I have to tell you, the more cooking I do, the more convinced I am that those Italians are a brilliant bunch. Seriously. They took a simple combination of flour, egg, and water, mixed it together and dried it for use later, which gives them a staple to use whenever the mood strikes them. Risotto is a similar thing, rice can sit in your cupboard, patiently waiting for you, ready at a moment's notice. The brilliance is not so much in creating a staple, but in creating a staple that goes with practically anything. Think about it, anything those Italians have at hand can be added to pasta or risotto and turned into an amazing dish.
The same thing holds true for pizza, as this pizza makes plain. We had lots of vegetables from the CSA that needed to be eaten before it Got Too Late, so I grilled them up and put them on top of dough that the Hubs had made. Before I get too involved in telling you about the toppings, I have to take a moment to tell you about the Hubs and his dough. (No, it's not dirty.)
The Hubs is definitely the baker in the house. I know, I post about baked goods, but they are always simple ones and I really don't enjoy baking so much (which is why I keep doing it - that and a general love of baked goods). I think that it's about having to follow the rules when baking. Luckily the Hubs is an excellent baker and he makes a killer pizza dough. It took weeks of refining, but the Hubs has the dough down pat (harhar) now and he works from home so he can get the dough started late morning, which means that I come home to find fresh dough.
There isn't much of a recipe to share, this pizza had caramelized onions, roasted red pepper, grilled zucchini and goat cheese on it. Instead of sauce I made a quick pesto (blend together coarsely torn basil, salt, and grated Parmesan - those are the necessaries, you can add pine nuts and garlic if you want to - in a small food processor, slowly pour in olive oil until it forms a paste). Instead of going through the step-by-step process of cooking the vegetables, I thought I'd just share photos. Bon Appetit!
These are real fire roasted peppers and are so much fun to make.
Talk about cooking with an open flame...
Caramelized onions: after and before
Toasted Zucchini
3 Additional Thoughts:
Looks great! Think the hubs would mind if you shared the pizza dough recipe? I'd love to make some pizza, but I'm unsure about the dough.
I'll see what I can do about getting the Hubs to share his super-secret recipe. :o)
I'm thinking the same thing, Katie! The pizza looks great!
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