2011, Recipe 80: Bacon, Mushroom, Carmelized Onion & Garlic Confit Pizza

I based this recipe on one from Epicurious.com.   

• 3 bacon slices, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 6 large garlic cloves, chopped slightly larger than minced
• 8 ounces assorted fresh wild mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp. fresh rosemary, chopped

•  1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 ball of pizza dough
• 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce
• 1 cup mixed shredded Italian cheeses

Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until browned, about 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels. Add onion to the pan.  Cook gently until onions are soft and brown.  Remove from pan.  Add oil and garlic to skillet. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until garlic is golden, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Add mushrooms and rosemary; cover and cook over high heat until mushrooms are tender, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 8 hours ahead; chill bacon and vegetables.) 

Preheat oven to 450°F. Sprinkle cornmeal on your rolling surface.  Roll out pizza dough.  Place rolled out pizza crust on baking sheet. Sprinkle cheeses, spread sauce, then top with vegetable mixture and bacon. Bake until cheese melts, about 12 minutes. Remove from oven.  Sprinkle with a little more chopped fresh rosemary. Let stand 2 minutes. Cut and serve. 

Results: YUMMMMYYYYY!!! We loved this!  Ol delicious fancy pizza!  The garlic confit made it!!!  And you know what?  Didn't even really need the bacon.  Next time I'll use barbeque sauce instead of spaghetti sauce to change it up. 

2011, Recipes 15 & 16: The Ultimate Chicken Wings with Curry Lime Butter & Carmelized Onion, Sun-dried Tomato & Baby Bella Pizza

Ultimate Chicken Wings with Curry Lime Butter
Recipe courtesy of Tyler Florence

• 4 pounds chicken wings
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 big, fat rounded tablespoon Thai red curry paste
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 lime, halved
• Chopped cilantro leaves, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Rinse the wings under cool water and pat dry. Put them in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Toss to coat with the seasoning. Then spread the wings out on a baking sheet and roast about 25 minutes until the skin gets crisp and brown, and the meat is tender.
While you wait, throw the butter, red curry paste honey and soy sauce into a blender. Season with salt and puree. Scrape into a big bowl. When the wings come out of the oven put add to the bowl with the curry butter. Squeeze the juice of the lime over the wings. Give it a toss and you're done. Garnish with cilantro.

Results: Seeing as I don't eat Chinese food, I have no soy sauce in the house so I eliminated that.  I also didn't have cilantro since it looked awful at the farmer's market this weekend and was too expensive at the grocery store.  In spite of those things, these wings were GOOD!!  They came out of the oven a beautiful golden brown.  Then the sauce just hit it right! Rashan loved them!


Carmelized Onion, Sun-dried Tomato & Baby Bella Pizza
Recipe based on one from Livestrong.com

1 medium onion
pinch of sugar

1 tablespoon kosher salt
8 oz. baby bellas
1 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 tsp. salt
Trader Joe's pizza dough
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
4 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
2 tsp. Italian seasoning, crushed against your palm
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flake

Preheat oven and pizza stone to 425 (or you can roll dough on a cookie sheet, but it will not be crispy).

Chop onions and sautee in vegetable oil. Add sugar and salt. Cook until caramelized. Add chopped garlic and cook a few minutes until garlic is also browned.  Wash and slice mushrooms. Lightly sautee in oil until slightly browner.  Add salt at the end.

Roll dough and put onto heated stone.  Spread sauce onto pizza, add onion and garlic mixture. Top with tomatoes, then mushrooms.  Finish with Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

Results:  MMMM!!!  Rashan was so happy to have me cooking for him today!!  Also: TJ's dough? 99 cents every day!  That's what I'm talkin about!  I already had all the ingredients in my house so this cost me just about nothing today.