Two Pizzas

Pizza is something I miss being able to order and have delivered right to my doorstep for dinner.

There are gluten-free frozen pizzas you can buy, but they are expensive, tiny, and undelicious. 

Do you miss pizza? people ask me. Duh. Of course! 

Sob. 

But I have ways of dealing with the loss. I am not sobbing into my sheets every day. I have learned some things in this life. 

Polenta pizza with fresh mozzarella.

Such as: traditional cuisine has many gluten-free flatbread options: socca, polenta, dosas. They are delicious, and what is pizza if not flatbread topped with stuff?

Socca topped with mixed tomatoes and olives. 

Here are two pizza recipes, one with a polenta crust and fresh mozzarella, the other vegan, with a socca crust topped with mixed tomatoes and olives.

Polenta Pizza with Fresh Mozzarella

Dress this baby up any way you want: with or without the cheese; with sauteed mushrooms; with fresh basil and huge heirloom tomato slices. It's your pizza. 

2 1/2 cups water

1 cup coarsely ground gluten-free cornmeal

2 tbsp olive oil, plus more to grease the pan

salt & pepper

pizza sauce, marinara sauce, or a can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes, drained

fresh mozzarella

fresh or dried herbs, such as basil, oregano, thyme, crushed red pepper, etc.

Bring the water to a boil, with a pinch of salt, in a saucepan. Slowly whisk in the cornmeal, being sure to whisk constantly until the mixture thickens into a batter-like consistency. Turn the heat to low, and cook, stirring very often, for about 15 minutes, until thickened but still stirrable. (Is that a word?) Stir in the olive oil. 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a 9 x 13 inch cookie sheet (with sides!) or pizza pan with parchment paper, and drizzle olive oil over the parchment. Pour the cooked polenta into the prepared pan. When it has cooled, cover the top with more parchment paper and spread it out with your hands until it is about 1/2 inch thick all around. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. 

Top with sauce, fresh mozz, and herbs. Bake for 15 minutes, or until browned and crispy. 

Socca with Mixed Olives and Tomatoes

You can add parmaggiano-reggiano cheese to this, too, if you're not vegan. 

1 cup chickpea flour (also called besan)

1 1/4 cup water

2 tbsp olive oil, plus 1 tbsp for the skillet, plus more for drizzling

salt & pepper (LOTS OF PEPPER)

1 tbsp fresh rosemary, or 1 tsp dried and crushed in a mortar & pestle

mixed tomatoes and mixed olives, chopped

Whisk the chickpea flour with the water and olive oil until blended. Whisk very well to avoid lumps. You may also wish to sift the chickpea flour into the water using a fine-meshed sieve; this will help you avoid the lumpiness. Add a bunch of salt and pepper (lots of pepper, folks!), whisk again, and let this mixture sit at room temperature for at least an hour. 

When ready to make the socca, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Put 1 tbsp of olive oil in a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet and make sure it covers the whole bottom. Whisk the rosemary into the socca mixture, then pour it into the prepared skillet. Drizzle with more olive oil! More! More!

(Note: you can add the chopped olives right into the batter, too. But not the tomatoes.)

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until browning and crispy around the edges. Remove from the oven, drizzle with more olive oil, and top with the mixed tomatoes and olives. 

This won't taste like chain-delivery pizza, but it will taste delicious. 

The Julie Scramble

Perhaps the only bright side to a friend moving across the country is that she will give you many bottles of wine, houseplants, and sweet potatoes before she goes.

This scramble is named for such a friend. 

The Julie Scramble. (SOUNDS LIKE A DANCE MOVE)

I diced up one of Julie's sweet potatoes, roasted it in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and added it to a tofu scramble that includes a bunch of Swiss chard just picked from my garden and a handful of locally grown tomatoes. 

I did not drink any of the wine with it, because BREAKFAST. But when I eat the leftovers for dinner, I will pair them with Shiraz. (Maybe you will drink the Shiraz at breakfast. Who am I to judge?)

I like to make tofu scrambles in a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet. The tofu will brown on high heat, and you scrape up the browned bits from the bottom for great flavor. This is harder to do--both the browning and the scraping--with a stainless-steel or nonstick pan. 

Cast iron is your friend. Not as cool a friend as Julie, but still: a friend. 

The Julie Scramble

It has been nice and cool here, so I didn't mind turning on the oven to roast the sweet potatoes. But you could also pan-roast them if you'd rather. 

1 medium sweet potato, from a friend or not, diced

1 tbsp olive or coconut oil

salt and pepper

1 tbsp olive or coconut oil

1 small to medium onion, diced

1 block extra-firm tofu (be sure it's gluten-free), squeezed dry in a clean towel

1 tsp turmeric

salt and pepper

1 bunch Swiss chard, from your garden or not, coarsely chopped

1 handful cherry or grape tomatoes

First, roast the sweet potatoes. Combine the diced sweet potatoes with the oil and S&P, and roast at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until tender.

Next, make the scramble. Heat the oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion and saute for about 7 minutes, or until tender but not browned. Crumble the tofu right into the skillet with your hands (squishy!), then add the roasted sweet potatoes, turmeric, and S&P, and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring once in a while to scrape the browned bits of tofu from the bottom of the pan. When the scramble is golden brown and smelling delicious, add the chard and tomatoes, stir well, and cook for another minute or two, just until the chard is wilted and the tomatoes are warm. Taste and add more S&P (or even hot sauce) if you like. 

Breakfast, lunch, or dinner. 

Enjoy! Oh, and Willa would like to say "see you soon!" to her hiking buddy. (She doesn't believe in goodbyes.)

See you soon, Julie!

Blueberry-Lime Compote

This is my very favorite expression of Willa's. (These are all from the same hike. She checks on me often.)

C'mon, mom!

You there?

Still there?

This is my very favorite bowl. It's a family heirloom from my mom. I have several of these little ones, and one gigantic one too. 

Beautiful blueberry bowl.

Blueberries are my very favorite fruit. Usually I just eat them plain, but I had a pint that was a few days old (berries don't last long!), so I decided to make a compote. 

Compote = stewed fruit. 

Compote is delicious on gluten-free pancakes, oatmeal, toast, or crackers. It's also yum inside a rice-flour crepe, dusted with cinnamon. Or on ice cream.

Blueberry-Lime Compote

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1/4 cup water 

1/4 cup sugar (or to taste)

juice of one lime (or to taste)

1 tsp cornstarch

Put the blueberries, water, and sugar in a small pot or skillet. Turn the heat to medium-low and bring to a simmer. When simmering, add the lime juice and sprinkle the cornstarch evenly overtop everything. Mix well, turn the heat to low, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until thickened to your preferred consistency. 

That's it! Enjoy berry season!

You might just eat it right from the bowl.

DORKFACE

Paprika-Pepita Potato Salad

I made this up in the spur of the moment, after two days of stripping wallpaper, which left me both unable to do my normal grocery shopping and very, very hungry. I had some potatoes. Some smoked paprika. Some pepitas. So.

Here you go.

Vegan picnic food won't spoil in the sun. 'Cuz it's tough like that. 

Paprika-Pepita Potato Salad

serves 1 or 2

Boil 1 pound of baby yukon gold potatoes for about 15 minutes, until fork-tender but not mushy. Cool. 

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, chop them and put them in a bowl. Add 1/4 cup diced onion, 1 diced carrot (I have no celery! WTF!), 1/3 cup Vegannaise, 1 tbsp gluten-free dijon mustard (or less if you're not as weird as me), and 1/2 tsp sweet smoked paprika, and mix everything up. Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve topped with more smoked paprika and a sprinkling of pepitas.

(Of course, if you have celery like a normal person, you should add some! Also pickles, red pepper, capers, olives. I have no olives! WTF!)

No celery? No olives? Ha ha ha!

Apple Curry

I had some leftover apples I needed to use up this weekend, so I made up a simple apple curry. 

Apple Curry, 2013.

When I was much younger, I made a dinosaur out of clay. My mom recently gave it to me, and now it sits on the mantle in the dining room. I have a vivid memory of taking the side of a popsicle stick and pushing it gently into the clay to make the mouth.

My dinosaur, circa 1982.

I even gave my dinosaur a signature:

That's me.

I've been meaning to try an apple curry for a while now, and I felt a similar sense of accomplishment as when I had sculpted the dinosaur in grade school. This recipe is all mine.

The dinosaur approves. 

Apple Curry

People: try not to overcook the apples! They should be soft but still firm. Cook too long and you will have curry applesauce (which actually sounds delicious. Maybe you should do that).

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 tart apples (I used Granny Smith), peeled, cored, and chopped
pinch of salt
1 tsp minced chipotles in adobo, or more to taste
2 tsp curry powder, or more to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper

Heat the oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until soft but not browned (lower the heat if necessary), about 7 minutes. Stir in the apples along with a pinch of salt. Sprinkle the chipotles, curry powder, and pepper over everything, stir well, and lower the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring, about 8 minutes, until the apples are al dente (soft but not mushy).

Enjoy with a side of cooked brown rice or quinoa.

Simple.

Green Giant Salad

I love salad!

A rainbow of green.  

I learned how to make hearty salads from my mom. (Hi mom!) She throws everything she has--greens, chopped veggies, fruit, nuts, and cheese--into a big bowl and serves it up. When I go out to a restaurant and get a salad with only lettuce and tomatoes in it, I think what is this??? To me, salad is a big, meal-sized endeavor full of different flavors and textures. 

This one is definitely filling enough for lunch or dinner, especially if you eat it with a side of homemade hummus (recipe coming soon). It's all-green in honor of spring: lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, peas, pistachios, and--my favorite--avocado.

Dinner. 

Green Giant Salad

2 cups broccoli florets, lightly blanched in salted water

4 cups chopped romaine lettuce

1 cup thawed frozen peas

1 small zucchini, sliced thinly

1/3 cup toasted pistachios

gluten-free salad dressing of your choice (here's mine)

1 avocado, sliced

Combine all the ingredients in a salad bowl and toss with some dressing. Add the avocado just before devouring. 

C'est tout!

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

I am aware that it is only April and many of you still have snow. An ice cream recipe might seem overly optimistic. But here in Cincinnati, it is 60 degrees and sunny! Perfect hiking weather.

And perfect ice cream weather? Maybe not, but I couldn't wait.

Vegan ice cream. No ice cream maker needed!

Okay, so technically this is probably more "smoothie" than "ice cream." But really, what's the difference?

One difference is that this is some pretty healthy stuff. Ingredients: frozen banana; peanut butter; almond milk; vanilla extract. No sugar, no eggs, no dairy. And really delicious, too, especially if you are a major peanut butter fan like me.

Stick some stuff in a blender, and you're done.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

1 banana, frozen and in chunks
1/2 cup peanut butter (I use sugar-free)
1/2 cup almond milk
dash of gluten-free vanilla extract

Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse a few times. Stir, then puree until nicely blended. Some chunks are allowed, but I prefer mine nice and smooth.

Eat with a spoon.

Happy spring!!

Willa bathed in light.