Week 46: Underused Equipment – Heirloom Cherry Tomato & Spiralized Zucchini Pizza

No amount of salt on my keychain can make up for the shame I bring to Alton Brown fandom when I admit to having a spiralizer tucked neatly into my kitchen drawers. This week’s challenge has forced me to dust it off and transform the clunky contraption into a useful pizza-making tool. Here we go.

img_0079

Of all things worth spiralizing, zucchini seems a choice decision, if only for their general neutrality in both taste and texture. They’re also rarely found on the pizzasomm pizzas of 2016, which has deemed their spiralization a worthy task.

img_0080

For once, janky week-old zucchinis were able to escape refrigerator death by means of a glorious pizza bath.

img_0081

Not only did they escape eventual rot, but they looked good doing so. Just feast your eyes on those curls.

img_0082

Likewise, the sauce was concocted from dying fridge items, such as chive cream cheese, cottage cheese & homemade whipped garlic. A bit of basil and goat cheese were added for funsies. Cream, champagne vinegar and lemon olive oil brought in some pizzazz while also turning the goop into a more sauce-like consistency.

img_0083

The construction was simple and satisfying. More could be added for complexity if desired but the flavors were clean and fresh expressions of themselves.

img_0085

What a beaut. A scrumptious one, too.

img_0084

White Bordeaux offers the grassy, herbaceous quality needed to match that in the pizza while also letting the flavors of the pie speak for themselves.

img_0086

While the use of the spiralizer in my kitchen will likely not advance beyond the occasional vegetable massacre, the stage presence of the product is undeniable. Don’t be surprised to see more spirals appearing on future pizzas of mine, Alton Brown be damned.

Advertisement

Week 36: Famous Dishes – Ratatouille Pizza

This week’s challenge of “Famous Dishes” involved a full exploration of the term “famous.” To ensure true fulfillment of such a broad idea, I decided to take on the well-known French dish made famous by a Disney mouse: ratatouille.

IMG_8888

Eggplant, squash and peppers provided all the colors and textures needed for the dish.s

IMG_8889

On a super thin setting, rhe mandoline made fast work of the slicing.

IMG_8890

Designing each layer so that each slice peeked out from behind the next took a small amount of patience.

IMG_8891

Using a hearty tomato sauce as the base, this ratatouille had all the elements found in the classic dish.

IMG_8892

As a pizza, all this baby was missing was cheese,

IMG_8899

Where there was once no mozzarella, suddenly mozzarella.

IMG_8894

After a bit of doctoring, the mozzarella slices snuggled up quite nicely in their new bed of vegetables.

IMG_8893

Cooking was a tad risky considering the dense sheets of water-laden vegetables and abundance of sauce on such a thin crust.

IMG_8895

The pizza still came out looking like a beast.

IMG_8896

Fresh thyme and cracked black pepper supplied a kick of herbacous, savory notes.

IMG_8900

No dish has wanted more for a rustic French red than this one, an instinct I didn’t trust until the first sip.

IMG_8908

The pairing was outstanding. This Syrah-based red out of Languedoc had a funky fresh personality that was quite a sipper on its own. And despite a somewhat soggy crust and slightly undercooked vegetables, the ratatouille pizza was a treat by itself but it really hit a new height with the wine. The entire experience has been bookmarked for revisiting in the future.