Bring on the Pizza!

I got started talking about pizza at a wedding I went to over the weekend and just couldn't put the idea of making some new creations out of my head. I came up with a Asian pear gorgonzola pizza, a sweet potato feta pizza and a Hawaiian Tex Mex pizza. They were all delicious, but I loved the Asian pear. I think it's the creaminess of the blue cheese combined with the sweet crunch of the pear and the earthiness of the walnuts. Here are all three. Enjoy!

Asian Pear Gorgonzola Pizza
John Robbin's Pizza Dough
1/2 Asian pear cut into thin slices
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 yellow onion sliced
1/2 cup gorgonzola or blue cheese crumbled
1/4 cup of walnuts chopped
3 tablespoons of olive oil
a pinch of brown sugar
handful of corn meal

So the first thing to do is to caramelize your onions. Heat up your olive oil over medium heat. Once it is warmed up, add your sliced onions to it. Let this cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. They will get nice and soft and turn slightly brown. Then mix in a pinch of brown sugar to bring out the sweetness of the onions and cook for another two minutes. The onions should look like this


Once your onions are done, you can roll out your pizza dough. Make sure to put some corn meal down on your pizza stone before you throw it on there. In order, I first put down a layer of mozzarella. If you don't use any cheese here, you run the risk of getting soggy crust and limpy pizza. After the mozzarella, you place your sliced pear pieces down. Then you top with your walnuts, gorgonzola or blue cheese and lastly your caramelized onions. Then bake it at 400 for about 20-30 minutes, it really depends on your oven, and you will have delicious pizza!

Sweet Potato Feta Pizza
John Robbin's Pizza Dough
1 small sweet potato thinly sliced
10 kalamata olives quartered
10 semi or sun-dried tomatoes coarsely chopped
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 cup of feta cheese cubed or crumbled
3/4 cup of mozzarella
2 tablespoons of fresh herbs chopped (I used rosemary and oregano)
1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil

The first thing to do is to roast the potatoes. Place them into a small baking dish with the olive oil and fresh herbs. Place them in the oven at 400 for about 20-30 minutes, turning them a couple of times. When they are done, they should look like this

Next you want to caramelize your onions. Just follow the same recipe as given for the Asian pear gorgonzola pizza.

Once the potatoes and onions are done, roll out the dough and get started! First put down your layer of mozzarella cheese. Then place your sweet potato slices and top with feta, caramelized onions, kalamata olives and semi-dried tomatoes. Cook at 400 for 20-30 minutes and enjoy!

Hawaiian Tex Mex Pizza
John Robbin's Pizza Dough
1/4 cup of salsa
1/4 cup of pizza sauce
3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup of shredded pepper jack cheese
1 serrano pepper coarsely chopped
1/4 cup of red onion diced
1/4 cup of black beans
1/4 cup of pineapple coarsely chopped

This one is so easy to make! I have been wanting to put pineapple on pizza for a while and it finally clicked to add it to my usual mexican pizza. The pineapple provides this sweet refreshment from the heat of the rest of the pizza and is amazing!

So first thing is to mix your salsa and pizza sauce. Spread it out on the rolled dough. Mix your cheeses together and spread it over the sauce mix. Then top with serrano pepper, red onion, black beans and pineapple. Place in the oven at 400 for 20-30 minutes and have a great twist on your normal spicy pizza!

Southwestern Pasta Primavera Sauce

I know I've been away for some time and thought I'd kick off my return with some spicy spaghetti sauce that I recently made with my Mom (thanks for the pictures Mom!). It is absolutely delicious and is a twist on your regular pasta dish.

Southwestern Pasta Primavera
1 1/2 lbs of tomatoes (you can use heirloom, roma, vine, whatever large tomatoes tickles your fancy)
1 pint of cherry or grape tomatoes
2 yellow onions (thinly sliced)
2 heads of garlic (skins removed)
1/3 chopped cup of fresh herbs (I used basil, rosemary, oregano and thyme)
1/4 cup of olive oil
olive oil for brushing
3 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
1/2 tablespoon of salt
1/2 tablespoon of pepper
3 anaheim peppers
3 jalapeno peppers
2 zucchinis
2 summer squash
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 ear of corn cooked and cut off the cobb (you can use frozen corn too)
1 large bag of spinach
18 oz tomato paste

First thing you want to do is slow roast the tomatoes. Set your oven to 200 and cut all your tomatoes in half, cutting out any remnants of stems and place them into a large roasting pan with the sliced onion and fresh herbs. Toss them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Roast them for two hours, turning them after an hour.


After the tomatoes are nicely roasting, you want to roast the anaheim and jalapeno peppers. So turn the oven up to 400 and brush the peppers with a little bit of olive oil. You will need to turn them every 10-15 minutes once there skins start to blister like this:


Once these are completely roasted, you want to place them into a container and seal with a lid to let them sweat for about 15 minutes. This makes the skins easy to peel off. Once they have finished sweating, remove the skin and add them to the tomatoes. Now you need to blend this. I use a stick blender but if you don't have on you, you can blend this in batches in a regular blender.


Now that the tomato base of the sauce is done, you want to roast your vegetables. So chop the remaining vegetables into chunky pieces, except for the corn and spinach, and toss with a little bit of olive oil and roast them for 25 minutes at 400.


Normally, when roasting vegetables you would want to roast them for a little longer, but these veggies are going to also be cooking when you simmer the sauce. You want to turn them once or twice. Once they are done you add them to the sauce along with the cooked corn that has been cut off the cobb and the tomato paste.

Now, the last thing to do is to wilt the spinach. You can do this by placing it in a saute pan over medium heat with a little bit olive oil. Cover it and stir occasionally until its a little wilted. Then add it to the sauce and stir.


After you add the spinach to the sauce, let it simmer for about 2 hours over low heat. It will thicken up nicely and be perfect to serve over any pasta. I love it over tortellini along with some delicious garlic bread and a tossed garden salad. Yum!