Recipe #21: Ultimate Farmer's Market Pizza

Holy. Crap. 

I really didn't expect this pizza to turn out this awesome.  It was a wacky idea that somehow totally worked!  Basically, I took almost everything that I bought at the Fulton Street Farmer's Market yesterday and baked it on a pizza crust with a mashed bean spread instead of a traditional pizza sauce. Weird, huh?  

Here's the deal: 

1 large pre-made large pizza crust - I used Bova Bakery's Roasted Garlic crust

1 medium size leek, sliced

1 cup radicchio, shredded (It was so pretty I almost didn't want to chop it up--Trillium Haven Farm rules.)

1 1/2 cup kale leaves, torn into pieces

1 large tomato, diced (I used a cool-looking heirloom tomato)  

2 cloves garlic, put through a press or very finely minced

1 large carrot, shredded 

2 cans of beans, rinsed and well drained (I used 1 pinto and 1 garbanzo but 2 cans of cannellini beans would be great too)  

1-2 Tablespoon water or veggie broth 

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 Tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast

1/2 Tablespoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon rubbed sage

sea salt

black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large bowl, mix together leeks, radicchio, kale, carrot, tomato, and garlic.  Add 1 tablespoon each olive oil and Balsamic vinegar.  Mix well to coat evenly.  Stir in oregano, sage, 1 teaspoon of nutritional yeast, and salt and black pepper to taste.  Set aside.  In another large bowl, mix drained beans with 1 tablespoon each olive oil, Balsamic vinegar and nutritional yeast.  Mash bean mixture with a potato masher until no whole beans remain.  Add 1-2 tablespoons of the water or veggie broth while mashing to get mixture to a consistency that will make it easy to spread.  It may not be a pretty color, but it will end up getting covered up with the veggie mix so don't worry about that too much.   Spread bean mixture evenly over pizza crust using a rubber spatula.  Leave about 3/4 an inch of crust uncovered around the edge.  Stir your veggie mix once again and then spoon it evenly on top of the bean mixture. 

Carefully place your pizza on the middle oven rack and bake it for 10-12 minutes.  It's done when the crust is golden brown.  The veggies will still have a slightly raw flavor and be a little crunchy.    

I took this with my Blackberry so it is blurry and grainy but you get the idea.

   

Recipe #11: Valentine's Day Chili

I didn't have dinner with huzbers on Valentine's Day since he was at work.  To be honest, we don't really care much about Valentine's Day.  If we do anything it usually involves something silly like giving each other joke presents (tacky light up roses from the gas station or something).  Yesterday turned out awesome though because huzbers made me dinner from my favorite cookbook Appetite for Reduction and it was waiting for me when I got home.  He even left little lime wedges out!  Adorable. 

Eating Chipotle Chili with sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts by yourself while watching Unites States of Tara is not most people's idea of romance but to me it pretty much ruled.  The recipe calls for crushed coriander seed.  He admitted that his first his plan was to smash the seeds with a hammer.  He ended up using a rolling pin instead.  

Yum! Not too shabby for someone who says they can't cook.

Recipe #9: Drunk and Lazy Chili

Last winter we brewed a smoked porter that so smoky we couldn't drink it.  Fortunately, we found some great ways to cook with it!  This is a lazy chili because there is little chopping, a lot of cans and only one pot.  The porter adds a great depth to what otherwise might be a pretty typical veggie chili.        

1 can black beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can pinto beans

1 can corn

3 cans chili ready chopped tomatoes

1 teaspoon each:

                cumin

                chili powder

                Sriarcha hot sauce (optional)

                garlic powder

1/2 c. (4 oz) smoked porter (Stone Smoked Porter would be perfect)

10 oz of veggie sausage style crumbles (or microwave patties and break up into small pieces) 

1 red onion diced

Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast- optional 

Rinse and drain beans and corn.  Put all ingredients except porter into crock pot and stir well.  Add porter very slowly while stirring so it doesn't get too foamy.  Cover and cook on low for 3- 5 hours, stirring occasionally during cook time.  Stir one more time before serving and adjust seasonings.  Top with cilantro and serve with corn bread or chips if desired.

Recipe #4: Snow Day Bean Soup

So, there is a giant blizzard in the Midwest and my office was closed today.  Not counting the 1/2 a bottle of vodka in my freezer leftover from my birthday 4 months ago and way too many bottles of hot sauce, these were about all the ingredients that I had.  Old-timey bean soup recipes usually call for animal hocks, hooves, tails, or "frames" which I think is just another word for carcass.  I used liquid smoke which adds a rich and meaty flavor that makes it seem traditional.  If the soup doesn't warm you up, the after effects of the beans and the cabbage will- hee hee! 

10 c. cold water

2 c. (1 lb) bagged mixed soup beans without seasoning, rinsed and picked over

1 small head green cabbage, chopped into shreds

1 large yellow onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

3 Tablespoons Better Than Bouillon Vegetarian Soup Base (I used the "No Chicken" kind) 

1/2 Tablespoon Bragg's Liquid Aminos (tamari or low sodium soy sauce work fine)

1/2 Tablespoon liquid smoke

Freshly ground pepper to taste
Few drops of Sriacha or other hot sauce to taste (optional)

In a large heavy bottomed stock pot, combine beans, water and bouillon and set over a high flame.  Add all other ingredients and stir well.  Wait until soup comes to a very low boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low.  Simmer for 3-4 hours with the lid on.  Stir soup about every half hour.  If it comes to a boil again, reduce heat to low prevent beans from bursting.  Check beans to see if they are done- should be tender not firm- and remove from heat. Adjust seasonings and replace lid.  Set aside for at least 10 minutes to cool a little before serving.  This is one of those soups that is going to be even better the next day.  Since there is so much of it, it may be a good idea to freeze portions for later.  I think it will be quite cozy hanging out in my freezer next to the vodka.         

Recipe #3: Five Bean Salad

A good friend's mom used to always have a variation of this salad in her fridge.  She told me how to make it about 20 years ago and I still love it and make it quite often.  It is ridiculously easy and it is great to bring to cook-outs and potlucks.  You can use whatever canned beans you like but I like this variation because of the different colors and textures of the beans involved. 

1 can garbanzo beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can butter beans

1 can lima beans

1 can black beans

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 Tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

3 drops of hot sauce (Frank's Red Hot is a good bet)

Sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

Drain and rinse the beans really well in a large colander.  Shake off excess water.  Pour beans into a large container with a tight fitting lid.  Add remaining ingredients and cover with lid.  Shake well to coat beans with dressing.  Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving and shake well again.  Add more salt and pepper if needed.  Sometimes I'll put extras in there like corn, cumin and lime or dried basil, garlic and lemon.  This is a hard one to mess up so feel free to get creative.  Makes about 15 side dish servings --about 1/2 c. each.