Pepperoni, Zucchini and Gorgonzola Pizza

Have you ever cooked with gorgonzola cheese? Using it on this pizza was my inaugural use of this delicacy. Calling it's flavor "sharp" would be a euphemism. "Pungent" may in fact be more accurate. I would say that you should know that you like it before you start using it. Or at the very least, use it sparingly.

Now I'm not trying to cyber-bully a particular cheese here. I'm not saying it was bad - far from it really. I very much liked the za I created with it. The other ingredients were particularly appetizing, however, because of the amount of gorgonzola I used, their flavors were more masked than I would have cared for. I would easily use gorgonzola in cooking again, but I would be more conservative with it in the future.

If you really think or know you're going to hate it and refuse to read further if I mention the word "gorgonzola" again, then by all means, omit it. You could use feta or goat cheese in its place, or you could even go with a sprinkling of parmesan if that's more your style.

Regardless, I will share with you the pizza making process for this delightful meal.

Ingredients needed:

• Pizza dough or prepared crust
• 1-2 cups pizza sauce
• 2 small zucchinis
• 10 thinly-sliced deli pepperonis
• 1/4 cup gorgonzola cheese (more or less, to taste)
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• About 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

So, the preparation begins.

• Place a pizza stone into a cold oven, then crank the oven to 500. 
• Heat a skillet on the stovetop over medium-high heat with a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Get your zucchinis cleaned. Slice them into "coins." Toss them into the heated skillet and sauté them until they are golden-brown on each side. 

Cleaned.

Coined.

Sautéed. 

• While the zucchini is browning, prepare your pepperonis. The ones I got at the deli counter were rather large (perhaps 3 inches in diameter), so I cut them into quarters to make them more bite-sized. These things should be fully-cooked when you buy them, and I couldn't help myself from taking a little sample of a bite of one before I assembled the za. Oh my. Yum. It was definitely a good choice to go with the deli pepperoni rather than ones that come pre-packaged from elsewhere in the grocery store. And since I only bought 10 thin slices, this was actually the more money-saving option as well.

• Once the pizza stone is thoroughly heated, remove it from the oven. Place your prepared pizza dough or crust on it and spread as much pizza sauce on top of that as you'd like. 
• Next, pile on all those tasty ingredients that you just prepared. Start with the zucchinis, evenly spacing them all around. Pepperonis go all over next, then sprinkle on your gorgonzola, black pepper, and finally, mozzarella. If you're a true gorgonzola fanatic, you may like to sprinkle some more on the very top of the za. But I'll leave that up to you.

• Pop the stone with all that delightfulness on top back into the oven and keep it in there until everything is hot, melty, and the cheese is slightly golden on top. This time it only took my za about 8 minutes to cook, but typically I expect to wait around 10 minutes for a completed pizza. 

See? Beautifully golden and melty in all of 8 minutes. Careful though. This thing is hella hot. Seeing how the crust is even a bit burned on the front edge tells me that I could have taken it out of the oven even sooner. But it was still delish, and that one little burt section of crust didn't take away from the delightful toppings at all. Or maybe it was my husband that ate the slice from that side. Hm. Either way, no trouble here at all!

Lastly, I did a wee little change-up for the crust of this za. I did everything as usual when I make my normal crust, but instead of using warm water I used warm beer. This was not the same as another crust I did involving beer (a personal favorite of mine right there), but it was still delicious - crispy and classic yet it had a slightly deeper and more complex flavor.

Any beer will do (I used Coors Light); just try not to be too repulsed after warming it up in the microwave, adding honey and yeast to it, and waiting for it to froth up. It's all part of a much bigger and more important process. And an added bonus - you only use 3/4 cup of beer, so you'll have a few swigs left over to enjoy while you prepare the rest of the recipe. You are welcome.

Spicy Breaded Chicken and Butternut Squash Pizza with Muenster Cheese

While everyone is going all pumpkin-crazy because fall is upon us (although I'm having a hard time noticing that because it's still around 90 degrees most days here in my corner of the world), I am all about the butternut.

Butter-what? Yes, butternut. Squash, that is. Don't get me wrong, I think pumpkins are great. Starbucks can make one hell of a melted ice cream drink using a little pumpkin flavoring. And you can make your own, lighter varieties of those drinks at home using some real pumpkins. Or you could use any other winter squash - one of which is butternut.

I could go on and on about how great this vegetable is...low in calories, jam-packed with vitamin A, tons of B6, and a respectable amount of potassium. With a little seasoning and a bake in the oven, it is just a delight to eat. Probably the most difficult part about cooking a butternut squash is cutting it open. Last week I baked one up until soft (about 50-60 minutes in the oven at 350), pureed about a cup of it, and incorporated it into some mac & cheese. Excellent choice, if I may say so myself - you could not even detect the squash and the mac was just so tasty, not to mention, secretly healthy.

If you don't believe me on the health of this stuff, check it out on World's Healthiest Foods, one of my favorite nutrition resources, thanks to my physician.

Even a medium or small-ish sized butternut squash gives you plenty to eat, so after making my mac & cheese I had a sizable amount of leftovers. And since I will never let a leftover go to waste, I just knew that a pizza was where some of these squash cubes were going to end up.

Ingredients:

• About 1 cup pizza sauce
• 1 cup butternut squash, cooked and cubed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt, pepper, seasonings, to taste
• 1 cup chicken breast pieces, baked and breaded
• 1-2 large eggs
• 1-2 tablespoons milk
• 3/4 cups breadcrumbs
• 2-4 tablespoons spicy seasoning blend
• 4-5 slices muenster cheese, cut into fourths

Directions for the prep:

• Preheat your oven to 350.
• For the butternut squash: Cut the butternut squash in half and place on a lightly oiled pan, cut-side up. Drizzle about 1 tablespoon of olive oil on each half and add any seasonings on there you like. I did garlic powder, salt and pepper, although a little bit of cayenne pepper goes very nicely on butternut. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the flesh of the squash is very tender. Cut into cubes when done.
• For the chicken: Prepare an egg wash mixture (1-2 eggs and 1-2 tablespoons of milk), and a breading mixture (3/4 cup breadcrumbs, 2-4 tablespoons your favorite seasoning blend. I'd recommend something with a little spice in it.). Coat the chicken pieces in the egg wash first, then in the breadcrumb mixture. (I used chicken breast tenderloins, but you can use regular chicken breasts or any other chicken parts.) Place on a lightly oiled pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until cooked through but not dried out. Cut into small pieces when done. 

 

Directions for the za:

• Place a pizza stone in the oven and turn the temperature to 500. 
• Roll out some dough for the pizza crust. I did a thin and crispy white/wheat blend of a crust, which was delicious, of course. 
• When the stone is hot enough, carefully take it out of the oven. Place it on your work surface and place the dough for the crust on top of that. 
• Evenly spread pizza sauce on the crust, and then add all toppings. I didn't do my toppings in any particular order this time - it was really just a mix of cheese, chicken, and squash. Yep, nothing better than a good random medley of toppings on a pizza inspired by fall, my third favorite season!
• Pop it back into the oven, bake it away for about 10 minutes (maybe only 8 or so if you did a thin crust like me), and then take it out to cool it and enjoy! 

I sprinkled just an angel's dusting of black pepper onto the finished pizza. But what I should have done was sprinkle a leprechaun's handful of red pepper flakes. The mild nutty sweetness of butternut squash can handle a little heat. And that is just what I intended to do with these leftovers. Now that is nutty. 

Veggie & Herb Pizza

I've been on a real fruit and veggie kick this week. Now if you know me, you probably know that I eat a lot of these foods a lot of the time. But this week my husband is out of town, off doing military things, so I've really taken the opportunity to up my raw and cooked veggie intake. Not that he doesn't eat these things...he'll eat basically anything I put in front of him, given, most of the things I put in front of him are quite tasty. But a life without meats would not be a life he would enjoy living.

So anyway, I started the week trying to do only fruits and veggies. It was all spinach, avocados, lentils, onions, tomatoes, bananas, grapes, plain almonds, and more. I'm pretty good at making a green smoothie, so that was a staple. Then when it came to beans and dinnertime foods I used spices to make them taste edible. Basically what I cut out was dairy, meat, and alcohol. That was all going surprisingly well, but I had some chicken breast, milk, and homemade bread in the fridge, and I didn't want to ignore those until they became rotten. Hence, my complete fruit and vegetable binge ended after about 2 days. And honestly, I think that was just the perfect time for that sort of thing. 

I'm not one to do those extreme diets. Actually, I'm very against any fad that tells you to eliminate one or more major food group. If you can't maintain eating patterns like that for a lifetime, then chances are it's a fad diet and you should avoid it. 

But no matter what you do, you can't go wrong with more veggies in your diet. They are just so good for you and the greater variety you get (both in type and color), the better. They've got tons of vitamins and minerals - most of which will not be destroyed during cooking - that help with growth, development, and repair. Your mom told you to eat your veggies after all, didn't she? She was onto something. 

So instead of going and bingeing on meats and cheeses at the end of the week to mourn my brief separation from these foods earlier in the week, I made a pizza covered in summer veggies. And some cheese too.

Ingredients needed for the topping:

• 1 shallot
• 1 zucchini 
• 1 yellow squash
• A handful of bell peppers. I used red, yellow, and orange ones.

I was considering doing a cheese-less pizza here, but then I remembered a time when I actually ordered a cheese-less pizza at a restaurant in Atlanta and I remembered that I didn't like it.

Cheeses I used on this one:

• 1/2 cup shredded asiago 
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella

Now keep in mind, those are some very flavorful (read, strong and pungent-smelling) cheeses. Especially the asiago. Adjust to your taste preferences. 

So here's the prep method:

• Toss about 2 tbsp. olive oil into a skillet. I love my iron skillet. I love it so much, in fact, I never put it away. It's always on my stovetop just waiting to make food yummy. So heat that oil, finely chop your shallot, and sauté it for a few minutes.
• In the meantime, slice the rest of your veggies. You don't have to stick to the ones that I did...I think other delightful picks for this za would include mushrooms, asparagus, spinach, and tomatoes. 
• Now add a few herbs of your choosing to the pan. I used a little thyme, allspice, and cayenne pepper. I'd also suggest rosemary, garlic, sage, cumin, black pepper, and basil - in any amount or quantity that you prefer.
• Top it all onto your dough (which should have sauce on it and be sitting on a hot pizza stone). Add veggies, then sprinkle on the cheeses and bake it for about 10 minutes.

My dough was a little bit thick this time, so it took about 12 minutes in my oven. I could tell it was done when the cheese was bubbly and the veggies were slightly charred. 

The only thing I would have done differently next time is add more veggies! I did put a lot on there, but then again, the pizza itself was quite large. I wanted to "play it safe" because I have prepped too many toppings for pizzas in the past and I did not want to have leftovers...after all, my human garbage-disposer husband is out of town. But I regret that now, because I could have easily chopped up all of both types of squash and added another handful of bell peppers and it would have been great. Oh well, we learn these things as we go!

I sprinkled a little red pepper flakes over the top and then drizzled my slice in balsamic vinegar. Very flavorful. Probably even a little too much with the balsamic, but still really good.

And I was such a rebel while eating it too - I ate in front of the TV!! *Gasp!!*