Unless you live under a rock you know it’s election day today. Dylan and I voted at the fire station this morning and, while trying to avoid making a major political statement here, these are Chicago mini deep dish pizzas shot on a very blue towel. You get the picture.
Election day and Halloween prove we’re in the thick of fall. Some of you got a sneak peek on my instagram but Dylan requested an astronaut costume this year. I made him a jet pack out of plastic bottles following this easy tutorial and he loved it. He actually loved it so much he made me cry. What a guy.
These little pizzas are really easy to make and super adaptable. If you’re feeding kids or a crowd, just fill ’em up with whatever people like. I’ve included our favorite pizza dough recipe but store bought is just fine.
Mini Deep Dish Pizzas with Spinach, Caramelized Onions & Goat Cheese
makes 12
1 no-knead whole wheat pizza dough (recipe below)
1 cup favorite marinara sauce, mine is Rao’s
1 cup crumbled goat cheese (leave out for vegan)
2 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped
3 yellow onions, sliced thin
olive oil
salt & pepper
muffin tins
1. Make dough the day before or buy a whole wheat dough from the market or your favorite pizza shop.
2. Caramelize the onions: Heat a large skillet over medium heat and cover the bottom with olive oil. Add onions and a big pinch of salt. Let the onions sit until slightly brown, toss, let sit, toss, allowing the onions to continuously brown. For pizza, I like them medium caramelized so they’re full of rich flavor but not lost. This will take about 15 minutes.
3. Brush two 12 cup muffin tins with olive oil. You’ll use every other cup so the pizzas don’t stick together.
4. Dough: Grab a golf ball size ball of dough and with plenty of flour, roll to a 3″ circle. Roll out 12 circles and place them in alternating oiled muffin cups.
5. Preheat oven to 450. Spoon 1 tablespoon tomato sauce into the bottom of each cup, follow with 1 tablespoon goat cheese, 1 tablespoon spinach, 1 tablespoon onions. Finish with another tablespoon of sauce and finally cheese on top.
6. Place the pizzas in the oven and cook for about 12-15 minutes or until cheese is brown and crust is crisp.
No-Knead Whole Wheat Pizza Dough adapted from Bon Appetit
makes enough dough for 6 full pizzas
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
3 cups water
Whisk flour, salt, and yeast in a medium bowl. While stirring with a wooden spoon, gradually add water; stir until well incorporated. Mix dough gently with your hands to bring it together and form into a rough ball.
Transfer to a large clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise at room temperature in a warm area until surface is covered with tiny bubbles and dough has more than doubled in size, about 18 hours (time will vary depending on temperature of room).
Transfer dough to a floured work surface. Gently shape dough into a rough rectangle. Divide into 6 equal portions. Working with 1 portion at a time, shape into ball and set on counter under damp kitchen towel for 1 hour.
Happy Halloween people! I’m waiting for my little buddy to wake up from his nap so I can surprise him with the jet pack I made to go with his killer astronaut costume. I hope he loves it! What is everyone doing to celebrate today? We’re walking across the street to a little Halloween party with hay rides.
I cooked this soup over the weekend for my parents. Little did I know it was one of the few true meals we had leftover for the hurricane so the pot is licked clean! I like this soup because it is a classic chickpea, tomato, and bread soup but uses a few unexpected techniques – mashing the chickpeas slightly before adding, calling for the underused fennel bulb, and finishing with a drizzle of pesto. I may eat all soup with a drizzle of pesto after this aha moment.
Before the storm, we visited The Farm Institute so Dylan could be a Wee Farmer for the morning. The farm staff help the kids feed old tomatoes to the hogs, collect eggs from the hen house, and go right in the chick pens. It was totally over the top adorable.
Chickpea, Tomato & Bread Soup
from Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi
serves 4-6
1 large onion, sliced
1 medium fennel bulb, sliced
about 1/2 cup olive oil
1 large carrot, peeled, cut lengthways in half and sliced
3 celery stalks, sliced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup white wine
one 14-oz can Italian plum tomatoes
1 tbsp chopped oregano
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
2 tsp sugar
4 1/2 cups vegetable stock
salt and black pepper
2 large slices stale sourdough bread (crust removed, use favorite GF bread for GF)
2 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
4 tbsp basil pesto (recipe below or bought)
Preheat oven to 350. Place the onion and fennel in a large saucepan, add 3 tablespoons of the oil and sauté on medium heat for about 4 minutes. Add the carrot and celery and continue cooking for 4 minutes, just to soften the vegetables, stirring occasionally. Stir in the tomato paste and stir as you cook for 1 minute. Add the wine and let it bubble away for a minute or two.
Next, add the canned tomatoes with their juices, the herbs, sugar, vegetable stoic, and some salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then cover and leave to simmer gently for about 30 minutes.
While you wait, break the bread into rough chunks with your hands. Toss with 2 tablespoons oil and some salt and scatter in a roasting pan. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until thoroughly dry. Remove from the oven and set aside.
About 10 minutes before you want to serve the soup, place the chickpeas in a bowl and crush them a little with a potato masher or the end of a rolling pin; you want some to be left whole. Add them to the soup and leave to simmer for 5 minutes. Next add the toasted bread, stir well and cook another 5 minutes. Taste the soup and add salt and pepper liberally.
Ladle the hot soup into bowls. Spoon some pesto in the center, drizzle with plenty of olive oil and finish with fresh lemon juice, if you like.
Basil Pesto:
1 cup basil leaves
1/2 cup parsley leaves
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 garlic cloves
1 cup olive oil
Place the basil, parsley, pine nuts, Parmesan and garlic in a food processor and blitz to a paste. Add the oil and pulse until you get a runny pesto. Pour into a large bowl and keep at room temperature until meal time.
I’m sitting here on my sofa literally stranded on an island in the middle of a hurricane. The lights have flickered on and off a few times but so far it’s just really windy, some dead tree branches are down, and I have two pots of water ready. Of course, Nick has been surfing already, will go again and is totally loving the storm.
Two things struck me when thinking about Sandy’s approach. The first is what to eat. Our friend, who happens to share the love of food, mentioned this awesome chicken recipe. I tweaked it a bit but am totally sold. This is how I’m going to cook chicken from now on.
The second is how messy the beautiful fall island will look in a few days. All the blooms, many leaves, and branches will be flung around. A few day ago, Dylan and I took a very early morning walk down the dirt road behind our house. Here is what it looked like before mother nature came charging through.
Splayed Roast Chicken With Caramelized Leeks, Garlic and Capers:
Slightly adapted from the NY Times
1 4 1/2-pound whole chicken, patted dry, ours was from Morning Glory Farm
The last 24 hours are shaping up to be what one would call a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
A 6:00 am skunk spray to our dog’s face kicked off the festivities yesterday morning. I suddenly found myself dressed in a black trash bag (cut holes for my head and arms) so I could touch him without the skunk oils seeping into my skin. The 24 hours ended with Dylan waking up at 4:20 am this morning and deciding he didn’t want to go back to sleep no matter what so we finally went downstairs and splat….my bare foot in a pile of surprise dog poop. These are the bookends to a full day of lost ATM card, $1 short at the dump, and ripped favorite shirt.
I’m the kind of tired where you feel slightly sick. You know when you wake up for an early flight and are dizzy, grossed out by smells, and not sure what time it is? Yup, me today. And do our clothes, bodies, and cars smell like skunk? Yes they do.
Luckily, I made a batch of sweet potato rolls earlier this week which either spread with butter and honey or dipped in olive oil are a total pick me up. Nick brought home James Beard’s book Beard On Bread from a book sale this summer and I’m smitten with it.
These rolls are perfect for tiny hands. Dylan has been eating them with either peanut butter or humus and seems quite happy and of course not over tired at all.
Sweet Potato Rolls
slightly adapted from Beard on Bread
makes about 24
2 packages active dry yeast
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup warm water
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup mashed sweet potatoes or yams (if canned, drained of all liquids first)
2 tablespoons cream
1. Combine the yeast with 1 tablespoon of the sugar and the warm water in a mixing bowl and let proof for 5 minutes. Add the remaining sugar, the butter, salt, and 2 of the eggs to the yeast mixture, and stir to blend well.
2. Stir in the flour, 1 cup at a time, then stir in the sweet potatoes.
3. Turn out on a lightly floured board and knead for 2 or 3 minutes, adding only enough flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the board. The dough will be soft.
4. When the dough is smooth and springy to the touch, shape it into a ball. Put in a buttered bowl and turn to coat the surface with butter. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
5. Punch the dough down, then shape it into a ball and let rest for 2 minutes. Pull off equal pieces about the size of golf balls and shape into balls – about 2 dozen of them.
6. Place them on a buttered cookie sheet about 2 pinches apart or, if you want the rolls joined, about 1/4 inch apart. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk.
7. Beat the remaining egg with the cream and brush this onto the rolls. Bake in a preheated 375 oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until the rolls are a lovely brown color.
Winter Tabbouleh
serves 4 to 6
The key to this tabbouleh is chopping all the vegetables very small and uniform size. Everything should be 1/2″ or smaller.
For Salad:
1 1/4 cups bulgur
1 endive, cored and chopped
1 medium/small fennel bulb, stalks removed, cored and chopped
1 1/2 cups tiny cauliflower florets
big handful parsley, chopped
small handful mint, chopped
big handful pecans, chopped
small handful raisins (if hard let soak in water then drain)
1/2 teaspoon salt
fresh black pepper
For Dressing:
1 garlic clove, grated on microplane
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon water
juice of 1 lemon plus 1 lemon cut into wedges for serving
pinch salt
fresh black pepper
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Prepare Salad:
Cover bulgur with warm water by 2 inches in a bowl and soak for 10 minutes. Drain well then transfer to a large bowl and stir in endive, fennel, cauliflower, parsley, mint, pecans, raisins, salt, and pepper.
Make Dressing:
Stir together garlic, cinnamon, honey, water, salt, pepper, and lemon juice in a small bowl, then add oil in a stream, whisking well.
Finish Salad:
Toss tabbouleh with dressing and serve with extra lemon wedges. It can sit in the fridge, dressed, for a few hours or just toss with the dressing when you’re ready to eat.
