White Pizza topped with Spinach Salad and Prosciutto

Things that keep me up at night:

1. Lesson planning for math class
2. University students who are living in apartments - on their own for the first time - drunkenly singing songs from the Lion King
3. The realization that we eat pizza in some form multiple times a week.

Okay, maybe the last one doesn't keep me awake at night, but I was struck by that realization of just how much pizza we eat each week. It's not usually a cheese and meat laden extravaganza - in fact, I think variations of the vegan Thrive Diet pizza are probably the kinds that we eat most frequently.

But, there is something about having pizza that makes the weekend feel like the weekend. And, if you make an extra large batch of dough one day and store the remainder of the dough in the freezer, it feels like you've barely put any work into a homemade pizza dinner.

And personally, I like that feeling.

I tried something I haven't done before with pizza the other night - forgo the sauce and the cooked toppings.

Instead, the base was baked with a brush of truffle oil and a mixture of mozzarella and blue cheeses. Once pulled from the oven, I topped it with a dressed spinach salad with prosciutto.

So, it's more salad than pizza... right?


White Pizza with Spinach and Prosciutto

(serves 4)

Ingredients

pizza dough (I used the half I'd set aside from this recipe)
1 tbsp truffle oil (you could use any flavoured oil in its place - garlic oil would be particularly delicious)
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
½ cup crumbled blue cheese
4 cups baby spinach greens
2 oz thick cut prosciutto, chopped
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place pizza stone in a cold oven. Turn oven on to its highest setting (500º-550º) and preheat stone for an hour. Half an hour into the preheating process, turn pizza dough out onto a floured surface (a pizza peel would be perfect here. Otherwise, use a piece of parchment paper. This will allow you to transfer the dough to the hot stone with minimal fuss. Please note that using the paper will prevent the same kind of crisp browning you would usually get) and shape into the size you want it to be. Cover with a tea towel and let rest for 20-30 minutes.

2. Brush dough with truffle oil and sprinkle cheese over surface. Bake in oven for 12 - 17 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and golden. Remove from oven.

3. While crust is baking, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, mustard and salt and pepper. I like to throw dressing ingredients into a small mason jar and shake them up. I find it emulsifies much better that way. Place spinach and prosciutto into a bowl and toss with dressing. Place spinach salad on top of pizza and serve immediately.

The spinach closest to the crust will start to wilt slightly in the heat. Can you say yum?

Time for Chili!

That episode of the Simpson's where Homer eats the Guatemalan Insanity Pepper was on this week. That's definitely one of my favourites (along with the Scorpio episode). There are so many great one liners! My favourite is when Homer is doing the dance and whining "But Marge, we're missing the chili!".

This is a close second:

So, it seemed that chili was the totally reasonable thing to eat for dinner! Now, I'm not a huge fan of really spicy foods. This chili recipe was introduced into my family more than a decade ago through Canadian Living. It's called Stratford Heartburn People's Choice Chili, and because it regularly one that award at the Stratford (Ontario) Heartburn Annual Chili Cook-Off. It's sweet, tangy and smoky with bacon goodness.

Perhaps it shouldn't be called Chili. It doesn't actually have any chili powder in it.

We'll forgive it that, and in return you'll discover that it's a really forgiving recipe. Don't have enough bacon? Fine. Use what you've got. Have a 28 oz can of tomatoes? No worries. Throw it in, and let reduce longer. Don't eat beef? Use turkey. Because it cooks low and slow for 3 hours, the sauce is super flavourful and really infuses the meat and beans with its lovely goodness. By the time it's done, you won't be missing the traditional chili seasonings at all!

Stratford Heartburn People's Choice Chili 
Ingredients
(Canadian Living Magazine, February 1997) 
7 slices lean bacon (I often use whatever I have on hand. I used 2 slices this time)
1 lb lean ground beef
1 onion; chopped
1 clove garlic; minced
2 tablespoons brown sugar; packed
2 tablespoons fancy molasses
1 can (19 oz) tomatoes (again, feel free to use whatever you have, I used a 28 oz can)
1 can (14 oz) kidney beans
1 can (14 oz) baked beans with pork and molasses
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon each pepper and hot pepper sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 300º.

In a Dutch oven (or any large ovenproof pot), cook bacon over medium heat. When crisp, remove and drain on paper towels. Crumble and set aside.

Add beef and onion to the pan. Sauté until beef is browned, about 10 minutes, breaking beef up. Drain off fat.

Add all remaining ingredients to the Dutch oven. Stir thoroughly.

Cover and place in oven for 2 hours, stirring occasionally (like once an hour). After the two hours are up, pull the chili out of the oven and remove the lid.

At this point, it's all about thickening this bad boy up. Return the lidless Dutch oven to the oven and let cook for another hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so (totally not a necessary step, but I like to make sure everything is coated with the delicious sauce). When it's ready, it'll look like this:

See how much liquid has reduced? Welcome to flavour country!

This recipe theoretically serves 4, but I think it serves more like 6, especially when accompanied with bread and a crisp green salad!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

They key here is really in the sauce. Heck, you can throw whatever toppings you want on, but it ain't bbq pizza without the bold spicy sauce.

I`m sorry about the picture. I took it while eating at the same time!

I had chicken thighs, peppers, onion and stuffed olives on hand, so that's what went on our pizza.

Oh, and some potent sheep's milk cheese. Stinking up the fridge. Strong enough to stand up to this bold pizza.

Yar.

Dough

3/4 cup warm water
2 tsp honey
2¼ tsp yeast (1 package)
½ tsp salt
2 cups + ¼ cup flour
cornmeal (I use a small handful to dust my baking sheet)

Stir together water and honey. Sprinkle yeast on top. Set aside until yeast begins to bubble, about 5 minutes.

In mixer, stir together salt and 2 cups flour. Stir in yeast mixture. Let machine run on level 2 until dough has come together and is smooth and elastic. (Alternatively get your elbows prepped for some serious kneading - about 10 minutes worth). Sprinkle work surface with a little flour, and knead the dough a few times just to pull it all together.

Grease a large bowl. Throw the dough in (gently! Gently!), toss around to grease all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in warm area to rise until double in bulk, about 1 hour.

Sprinkle cornmeal on baking sheet. Roll dough out on sheet until desired size. Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge for ½ hour.

Meanwhile, get started on the sauce!

Sriracha. If you don't have it in your pantry, you should!

Sauce

½ cup BBQ sauce (I find a milder one works best, but all I had on hand was a dark, bold one, so that's what I used)
1 tbsp sriracha hot sauce
1 tbsp honey

Stir ingredients together in bowl.

Voila. Sauce.

You knew it was going to be that easy, right? Right?

The ½ hour has passed, which means you have dough, sauce and presumably some toppings. So, preheat the oven to 450, pull the crust out of the fridge. Remove plastic wrap (it seems so obvious, really), sauce that bad boy up and top however you wish.

Once the oven is heated, put the pizza in for 18 minutes.

Eighteen. It's the magic number. Don`t forget it. At minute 19 your pizza will burst into flames.

Maybe it won`t, but do you really want to chance it? Really?

You monster. Stick with 18 minutes.

When the 18 minutes is up, pull out the pizza, and let it stand for 5 minutes on its baking sheet. Cut. Serve. Enjoy.

You can thank me later.