He Cooks, She Cooks

At first mention, the idea of a sauceless, cheeseless pizza doesn’t seem too enticing, so if it makes you feel better, you can call these flatbreads or something else. I’m happy thinking of them as pizzas where the focus is all dough and toppings. (In case you’re new here, I LOVE dough.)

These are both Smitten Kitchen recipes I made last weekend with my friend Allie. The zucchini pizza I first made last summer, but this time used ricotta instead of goat cheese. And a recent LA Times article reminded me I had never tried the potato pizza I saw on Smitten Kitchen two summers ago.

We were in a rush, so the squash was just thrown on, not nearly as aesthetically as it should have been.

Both are great summer pizzas, in my mind. Light and fresh tasting. (I know, carbs on carbs, how is potato pizza light? But the potatoes are sliced thinly and there’s not sauce and cheese to weigh it down further.) The two pizzas with a side salad make a perfect evening-on-the-porch meal.

I won’t post the full recipes since I didn’t make any significant changes (and Deb surely needs the traffic). I salted the squash and let the excess water drain. And as mentioned, this time I used ricotta instead of goat cheese. For the potato pizza don’t be shy with the sea salt and cracked pepper. For both, I used Trader Joe’s dough, then cooked the pizzas individually in a 500-degree oven on a preheated pizza stone until the toppings were cooked and the crust turned golden brown.

Rosemary, Olive Oil, Potato Pizza

Lemony Zucchini Ricotta Pizza

Los Angeles, great city that it is, has a gourmet grilled cheese truck that announces its location on Twitter each day. My coworker Aaron had been keeping tabs on it, so when it came near the office he drove me and our other coworker Allie to the parking lot where the truck had set up shop. We had to wait in line for 25 minutes, but we weren’t disappointed. Aaron got a sandwich filled with mac-and-cheese, Allie had brie and pears on cranberry-walnut bread, and I had the Harvest Melt: Gruyère, roasted butternut squash, leeks and balsamic-agave syrup. Brilliant.

Yesterday Allie came over and I tried to recreate the Harvest Melt in all its glory. I’m happy to say it was a success.

The grilled cheese was so good, so satisfying, that I didn’t even think about other food until dinner. A rare occurence for me. But the squash, the onions, the balsamic… the cheese… the perfectly grilled toast… Pause for a few moments of reverie.

Even better, I don’t need to use Twitter or get in a car to have one.

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No, I don’t think anyone needs a recipe for a quesadilla. All you need to do is melt cheese in a tortilla. You can make them in the microwave, under the broiler or in a skillet. (My roommate last year actually had a designated quesadilla maker.)  You can keep them cheese-only, fill them with extras or put all the fun stuff on top. To each his own, really.

But let me tell you about my own.

My favorite quesadilla starts with a hot cast iron pan. With a little olive oil, I cook sweet bell peppers, onions, mushrooms and diced jalapeno. Salt and pepper. I push that to the side and lay down a tortillla…ideally it is a Trader Joe’s Truly Handmade tortilla. I add shredded Monterey Jack (not a ton) and put the vegetables on top to melt the cheese faster. When the cheese is gooey and the tortilla slightly crisp, I slide it on a plate, squeeze fresh lime juice all over and fill the quesadilla with cilantro before folding it in half. Depending on the day, I might also smother the whole thing with sour cream.

So, no, you don’t need a recipe for a quesadilla. But if you were looking for some inspiration, just gaze at that photo a little longer.

My friend Mike offers us his classic gumbo recipe with okra, andouille and seafood. I wish I had gotten a chance to taste it, but the color of that roux is evidence enough that it must have been great.

This recipe was adapted from several in Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen. This gumbo is a family favorite.  It isn’t too spicy, has a delicious toasty, nutty complexity from the roux, and the okra keeps it from being too thin (the darker you make a roux, the less thickening power it has). It is, however, a definite time commitment. This is a recipe where you should have everything completely prepped and lain out before you start heating the oil for the roux.

Gumbo previously: Gumbo with Chicken, Andouille and Shrimp
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I’m not much of a pancakes person, to be honest. But whenever we had big sleepovers at Kat and Marissa’s house last year, we’d make big breakfasts with scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon and Kat’s apple pancakes. So when I was contributing to breakfast for a group of friends this weekend — several states away from Kat — I just had to make apple pancakes.

It was my first attempt at all-from-scratch pancakes, and I have to say I was happy with them. Real butter and buttermilk are the foundation for great homemade pancakes. These are enhanced by warm spices — cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger — and apple chunks that still pop when you bite in. They’ll make a pancakes person out of anyone.

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My friend Mike is back with another great recipe. Here he spatchcocks the chicken so it roasts faster and more evenly, keeping the white meat just as juicy as the dark. See Mike’s other posts here.

This is a relatively simple and wonderfully delicious way to roast chicken.  The juices from the chicken baste the vegetables while they roast together, while the mustard and herbs de Provence pair very well. And it’s much quicker than many other roast chicken recipes!  The recipe was inspired by Jacques Pepin’s “Fast Food My Way” TV series.

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