What grows together goes together.  Are you familiar with this saying?  It is a terrific mantra when you find yourself at a farmers’ market.  Now you Northern climate people, before you close your eyes and mutter, “Enough with the bragging about California farmers’ markets”, remember that I was one of you.  I was the person who counted down the weeks until my neighborhood market started in May, and then counted down the weeks until real actual produce, not just kale and parsnips, arrived.  I was the one finally (finally!) buying English peas, snap peas, fava beans, and other green spring things in late June which is not (not!) spring.  I have been there.  And now I am here in California and I am going to talk about my glorious California farmers’ markets.  So there.

I used to hit the markets with a list.  I would plan my menu for the week and I would try to buy as much as I could at the market.  Whatever I couldn’t find there I would buy at the grocery store.  This approach led to a lot of frustration.  Walking in to a farmers’ market with a set idea of what to buy just might leave you agitated because there is not guarantee that what you want will be there.  Even if it is in season.  It is better, I have found, to just go and buy what looks good to you.  Buy what you like.  Ideas will pop into your head and since you are shopping seasonally and locally, all the things you buy will go together in some way or another.  What grows together goes together.  And if you are really a list person, bring a blank list to the market.  Once you have you have been inspired by the produce there and bought what you like, you can make a list of the things you need to fill out the dinners you have planned.

Last week, I bought a truly shocking amount of produce.  How could I not?  Everything looked so amazing.  I realized, soon after putting everything away, that Randy was going to be out of town the first part of the week and that I had better get some friends to come eat with me.  I made pizzas and a huge salad which we devoured.  I told Randy about my creations and he was crestfallen that I had made pizza, on the grill no less, without him.  So I made the same dinner, just for us, on Mother’s Day.  Yes, I cooked on Mother’s Day.  In fact, I made breakfast and dinner.  No sad trombone or tiny violins here.  I had two friends come down from Seattle last weekend and we spent all Saturday out and about in Oakland and then San Francisco, topped off with a dinner at AQ.  It was such a gift to be able to just hang with my friends and not have to worry about the boys, I wanted to thank him for giving me that time.  I also wanted to just be home with my family and enjoy pizza and wine on our deck, rather than at a busy restaurant.

I could just have easily titled this post Put It On a Pizza.  When I end up with a surplus of fresh seasonal produce, I often end up making pizza and combining things I have on hand for a topping.  I also do this with pasta or risotto but pizza is my favorite.  Especially when I make it on the grill.  With my crazy produce haul, I had the most beautiful bunch of garlic scapes (see photo above) which I made into a pesto.  That got brushed on one pizza and was topped with grilled zucchini and grilled corn (corn in May!) and some shaved Manchego cheese.  A few cilantro leaves on top too.  I love broccoli rabe on pizza so for the other one, I blanched a bunch of that, chopped it up, and paired it with sweet spring onion rounds on a marinara slathered crust, topped with mozzarella.  When I made dinner for my family on Sunday, I repeated everything but also made a third pizza of just cheese and sauce for the boys.

I almost always use Mark Bittman’s pizza dough recipe.  It is easy and has a short rising time.  I keep promising myself that I will try others, notably the ones that have a longer rise, but the truth is that I am not always forward thinking when I make pizza.  If I realize that at 5:30 I still haven’t made the dough, we can still be eating by 7.  If you have small people who would be terrified to even contemplate anything other than a cheese pizza, divide the dough into three pieces and make one of them more plain.  I’m going to give directions for cooking pizza on the grill, since we are coming upon grilling season, but these can of course be made in a very hot oven.

One Year Ago:  Pepper Glazed Goat Cheese Gratin (I’ve made this countless times – so amazing and easy!)
Two Years Ago:  White Bark Balls
Three Years Ago: Chickpeas with Lemon and Pecorino Romano (so good!), Potato Salad with Snap Peas
Four Years Ago:  Quinoa with Grilled Zucchini and Chickpeas, Peanut Butter Cup Brownies, Raspberry Almond Bars

Pizza with Garlic Scape Pesto, Grilled Zucchini and Corn
Dana Treat Original (mostly)
Serves 4 along with another pizza (or double this recipe and make two)

You might not use all the zucchini or corn, but just throw them in a salad another night.  The pesto makes quite a bit.  It is terrific with pasta, rice, and eggs, or as a sandwich spread.  You can always take half of it, put it in a container, and freeze it for another time when garlic scapes are a distant memory.  Finally, this pizza has a LOT of flavor, so I didn’t think it needed much cheese.  But add as much as you like.  You can, of course, substitute another cheese for the Manchego.

½ ball pizza dough (recipe follows)
Garlic scape pesto (recipe follows)
2 small zucchini or other summer squash, sliced on the diagonal, about ¼-inch thick
2 ears of corn, shucked
Olive oil
Kosher or sea salt
½ cup (or more) Manchego cheese, shaved
Few cilantro leaves

Heat a grill to high.  Place the zucchini slices on one side of a rimmed baking sheet and the corn on the other.  Drizzle it all with a little olive oil and then add a healthy pinch of salt to both vegetables.  Using your hands, toss well (keep the vegetables separate).  Grill the zucchini and corn.  You will want nice grill marks on the zucchini and the corn should brown in places.  Remove back to the baking sheet.  Leave the grill on.  When the corn is cool enough to handle, slice the kernels off the cob.

Scatter a bit of cornmeal on a pizza peel (or the bottom of a baking sheet can work too).  Stretch the dough out to a nice thin circle, then place it on the peel.  Slide the dough onto the grill, close the lid, and let cook for4 minutes, or until the bottom is nice and golden brown with some grill marks.  Carefully coax it back onto the peel (tongs can be useful for this step).  If you are using an oven instead of a grill, just top the raw dough with the toppings – you won’t need to flip.

Turn the dough over and smear the top with some of the pesto going almost to the edges of the circle.  It is quite strong so you don’t need a lot.  Add the zucchini slices and the corn.  Top with the shaved Manchego.  Slide the pizza back on the grill, cover and cook for 2 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the visible dough is golden brown.  Slide back on the peel and scatter cilantro leaves over the top.  Let sit for a minute, then slice and serve.

Pizza Dough
Courtesy of Mark Bittman
Makes: Enough for 1 large or 2 or more small pies

To make pizza dough by hand or with a standing mixer, follow the directions, but use a bowl and a heavy wooden spoon or the mixer’s bowl and the paddle attachment instead of the food processor. When the dough becomes too heavy to stir, use your hands or exchange the mixer’s paddle for the dough hook and proceed with the recipe.

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more as needed
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt, plus extra for sprinkling
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a food processor. Turn the machine on and add 1 cup water and the oil through the feed tube.

Process for about 30 seconds, adding more water, a little at a time, until the mixture forms a ball and is slightly sticky to the touch. If it is still dry, add another tablespoon or two of water and process for another 10 seconds. (In the unlikely event that the mixture is too sticky, add flour a tablespoon at a time.)

Turn the dough onto a floured work surface and knead by hand for a few seconds to form a smooth, round dough ball. Put the dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap; let rise until the dough doubles in size, 1 to 2 hours. (You can cut this rising time short if you’re in a hurry, or you can let the dough rise more slowly, in the refrigerator, for up to 6 or 8 hours.) Proceed to Step 4 or wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap or a zipper bag and freeze for up to a month. (Defrost in the bag or a covered bowl in the refrigerator or at room temperature; bring to room temperature before shaping.)

When the dough is ready, form it into a ball and divide it into 2 or more pieces if you like; roll each piece into a round ball. Put each ball on a lightly floured surface, sprinkle with flour, and cover with plastic wrap or a towel. Let rest until they puff slightly, about 20 minutes.

Garlic Scape Pesto
Courtesy of Epicurious
Makes about 1½ cups

I only had salted pistachios on hand so I only added a pinch of salt to the pesto.

10 large garlic scapes
1/3 cup unsalted pistachios
1/3 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Kosher salt and black pepper
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Before I ask for your trust, I have a small announcement to make.  I am teaming up with the Yoga Tree, one of the very best yoga studios in Seattle and the one where I started my own yoga journey 12 years ago, to do an Urban Retreat next Saturday, January 21st, from 3:30-8pm.  The retreat is called Winter Warmth and Nourishment and participants will spend two hours building heat (and an appetite) through dynamic yoga flow, and then another two hours in a cooking class with me, right next door!, at Book Larder.  I am really excited about this partnership and the retreats are something we plan to do seasonally.  (Next one will be in April if you want to plan a trip to Seattle…)   Registration information can be found here.

OK, so now I am asking for your trust.  Trust me – those are not fingerling potatoes on the pizza – it is poorly melted smoked mozzarella – I bought the wrong kind.

Trust me – eggs are good on pizza.

Trust me – this combination of leeks, smoked mozzarella, and egg is magical.

Trust me – it may not be beautiful but it is tasty.

Last Thursday, as I was getting excited for night out with three of my lovely friends to a new super hot pizza joint, I got a message from Spencer’s teachers at preschool.  He was running a fever and I needed to come pick him up.  He was sleeping when I called back (a red flag – he never sleeps at preschool), but when I went to get him an hour later, I was shocked.  With kids running all over the room, chasing each other, doing art projects, eating snacks, my (not so) little baby was lying in the middle of the floor on a mat just staring off into space.  I dropped to my knees next to him and could feel the heat radiating off his body.

He let me carry him to the car (another red flag) and when we got home he was shaking so badly that he could not hold the little cup of Tylenol steady enough to put it to his lips.  Absolutely heartbreaking.  But that Tylenol is a wonder drug and after he was able to take it, with the help of an oral syringe, he seemed much better.

But not better enough to go to Cub Scouts with Graham and Randy that night and so, I had to email my friends and ask that they either go without me or come keep me and the patient company.  A flurry of emails when through the ether – yes, they would come over!  Yes, we could make our own pizza!  Yes, I have salad stuff!  Yes, I’ll bring what I have!  It is a great thing to have friends who are great cooks and like to eat.

So, we made our own pizza and salad to which we each contributed various things.  I had one hunk of dough, slow-roasted tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and some leeks I had sautéed to silky.  Others contributed salad makings, another hunk of dough, a knob of smoked mozzarella, eggs, and wine.  What a great way to cook!  Coming together as a community and offering up yummy things.

So we made two pizzas and the standout, by far, was the one I drizzled with olive oil, then topped with a healthy mound of the leeks, thin slices of smoked mozarella, and – after it had been in the oven for a few minutes, two farm fresh eggs.  I can’t take full credit for the pizza, we all contributed.  And we all really loved it.

I  loved it enough to make it again a few nights later.  Even with the wrong mozzarella, it was really tasty.  I loved the contrast in flavors and textures.  Crisp savory crust (salting it is key), soft sweet leeks, smoky melty cheese, and a runny egg.  So good!  Unless you want want your cheese to not melt and to look like fingerling potatoes (which are delicious on pizza by the way – another pizza post for another time), do not buy the mozzarella that is braided and very firm.  Buy one that is cryovaced and soft and with some copper colored markings.

Pizza with Silky Leeks, Smoked Mozzarella, and Eggs
Dana Treat Original (with assistance)
Makes one medium size pizza, serves 3-4

I made this pizza with approximately one half of the recipe of my favorite pizza dough.  I put the other half in a ziploc bag and into the freezer.  The night before I wanted to use it again, I took it out and let it thaw in the refrigerator, then took it out and let it rise at room temperature for about an hour before using it.

Olive oil
4 large leeks
Kosher or sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
6 oz. smoked mozzarella, very thinly sliced
2 large eggs
½ of Mark Bittman’s pizza dough

Place a pizza stone in the oven and turn the heat as high as it will go.

While the dough is rising for the second time and the oven is heating, place a very large skillet over medium heat.  Drizzle in just enough olive oil to coat the bottom and then add the leeks with a large pinch of salt.  They will be very crowded in the pan but will wilt down so don’t worry.  Give the leeks a few good stirs and then add the thyme leaves.  Turn the heat down to medium-low and let them cook, stirring occasionally, until they are silky soft and wilted, about 25 minutes total.  If at any time they seem to be browning, turn the heat down lower.  If necessary, add a bit of water to keep them from browning.  (Browned onions are good, browned leeks are not.)  Once they are really soft, if there is quite a bit of liquid in the pan, turn the heat back up to medium and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.  Seasons to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.

Sprinkle cornmeal on a pizza peel and stretch the dough out to your desired shape.  Place the dough on the prepared peel and drizzle the surface with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of salt over the top.  Mound the leeks on the dough leaving a small border around the edge and top with the thin slices of smoked mozzarella.  Slide the pizza off the peel and onto the baking stone.  Bake for 5 minutes.

Crack the eggs into a small ramekin.  At the end of 5 minutes, slide the oven rack with the stone on it out enough to put the eggs on the pizza.  Be very careful because everything is super hot at this point.  Put one egg on one part of the pizza and the other on another part.  Push the rack back in and cook for another 4-5 minutes, until the crust is brown and the eggs are set.  (If you want your eggs runnier, you can add them later in the process.)

Slice and serve.

OK, guess what?  I’m in the midst of a months- long pizza obsession.  I have nothing earth shattering to say about the obsession, just that it has taken a hold of me.  Quite simply, I crave pizza all the time.  This is not to say that I never craved it before but now the craving is near constant.  Having a simple and (in my opinion) perfect recipe for a crust and a grill just waiting to get heated up makes pizza a super simple and quick dinner in our household*.

My parents, New Yorkers both of them, used to lament the lack of good pizza in Seattle.  And truthfully, up until just a few years ago, it was embarrassing.  Now we have plenty of good pizza.  Not the giant New York slices that you fold in half and wipe the grease off your chin between bites, but pretty tasty nonetheless.  I love all of it.  But I have to say I’m partial to a thin and flavorful crust, a thin schmear of sauce, carefully placed vegetables, and not too much cheese.  That is if I’m ordering it in one of our many delicious pizza joints.

If I’m making it myself, I tend to get carried away by the toppings.  Can you call it pizza if it has no sauce and no mozzarella cheese?  I say yes.  My lovely and amazing friend Denise visited a couple of months ago with her partner Lenny, and she mentioned that their favorite pizza to make these days stars corn, cilantro, and blue cheese.  Yes please and thank you very much.  I’ve made their version a couple of times since corn season began for us Pacific North-westerners and this time I added some chantarelle mushrooms and some squash blossoms.  Why not?

*I would love to tell you that my children ate pizza with corn, chantarelle mushrooms, cilantro, squash blossoms, and blue cheese but alas, I try to set myself up for success here in my house.  I took about a third of the dough and made them their own pizza starring jarred tomato sauce and mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.  Graham told me that he would like a vegetable pizza “with olives” next time.  Special requests aside, they ate the entire thing.  And put carrot sticks on top of each slice.  Carrot pizza!

I’m giving instructions on how to make this on the grill.  It’s super quick and you get that char that is hard to achieve in an oven.  If you don’t have a grill, place a pizza stone in your oven and heat it as high as it will go.  Your cooking time will be longer in an oven.

One Year Ago:  Moo Shu Tempeh (tastes much better than it sounds)
Two Years Ago:  Holly B’s Almond Butterhorns
Three Years Ago:  Roasted Peppers Stuffed with Chickpea Puree and Mushrooms

Pizza with Corn, Chantarelles, and Cilantro
Dana Treat Original
Serves 3-4

As always when I am making pizza, I will direct you to Mark Bittman’s recipe.  The dough is perfect in my opinion.  Last week, I had my parents over and I made a Margarita Pizza (I told you I’m obsessed!) and my dad said my crust was the best he’s ever tasted.  My New Yorker dad!

1 tbsp. unsalted butter
4 ounces chantarelle mushrooms (or any wild mushrooms), rinsed and allowed to air dry
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
1 large ear of corn, kernels stripped off
Olive oil
½ cup cilantro leaves
2 ounces blue cheese
3 zucchini blossoms, sliced in half
Cornmeal
1 recipe pizza dough

Head a medium skillet over medium-high heat.  Melt the butter and then add the mushrooms along with a pinch of salt.  Sauté, stirring often, until browned in spots, about 5 minutes.  Add the thyme, then add the corn and cook for another 2 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Remove from the heat and set aside.

Heat a grill to high.  Scatter a bit of cornmeal on a pizza peel (or the bottom of a baking sheet can work too).  Stretch the dough out to a nice thin circle, then place it on the peel.  Slide the dough onto the grill, close the lid, and let cook for4 minutes, or until the bottom is nice and golden brown with some grill marks.  Carefully coax it back onto the peel (tongs can be useful for this step).  If you are using an oven instead of a grill, just top the raw dough with the toppings – you won’t need to flip.

Turn the dough over and drizzle it with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle over a pinch of salt.  Add the toppings.  Scrape the mushroom/corn mixture over the top, scatter the cilantro leaves, crumble the blue cheese, and place the zucchini blossoms over the top.  Slide the pizza back on the grill, cover and cook for 2 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the visible dough is golden brown.  Slide back on the peel, let sit for a minute, then slice and serve.

I am not a particularly organized person.  I am not a list-maker and I can be very scattered.  I really try to have structure and to be fair, I do juggle a lot of balls on any given day, but things often fall through the cracks.  I tend to be forgetful and I lose things easily.

Except when I am in the kitchen.  I am streamlined, focused, and organized, and I rarely make mistakes.  In all the years of being a personal chef and all the parties I have catered and all the classes I have taught, I have never forgotten a single dish.  That is because, unlike in my personal life, I make lists.  I have ingredient lists, dish lists, and lists of things to remember to bring.  That last list has food on one side of the paper and equipment on the other.  I have a system and I continually check in with it.

Last week, I catered an art gallery opening for some friends and for no good reason, I didn’t check in with my list.  I trusted my brain to remember everything which, if you are a mom, is something you should never ever do.  Mommy brain is real!  Not only did I forget to make one dish (in spite of the fact that I had prepped it the day before) but I forgot to bring a Sun-Dried Tomato Onion Jam for the cheese plate.  As I started to unload my bags, I realized what I had done and literally sank to the floor.  Then, I got up and moved on.

Two pieces of good news.  The party was a success and I had a small tub of Sun-Dried Tomato Onion Jam to come home to.  But what to do with it?  If I served pork, it would probably be a good condiment but, as we all know, I don’t. There are no cheese plates in my immediate future.  So how about some pizza?

Now, I eat my cooking all the time.  I am delighted each time I make something of my own creation and it is good.  (Which, not to toot my own horn, it usually is.)  This pizza made me sit back and say, “Wow, this is good.  Isn’t this good Randy?  Do you love it?”  He was fairly busy stuffing his face but nodded enthusiastically.  Of course, I can’t take 100% credit here.  The jam recipe comes from a magazine and I used Mark Bittman’s pizza dough recipe (highly recommend), but the combo and idea is mine.

We have a relatively new market in Seattle called Melrose Market.  I like to think of it as a tiny tiny version of San Francisco’s Ferry Building.  There is a butcher, a cheese shop, a wine bar, two restaurants, and a flower shop.  It is a very charming place.  The cheese shop, Calf and Kid, sometimes has burrata and whenever I am in the neighborhood, I check in to see if they have it.  They did at my last visit and so I bought a small ball of it.  I didn’t have a specific plan for it but having burrata in your refrigerator is never a bad thing.

So yes, there was burrata on my pizza which I am sure contributed to its amazingness.  But a fresh mozzarella would still make it delicious.  I am very gentle with my cheese hand on pizza.  I like to taste the crust and the other toppings more than the cheese, but do what you like.

One Year Ago: Sautéed Tempeh with Coconut Milk and Snow Peas
Two Years Ago: Chocolate, Hazelnut, and Ginger Biscotti

Pizza with Sun-Dried Tomato Onion Jam and Broccoli Rabe
Dana Treat Original
Serves about 4

For the jam
3 medium onions, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/3 cup sugar
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
½ cup dry white wine
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
¼ cup packed dried apricots, thinly sliced
6.5 ounce jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and chopped

For the pizza
1 large bunch broccoli rabe, ends trimmed
1 recipe your favorite pizza dough (I used this one)
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 garlic clove
1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 4-ounce ball burrata or fresh mozzarella cheese

Make the jam
Cook onions, butter, sugar, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, covered in a large skillet over low heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and pale golden, about 30 minutes.  Add wine, vinegar, apricots, and tomatoes, and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thick, 20 to 30 minutes.  (Can be made up to 1 week ahead.  Cool completely, then cover and refrigerate.  Bring to room temperature before using.)

Make the pizza
Preheat the oven to 500°F with a pizza stone set on the lowest rack.  Pour the olive oil into a small bowl.  Using a garlic press, push the garlic into the oil, and allow to steep.  Lightly dust a pizza peel with cornmeal and shape your dough to fit the peel.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add the broccoli rabe and cook for 3 minutes.  Drain well.  When cool enough to handle, roughly chop the broccoli rabe.

Brush the dough with the garlic oil.  Sprinkle with the Pecorino Romano.  Scatter about ¾ of the Sun-Dried Tomato Jam over the surface of the pizza.  (Use the rest for a cheese plate.)  Scatter the broccoli rabe over top and finally, top with the burrata pulled into small pieces.

Carefully slide the pizza onto the stone.  Bake for 10-13 minutes, until the crust is browning and the cheese is melted.  Allow to sit for 5 minutes before slicing.