Sunday, January 24, 2010

An Unusual Pizza Tonight for Dinner


At 1:30 this afternoon I still didn’t know what I was making for dinner. When this happens I always solicit my husband’s opinion. He immediately said, “Why don’t we have pizza? That is always quick and easy.” So pizza it was. My first concern was for the flour, as you know I am trying to cut down. But I realized we hadn’t had any grain today or flour in a few days so I decided to relax and live a little. As usual I made the pizza crust with a combination of whole wheat and sprouted whole wheat. I used the recipe that is posted here.

The toppings of the pizza tonight were inspired by something our chef friend Ian added to his winter menu. His version was roasted butternut squash, Granny Smith apple, Italian sausage, pesto, arugula, onion confit and gorgonzola. In my kitchen this translated into acorn squash, gala apple doused in apple cider vinegar, basil puree (from my freezer), julienned baby spinach, dehydrated red onions, and cultured macadamia nut cheese. I also decided to add walnuts to the pizza. For the omnis I used mozzarella in place of the macadamia nut cheese. Surprisingly everyone liked this pizza. This was not anything that resembled a traditional pizza. I wasn’t certain how it would be received, but everyone liked it. My husband described it” as a non-intuitive combination that was delicious.”

In order to post the pizza I need to document some of the components, mainly the dehydrated onions and cultured macadamia nut cheese. Once I have those recipes posted I will return and post the entire pizza. For now I am going to document the technique for the onions.

8 comments:

  1. Sounds wonderful... how did the macadamia cheese turn out? I was looking for sprouted wheat flour...where do you find it?

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  2. Oh I can't wait to see the rest of the components. I think you've probably realized I'm a pizza addict!

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  3. Rose,

    Thanks! :) It was definitely different, but good.

    The macadamia nut cheese was not what I expected. After it finished culturing it did have a little cheesy tang but I could still taste the macadamia nut quite prominately. The texture is closest to strained ricotta. I added a few things to it to try to overcome the nut taste. If I hadn't made the almond feta before I might have been more impressed. I plan to try the probiotic with the almond feta recipe next to see how that works. Something tells me I will like it more.

    The sprouted wheat flour that I buy is from Shiloh Farm. I pick it up at both Wegman's and my local health food store. I bet they carry it on Amazon if you can't find it locally. Sprouted flour is on my list of things to figure out how to make at home.

    talk to you later,
    Alicia

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  4. Heather,

    We were pizza addicts to!. My hubby is having a more difficult time giving it up than I am.

    I hope to get the cheeze and pizza recipes posted tomorrow.

    have a great evening,
    Alicia

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  5. YUM! Your pizza looks as beautiful as a restaurant food! It also sounds very healthy and delicious!

    I made veggie Pizza for dinner tonight but my family refused to eat my veggie version, they wanted only ground turkey and cheese so I didn't feel like blogging about my dinner!

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  6. Oraphan,

    Sorry to hear your men wouldn't eat the veggie pizza. From what I hear from other women they normally have trouble getting their men to eat vegetarian food too. I think it is the rare man that will embrace vegetarian, let alone vegan food.

    The "experts" say that you need to try to introduce a new food 12 times before children will accept it. Maybe the same thing applies to picky husbands. ;)

    talk to you later,
    Alicia

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  7. Alicia,

    I find it amusing that you felt that by 1:30 you should know what you were having for dinner.

    Matt

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  8. Matt,

    I can see how that may seem a little OCD. I have my parents over for dinner on the weekend so that I know they eat at least two veggie packed meals a week. Since they are 80 they like to eat at 5pm (not long after we normally eat lunch). With dinner so early if I don't know what I making after breakfast I frequently spend the afternoon scrambling (which I dislike). I am someone that likes to leisurely cook and enjoy my time in the kitchen. Hmmmmm. I think I just came back to OCD again. ;)

    Alicia

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