#14 Emergency Pizza

Shownotes for #14 Emergency Pizza!

The music for the opening and ending of the show is Fast Food Rampage by the The Touch Ups, courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.

Stuff you need to know for this show's recipe:

All the recipes here are an hour or less. The pizza roll-up are very fast, 15 minutes from refrigerator to mouth. The sauce for the pizza pita takes about 30 minutes. This can be done once to produce enough sauce for an entire week. The assembling of the pizza takes about 15 minutes. Baking these pizzas takes about ten minutes. So, total preparation time for is less than and hour. If you have the sauce on hand, or want to use a sauce right out the can (not recommended), it takes less than 30 minutes.

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The podsafe music used in the show:

The musical selection this week is Fly, Fly, Fly by Adrina Thorpe. She is a singer/songwriter from California. She has a Sarah Mclachlan/Norah Jones vibe going in this song. Check out her website for other downloads and info on her new album.

Here is the lead recipe I describe in the show:

Pizza Roll-ups

1 flour tortilla

1/3 c shredded cheese (mozzarella, jack, fontina, taleggio, ricotta, or combination, or vegan melting cheese)

1 tb grated parmesan

1 tb ketchup

extra crushed red pepper, garlic slices, or Greek oregano to taste (optional)

Sprinkle the cheese on the lower half of a the tortilla, but leave about half of inch free of cheese at the edge. Place the tortilla in the toaster oven and toast through on cycle. The cheese should be melted. If not, place on the baking tray and toast again, watching it to make sure the cheese does not burn. Sprinkle a little extra crushed red pepper, garlic slices, or Greek oregano on the cheese, if you like. Then put a line of ketchup across the melted cheese from "4:00 o'clock" to "8:00 o'clock." Fold the bottom edge over the ketchup and roll up.

If you want to make several at a time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the tortilla with the cheese on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Baking until cheese melts and just begins to bubble, about 5 minutes. Finish the roll-ups as above.

Basic Pizza Sauce

1 can tomato sauce

2 tbs olive oil

salt

Bring sauce to simmer in a saucepan with oil and salt to taste. Cook until thickened, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool. Refrigerated, this sauce will keep for a week.

Spicy Pizza Sauce (Pizzaiola)

1 large garlic clove, minced

pinch of crushed red pepper

1 1/2 tbs olive oil

1 can tomato sauce

1 tsp. Greek oregano

Salt

In a skillet, cook the garlic and the red pepper in the olive oil over medium heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato sauce, oregano and salt to taste. Bring to a simmer. Cook until thickened, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool. Refrigerated, this sauce will keep for a week.

Pizza Pita

1 round of pita bread (or any flat bread: saltine crackers, matzoh, lavash, naan, chapati, flour or corn tortillas )

2 tbs pizza sauce

1/2 c shredded cheese (mozzarella, jack, fontina, taleggio, ricotta, or combination, or vegan melting cheese)

2 tbs grated parmesan

extra crushed red pepper, garlic slices, or Greek oregano to taste (optional).

Using the back of the tablespoon, spread the sauce to the edge of the pita. Do not add any more sauce! Use less if possible. Spread it as thinly as possible. You want the sauce to evaporate and glaze the bread. Toast the pita with the sauce only in the toaster over set to the same setting you usually use for making toast. If the pita starts to puff, take it out immediately and stick a knife in the side to deflate it. Distribute the shredded cheese evenly over the sauce. Then, sprinkle on the parmesan. Add additional seasonings to taste. Put the pita on the baking tray of the toaster over and toast it on a second cycle. Watch the pizza carefully. Otherwise, the cheese will run off the bread and make a mess of your toaster. If the cheese is not yet melted, toast again and watch it carefully. If pita starts to puff, stick a knife in to deflate. The pizza is done when cheese is melted and begins to bubble.

Here are some additional recipes from the show :

Grilled Pizza on frozen dough (Piadina)

1 can refrigerated Traditional Dinner Roll dough

flour for dusting

Mixed greens tossed in a garlic dressing

sliced deli meats

semi firm cheese slices, like fontina, fresh goat cheese

Nutella

Allow the dough to come to room temperature. Break open the can. Unroll and separate the pieces of (usually 8) dough and squeeze two of the pieces together each into a ball. If you just press them flat against each other, they will puff when you cook them. That's fun, but wait till my Emergency Calzone show to do that. Right now just squeeze and squeeze until they are solid mass. Then flatten it out. Prepare a flat surface for rolling the dough by getting everything out of the way. A counter will do. You can put down some sheets of plastic wrap. Flour the surface lightly and evenly. Getting a rolling pin or wine bottle wrapped in plastic wrap. Flour the flattened dough on both sides with your hands.

Heat a well-seasoned griddle, cast-iron skillet or non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until a drop of water flicked on the surface sizzles and evaporates immediately. In the meantime, roll out each disk on the floured surface until it is about 8 inches in diameter, the size of a flour tortilla, and just as thin. The thinner the better, even if it starts to tear. Gently pull the dough off the counter and put immediately on the hot surface. Cook 30 seconds until the dough begins to stiffen. The bottom should turn a mottled, golden brown. If it start to burn, turn down the heat slightly. Flip the dough and brown the other side for 30 seconds. Place on a plate covered with a towel or foil while you grill the other breads. It's done at this point. If you're really hungry, throw something onto it, fold it over and start eating.

Fill the piadina with either mixed salad greens tossed on a garlic dressing (1 crushed garlic soaked in 1 tbs red wine vinegar for ten minutes, then removed. Vinegar is then mixed with 2 tbs olive oil). Or, you can layer in some deli meats and slices of cheese. The breads will remain warm and yeasty while eat them.

For breakfast, try getting yourself a bottle of Nutella, the chocolate and hazelnut spread that Europeans love and Americans are just beginning to appreciate. It plays the same role in the European table that peanut butter does in North America. Just spread it on the piadina, fold and eat. You'll be very happy. Then, try the same this with peanut butter and jelly. See which one you like better.

If you have any piadina left over, they keep for a day or two in a plastic bag. They make a great base for the flat bread pizzas I described above.

Here is the shopping list for next week:

Well, that’s all for emergency pizza. Next week I'm going to tell you about how to make great dips for raw vegetables. First of all, get yourself some veggies, such as Asparagus, Broccoli, Endive, Green beans, Scallions, Snow peas, Sugar snap peas, Zucchini, Cauliflower, White Mushrooms, Red and White Radishes, Cherry or Plum Tomatoes, or Raw Turnips. Feel free to buy the pre-cut stuff if you want to save time. Cutting it yourself let's you save money. For the first dip, you'll need garlic, vinegar, Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, some light cream, an avocado, some anchovies or anchovy paste, and some dry tarragon leaves. For the second, you'll need some heavy cream, sour cream, Worcestershire sauce, a about 1/4 pound of imported Roquefort cheese. For the third, see if you can find some green peppercorns packed in water. For the fourth, you use some of the ingredients for the first dip. Look for bottle of imported black (Calamata) and green olives (with pits) in the Italian food section of your supermarket, or get a small container of each at the olive bar, some capers, a lemon and some fresh basil leaves (if available, otherwise flat leaf parsley will do).

Here is a list equipment you will need for next week:

A food processor or blender