Zucchini Pesto Pizza

Posted in Recipes by Annie T

Basil is my favorite thing to grow in the garden. This year I have no fewer than 9 basil plants and every one is 2+ feet tall and thick with large, green, fragrant leaves. What do I do with all of this basil, you ask? Pesto pesto pesto!!! This time of year I make big batches of pesto at least once a week. I use a few tablespoons of the fresh pesto on whatever dish we’re eating that night, then I portion out the rest into a silicone ice cube tray, freeze it, and store the cubes in the freezer in a ziplock bag. These pesto cubes keep for months and definitely are a welcome treat in the dead of winter when dinner needs a kick of flavor.

Fresh pesto is one of the key ingredients in this Zucchini-Pesto Pizza that I made for dinner tonight. I spread a liberal amount of pesto directly on the dough, then added layers of mozzarella cheese and thin zucchini slices that had been tossed in garlic and olive oil. Yum!!

As a side note, I had a major revelation while making tonight’s dinner. I constantly struggle with getting the uncooked pizza off of the peel and onto the stone in the oven, so much so that lately I had resorted to cracking open the oven and placing the raw dough directly on the preheated stone. Then I would arrange the toppings on the dough while it was already cooking in the oven. (That’s the hot, energy-wasteful way to do it, but at least the pizza turned out out nice and round!!)

Tonight, however, I wondered… what if I just temporarily took the hot stone out of the oven and assembled the pizza directly on the stone while OUT of the oven?? It worked perfectly!! This is probably the way that everyone else makes pizza, but for some reason it didn’t occur to me until tonight. Oh well! 😄

Zucchini Pesto Pizza

You will need…
Pizza Stone and Pizza Peel
1 medium Zucchini, sliced into very thin (1/8″) discs
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 cloves Garlic, pressed through a garlic press
Cornmeal or Semolina Flour
1 – 16 oz. ball Raw Pizza Dough
1/2 cup Fresh Basil Pesto
8 oz. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Freshly Ground Pepper

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 500°F. Position the rack 6-8 inches from the top of the oven and place the pizza stone on the rack to warm up. Place the zucchini discs in a shallow bowl with the olive oil and garlic, then toss thoroughly to coat.

Sprinkle 4-5 tablespoons of cornmeal on the pizza peel then drop the dough ball onto the cornmeal. Knead and spread the dough ball into a 15-17 inch pizza. Carefully remove the hot pizza stone from the oven and place it on a heat resistant surface. Transfer the dough to the stone and shape it into a nice circle the size of the stone.

Working quickly, spoon and spread the pesto onto the dough. Next, sprinkle half of the shredded cheese over the pesto. Layer the marinated zucchini slices evenly over the pie, leaving a 3/4 inch “margin” for the crust. Finally, sprinkle the remaining cheese over the zucchini and slide the stone back into the hot oven.

Bake the pizza for 8-9 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and starting to turn golden brown. Keep an eye on the pizza as it cooks… if your oven heats unevenly (like ours does!) rotate the pie with a few minutes left on the cook time.

Remove the pizza from the oven, top with a few grinds of black pepper, then slice and enjoy!

30Dec2012

Easy Tomato-Basil Bruschetta

Posted in Recipes by Annie T

In addition to our Shrimp with Penne and Herbed Cream Sauce Matt and I made a double batch of traditional Tomato-Basil Bruschetta for Christmas Eve dinner. The bruschetta was surprisingly easy to make and everyone loved it!

Super-Easy Tomato-Basil Bruschetta (from The New Best Recipe)

You will need…
8-9 medium Tomatoes, cored and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2/3 cup Basil, shredded
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 loaf of crusty Bread – we used Ciabatta
3 tablespoons Olive Oil
1-2 cloves Garlic, cut in half lengthwise

Directions:
Combine the tomatoes, basil and salt and pepper. Cut the loaf into 3/4 inch thick slices and place on a baking sheet. Toast the bread under a broiler, flipping once, until both sides are golden brown. Rub the cut sides of the garlic clove over the top side of each slice of bread and then brush on a small amount of olive oil. Top the slices with a generous helping of the tomato-basil mixture and serve immediately.

12Aug2012

Shh… It’s a Surprise!!!

Posted in Recipes by Annie T

Last weekend my mom and I threw a surprise birthday party for her fiancé. I don’t want to get into too many personal details, but suffice it to say that he was VERY surprised to walk into his own kitchen after a day at the golf course to find 20+ of his closest friends and family ready to party!

My mom and I had a blast planning the menu and secretly hiding the food in the days before the party. By the morning of the party my mom had managed to successfully conceal 2 dozen brining chicken breasts, impressive amounts of peppers, onions and potatoes, and all of the dips, dressings, and glazes in the refrigerator behind little walls of soda and beer cans and a few strategically placed bags of salad greens… good job, Mom!

One of my culinary contributions to the party was a platter of single-serving Caprese Skewers. Combining each bite of cherry tomato and mozzarella onto skewers allowed our guests to snack on the caprese with just one hand (leaving the other free for a beverage!) which made this a great appetizer for a party. It’s also an easy dish to make for a party because you can assemble the skewers several hours ahead of time and then simply garnish with some fresh basil right before serving.

Bite-Sized Caprese Skewers with Tomatoes, Mozzarella, Basil & Balsamic Glaze

You will need…
2-3 small handfuls Arugula
25-30 Marinated Mozzarella Balls, approx. 1″ in diameter
2 pints Cherry Tomatoes, cut in half and kept “paired” with their halves
Toothpicks; can use the slightly longer “sandwich picks” for a little extra space
6-8 extra Cherry Tomatoes, cut into quarters
Balsamic Glaze (use a bottled glaze or make your own balsamic reduction)
10-15 Basil Leaves

Directions:
Arrange the arugula along the center of a serving tray. Slice each mozzarella ball into 4 pieces by slicing off the rounded ends (2 pieces) and cutting the center of the ball in half (2 pieces). Set the small rounded ends aside.

Skewer the top of a tomato half with the toothpick and slide the tomato onto the stick. Next, slide one of the center mozzarella pieces onto the toothpick. Skewer the bottom half of the tomato and slide it into place on the toothpick as shown in the photo. Repeat with all of your halved tomatoes and mozzarella, arranging the skewers onto the arugula as you go.

Sprinkle the rounded mozzarella ball ends and the quartered tomatoes onto the arugula as a garnish. Drizzle the balsamic glaze over the entire tray. If needed, you can refrigerate the tray until party time at this point (that’s what we did!). Before serving, roll up the basil leaves and use kitchen scissors to cut them into long slices. Arrange the basil slices over the caprese skewers. (The basil isn’t shown in my photos since I took them a few hours before the party started.)

24Apr2012

Another Delicious Pizza!

Posted in Recipes by Annie T

Mmm… is there anything better than homemade pizza fresh out of the oven? Pizza is easy to make, the toppings are fun to experiment with, and the results are tasty and rewarding. For me, the one problem with pizza is that I only like to use Trader Joe’s fresh pizza dough which means that I can only make pizza once or twice a month after we visit TJ’s. We used to live within walking distance of a Trader Joe’s but now a 20 minute drive (and bad rush hour traffic!) separates us from my favorite dough. I have tried the pizza dough from Whole Foods and, although it isn’t bad, it simply can’t compare with the crispy, chewy flavor of the dough from Joe’s.

So, as you might have guessed, we stopped by Trader Joe’s over the weekend and I picked up a bag of dough. We already had some hot Italian turkey sausage and basil so I decided to make a Sausage Tomato Basil Mozzarella (TBM) pizza for dinner last night.

A note about the cheese… TJ’s was sold out of the marinated mozzarella balls that I typically buy so I tried their Ciliegine mozzarella which is billed as stringier, softer, and more authentic. More authentic it may be but it also was much more watery and seemed to melt into nothingness on these pizzas. Next time I’ll hold out for the good mozzarella!

Turkey Sausage T.B.M. Pizza

You will need…
2 Turkey Sausages (we used Shady Brook Farms Hot Italian Turkey Sausage)
1 12 oz. can Diced Tomatoes with Italian Herbs
1 package Trader Joe’s Pizza Dough
Pepper, Parmesan Cheese and Garlic Powder to taste
Approx. 10 Mozzarella Balls (I highly recommend Trader Joe’s Marinated Mozzarella Balls, but for this recipe I used TJ’s Ciliegine Mozzarella Balls)
10-20 Basil Leaves, cut into strips

Directions:
Crumble and brown the turkey sausage in a large frying pan or wok. When the sausage is nicely browned, remove it from heat and set aside. Drain the diced tomatoes slightly and then saute over medium heat for 10-15 minutes to reduce. If you want a smoother tomato base, use a potato masher to slightly crush the tomato chunks. Meanwhile, stretch out your pizza dough into two rectangular pies on a large cookie sheet (see my Homemade TBM Pizza for instructions on how to do this).

Spoon and spread the reduced diced tomatoes evenly onto the two pizza pies. Sprinkle the browned sausage over the pizza and top with ground black pepper, Parmesan, and garlic powder. Next, distribute the mozzarella balls evenly over the pizza. I like to use a pair of kitchen shears to cut each mozzarella ball into several pieces — this helps to cover the pizza evenly without using an entire container of cheese! 🙂

Bake pizzas in a preheated 350° oven for 12 minutes. Remove the pizzas from the oven and top with your sliced basil. Enjoy!

6Feb2012

Basil Pesto

Posted in Recipes by Annie T

Last summer Matt and I grew basil in our vegetable garden. We had six plants that completely took over the whole front of the garden and blocked the sunlight to the rest of the garden — this summer the basil will be going in the back! I’m looking forward to planting basil again so that we can make homemade pesto whenever we want. Here’s the recipe that we use (from Matt’s Mom’s recipe box).

Basil Pesto

You will need…
2 1/2 cups Fresh Basil Leaves
1/2 cup Grated Parmesan (or Parmesan/Romano) Cheese
3/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 cloves of Garlic
1/2 cup Roasted Pine Nuts
Salt & Pepper to Taste

Directions:
Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend! Add more olive oil if the Pesto is too thick.

What can you do with Pesto?

Put Pesto on a Burger with some Mozzarella and a Slice of Tomato
Use Pesto instead of Tomato Sauce as your base for a Little Pizza
Make Pesto Pasta. Yum!
Spread it on Rustic Italian Bread (as a snack or part of a sandwich)
Spoon it into an Ice Cube Tray and Freeze It to Use Later! (you can bag the pesto cubes once they have frozen solid)