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Category Archives: Pizza
Padrons. The first time I encountered this mysterious little green pepper was at the farmer’s market. Intrigued by their high price tag, I asked the farmer to tell me more. He proceed to explain how the pepper was Spanish and was known as Pimientos de Padron. He went on to say that the peppers are normally sweet and very mild; but, that in every batch there would be a spicy one.
Ever since we eagerly await for the season to arrive and then we keep a steady supply in our house. They make a great little nibble to have on hand while cooking dinner. Just gently saute in a little olive oil, and season with some salt. Sometimes I like to sprinkle a little spicy pepper to really make things spicy. The padrons are fun to serve to dinner guests as well as kids; they have so much fun eating them, and wondering who will get the token spicy pepper.
Recently I started using the padrons in recipes as well. One of our favorites is a balsamic onion and padron pizza. The caramelized onions, slightly sweet padrons and creamy manchego are an amazing combination. Especially when grilled over a charcoal fire.
If you see these gems in your market, take advantage, not only are they delicious but they are fun to eat.
Do you have a favorite recipe using Padrons? We’d love to hear all about it.
Recipe: Padrons
*makes a noshy snack for 2 – 4 people
- handful of padrons, washed and dried
- olive oil
- maldon salt
In a large frying pan, gently heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat. Add the padrons and cook until the skin blisters and they slightly turn a little brown. Remove from the heat. Put into a serving dish. Sprinkle with maldon salt. Serve. Eat.
Recipe: Grilled Balsamic Onion and Padron Pizza
- pizza dough
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced very thin
- olive oil
- good quality balsamic vinegar
- handful of padrons, stems removed and thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup manchego cheese, sliced very thin, we use a vegetable peeler
- maldon salt or black sea salt
- egg – this is optional
Heat your grill according to your directions. Clean the grate of the grill, you do not want any extra food hanging out on it. Not only will this change the flavor of the pizza but it will cause the pizza to stick. You will want to keep the heat at about 400.
Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the onions and slowly cook, over low heat, until caramelized; about 25 – 30 minutes, depending on the heat of your stove. Do not make them dark brown. Add a drizzle of balsamic, stir and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Roll out the pizza dough on a well floured surface. Move the rolled out door to a large baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. Grill the dough for a couple minutes on each side, just long enough to make it slightly firm. Remove from the heat, and put back onto the baking sheet or a pizza wheel if you have one. Then put your toppings on top of the dough in this order: onions, padrons, and cheese. Slide the pizza back onto the grill. If you are adding an egg, break it onto the middle of the pizza and sprinkle with salt. Drizzle with a small amount of olive oil. Close the cover to your grill. The pizza will be ready in 12 – 15 minutes. I check every so often, as you may need to slightly move it around, so you do not burn the crust. Serve. Eat.
The first time we made grilled pizzas, Lenny thought I lost my mind. The next time we decided to make them, I also decided our guests would make their own individual ones, he really thought I lost my mind. Both times, he was wrong. Grilling pizza is easy and having your guests make their own is a huge hit!
Recently, when we had a warm pre-summer evening, we invited a couple friends over for pizza and wine. The only thing was, they would be cooking their own pizzas. These friends were newbies to our pizza dinner party concept and they loved it! As this was completely last minute (say 6pm) we were not prepared, so we had to use what we had in the house. The toppings we came up with was: black truffles, white corn, cilantro, prosciutto, caramelized fennel with red peppers, blue cheese, Parmesan cheese, and eggs.
We have been meaning to give Celine a new recipe using her wonderful truffles and used this opportunity to exactly that. We made a luscious prosciutto and black truffle pizza with egg – it was amazing!!! Slightly salty and earthy with the creamiest of the just cooked egg! If you love pizza, prosciutto and truffles, this is your pizza!
Recipe: Grilled Prosciutto & Black Truffle Pizza
pizza dough, see recipe above
parmesan cheese
good quality prosciutto
good quality black truffles
organic eggs
black truffle oil
sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper
Basically, we used our basic pizza dough recipe, topped it with Parmesan cheese, prosciutto and black truffles; grilling it just until the dough was set and then topping it with an egg and cooking for another 3 – 5 minutes, depending on how you like your egg. Before serving drizzling with a little black truffle oil, a sprinkle of sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper …. amazing!
I was very excited to see October’s challenge listed on the DB site – Basic Pizza Dough, by Peter Reinhart, I am so glad that Rosa over at Rosa’s Yummy Yum decided to continue with this challenge. She was suppose to host this challenge with Sher at What Did You Eat, unfortunately for all of us the lovely Sher passed away last summer.
We love making pizza at home and this recipe was very easy, even the tossing of the dough – which was too fun, so much in fact, we forgot to snap photos. The crust was thin and crispy and very flavorful. We topped ours with arugula, fresh tomatoes, olive oil and sea salt – so good!
Be sure to check out the other Daring Bakers, too!
I am basically behind on life. I can not seem to catch up on working, phone calls (sorry everyone), emails and especially Chez US. Life has become so incredibly busy with switching over to FVM and getting back into the “work” mode instead of fun. Who was I kidding, make a major life changing change during SUMMER FUN!
Anyhow, enough whining! The weather was scorching hot the past few days and one must take advantage when that happens in the city. We were really taking advantage of it … late night dining on the deck, leaving work early for icy cold beers beers at Revolution, scooter rides and now, we decided to invite a couple friends over on Saturday night for a bbq.
While we love to entertain, we both hate the fact that, that means I cook and barely get a chance to really sit down and enjoy everyones company. So, we came up with the idea of grilled pizzas; but, setting up a make your own pizza bar and to have everyone get dirty. Now this “revelation” came to us, during one of these pre-mentioned late night dinners, so when I was setting up everything, it just suddenly hit Lenny in the head like a 2 ton brick! “What?” “Have everyone make their own?” “Have them come in & out, making pizzas?” Did I lose my mind somewhere between, “What a Great Idea” and “WHAT????”. The plan did not CHANGE
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We had some left over dough from a Jamie Oliver night – tossed it into the freezer, thawed today and then let it rise for a couple hours tonight, while we were at spin class. It came out wonderful! Topped it with some caramelized shallots and garlic which I added some crushed fennel seeds and chili peppers to while it cooked. I topped the crust with a very small amount of mozzarella and then tossed the shallot mixture and some arugula over the top. The finishing touch was some pancetta, crushed pepper, sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil!
Was fantastic!
L. and I really do not “celebrate” V~day. We both are strong believers that all these special “things”, should be things that are done throughout the year, not saved up for one “big” day. And, since we eat pretty well on a nightly bases, why should this night be any different or for that matter stuck out at a restaurant, paying over priced prices for food that is not that good because it is so busy – save it for a rainy day! In the same breath, it is kind of hard not to get a little sucked into all the pink & red fluff everywhere, so I do always pick up a little token of my love, a bottle of pink bubbly and a card.
Now, since I LOVE to cook as well, I know L. was expecting the big fancy french meal; but, I surprised him with a Jamie Oliver pizza of Pancetta, artichoke hearts and an egg! He was quite surprised!
For dessert I made L.’s favorite dessert, Iles Flottantes – a big Thank You to Tartelette for a wonderful recipe! Not only was it delicious but very easy.
We love Donna Hay, well, at least the photos in her cookbooks and the magazines we buy. They are truly a piece of art to look at, and to drool over. Have yet to try out the recipes.
So, I was pretty excited when I saw this event listed on one of my favorite blogs and fellow Daring Baker, 80 Breakfasts. We were going to some friend’s house for a pizza/kid party last Saturday night so this was the perfect opportunity to try out Donna’s pizza recipe.
Don’t let homemade pizza dough intimidate you. It has to be one of the easiest things to make. I even made some extra for the freezer. In keeping with the theme of the event we made a couple of the Class Tomato pizza as well as a favorite for the kids – pepperoni. We also made a fennel and spicy Italian Sausage, before putting the cornmeal on the stone we mixed some garlic salt into it. This was our favorite!
You should definitely add this to your recipe box as a favorite. The crust was fantastic, crisp and flavorful and not chewy and you can get as creative as you want with toppings! You will be seeing this over at Chez, very often in 2008!
Plums, Pizza & Pinot Noir and some Lamb (yes, I know, more meat); but, we did cut down portions! We have been waiting to open up this bottle of 2005 Pinot Noir, that our friend I. and company (Dept. C) are making but we needed the right dish.
Recently, there was an article in the SF Chronicle on Pinot Noir and what to serve … there it was Lamb, Plum & Smoked Mozzarella Pizza , so we whipped up a mini, tossed together a simple mixed green salad with radishes (just like grandma use to make) and popped open the Dept. C. Point Noir – the meal was great, the pizza was interesting (I will make again but add more spices to it) and the Pinot was smooth and definitely complimented the plums and the gamey taste of the lamb. As well, this was the last meal for our Eat Local Challenge – everything was local this time!!!
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