If Warm Weather was a pizza flavor, this would be it

For almost as long as the husband and I have been together, we’ve made pizza from scratch on the weekends. Our first pizza was made in my tiny post-college apartment and baked on a cheap aluminum pizza pan from Big Lots. He used a crust recipe he found online. We topped it with canned sauce, pre-shredded mozzarella cheese and cheap pepperoni, and thought it was awesome. It had a thinner crust and was much less greasy than pizza shop pizza. Also, there’s just something satisfying about eating a pizza that you have made yourself, from scratch.

Over time, we graduated to a pizza stone and fresher ingredients. The husband has perfected his crust recipe. Usually, I’m the baker. But he always makes the pizza crust because he does it so well. We’ve both started playing with pizza toppings. We’ve made macaroni & cheese pizza, chili dog pizza, taco pizza, buffalo chicken pizza and used any number of traditional toppings in various combinations.

Usually, though, he makes a standard pepperoni or Genoa salami and cheese pizza. My usual go-to pizza was loosely inspired by Greek salad (incidentally, it’s one of the pictures in the rotating header for this blog). I use olive oil and thinly-sliced tomatoes as a base. Then, I top it with mozzarella and feta, onion, kalamata olives, pepperocini and a light sprinkle of lemon-pepper. No red sauce and generally no meat.

You see, I’m not a huge fan of traditional red tomato sauces. I very rarely eat spaghetti with marinara or anything similar. When making pizza, I often completely skip the red sauce. My favorite substitute is pesto, which brings me to this pizza. It is a thin, slightly crispy crust topped with pesto, freshly-roasted red peppers, mozzarella and lots of vegetables. This pizza is perfect for a warm day when a traditional pizza can seem too heavy. I made it for dinner last night and am already looking forward to the next time we make pizza so I can repeat it.

A quick note before I get to the actual recipe and method. The crust recipe will make 2 thin 12″ crusts. You can use the second crust to make another pizza, or freeze it for another day. As I previously mentioned, we use a pizza stone. Since the stone has to be be heated up gradually, I just left it in the oven while I roasted the peppers. Also, I would recommend prepping the pizza toppings while waiting for the dough to rise. That will make the whole process more efficient.

Pesto Pizza with Fresh Vegetables
Makes 1, 12″ pizza

Ingredients
For the crust:
1 c. warm water
2 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
2 tbsp. white sugar
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
3 c. bread flour
1 tbsp. oregano
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. crushed red pepper

For the sauce:
1 c. fresh basil, roughly chopped
1 tsp. dry oregano
1/8 c. pine nuts, toasted
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 c. freshly-grated Parmesan cheese

For the toppings:
1 tomato, sliced very thin
1/2 white onion, sliced very thin
1/2 c. baby spinach, washed
6-8 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced in half
1 red bell pepper, roasted and cut into thick slices
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions
Make the crust
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer affixed with a dough hook, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Add sugar, olive oil and salt and combine. Add seasonings. Finally, add flour a little at a time until dough is thick.
3. Divide dough into 2 balls, coat each lightly with flour and set aside. Allow dough to rise until it has doubled, about one hour.

While the dough is rising, prepare the pesto and toppings
1. Preheat the broiler on your oven. Wash and chop all vegetables. Shred Parmesan cheese.
2. Place sliced red peppers on an unlined baking sheet and broil for 4-5 minutes. Flip peppers over and broil an additional 4-5 minutes. Place peppers in a tightly-sealed bag to steam for 20 minutes. Set aside.
3. Toast the pine nuts by placing them in a dry pan over medium heat. Gently shake the pan over heat for about 30 seconds, until nuts are lightly browned.
4. Make the pesto sauce. In a small food processor, combine basil, oregano, pine nuts, garlic, salt, and olive oil. Process until pureed, then grated add Parmesan. Set aside.
5. Finally, remove the peppers from their bag, peel them and set them aside.

Spinach, roasted peppers, tomato slices, onion rings & olives. Yum!

By this time, your crust should be ready to finish
4. Reduce oven temperature to 500°.
5. Turn dough out onto a pizza stone and roll it out to about 1/2″ thickness. Bake for 3-4 minutes.
6. Remove pizza from oven. Spread with pesto sauce, sprinkle with cheese and arrange vegetables. Bake for an additional 5-6 minutes. Enjoy!

The famous Key West Beach Sign shows the distance in miles from the beach to a number of other locations including New Orleans, London and Cancun

Several things about Ft. Zach’s beach surprised me. I had expected the beach to be crowded. It was relatively deserted, making for a peaceful atmosphere. I had also expected nothing but soft sand and warm water. While there is gorgeous white sand, the beach at Ft. Zach is also rocky. Since it was mid-February, the water was cooler than I’d expected. Fortunately, years of swimming in Lake Erie have made me used to swimming in cooler water and wading on rocks. And I absolutely could not resist how clear and sparkly the water looked. I splashed around, watched the seagulls and pelicans, and took lots of pictures before settling into that beloved beach pastime – reading & sunbathing.

Sometime in the afternoon, I began to get hungry. I checked out the selections at Ft. Zach’s concession stand, and decided against what were likely to be mediocre burgers & hot dogs. This turned out to be a good decision since it started to drizzle as we were leaving the beach, and because we stumbled onto the best fish sandwich I have ever eaten.

B.O.’s Fish Wagon, located at 801 Caroline Street, doesn’t look that great from the outside. It is constructed out of a random selection of planks, plywood, sheets of metal, and even old garage doors; and is decorated with fishing nets and license plates and graffiti left behind by past patrons. Honestly, the place looks like it could fall down at any second. Being the type of person who prefers holes-in-the-wall and little local joints to trendy restaurants and big, pristine chains, B.O.’s is my type of place. Upon arriving, you’re greeted by a sign that essentially says “if you’re in a hurry, prissy or whiny, this is not the place for you”. The girl taking orders sits on top of the cashier’s counter and answers questions about the menu. Behind her, you can see your food being prepared. Upon placing your order, you sit down at a picnic table or on a barstool or at an old cable spool and wait for your food to be delivered.

There is a lot of love for Ohio, especially Lake Erie & Put-in-Bay, in Key West

Jared & I both ordered the fried fish sandwich with fries. At the order-taker’s suggestion, we shared a “small” order of fries. This turned out to be more than enough for both of us. The fresh-cut fries were good, especially when seasoned with salt and malt vinegar, but nothing special. It was the sandwich that was the star of this meal. The snapper was battered and fried, and served on cuban bread with cheese, onion, lettuce, tomato and Key West Lime sauce. It was perfectly-fried and crispy without being greasy. One of my fried-food pet peeves is when there’s more batter than there is meat. This was not the case with B.O.’s sandwich. While it was coated in a generous amount of batter, there was even more fish, giving it the perfect fish-to-batter ratio. The sauce complimented the other toppings very well. Overall, the combination of soft bread, crispy fish, fresh lettuce and creamy-tangy sauce made for a perfect fish sandwich. I hear that their sandwiches are best when washed down with a beer. Not being a beer drinker, I had the Key Limeade which was also delightfully refreshing.

The one problem with B.O.’s is that its construction makes it a bit risky on a rainy day. We lucked into a table that was covered. Some of the others were not. This was fortunate because it rained harder as the afternoon went on, derailing my plan to return to the beach. Lazing around moved to our room at The Duval Inn, where we read, napped, and generally enjoyed being away from the snow and cold of Ohio and the stresses of work.

No sunset. But I did get to watch the boats on the water

When we decided to go to Key West, one of the things I wanted to do the most was go to the Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square. Growing up on Lake Erie, I have seen more than my share of beautiful sunsets over the water. There is something magical about seeing all those reds, oranges and purples reflected onto the water. Being a night owl, I also like the sunset because it signifies the start of my favorite time of day. I knew that because of the clouds and rain, Sunday wouldn’t be a good sunset night. But we went to Mallory Square anyway. Sure enough, the sky stayed a steely blue that eventually faded to gray then to black. But that didn’t put a damper on anyone’s spirits. Several vendors, street performers, and tourists braved the drizzle to come out and bid the day goodbye.

Mallory Square in the rain

Once the sun set, it was time for dinner. The Upper Crust was not my first choice of restaurant. Pizza places never are. But if Jared didn’t care about things like eating a balanced diet and gaining 50 pounds, he would eat pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day of his life. We had passed The Upper Crust, located at 611 Duval Street, several times while walking around town. We decided to give them a try that night.

Upper Crust Pizzeria, Key West

Upper Crust is a casual restaurant with hardwood floors, stainless steel tables and TVs showing the Olympics. We decided to split a pepperoni pizza with bacon on one half for him and jalapenos on the other half for me. This was another beer-only place, so we both got pop to go with our food. The Upper Crust is yet another place that you wouldn’t want to eat if you were in a hurry. I think that by this time, I’d decided that if you wanted food quickly in Key West, your best bet was Denny’s or Wendy’s. Being in no hurry, we settled in to watch the employees toss our pizza crust, top it and bake it.

Eventually, we were presented with large pizza. From looking at the pizza, it’s obvious that Upper Crust pays some attention to the quality and freshness of their ingredients. They use full strips of bacon instead of the crumbles that so many places use, and freshly-sliced jalapenos. The sauce had a strong tomato and garlic taste but wasn’t sweet at all. The crust was on the thin side, but airy and perfectly cooked. All-in-all, it was a good pizza. It wasn’t the best I ever had. But it certainly wasn’t the worst (that dubious honor goes to Gino’s soggy deep-dish in Chicago).

Post-pizza, we passed another relaxing Key West night exploring the nightlife, making random friends and enjoying life and one anothers’ company.

At night, Duval Street is a mellow, beachy version of Bourbon Street

Here in Columbus, there is a lot of snow on the ground. The temperatures have been consistently below freezing. It’s too cold to really enjoy any time spent outside. As a result, winter hibernation mode is seriously setting in. To me, this means lots of lazy weekends at home – reading blogs and books, playing games (video, board, tabletop), and enjoying comfort food. In short, winter is a perfect excuse to post this set of links:

• Video game cupcakes are nothing new. I made the ones pictured above a few years ago for a Super Bowl party. I know they aren’t standard Super Bowl party fare. But this is the same group of friends that has spent more than one New Years Eve playing Guitar Hero and Mario Kart. So I knew they would be appreciated. It was my first time using fondant, and taught me a valuable lesson about the importance of using flavorless red dye. For those that don’t know, red dye tends to be very bitter unless you use the flavorless version. I didn’t know this until my cute little cupcakes were topped with bitter red piranha plants. The cupcakes were still a hit. However, these game cupcakes that have been making the rounds on the internet beat my Mario cupcakes by a long shot.
• Jared and I often make homemade pizza on Sunday nights. To be honest, he makes the pizza crust. I just top it. One of these days, he’ll get around to posting his crust recipe on here. Until then, you’ll just have to trust me that it’s really good. Pizza on a Stick looks like a fun variation on regular pizza.
• What is a good weekend brunch without a cocktail? The problem is that mimosas seem very summery to me, and bloody marys are just plain nasty. Mele Kalikimaka Martinis would be a nice winter alternative, even after the holidays are over.
• On winter mornings, it’s always nice to have a healthy, homemade breakfast. Considering extra the drive-time that a winter commute can involve, it’s especially nice if that breakfast that can be eaten on the run or at the office. So I will definitely spend a Sunday afternoon making these Apple Walnut Spice Muffins very shortly.
• I do not give my slow cooker enough credit. Aside from Apple Butter Weekend, I really only pull it out a few times a year.  This winter, I have been trying to change that. I am continually surprised by the things one can make in a slow cooker. For example, it seems like a creamy soup would burn in the slow cooker. I hope this Crockpot Potato Soup recipe will prove me wrong when I try it.