I have a thing for pizza. It is endlessly entertaining and will always have an air of "forbidden junk food" to it. Rebellious, mmm.
Fridays are the only day I am gone all day and I didn't have time to make pizza dough Thursday. I picked up some frozen pizza dough on a lunch break (whole wheat of course) and let it thaw in the car. Normally in Maine it wouldn't have thawed at all, but we have had warm (read: over 30!) days lately.
Often James will make some delicious homemade tomato sauce while I finish up the dough. We are constantly working on perfecting our pizza (one day we will recreate Nicoitalia pizza), we never make the same dough or sauce twice. This time we used the artichoke pesto I made the day before. I give it an A-. The minus comes from a bit too much pesto- its strong stuff.
(the parsley garnish made absolutely no difference in taste.)
Artichoke Pesto, Approximately
1-3 cloves garlic, depending on how much you like garlic
1 small handful of nuts (walnut, pine nuts, pistachio)
1 can of artichokes, sans liquid
1/4 c feta cheese
pepper
enough olive oil to blend it (maybe 1/3 c)
enough lemon juice to satisfy your lemon desire
Blend till course. Taste, adjust, blend again. Use on toasted bread with spinach and tomato. Use on pizza. Use on crackers.
*once again, it is strong stuff. I lucked out and happened to buy, on sale, local vermont mozzarella that was so creamy it was almost sweet. Not salty. it complimented the pesto really well.
* MYTH BUSTERS!!! claim: pizza stones make a difference in pizza crust. result: TRUE. I went the cheap route and bought some quarry tile/unglazed terra cotta tiles at Home Depot for 50 cents each. I line one oven rack with them and heat them with the oven (at least 500 for pizza). Then I awkwardly transport the pizza to the stones for cooking. It really makes for a nice crunchy crust and chewy interior.
