Pizza Night

Tomato, Mozzarella, Pancetta, Basil
Pizza number 1 had peeled, seeded and diced fresh picked Carmello tomatoes, shredded whole milk mozzarella, diced pancetta, and a final sprinkle of chopped basil and parmigiano.

Manchego, Onion, Piquillo
The second pizza had manchego cheese, sauteed sweet onions and fresh from the garden sauteed Piquillo peppers. Piquillos are usually roasted and skinned, but I didn't feel like going to the trouble this time around. I julienned the peppers and slowly sauteed them with the onions, minced garlic, and a few branches of fresh thyme until they were meltingly tender. The skins were a little tough but not so much as to be a bother. The flavor was still fantastic.

Gruyere, Potato, Octopus, Pancetta
The final pizza was a little too weird for our friends that had stopped by. He looked at the thin sliced Yukon Gold potatoes (from the farmers market) that had been tossed with chopped Georgian Crystal garlic and olive oil that I was arranging on a cast iron griddle pan and dubiously inquired about what those were for. He looked even more dubious when I said they were going on a pizza. Too weird! She looked squeamish when I told her that the potato topped pizza would also have octopus on it. They left before pizza #3 made it to the oven - not because they couldn't take my weird pizza, but because they had an hour and a half drive home and needed to get up early this morning. Or perhaps it was the brussels sprouts that I was preparing to roast that made them look at their watches! Anyway, the potatoes are roasted until soft but not browned before they go on the pizza. The pizza is made with gruyere cheese, topped with the roasted potato slices, then cut up pieces of octopus (canned in olive oil) and I also used the last bit of diced pancetta left from the tomato pizza.

Smoked Trout and Meyer Lemon Pizza

Your favorite pizza dough for a 10" crust
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
olive oil
salt
1 branch of fresh thyme
1 ball of buffalo mozzarella, sliced thinly
1/2 meyer lemon, sliced crosswise paper thin, tossed with a little olive oil
a pinch of dried oregano
1/2 of a smoked trout, flaked into small chunks (no skin)
grated parmigiano

Saute the onion in some olive oil with a pinch of salt and the branch of thyme until the onions are soft and starting to caramelize. Remove the thyme branch and set the onions aside to cool.

Assemble the pizza: Scatter the onions over the pizza crust (there may be extra onion left). Top with the mozzarella slices and then the meyer lemon slices. Sprinkle with the pinch of oregano. Bake until done, quickly scatter the smoked trout over the pizza and sprinkle with some parmigiano. Slice and serve.

Potato and Kale Pizza

Your favorite dough for one thin crust pizza
2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, very thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
Olive oil
Salt
8 large leaves Cavolo Nero kale, deribbed and torn into large pieces
3 cloves firm roasted garlic, thinly sliced (I used leftover cloves from the previous night's roasted chicken
More olive oil
1 cup coarsely grated Gruyere
Parmigiano
Truffle Oil (to guild the lily)

Toss the sliced potatoes and minced garlic with enough olive oil to lightly coat all (about a tablespoon). Arrange the potato slices on a baking sheet and lightly sprinkle with salt. Roast in a very hot oven until softened but not brown. Set aside. (The peeled garlic cloves for the kale can be roasted with the potatoes).

Steam the kale until tender (2 minutes in a pressure cooker). Let cool, then squeeze by handfuls to remove excess liquid. Coarsely chop and then toss with the sliced garlic and a little olive oil. Set aside.

Roll or stretch the pizza dough into a 10-inch round. Drizzle the dough with a little olive oil and brush it evenly over the surface with your fingers. Sprinkle the grated Gruyere evenly over the dough. Arrange the potato slices evenly without overlapping over the surface of the pizza. Top with the chopped kale.

Bake on a preheated pizza stone at the hottest temperature your oven can manage. Sprinkle with a dusting of parmigiano and drizzle with a bit of truffle oil before slicing.

Enjoy!