It’s winter, there’s a foot of snow on the ground and so … no cycling. But lots of eating, including plenty of pizza. I make my own, not exactly from scratch, and am quite inventive when it comes to toppings. I thought I’d share some of my culinary creations with you, starting with the pizza we had last night. Here it is … it’s a crispy, tasty work of art!
It all begins with the crust – of course. From Aldi. Sorry, it’s too much work to make your own. I’ve also gotten crusts from Trader Joe’s but not only are they more expensive, but the Trader Joe’s crusts are really hard to get out of the plastic bag. By the time you wrestle them out they’re all mangled and misshapen and hard to roll out into a circle. And you’re annoyed – and cooking is supposed to be relaxing. The Aldi ones slide right out, anxiety free.
If you look up the definition of pizza it’s: flat, round dough topped with tomato sauce and cheese, typically with added meat and/or vegetables.
I say no!
A pizza doesn’t have to have tomato sauce to be a pizza. And last night’s pie was a perfect example. After I rolled out the dough, I drizzled some extra virgin olive oil and lemon on the surface and blended it all together with a brush. Then I added some grated parmesan cheese (the Trader Joe’s parm is much better than the parm from Aldi). And then I carefully and evenly added my toppings: cauliflower, artichokes and onions that I’d roasted the hell out of in the oven. You have to keep going until they start to get a little burnt … and then keep going another few minutes.
Add a little more parmesan cheese, lemon and olive oil and into the over it goes, at 500 degrees, for 12 minutes and at exactly 6:45 p.m. so it’s done, cooled off and ready to serve just in time for the start of Jeopardy. Hey, it was the Tournament of Champions last night and Paolo was up two games to nothing on the other two players.
My pizza came out of the oven bubbling and perfectly burnt, which is just the way we love it.
Here are some more photos of some of the other pizzas I’ve made. In future posts I’ll describe some of my other pizza creations. If you have one you’re especially proud of, fill me in – either in the comments or via email. Everyone, and especially cyclists, love pizza.
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