A morning of pizzas

Yesterday I made another journey to the Farmer's Market and thanks to Poonam's access to a car, I was a little overzealous with my purchases. Having not even gotten through the produce from the week before, I still bought a bushel of tomatoes (which I blanched, pureed, and froze for use later in the year in the wee hours of the night). Needless to say, it's time for me to cook. Or as I did this morning, bake!

I made an heirloom tomato pizza and a pesto-arugula pizza, however since they don't have cheese on them, they may be deemed flatbread.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Serving Size: 1 large pizza, about the size of a large baking pan

Ingredients:
2.5 c whole-wheat flour (local, bought in bulk from PFC)
0.25 t baking powder
0.5 t salt
1 c water
0.5 c oil (I used olive oil)
garlic granules (optional)
rosemary or any other herbs that you like (optional)

Directions:
Whisk together dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately. Combine in a large bowl and mix until dough forms.
On a floured surface, knead dough for 5 minutes. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
Sprinkle corn meal (or flour) onto a large baking pan. Roll out dough until about the size of the pan and transfer over to pan. Poke holes into the dough with a fork.

Heirloom Tomato Pizza

Ingredients:
whole wheat pizza dough
oil (I used canola oil)
0.25 large red onion, sliced into half moons
5 cloves of garlic, sliced
2-3 heirloom tomatoes, thinly sliced
olive oil
salt
pepper
rosemary or any other herbs that you like

Directions:
Bake pizza dough in oven at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until it starts becoming golden brown.
Remove from oven and increase temperature to 425 degrees.
Drizzle dough with oil and spread so that the surface is covered. Sprinkle garlic and onion onto the dough. Bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and arrange slices of heirloom tomatoes onto the crust so that it makes a complete layer. Return to oven for 5 more minutes.
Remove from oven. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt, pepper, and rosemary to taste.
Cut into slices and serve!

Green Pizza

Ingredients:
whole wheat pizza dough
0.5 c pesto (recipe below)
1 T canola oil
1 bunch arugula, chopped and stems removes
olive oil
salt
pepper

Directions:

Bake pizza dough at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes on the lowest rack of your oven.

While the dough is baking, heat canola oil in a skillet over medium heat and add arugula. Sautee for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly until the arugula is wilted.

Remove crust from oven and spread pesto onto the crust. Distribute arugula onto the pizza.

Bake pizza for 10 more minutes.

Remove from oven. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.

Cut into slices and serve!

*This recipe would be good with any sort of grilled/sauteed veggies. Get creative!

Basil-Almond Pesto

Ingredients:

2 bunches of fresh basil (about 3-4 packed cups)*

1/3 c almonds, sliced**

2 heaping T white miso

1/3 c olive oil

Juice of 1/2 lemon or 1 lime

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

Directions:

Toast almonds in a saute pan over medium heat until golden brown and fragrant.

Food process (is that a verb?) almonds and garlic until chopped. Add miso and pulse until incorporated. Add basil and process until chopped and even consistency. Add oil and lime juice and process until smooth.

This makes a solid amount of pesto which can sometimes be dangerous since it becomes discolored if you do not use it quickly. A method that I got a kick out of is freezing the leftover pesto in an ice cube tray and then transferring the frozen pesto cubes to a ziplock bag. This way you freeze small serving sizes and don't have to thaw a big block of pesto every time a recipe calls for a tablespoon or two. Pretty cool!

*Basil can be replaced with cilantro, parsley, spinach, etc. depending on what you have/what you like.

**Pesto is traditionally made with pine nuts but those are pretty expensive (and I can't find them in bulk). Any sort of nut (walnuts, pecans, cashews...) can be subbed in for the same feel.