Showing posts with label bread>pita. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bread>pita. Show all posts

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Pizza, Please - Hold the Tomatoes

white wild mushroom pizza, no tomatoes!
My sis had a taste for white pizza, and as none of us had ever made it before, off to google we went!  I don't know what I thought a white pizza sauce would be, but I never would have guessed it began with a roux! We decided to use a flatbread/pita for the crust so mom wouldn't have to make more pizza crust, and it was almost as good as homemade because the toppings were so good! Our pizza was made with sautéed wild chanterelles and caramelized onions, and we used fresh thyme leaves instead of basil because it goes so well, flavor-wise, with the chantys. (If you don't have access to chanterelles, any other store-bought fresh mushroom will do; just remember to sauté them first.) Sorry for the bad photo, but it was only the next day, right before lunch, that I realized I hadn't taken any photos of it as it was being made! 

The throw 'n go: 

1 - for preparing the toppings
chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned (with a toothbrush, no water) and torn into pieces
onions - cut onion in half length-wise and then cut into thin slices
butter, for sautéing 
(This can be done long before you assemble your pizza - mom and I did all the sautéing in the morning - just take all out of the fridge enough before dinner so they are at room temp.)

2 T. butter (if you need to make more, just use equal parts butter to flour)
2 T. flour
1 C. milk or 1/2 & 1/2
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 garlic clove, minced
fresh thyme leaves
1/2 C. parmesan cheese

3 - for assembling the pizza:
mozzarella cheese
parmesan cheese
fresh thyme leaves
BumHot (or cayenne or other red pepper flakes)

Preheat oven to 450º F. 
1 - Melt butter in a pan, add the mushrooms and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until the chanterelles are done, about 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from pan, add more butter if needed and add the onions. Cook onions over medium to medium-low heat for around 20 minutes or so - until the onions are nicely browned and caramelized. When done, set them aside. 
2 - Using the same pan to make the roux, over medium heat (you don't want the butter and flour to brown), melt 2 T. butter and add the flour and whisk well to combine. Whisking constantly, cook for about 5 - 10 minutes. Slowly whisk in the milk, adding gradually. Stir in the remaining ingredients and remove from the heat. 
3 -  Coat the flatbread with your roux.  Sprinkle mozzarella over the top of that. Then cover with the mushrooms and onions, as little or as much as you want. Sprinkle that with some thyme leave and then sprinkle on your desired amount of mozzarella cheese. Add some parmesan, a few more thyme leaves and BumHot. Bake until all is nice and bubbly and beginning to brown, about 15 - 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of your bread (we like it as thin as we can get it) and the amount of topping you have. Serve your pizza with parmesan on the side. 

~~~

YUM!

'till we feast again! 
xoabb

Monday, August 1, 2016

Pizza Margherita on the Fly

pizza ready for the hot oven!
While most of mom and dad's friends that are their age eat out at least twice a day, mom is in a very shrunk category of fixing dinner for her and dad (and anyone else that's around) just about every night of the year. Mom still cooks because she still loves cooking, no other reason. And lunch every day for mom and dad are the left-overs from the night before. 
Yesterday we met some old friends and the five of us went for brunch at the Claysville Store. It's a wonderful family-run restaurant that's only open on Saturday nights and Sundays from about noon to 3pm. They only serve country-fried chicken and country-fried ham steaks, but with all the fixin's. Best fried chicken I've ever eaten outside of my grandma! (Do go here to find out more about this lovely little restaurant.) Since we ate there at about 2pm yesterday and mom, dad and I each had a piece of chicken left (you get 3 pieces) and a biscuit, we didn't bother with dinner, just had our chicken and biscuit and a sliced tomato when we got hungry later on. 
Thus, today we had no left-overs for lunch today.
But mom, of course, had a trick up her sleeve. There's always fixin's for pizza in her kitchen and flatbread/pita bread in her freezer to put the fixin's on!


Our pizzas were delicious! 

Major yum there!

The throw 'n go for 3 folks: 

2 flatbread/pita breads (the thinner the better) (Cham brand pitas are wonderful; it was what we used)
olive oil
marinara sauce
5 - 6 roma tomatoes, cored and chopped
oregano (fresh from their garden and then dried on the counter - very fragrant!)
fresh basil leaves, rolled up and julienned into strips

Preheat oven to 450º F. Microwave flatbread for about 10 seconds to thaw if frozen. Place them on a cookie and sprinkle olive oil on them. Spoon a bit of marinara sauce on top of the breads, just enough to very lightly coat them all over. Next, evenly distribute the chopped tomatoes. Sprinkle oregano lightly and then distribute the basil ribbons evenly over both breads. Place one round of mozzarella in the middle of each bread, then round halves around the breads (see above photo). Sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper and BumHot (or cayenne if no BumHot). Bake for about 10 minutes or until the mozzarella is completely melted. This is all kinds of delicious! Enjoy!


~~~

YUM!

'till we feast again! 
xoabb