Aparagus, Ricotta and Mushroom Pizza

This was another awesome recipe I tried out with my homemade ricotta.  SO yummy.  We have been having lots of asparagus these days!  Which means spring is on its way... it HAS to be people (longest winter ever in Voorheesville!)

Asparagus, Ricotta and Cremini Mushroom Pizza 
(adapted from Real Simple)

Ingredients:

• 1  pound pizza dough, at room temperature
• cornmeal, for the baking sheet
• 1  pound asparagus, trimmed and halved lengthwise and crosswise
• 5  ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 cups ricotta (see how to make your own)
• 1/2 cup parmesan
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• kosher salt and black pepper
• [optional: arugula tossed in lemon juice to top]

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 425° F.  Roll out the dough to desired shape and place on cornmeal-dusted baking sheet.
2. Brush dough with some olive oil, top the dough with the asparagus, mushrooms, and garlic, then the ricotta, Parmesan, and a little more oil. Season with ¾ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Bake on pan (or pizza stone) until the crust is golden brown and crisp, about 20 minutes.
3. Optional: top with arugula tossed in lemon juice. 

Enjoy!

Spicy Pizza Sauce

I made this delicious spicy pizza sauce from scratch for Brandon's birthday pizza.  I kinda just went for it and it turned out really good... I don't have exact measurements of what I put in... but I will list the ingredients and basic idea... Next time I might add some tomato paste but I didn't have any on hand so I just used canned diced tomatoes...

First, I heated some oil and butter and added some diced up anchovies (only 3 or so) which I mashed up with a wooden spoon to form a kind of paste...

OK that is a kinda nasty looking picture... but it is also cool looking... very rustic country kitchen, no?  I promise... it will get prettier after this...

Then I diced up some onion, celery, and some Anaheim chili that I had on hand (a relatively mild chili - a jalepeno would be good too...)

I sauted those until soft and then added the diced tomatoes (I drained the juice and reserved it)

Then I added some sweet paprika, garlic powder, dried basil, salt and pepper, a generous amount of hot pepper flakes, and a bay leaf.  I let it simmer over very low heat for about an hour and a half, occasionally adding some of the reserved juice from the tomatoes, and when that ran out, some water, as the tomatoes cooked down.  When it tasted good and ready I pureed it in the food processor.  YUM!

Spred it on your favorite pizza dough, top with cheese and any other toppings.  I used a great dough recipe - you can find it here.

Here is the pizza after it came out of the oven:

Delish!

Birthday Feasting

Yes it was a FEAST!  I cooked and baked and rolled and stirred and whisked and floured and let rise and painted and spread and sprinkled and diced and chopped and squeezed and stirred and served! It was a day filled with verbs...

First we sat and ate guacamole at our new picnic table, and then had Anya's homemade pizza (I mean really really homemade... pizza sauce, dough.... OK, OK I did not make the cheese or the pepperoni but even I have my limits OK?)... and then of course,  blueberry pie for dessert.  Let's just look at the food OK?!

Guacamole secret ingredient?  SOUR CREAM! Shhhhh!  Also in there: minced garlic, jalepeno, cilantro, lime, salt, cayenne...

The picnic table (... Brandon is just sitting down... I think...?)

And then the pizza...

The dough was really really good!  I tried a new recipe I found at allrecipes.com and makes a crust that is crunchy on the outside but still soft and chewy in the middle... it made enough dough for 2 good size pizzas.  The recipe is available here.

Now for a variety of toppings... (yes that is homemade pizza sauce!)

Building pizza numero uno...

A little oil...

Spreading some homemade super spicy pizza sauce...

Cheese please...

Pepperoni...

Some black olives...

Funghi... my fav...

Jalepenos... (this was some spicy pizza!)

Slid it onto the preheated pizza stone...

15 minutes later...

A piece for me please?

YUM.  That was the b'day boy's pizza.

But we had enough dough for another one... (although not quite enough sauce... :(... )

We had some leftover grilled chicken from Saratoga... it was smoky and delicious... I threw it on there...

Cheeeeeeseee

Peppers and shrooms...

Jalepenos and some leftover proscuitto...

Cooked it up..

Yes... let's eat this too...

A happy chef...

OK so we couldn't really do that much damage... but we tried... and we have more than a whole pizza to eat another night... not too shabby!

Wait! Let's look at the pie real quick...

Mmmm blueberries... sugar... flour...

Yes... that is butter...

Pretty!

YUM.

OK so we vegged out.... a bit... I took pains not to think about (or mention) the calories... I hit the gym hard today... and I am resisting pie as we speak... that will last about 5 more minutes... literally... Rachel Maddow is telling us about the health care decision... I think this is all the more reason for PIE!

Find my pizza sauce recipe and the blueberry pie recipe under my recipes page... they will be there soon!

I will leave you with this family pic... a bed for each of our kids...

They. are. ridiculous.

-- Anya