Vegan Pizza

For this pizza I needed a little help as you well know, yeast hates me and Samantha is still in Europe and unable to help. I went to Breadsmith where they will sell you unbaked pizza dough in a ball from the refrigerator. They sell white and whole wheat and I have used both and both work well in this recipe but the picture is of the white.

The first recipe I need to give you is for the pesto...you can make it vegan or you can make it traditionally but then you don't have a vegan pizza! The pesto will keep in the freezer for longer than you can leave it in there because it is so good you will be using it a lot of other dishes.

Pesto:
2 C packed basil leaves
1/4 C toasted pine nuts
3 garlic cloves
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
2/3 C olive oil
2-3 T nutritional yeast to taste or if you are not vegan you can use 1/2 C parmigiano reggiano

Blend the basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic, salt, and pepper in a food processor then through the top drizzle the olive oil in slowly until smooth. Stir in the nutritional yeast or for non-vegan 1/2 C grated parmigiano reggiano. Pour into ziplock container and freeze or use.

Roasted Tomatoes:
2 or 3 pounds roma tomatoes
olive oil
kosher salt, pepper, dried oregano, dried basil and garlic powder

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Slice tomatoes and place in a shallow metal baking dish (like a jelly roll pan) slightly overlapping. Sprinkle with olive oil then shake on the salt, pepper, oregano, basil, and garlic powder. Place the pan in the oven uncovered for 5 or 6 hours. They will shrivel up but don't let them burn. Let them cool and place in a ziplock container and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

Now for the pizza:

Pizza dough
Pesto
Roasted Tomatoes
1/4 C toasted pine nuts
1 small can black olives sliced
2 t  fresh chopped rosemary
5 large basil leaves sliced or chopped

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees with pizza brick in the oven.
Roll out the rested pizza dough on a floured surface to about 1/8 of an inch. Place the dough on the pizza brick in the oven and poke holes with a fork and cook for about 5 min. It should be slightly browned on top of some of the bubbles and the edges.Take it out and evenly spread on the pesto on the dough then add some chopped fresh rosemary. Place the roasted tomatoes on top and then sprinkle on some black olives and toasted pine nuts. Add the fresh basil on top and put back in the oven for about 5 more minutes until edges are well browned. Remove and cool slightly to serve.

Mexican Chocolate Caramel Cake

My youngest daughter has deferred college for a bit while she travels the world and right now she is along the southern Pacific coast of Mexico in Puerto Escondido. It is so beautiful and warm there that I am seriously considering selling everything I own to buy a house and live out the rest of my days in pure paradise!

All this got me thinking about chocolate cake! I wanted to make a cake that captured the essence of Mexico and I wanted it to taste like Mexican hot chocolate which I love so much. Scarlet had brought me some Mexican coffee the last time she had come back from one of her trips to Mexico and I still had it in the freezer unopened. I was going to use a simple base chocolate cake that called for coffee and used mayonnaise. I decided to doctor up the coffee to get the flavor I wanted so I added cinnamon and Mexican vanilla and then brewed it up...I used a french press. It smelled amazing...just what I needed to get the flavor that I wanted!

Then I thought what else can I add to evoke that Mexican flavor experience and thoughts of dulce de leche ice cream crossed my mind. So I decided to make a caramel sauce that I could pour over the cake like a tres leches cake.

Here is the recipe I came up with:

11/2 C flour ( I used Gold Medal unbleached flour)
1 C sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 C dutch processed cocoa
2 ounces 60% cocoa bittersweet baking chocolate bar chopped fine
1 C hot coffee brewed with 1 T cinnamon, 2 t Mexican vanilla or any premium vanilla, and  4 T sugar in a french press
2/3 C mayonnaise
1 large egg
2 t  Mexican vanilla or any premium vanilla like Madagascar
sifted powdered sugar and cinnamon for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter an 8 in. square baking dish.Whisk flour,sugar,baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl pour hot coffee over the chocolate and whisk till smooth then add the mayo, egg, and vanilla and whisk again. Add chocolate mixture to the flour mixture and whisk till just combined and smooth. Pour into the baking dish and bake in middle of the oven for 30 to 35 min. or a wooden pick comes out almost clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.

Caramel Sauce:
4 T unsalted butter
1 C light brown sugar packed
pinch of salt
1 C heavy cream
1 T Triple Sec orange liqueur

Melt butter in a small pot on the stove over med. high heat. Whisk in the brown sugar and salt till smooth and cook until darkened for about 3 to 4 min. Add part of the cream whisk smooth then add the rest along with the Tripple Sec and reduce the heat to low and simmer about 3 min. till bubbly on top.

Dust the top of the cake with cinnamon sugar and poke holes all around the top of the cake while still warm. Pour the half of the caramel sauce over the cake taking care to get some in each hole.

Pour remaining caramel sauce over slices of cake when you serve them. This cake can be served warm or room temperature. Just warm up the sauce to serve.

Blackeyed Peas and Wild Rice

Happy New Year!

I remember my Mom making blackeyed peas every new year and she would force one bite down me so we wouldn't be destitute for the next year. She was very superstitious, you know, turning around if a black cat crossed our path, never venturing under a ladder, and having to say "cut the butter" if we had to split up walking around a pole. I am not superstitious at all but I like the tradition and comfort of having certain foods at designated times.
 I sort of look at food as seasonal even though my girls say that what I do is completely arbitrary. Some examples are that I like to save oatmeal cookies and pot roast for fall, tres leches cake and fish tacos for summer and toffee and beef burgundy for winter.
New years day equals blackeyed peas so I had to come up with a recipe that would make me want to eat them. An old boyfriend introduced me to a blackeyed pea casserole that I couldn't stop eating. Unfortunately, it relied on bacon and bacon fat so I clearly had to come up with something new when my daughters got older and opinionated.

Here is the recipe we are all happy with:

1 onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 large sprig of fresh rosemary chopped
1 15.8 oz. can of blackeyed peas drained ( I used Bush's)
1 C homemade vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste
1 C wild rice cooked in homemade vegetable broth cooked according to instructions (I used Lundberg Wild Blend)

In a med. sized pot cook the wild rice in vegetable broth according to the package instructions.

Drizzle olive oil in a skillet on high heat and then add the chopped onion and salt and pepper. Saute until edges are browned. Turn down heat to med high and add the rosemary and cook for a minute or two then add the garlic for just a few seconds. Add in the broth and blackeyed peas that have been drained and salt and pepper again then reduce a bit.
When the wild rice is done pour the blackeyed pea mixture over the rice and mix.

You can add sauteed mushrooms if you like...just slice a handful of mushrooms and saute them in butter till browned in the skillet before you add the onion then follow the recipe as usual.