Saturday, March 29, 2008

Cool & Rainy - White Pizza Time!

You know that 12-14 inch cast iron skillet I keep telling you guys you need to buy? Well, here's another reason why you need one.

White Pizza with Asparagus & Proscuitto



Ingredients:
- One package of Middle Eastern Flat bread (White or wheat). Flat bread, not pita bread, like the kind you use for gyros.
- 1/4 cup good extra virgin olive oil and a pastry brush
- A Peppermill
- Fresh or dried oregano (fine chop)
- Olive tapenade or finely chopped green and black olives
- Shred white cheese (I use the six cheese italian blend -- you can also use fresh mozarella for this)
- 1/2 yellow onion, sliced very, very thin
- Cooked asparagus tips and stems cut in 1 in lengths
- 5 or 6 finely sliced pieces of Proscuitto, rolled up and chiffonaded
- 1 small can of artichoke hearts, sliced
- Vegetable oil

Heat oven to 500 degrees. Turn your lage cast iron skillet upside down on the rack and brush the bottom with oil (canola,or vegetable -- don't use olive oil for this part, it'll burn). Leave pan in oven.

While the oven's heating up, lay out your bread and brush generously with olive oil, one side only. Fresh grate a little pepper and sprinkle with oregano.

Sparingly spread some olive mixture on the bread (Seasoning, not ingredient.)

Cover with shredded cheese, then spread ingredients over top. Don't be stingy. Drizzle more olive oil (about a tblspn) over everything and give it another shot of pepper.

Place pizza on cast iron pan and allow to cool for about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and edges are turning brown. Remove and let cool for a minute before slicing.

So, easy. So, so good.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Arthur C. Clarke has died.

From the AP, science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke is dead at 90.


Rendezvous With Rama is one of my favorite books ever.

Bloomberg has more