Weeknight Veg Pizza- dairy free

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Last night the roommate and I did our massive grocery trek for the week, Super King for veggies and Trader Joe for all the pantry goods. Passing the refrigerated balls of dough nestled under shelves of micro-ready meals, I dreamt of pizza, a rarely enjoyed food for a lactose intolerant. Whole wheat dough, soyrella and sun-dried tomato tofurkey sausage in hand, finally, I had a meal in mind when I left the TJ check stand. Usually I get home and unload a hodgepodge of mismatched condiments and vegetables, not this time! Victory over the grocery aisle space-out that has sucked hours of my life away.

Ingredients:



Whole wheat dough
Four button mushrooms sliced
1/4 cup thin sliced zucchini
1 Italian sun-dried tomato Tofurkey sausage, sliced
1/4 cup sun- dried tomatoes julienned. I used kitchen shears
1 clove of garlic minced
1 cup marinara
1/4 cup shredded soyrella
4 leaves of basil shredded
4 pitted kalamata olives minced.



This vegetarian dairy-free pizza was downright healthy. Start with whole wheat dough, remove from the plastic and place on cutting board dusted with cornmeal. Let the dough rest and reach room temp. After 20 minutes roll the dough out into a vaguely round shape. If yours looks like a circle then you are way ahead of me on technique. Take a fork and prick the dough a bit all over, I think this keeps it from bubbling up all over but I could be wrong.

Place your battered and pricked pizza blob in the oven on a cookie sheet. Sometimes I drizzle with oil and salt but this time I didn't. Prebake the dough for approximately 8 min or until the dough looks firm but not golden yet.




Now you are ready to dress it up with all the fixins. Paint a layer of marinara and place your toppings in an even layer. Then drizzle a touch more marinara over to help cook the zucchini and mushrooms. Careful with the sauce, a swimming pool of it can make for a soggy crust that flops your toppings off when you try to eat it.

I then grated a dusting of soyrella, sprinkled the basil, and another layer of soyrella.
Word of caution, I only use the soyrella as a web to secure my toppings. It won't taste like mozzarella and can really affect the taste of your pie if overused.



Bake in the oven until the crust is golden and your 'rella is melted.
Let cool a touch, then slice and chow down.

Asparagus Tarts with carmelized red onions and baby portobellos

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With it being Asparagus week and all, I was thinking about how often and in what epicurean context do I eat this particular vegetable. I can count on one hand how I make use of this particular veggie. So... instead of making it the star of the show, why not make it a supporting roll in your dish?

One of the things I make sure to always have on hand in my kitchen is pre-made puff pastry sheets. Dinner for 4-8 in 30 minutes, no kidding. These tarts are my go-to when I have no idea what to make for dinner. And with temperatures starting to dip- they makes for a very lovely, cozy "lets warm the house up by using the stove" type meal. This recipe makes 2 very generous meal sized portions, no side dish necessary, but by all means could serve 4 with the addition of a small roast chicken, some steak, etc. (Also makes a divine app, just cut up the puff pastry accordingly).

To start, take 1 sheet of frozen puff pastry (I prefer Pepperidge Farm). Unfold it. Do not fret should it crack- you're going to let it thaw while you cook up the ingredients and the cracks are easily mended by pressing the soft pastry together. Cut the sheet in half. Along the edges of each half, score a rectangle into the puff pastry- be careful not to cut all the way through! This prevents the entire pastry from rising to form a plank. By scoring an edge you'll have a nice edge to hold you ingredients in the center of the tart.

You should now transfer this onto a parchment lined (or not) baking tray. Let the pastry do its thing and off to the cooking portion of our dish.
Ingredients coming up next:

*When buying your asparagus for this, buy thin stalks or cut thicker stalks in half.
Also, the cherry tomatoes seen here did not survive to make it onto our dish. I would have had them halved and served with the cooked tart for a bit of acidity.

Take a medium sized skillet and put a couple tablespoons of olive oil in and set your oven to medium-low heat. Now, take 1/2 of a red onion and slice into 1/4 in. slices and add to your warm oil. Turn heat to medium and leave them be (no need to salt just yet!). Now, trim the ends off of your asparagus and wash. Same goes for your mushrooms. Take your Mozzarella and slice into 1/4 inch slices as well (or set aside as much grated you might have). Ok, get back to your onions and give them a good stir and add your mushrooms. Let everything cook on medium for 2 minutes (fight the urge to salt!!) After a couple minutes or reading a page or 2 of your magazine check back on the stuff in your pan.
Now you'll be adding this stuff:

2 tbs of Tamari (soy sauce* the source of your salt!) 1 tbs. of Balsamic vinegar and 2 tbs. Agave syrup (maple syrup will suffice, but I suggest you check out Agave). Give everything a good stir and turn up the heat just a notch- you want the mushrooms to release all of their liquid and to absorb the goodness that you just added and for everything to get caramelized and delicious!! Cook for about 2-4 minutes and your sauté pan should look something like this:

Totally crowded my mushrooms-they still browned. Julia Child can unearth herself and spank me.

Remove your pan off of the heat and let the mixture cool for a few minutes while your oven preheats to 400 degrees. While your pan is cooling, go ahead and press together any cracks/tears your puff pastry might have suffered. You can also add some fresh basil leaves to this if you have them- go and wash those and pat dry then roughly chop. The onion/mushroom mixture does not have to cool down to room temp- just so its not 'hot'. If you have everything prepared proceed to assembling the tarts!
First, lay down the mixture, followed by the chopped basil (not req.), then the sliced mozza.

The last step for assembling the tart is to take your asparagus and roll it around in the sauce remnants in your pan. This prevents them from burning and drying out and gives them a little flavor.
Lay them out on top of the mozzarella alternating tip/bottom/tip.

Pop these in for 15+min or until golden brown. Keep your eye on the oven after minute 12- depending on how hot your oven really gets the pastry can burn quickly!
While they bake why not set the table? I feel like not enough people set the table anymore.
Ding! They are ready crack some fresh pepper to taste and Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Puff Pastry
1 lb or so Asparagus spears
1 red onion
1 ball fresh Mozzerella
3 cups baby portobello mushrooms
Balsamic vinegar
Tamari (soy)
Agave Nectar (or maple syrup)
Optional- Basil and halved cherry tomatoes

Chicken Stew with Artichoke hearts Over Pesto Couscous

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From Alphabeet Soup

After spending a whopping hour in Whole Foods trying to figure out an Artichoke recipe to start off Artichoke Week, I emerged clutching two giant sacks. In these sacks were artichokes (clearly), rotisserie chicken, canned artichokes in water, herbs, Better Than Bouillon vegetable stock, pesto pearl couscous, freeze-dried porcini mushrooms and canned crushed tomatoes. It was looking like I was making Chicken stew with Artichoke hearts.

First up- chopping up some white onions I had on hand. It was rough work, as I was racing the tears that were building, but got them into my Martha Stewart Dutch Oven. Olive oil, salt, and pepper (the seasoning bff's), all in there, as I saute the onions. I added a last minute cup of chopped carrots and I was in motion. Add some water to the onions and carrots once the onions are translucent or you are going to have a pot full of sadness, believe me I've done that plenty.

With the onions and carrot diligently doing their darnedest in the pot I started at the chicken.

IPhone: check. Speakers: check. Boyfriend's playlist: check. I highly recommend Dr. Dre and Aesop Rock when eviscerating chicken, somehow it just works.

OK back to the foul nature at hand...sorry had to go there. Rip that chicken apart. Problems at work? Issues with the boss? Tell that chicken how it is. TPS Report THIS!! Now you have a bowl of bones and skins and a bowl of meat (minus a few snuck morsels while I work). Oh and if you are like me, you can choose this opportunity to almost dump the entire cutting board of chicken juices, skin pieces and random bones on to the kitchen floor. Luckily, I have a roommate who loves to clean, at least that's what helps me sleep at night.

Add more water and some of the bouillon paste. I think I added about 6 cups of water but basically I filled it half full. Add the chicken carcass and some of the choicest skin pieces, a few sprigs of sage, rosemary and stripped twigs of thyme. (note: I almost posted this without mentioning the 4 cloves of garlic that I crushed with my knife and threw in whole, a nearly tragic omission)

Things are about to start smelling goooood. Really really good. Right about now people will start cycling through the kitchen with their noses in the breeze trying to track down what smells so divine. Roughly chop up the can of artichoke hearts and throw those puppies in along with the mushrooms.

Now it's time for a glass of wine. Let the soup boil down a bit. Let the yummy bones, skin and herbs ooze their flavors into the soup. Once you feel confident that what's in your pot is the straight bizness, with some tongs, remove the chicken bones and herb sticks.

Now we get to dump in that chicken meat and the can of crushed tomatoes.

Almost forgot the cup of red wine, add that here as well. Now your soup might taste a bit too tomatoey at this point. You're sad, I know, but trust me that once it boils down a bit it will mellow out and blend together into a maelstrom of flavor that will put you on your keister. But if you feel like it, throw in some more salt. Keep the lid off the pot. Let the wine cook into the tomato. Tomato and wine are like those irritatingly cute people on the eHarmony website, once they were matched and read each other's profiles it was love. True tomatoey winey love.

Start the couscous so that you have something to do while Tomato and Wine flirt with each other shamelessly. By the time the couscous is cooked you have Chicken Stew with artichokes.

I put a 1/2 cup of the couscous in my bowl, ladled the chunky soup over and finished it off with some freshly grated Parmesan.

Soooo good!! Seriously, I am patting myself on the back for this one.

Bon Appétit y'all!


(ADDITION: already good suggestions!! A shopping list was requested for this. Here goes..)

Ingredients List:
1 can artichoke hearts in water
1 rotisserie chicken
1 large can of crushed tomatoes with basil
8 dried porcini mushrooms soaked in hot water
1 bottle red wine
2 carrots
1 white onion
5 cloves of garlic
1 bunch rosemary, sage and thyme
2 teaspoons bouillon
1 tablespoon olive oil
1-2 tablespoons grated parmesan
salt and pepper to taste

Tools:
tongs
crock pot or dutch oven
wine opener
chef knife
patient roommate