Asparagus & Prosciutto Pizza

If the fact that I use prosciutto and arugula on every pizza I make has gotten old I'm sorry, but it's just how it goes in my house okay?  Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about the amazingly delicious pie we made last night; made only better by a delicious bottle of Tempranillo.

I learned from one of my favorite pizza masters, that the easiest way to make sauce is thusly:
1 can of San Marzano tomatoes
fresh basil
garlic
pinch of salt
your hands
(a pinch of red pepper flakes would be a great addition if you're feeling spicy)
- open the can and dump it into a bowl, tear up some basil, chuck in some minced garlic, add a pinch of salt and then smoosh it all together with your hands, pulverizing the whole tomatoes into puree.  Done.  This makes way more than you need for one pizza, but can be frozen.
(By the way; said pizza master might be game to teach you and your friends the basics if you ask nicely.)

As for the pizza, it's easy:
A bag of whole wheat crust from Trader Joe's, or whichever premade crust you like best; heck, make your own, whatever
lowfat mozzarella
4 or so slices of prosciutto, torn into thinner strips
5 asparagus spears, thinly sliced on the diagonal (you know, so it looks almost like almond slices); keep the pretty tops for garnish on top of the pizza
freshly grated Parmesan or Reggiano
1 large handful of arugula
(for arugula salad: salt, verjus or lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil - toss together and set aside)

Pop your pizza stone into the oven and preheat.
Roll out your dough as you do - for me this involves rolling it out on wax or parchment paper that has been floured, making it super thin, sprinkling with a generous amount of cornmeal, then placing my peel on top and flipping the whole thing over and peeling the paper off what is now the top; leaving your cornmeal ball bearings ready to slide around on the peel.  Badda bing, badda boom.
Sauce that bad boy as heavy or light as you like, and top with mozzarella.
Scatter your thinly sliced asparagus all over the joint, then lay the prosciutto on top.  If you saved your asparagus tips, here is where you can make the pretty design.  Sprinkle with a generous amount of Parmesan or Reggiano and bake away.  I like mine a little more done so the crust is a bit crisper and the prosciutto gets all crispy like bacon, oh my God my mouth is watering just typing this.
Once it's done, take it out of the oven and let it sit a few minutes or when you cut it all of your toppings will ooze off.  Top the complete sliced pie with your arugula salad and hook in.

This time around, we ended up with extra dough that we made breadsticks out of (cut into strips, brush with olive oil, sprinkle generously - REALLY generously - with Garlic Garni and top with freshly grated Parmesan or Reggiano); bake until browned and as crispy or as soft as you like 'em.  That extra sauce comes in handy here for dunking.

Making pizza

I don't know about you, but when I have three cups of homemade cheese staring me in the face, I think pizza. Luckily some people are open to everything I suggest and just roll with it once I arrive at my latest destination/plan/scheme/recipe.
The ready made pizza dough at Whole Foods was actually really good and easy to use, though not whole wheat. :o(
Sorry South Beach - it's full fat cheese too.

Two bags of dough and a couple other odds and ends and I was ready for one of my favorite savory pizzas, and a just made up sweet pizza. I swear, some day I'll photograph my food with something other than my iPhone, but until then. . . .

Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza with Homemade Mozzarella
Sauce:
one small can of San Marzano tomatoes
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2 tsp dried basil (fresh would be awesome if you had it)
Open the can of tomatoes into a bowl, add the crushed garlic and basil and then squeeze with your hands to make a sauce.

Pop your pizza stone into the oven and head it up. Roll out the dough, sprinkle the stone with cornmeal and drop the dough onto the hot stone.
Spread the sauce all over, and top with mozzarella and prosciutto (I used just under 1/4 lb). Bake until done.

Toss the arugula (around 2 c) with basil oil or olive oil (1 tbsp) and salt, and top the hot pizza with it. Let pizza sit for a moment before cutting, and then whammo - enjoy your insanely yummy pizza.

Pear & Ricotta Pizza with Balsamic Onions
Thinly slice one onion and set about caramelizing that bad boy. Once the onions are cooked through and sweet and yummy and brown, stir in 1-2 tsp of balsamic vinegar (I used a fig balsamic) and set aside.
Thinly slice a pear - I recommend bosc over d'anjou since I think the bosc just has better pear flavor.
Again with the stone and rolling out of the dough and the placing of the dough onto the hot stone.
Top with 1 - 1 1/2 c of ricotta and drizzle with honey.
Spread the balsamic onions on top - quite honestly, if you wanted to go with two onions and spread them on first like delicious onionjamsauce, you'd probably be a very happy camper.
Lay out the pears and drizzle with a little bit more honey. Bake, nom, repeat.

** an interesting bit of trivia thanks to Wikipedia. . . . even though the bosc pears taste more like what I'd call "juicy pear jelly belly," it's actually d'anjou puree they use to make that flavoring. Who knew?? **

Cooking for Little Miss Muffet

That's right, it's curds and whey time. Who knew cheesemaking was so easy? A couple of gallons of whole, pasteurized milk, some buttermilk, a dash of rennet and a pinch of citric acid, et voila! Mozzarella and ricotta, just like that. I mean really - just. Like. That.

Thanks to Ready Made for placing the wild hair that got me all worked up in the first place; and then thanks to Kitchen Nightmares for making those restaurateurs go milk cows and make their own mozzarella, for really lighting the fire.

A quick spin around the interwebs led me to eatdrinkbetter.com, which led me to chowhound (of course) hunting for rennet & citric acid suppliers in SF, which led me to Mollie Stone's (which didn't have either), which led me to Rainbow Grocery, which is always an interesting stop. (on that note, I'm not sure whether or not I recommend this, but I think not) Another quick stop at Soko for a candy thermometer, some clean kitchen gloves and some cheesecloth and I was ready to get down to business.
I'm already ready to start experimenting with lower fat milk and goat milk, but first things first.

I doubt it gets any easier than the ricotta recipe from Ready Made - a gallon of milk and 4 cups of buttermilk over heat? I mean really. I drained out a lot of the why from this cheese to make it firmer; I think next time around I'll leave a little more liquid in the mix since it was really stiff after refrigeration. It was delicious, and fresh tasting, and made about two cups of ricotta.

The mozzarella was a bit more complex, especially since some of us can't tell which side of the thermometer (C or F) one should be looking at and inadvertently watches the C side when they should be looking at the F side. * ahem * But it still turned out! Aside from completely ignoring the "sweet spot" temperature of cheesemaking I still managed to extract some curds, though this only yielded about one cup of finished cheese. It was a little denser and on the chewy side, but probably due to my inability to read and comprehend directions. 
Speaking of directions:

Besides rennet and citric acid, the only other ingredient that you’ll need is whole milk.  You’ll need to read the label carefully and make sure that the milk is NOT labeled “ultra pasteurized”.  Ultra pasteurized milk has been heated to a high temperature that kills the bacteria and cultures needed to make cheese.  Raw milk or pasteurized milk is OK, and milk from an organic local source is ideal.

• Over medium low heat, bring one gallon of whole milk up to 55 degrees and add 1.5 tsp of citric acid (dissolved in 1/4 cup cold water), stir in thoroughly but gently.
• When the mixture gets to 88 degrees add 1/4 tsp of liquid rennet (dissolved in 1/4 cup cold water), stir in gently for about 30 seconds.
• Over medium heat, bring up to 105 degrees and keep it there for five minutes or until curds begin to form and separate from the side of the pot.  The whey should be almost clear, if milky white, allow to heat longer.
• With a slotted spoon, scoop out the curds.  Don some rubber gloves and gently squeeze out as much whey as you can with your hands forming balls of cheese.
• Place the cheese balls in the microwave (this is the faster method) for 30 seconds and then knead it, just like you would bread, squeezing out whey as you go.  Repeat this step several times, until the cheese has a slightly glossy sheen to it and can be pulled like taffy.  Add salt after the second kneading.

Maybe I'll try these directions (with helpful photos!) next time. It should be noted that my curds and whey looked like The Evil UP Milk That Should Just Be Thrown Away Curds and Whey of Death; but I still managed to make mozzarella out of them.

All in all, Cheese Day was a total delicious success, and led to the amazingly yummy Homemade Pizza Night to go with Open That Bottle Night. (Chupacabra and Pride Viognier if you were curious)