Pizza With Artichokes and Mozzarella

I get the impression that artichokes are one of those things that people either love or hate; it would be interesting to hear YOUR response to that supposition!  In any case, Mike and I are artichoke lovers and they are one of our favorite things to have on a pizza.  I normally buy the canned artichokes packed in water, but for this pizza I splurged on artichokes that had been marinated in oil.  I cut the artichokes in quarters and tossed them with 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic and about 2 tablespoons of the oil from the jar of artichokes. The recipe called for using olive oil, but I saw no reason not to use the oil they had been packed in!

Brat Pizza-Part 2

A few weeks ago Mike and I brainstormed on what a Bratwurst Pizza might look like.  Our first attempt with a mustard sauce, onions, peppers, bratwurst, and Swiss cheese proved to be a disappointment.  It was bland, definitely not what we were hoping for.  Since that time I have been thinking on how I might improve the recipe.  We gave it another try. . .with much better results! 

Pizza con Pancetta

With one glaring exception, this was a very simple pizza.  The exception (also known affectionately as "the Nightmare") was the Fiery Red Pesto sauce that is the base for this pizza.    The only reason we had Fiery Red Pesto on this pizza was because I had some in the freezer from my attempt to make it a few weeks ago.    WARNING: Do not attempt to make Fiery Red Pesto unless you have a good sized food processor!  The recipe calls for roasting a red bell pepper until it is blackened and you are able to peel off the skin.  You then process it with fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, tomatoes, chili powder, Parmesan cheese and olive oil.  I tried to process it in my little mini chopper and ended with breaking the machine.  From that point my memory is a blur, much like any traumatic event.

Caramelized Red Onion Pizza with Capers and Olives

 

This is one of the tastiest pizzas I've made yet!  It doesn't sound like much but it is absolutely delicious.  I started by thinly slicing a red onion. The recipe called for 2 1/4 lbs., and I'm sure my one onion wasn't that big.  After trying this pizza though, next time I would definitely use more onion.  I tossed the onions with some fresh squeezed lemon juice and let it set while I heated up some olive oil in a skillet.

Pizza Bianca

Pizza Bianca

In Naples any pizza without tomatoes is "Pizza Bianca" or white pizza.  The focus of this pizza is the mozzarella, so it's worthwhile to get the best quality cheese you can.  This is a very simple pizza. . .just the mozzarella and some herbs.  The recipe called for fresh sage, but a few weeks ago I started growing some basil in a hanging pot on the back porch and thought it needed to be put to good use.  I have some tomatoes and peppers growing too. . .my mouth is watering when I think that in just a few weeks I'll be able to use my own fresh produce on a pizza or in a salad! 

Brat Pizza

Several weeks ago my sweet hubby was brainstorming and suggested that we try to invent a pizza using brats (bratwurst sausage).  We decided it needed some type of mustard sauce as a base, sliced brats, and then some grilled onions and peppers.  The final touch would be some type of cheese, and I finally settled on shredded swiss cheese.  We thought we were being very original and creative until Mike googled "Bratwurst Pizza"; let's just say there is nothing new under the sun!  Anyway, during the planning stages I came across a recipe for German Deli pizza that had a german rye crust which I thought that would be perfect for our "Brat Pizza". I didn't realize how difficult it would be to find rye flour and ended up trying four different stores before I found it!  The dough called for 1 1/2 cups of bread flour and 1/2 cup of rye flour along with a teaspoon of caraway seeds so it had a german rye taste and texture.  It was a  perfect crust for this pizza although somewhat denser and thinner than our normal pizza crust. The sauce was the biggest challenge.  I tested the sauce in the German Deli Pizza recipe, but it was creamy and I wanted more of a mustard glaze. Plus I wanted something with a bit more of the mustard zing.  I experimented on my own and came up with the following recipe:



Rye crust spread with mustard glaze

 Mustard Sauce:

½ c. water

2 T. vinegar

2 T. white wine

2 t. ground mustard

1-2 T. sugar

¼ t. ground coriander

Bring to a boil and thicken with 1 T. cornstarch dissolved in 1 T. water.

Unfortunately the sauce was a bit of a dissappointment, still not enough of the mustard tang.  I have NOT given up though.  I plan to do more experimentation and we'll try this pizza again before too long! The next step was to grill the bratwurst.  After the brats were grilled and sliced, Mike had the great idea of putting the brat slices on paper towels to soak up the grease.  

As he was manning the grill, I was in the kitchen sauteeing some peppers and onions, similar to what you would do for a fajita. 

We topped our creation with shredded swiss cheese.  Our first attempt at this pizza was a bit bland.  The crust was great, the sauce needs some work and we'd like to try a different cheese. . .Mike says something smokey, I'm thinking sharp cheddar.  We enjoyed this pizza while watching The Seven Year Itch, which was interesting as a venue for Marilyn Monroe but not as funny as I had expected it to be.  Stay tuned to see what happens when I try Brat Pizza-Part 2 in a couple of weeks!

Ready for the oven!

Pizza Marinara

This is an extremely simple pizza, no cheese!  In fact it seemed so simple and basic that when I saw the recipe I wasn't even going to try it because it seemed like it would be b-o-r-i-n-g!  I was pleasantly surprized to find that I was mistaken.  Like the the Pizza Margherita, I started by spreading some pizzaiola sauce on the prebaked crust.  I had frozen some sauce that I had left over from making the Pizza Margherita, so I used the thawed sauce and then arranged some sliced Campari tomatoes and sliced garlic over the sauce.  I am learning the importance of using high quality ingredients, and since this pizza is basically a showcase for tasty fresh tomatoes and oregano, spending the extra money for the best tomatoes was well worth it.