Pizza, Pizza, Pizza!

Anyone that knows me knows that I make a ton of pizza. My love for making pizza grew exponentially once I realized how much room for creativity there truly is. You can put whatever you want on pizza and I've tried nearly every concoction that I could think of. The other day I was eating a salad at Za in Arlington Massachusetts and was inspired to try squash and apple on a pizza. Obviously, this isn't enough for one pizza so I thought about it some more and decided to add sage, pistachio nut, mozzarella and gorgonzola. As I invited friends over for dinner I thought of a regular favorite I could make and two other new recipes; Roasted veggies with pesto and goat cheese, Spinach mushroom and asiago, and Jalapenos kalamata olives and garlic. With my recipes all set up I was ready to go and now I'll share them with all of you.

Roasted Squash and Apple Pizza
1/2 acorn squash (originally I wanted to use butternut squash, but they didn't have any at the grocery store)
1/2 apple diced (I used cameo, but you can use whatever apple you want)
1/4 cup pistachio nuts
15 leaves of sage minced
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese (this is an approximation)
A couple handfuls of gorgonzola cheese
1 pizza dough (recipe to follow)

First thing to do is roast your squash. Set the oven to 350, cut your squash in half and scoop out the insides of side you will be roasting. Don't scoop out the seeds from the side you will be putting in your fridge. For some reason the squash keeps better with the seeds in it. Next brush some olive oil on both the inside and outside of the squash. Place the squash with the flesh facing down on your cookie sheet and roast for approximately 45 minutes. Its ready to come out when you can pierce the skin with a fork and it feels soft and a little mushy. When you take it out the inside should look like this:


Set the squash aside and let it cool. Once it is cool enough to work with again, peel the skin off. This will be really easy to do. You just use your hand and slowly peel the skin back. Then dice the squash into edible bites. Once your squash is done, you are ready to make your pizza. Take your pizza stone out, or if you don't have one you can use a large baking pan, and spread some corn meal on it so your pizza doesn't stick.


Then you're going to grab your dough ball and cut it in half. Save the other half for your next pizza. Roll out the dough so it is a little bit bigger than your pizza stone. I still can't roll my dough into a perfect circle, so don't worry if you can't either. Then transfer your dough onto your stone. It should look something like this:


Next you are going to take your edges and roll them into the dough to form a crust. Some sections may have more dough to work with then others. Just rip off some the excess dough and work it into a another area of your crust. When you have the crust all worked out seal the edges into the dough. Ultimately, it should look something like this:


Now you're ready to put your toppings on. So take the cup or so of mozzarella and evenly spread it across the dough. You can use more if needed. Essentially, you just want a nice even layer of cheese which covers your dough. Next spread out your squash. I had a little left over, so you may too, but just put it into a little container and save it for later. Then add your diced apple. Sprinkle with your pistachio nuts and sage. Now you're ready to add the final touch, the gorgonzola cheese. Using a couple of handfuls slowly top with gorgonzola. Keep in mind that this is a potent cheese, so try not to add too much or it will overpower the flavor of everything else on the pizza. Before you put it in the oven it will look like this:


Place the pizza in the oven and set to 400. It is important not to set the oven before placing the stone in the oven. It can crack the stone. Even if your not using a stone, its better to wait to turn the oven on until the pizza is in because it cooks more evenly that way. The pizza will take approximately 30 minutes to cook. If your oven is like mine, you'll want to rotate the pizza for an even cook. To check the pizza, flick the dough on each side. When the dough is cooked it will be hard and have a somewhat hollow sound to it. Make sure the cheese is melted and your toppings look nicely cooked before taking it out. Now you have lovely pizza to share!

Mushroom and Spinach Pizza
4 oz of portabella mushrooms diced
5 oz of spinach sliced finely
1 small onion diced
2 cloves of medium garlic minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 head of roasted garlic chopped
1 cup of mozzarella cheese (approximation)
A couple of handfuls of shredded asiago cheese
1 pizza dough (recipe to follow)

Pizza Sauce (enough for 2 pizzas)
15 oz can tomato sauce
6 oz can tomato paste
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 tablespoon of fresh basil chopped
1/2 tablespoon of fresh rosemary chopped

Although I came up with this recipe last, it turned out to be the best pizza of the night. The mushroom and spinach flavors really shined through making it an amazingly delicious pizza. A shout out to my friend Steve for the thumbs up.

So the first thing you're going to do is roast the garlic. If you are making the roasted squash and apple pizza, you can do this at the same time you roast your squash. Take a head of garlic and cut off the top and place it into a piece of tinfoil. Drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil over it like this:


Roll the tinfoil up, so your garlic looks like this:


Place this in the oven between 350-400 and roast for about 40 minutes. Just until the tops of garlic start to brown. Then pull it out and set it aside. Once the garlic is cool enough to work with, pop them out of their skin and coarsely chop them.

Next you are going to saute your mushroom and spinach. But before we do that, I want to show you an easy way to diced your onions. Cut your onion in half. Take each half and run your knife through making some slits, but not cutting the onion all the way through.


Now run your knife horizontally through the slits, again making sure that you don't cut the onion all the way through.


After that is done, you can just dice the onion as you would normally, but now you have perfectly shaped pieces.

Okay, so now we are going to saute the mushroom and spinach. Put a pan on medium heat and heat up your remaining olive oil. When it is heated add your onions and minced garlic. Saute for a couple of minutes until your onions are soft and translucent. Then add your mushrooms. Saute them until they are slightly brown and have released most of their juices. This should take about 5 minutes.


Then add your spinach and saute until it is just wilted, which will take about another 2 minutes. You still want the spinach to have that nice vibrant green color to it.


When this is done, set it aside and get to work on your sauce. With the sauce you are just going to add all your ingredients together and stir. Make sure to work the sauce well to combine the tomato paste with the tomato sauce. You don't want a lumpy sauce.

Once this is all set you are ready to assembly your pizza. Follow the instructions listed above. Once your pizza dough is on your stone and has a nice crust, then evenly spread out half the pizza sauce you just made. On top of that spread out your mozzarella. You may want to use more. Essentially, you are looking for a nice coating of cheese. After you mozzarella is on, add your mushroom and spinach mixture. Sprinkle your roasted garlic and asiago cheese and set in the oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. Viola, pizza is served!

Jalapeno Garlic Kalamata Olive Pizza
1 medium jalapeno thinly sliced
12 kalamata olives sliced into 4 pieces
4-5 cloves of garlic minced
1 cup of mozzarella
1 cup of cheddar cheese
A couple of handfuls of feta cheese
1/2 of sauce made in Mushroom and Spinach Pizza
1 pizza dough (recipe to follow)

Once you have all of your ingredients sliced and diced you are ready to assemble your pizza. Spread out your sauce on your dough. Mix together the cheddar and mozzarella cheese and spread onto the pizza. Next place your slices of jalapeno around the pizza. Sprinkle with the kalamata olives and minced garlic. Then top with a couple of handfuls of crumbled feta cheese. Pop this into the oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes and you have nice spicy pizza.

Roasted Veggie Pesto Pizza
For this pizza you can roast whatever your favorite vegetables are. Ultimately you want to end up with about 2 cups of roasted veggies. Here is what I used:
1/2 eggplant diced
1/2 zucchini diced
1/2 summer squash diced
1/2 red pepper diced
1/4 sweet potato diced
1 small onion quartered
5-6 cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
1 cup of pesto
1 cup of mozzarella cheese
4 oz of goat cheese

The first thing you need to do is roast your veggies. Once you have all your veggies diced place them into a baking dish and toss with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.


Place the veggies in the oven at 350 for about 40 minutes. Toss them a few times while they are roasting. You want them to be soft and well roasted, but not too mushy. They should look something like this when they are done:

While your veggies are roasting you want to make your pesto. Just click on the pesto link and follow the directions included in grilled veggie sandwich. Once your pesto is ready you are all set to assemble your pizza. Roll out the dough, transfer to your pan and form a good crust. Once this is all set, spread out your pesto base. Top the pesto with an even layer of mozzarella cheese. Next add your roasted veggies. You may have some left over. If so just pop them in the fridge. These go great with some freshly made ziti and a little bit of olive oil and Parmesan cheese. After your veggies are on, crumble up 4 oz log of goat cheese and sprinkle on top. Pop this in the oven at 400 for about thirty minutes and presto, you have veggie pesto pizza.

Pizza Dough
The best pizza dough recipe I have found came from John Robbins' book May All Be Fed. For anyone of you out there that are thinking of becoming vegetarian or already are, this is a must read book. Actually, all John Robbins' books are pretty amazing. But anyhow back to pizza dough.

2 cups of whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups of all purpose white flour
2 1/2 teaspoons of yeast
1/2 cup of lukewarm water
1 teaspoon of maple syrup
1 cup of water
1/4 cup of olive oil

In a medium sized bowl add the yeast, warm water and maple syrup. If you don't have maple syrup, you can use agave nector, honey or regular sugar. The sugar is only there to activate the yeast. Let that sit for about 10 minutes until the yeast grows like this:


While you are waiting for the yeast to do its magic, in a large bowl combine your two flours. Once your yeast is ready add to it the remaining water and olive oil. Once these ingredients are combined you can add them to your flour. Mix these with a wooden spoon until the ingredients just start coming together. Dump the dough onto a floured surface and start to knead it. Kneading should only take about 2-5 minutes.

Once your dough is nice and elastic, form into a ball like this:

Place the dough into a slightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Place the bowl into a warm location and let the dough rise for one hour. After that hour the dough should have doubled in size and will look like this:

This dough is good for two pizzas or two calzones. Once it has risen cut it in half, roll it out and cover with the toppings of your choice. Enjoy!