Appetizers, Baking, Bread, Breakfast, Cheese, Fruit, Herbs, Kid-Friendly, Lunch, Pizza, Quick and Easy, Sides, Snacks, Vegetarian

AppleRosemaryFlatbread-1

I love when it’s apple season. I think I say that every season about something. I love the changing of the seasons and the promise of something new that comes with it.

I especially love fall.

There are things to love and things to be ready to be done with no matter what season we’re in. But, after a long summer, today’s cool breeze and cloudy sky is a literal breath of fresh air. Combine that with an apple or pear, eaten out of hand, while at my desk editing photos, and that makes for quite a nice fall day.

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The day I made this flatbread it was still hot and sunny. Today I want to eat all the soup.

This flatbread would go nicely with soup. Apples pair nicely with winter squash, so this might be delicious alongside a Vegan Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, a Browned Butter and Four Cheese Broccoli Soup, or a Leek and Potato Soup. I always want bread with my soup. Often it’s some sliced homemade baguettes with salted butter. But, sometimes I want bread with a little bit more. This flatbread meets that requirement.

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Apples are usually just eaten raw at our house. We love them as a snack. They’re full of fiber and are a great way to tide me over when I’m already starving and it’s not nearly time for the next meal.

In this case though, they’re thinly sliced and then chopped.

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They’re going to top this lavash (you could also use whole wheat or regular tortillas, or a par-baked pizza crust). But first, some olive oil.

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Then a good handful of cheddar. Cheddar is probably my favorite cheese to pair with apples. And to eat with some crackers after a good workout… or any time of the day or night.

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The cheese is topped with rosemary, salt, and pepper, then baked for a little bit, just to get things started.

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Raisins are added about two minutes before the end of the baking time. They get just a bit soft and warm.

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And that’s it. Easy, peasy, apple peel… I dunno.

Happy Eating!

Apple Rosemary Flatbread
Recipe Type: Appetizer, Side, Bread, Snack
Author: Rachel Oberg – De Ma Cuisine
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 7 mins
Total time: 12 mins
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients
  • 1 flatbread or large whole wheat tortilla (I used lavash, you could also use a par-baked pizza crust)
  • 1 t olive oil
  • to taste salt
  • 1 small apple, thinly sliced and chopped
  • to taste pepper
  • 1/4 to 1/2 t dried (or 1 t fresh) rosemary, chopped
  • 1/4 C cheddar cheese, grated
  • 1-2 T raisins
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
  2. Top lavash with olive oil and brush over surface. Sprinkle with salt. Top with apple, rosemary, pepper, and cheese. Bake for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese has mostly melted.
  3. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with raisins. Return to the oven and bake for 2 minutes more.
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Monday

4

August 2014

1

COMMENTS

Summer Pizza

Written by , Posted in Baking, Cheese, Dinner, Fruit, Herbs, Lunch, Main Dishes, Pizza, Quick and Easy, Vegetables, Vegetarian

SummerPizza-8Eeets thyme fur peeeetsa.

Sorry. Kinda. It’s been one of those days. Sometimes stress is released in the form of weirdness.

And managed by eating pizza.

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Cutting veggies is therapeutic too. I have lots of cutting boards, and two are designated for onions and garlic. My beautiful new cutting board is not one of them. I never want anything sweet to accidentally taste like raw onions. Nope. Yuck. So I have two cutting boards with an X on the back that are special and a little bit stinky. 

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We had a similar pizza to this the other week. Ahem, I did. Tim doesn’t agree that squash belongs on a pizza. He will eat it in pretty much anything else though, so it’s cool. He made his own personal pizza and I made mine. Mine had lots of veggies. His didn’t. They both tasted good.

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I used Alana’s recipe for the pizza crust (from her cookbook). You can use hers, or whatever you would normally use. I like my crust thin and crispy. If you like it thicker and chewier, adjust the recipe accordingly.

Because of my taste for crispness, I like to par-bake the crust a bit before topping it.

Par-bake means to partially bake it (as par-cook means to partially cook).

I topped it with a bit of olive oil and some herbs, because I wanted two layers of herby flavor. (Helpful tip: If you need some bread to go accompany a dish and you don’t have a baguette on hand, you could just all the way bake the crust and eat it like a sort of focaccia bread.)

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Then it’s topped with some tomato sauce (it’s also great with olive oil if you don’t like sauce), and more herbs.

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Lots of different veggies, like kale, zucchini, corn, and tomato (tomato is a fruit, but in this case let’s pretend it’s a veggie since it’s acting like one), but not so many that it weighs down the pizza. It’s still a light summer meal.

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I opted for some parmesan and an aged cheddar. Because it’s what I have in the fridge.

I’d planned to use feta, but it’s smelled baaaaad. There’s stinky cheese and then there’s steeeeenky cheese.

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It’s topped with a bit of basil (from my garden – all the basil that I got as an add-on from AHO last week is gone gone gone). And as soon as the last photo was taken I ate as much as I could, as quickly as possible because I was starving! And then I ate it again today before I typed up this post.

Happy Eating!

Summer Pizza
Recipe Type: Main, Dinner, Pizza
Author: Rachel Oberg – De Ma Cuisine
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
Summer squash, corn, and tomatoes all top this light summer pizza.
Ingredients
  • 2 t olive oil, divided
  • 1 pizza crust
  • 2 t dried Italian herbs (mixture of basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, and parsley), divided
  • to taste salt
  • to taste pepper
  • 1/4 C tomato sauce (optional – could also just use olive oil)
  • 12-15 slices zucchini/summer squash
  • 8-10 tomato slices
  • 2 T raw corn (frozen is fine)
  • 1/4 C kale (spinach, chard, collard greens), cut in a chiffonade (small ribbons)
  • 2 T green onions, chopped
  • 1/2 C cheese (parmesan and cheddar), grated
  • to taste salt
  • to taste pepper
  • fresh basil, for topping
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 450F.
  2. Grease pizza pan with 1 t olive oil. Press out crust onto pan so it’s fairly thin. Top crust with remaining olive oil, and sprinkle with 1 t Italian herbs, salt, and pepper. Bake for about 5 minutes (optional – you can bake it all at once too).
  3. Top par-baked crust with sauce, remaining Italian herbs, veggies, cheese, salt, and pepper. Bake an additional 7 minutes (or until crust is to desired crispness and cheese is melted – it will be longer for thicker crusts).
  4. Serve topped with fresh basil.

Wednesday

26

February 2014

1

COMMENTS

Mushroom and Prosciutto Flatbread – for AJ

Written by , Posted in Appetizers, Baking, Brunch, Cheese, Dinner, Fruit, Herbs, Lunch, Meat, Pizza, Pork, Quick and Easy, Sides, Snacks, Vegetables

MushroomProsciuttoFlatbread-4Alexandra Joy is a busy new mom. She has a four month old daughter named Clover (hello cutest name ever!) and is the owner of Pink & Honey Event Styling. Yet she still makes the time to love on friends like me and tell people about my work. So I thought, what better dish for a tired mama than a quick flatbread?!

You need some cheese, mushrooms, and prosciutto.

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Lemon, basil, and walnuts are a must. They transform this flatbread from “pretty great” to “putthisonthemenueveryweekforrealforrealforreal”.

It all goes onto a thin pizza crust that’s topped with some olive oil and salt. A tired mom could do that, right? (Seriously, I’m asking. I have no idea.)

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This can be an appetizer (hello Oscar party!), a snack (what I’ve been eating all day), or a light dinner (falling asleep at the table is totally allowed).

I made it this morning. I’d already eaten breakfast (ok, like two hours before, but still…) and I couldn’t stop eating. I only had two slices, but I’m confident that I could have devoured two or three more the entire thing. Seriously good food.

The only problem is that I don’t want to share… I guess it’s a good thing that AJ lives about 1,150 miles away (actually, I’d rather she lived closer – I’d share).

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I’m thankful for great friends and good food.

Happy Eating!

Mushroom and Prosciutto Flatbread
Recipe Type: Pizza, Flatbread, Oven, Appetizer, Dinner, Party Food
Author: Rachel Oberg – De Ma Cuisine
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients
  • 1 pizza crust
  • olive oil
  • to taste salt
  • to taste pepper (optional)
  • 3/4 C mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 1/3 C (3 slices) prosciutto, chopped
  • 1/2 C gruyere cheese, grated
  • 1/2 C Parmesan cheese, grated
  • 1/4 C walnuts, chopped
  • fresh basil, chiffonade (or sliced into ribbons), for serving
  • lemon wedges, for serving
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven according to pizza crust recipe (I cooked it at 450F).
  2. Thinly roll crust on a greased baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with cheese (reserving 1/4 C), mushrooms, prosciutto, walnuts, and remaining cheese.
  3. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until crust is to desired crispiness and cheese is melted.
  4. Serve topped with basil and a squeeze of lemon.

I used Alana’s crust from her The Homemade Pantry cookbook (p.172) and it was just perfect. I made it the night before and (as instructed) let it rise for about 15 hours. Fabulous!

Monday

17

February 2014

2

COMMENTS

Veggie Pizza with Artichoke Hearts

Written by , Posted in Baking, Cheese, Dinner, Herbs, Lunch, Main Dishes, Pizza, Vegetables, Vegetarian

VeggiePizzaWithArtichokes-2

Things I learned today:

The smoke detector will go off when the oven is at 500F and there’s a pizza stone in there.

Artichokes may be best on pizza.

When I’m tired I type things like, “Almost anything is better when it tastes like garbage.”

I like one of these two lessons. No, two of them. I still can’t stop laughing at the garbage line. And I like that almost anything is better when it tastes like pizza.

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Take artichokes for example. Sure, they’re fun to eat steamed, grilled, boiled and then dunked in dip. That’s a good thing. But, I wondered to myself the other day if they might not be even better on pizza.

I think they are. It may be my new go-to way to eat them.

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Carrots on the other hand, can be used in about a million different ways, and are delicious in all of them. I mean, you can make them into cake for goodness sake! (And I made a rhyme… cool.) How many things can you eat raw and in a cake and call them both extraordinary?

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Rosemary compliments the artichokes and carrots. Lemon zest and juice are added to tomato sauce to make a tangy, citrusy pizza. Everyone is topped with some Gruyère and Parmesan cheese. Yep, you’re welcome.

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One of the day’s lessons came when I was following the recipe in Alice Water’s The Art of Simple Food for pizza dough. Her recipe says to pre-heat the oven to 500F with a pizza stone in there. I was gonna prepare the pizza on the pizza peel and slide it onto the hot stone. But, our smoke detector is in our kitchen (since our kitchen is a part of the living room), so it started screaming at me. I know that pizza stones can smoke, but I didn’t want the noise to continue. So, lesson learned. For as long as we live here, with this particular kitchen, I will not be using a pizza stone.

I used a regular pizza pan and it worked out just fine. Plus the noise stopped.

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The artichoke hearts were steamed before they went on to the pizza, which makes them tender and delicious. The lemon gives them a good citrusy kick, and the rosemary brings an earthy balance to each slice. The carrots, well, they seem to get along with everyone, so they’re there, in the background, sharing a little bit of sweetness.

All in all, a great new way to use artichokes… or maybe just new to me. You might have been doing this all along. Sometimes I need to catch up. Especially on a day like today when my brain has not brought it’s A game. I blame the olympics. They keep me up way too late.

Happy Eating! 

Veggie Pizza with Artichoke Hearts
 
Recipe Type: Pizza, Main Dishes, Vegetarian
Author: Rachel Oberg – De Ma Cuisine
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients
  • 3 large artichoke hearts (choke removed), halved (save leaves to steam and eat)
  • water
  • 1 pizza crust
  • 1 C tomato sauce
  • 1/2 to 1 t fresh rosemary, chopped
  • to taste salt
  • to taste pepper
  • 1/4 to 1/2 t red pepper flakes
  • 1 lemon, zested and juiced
  • 1 small carrot, grated
  • 3/4 C gruyère cheese, grated
  • 1/4 C parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven according to your favorite pizza crust recipe.
  2. Place artichoke hearts in a steamer basket in a pot with about 1″ boiling water in the bottom. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes, or until artichokes are tender. Roughly chop and set aside.
  3. To make sauce: Combine tomato sauce with rosemary, seasonings, lemon zest and juice. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
  4. Roll out pizza dough.
  5. Top crust with sauce, cheese, veggies, and a little more cheese.
  6. Bake according to crust recipe until crust is crispy and slightly browned and cheese is melted.
 
Notes
The sauce is enough for 3-4 pizzas. Freeze any leftovers for next time!