Zucchini Pizza Are You Insane??

Nope.  I'm not.  I've actually made zucchini pizza before with great success.  And considering it's getting to be end of summer and everyone has zucchini for sale to give, I decided to make it again, but just a bit different.  I, of course, start with Grandma's pizza dough.  It's always perfect so I'm not messing with a good thing.  While the dough was rising, I got four shallots.

Tops and bottoms cut off, skin still on, a drizzle of olive oil and a little salt, into some foil and then into a 400 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes.  When they come out, they are soft and delectable and full of yummy.

Now for the zucchini.  I had a pretty good sized zucchini from my brother's garden and two small yellow zucchini that I picked up at a farmer's market for 25¢ each.  Hey can't go wrong there!  Sliced thin and then a quick saute in some olive oil, salt and pepper. 

There's not need to go too far here, maybe a little color, but not a lot.  This is how my Grandma taught me to make a veggie pizza, always with a light saute before putting them on the dough.  I like it much better than putting the veg on raw.

Once the dough has risen, get it stretched out and and put on your pizza tray, your pizza peel or whatever you use to make pizza. 

Grandma's pizza pan... just an aside.   Anyway, once you have your dough laid out, give it a light brushing with some extra virgin olive oil and then sprinkle your chopped roasted shallots all over the dough.

Then, spread your zucchini on top.  And then some fresh basil leaves.

Now, what are we going to do about cheese?  There must be cheese!!  Well pull up a chair.  Because it's cheese rantin time!   There was one thing I wanted to make this pizza something different, something special.  Fresh ricotta.  Is that so much to ask?  Apparently it is.  While I was out Wednesday, I hit two grocery stores both with high end cheese counters.   No fresh ricotta.  One even said it's a seasonal item?  What does that even mean?  What is ricotta season?  After that debacle I went to an Italian imports store.  The minute I walked in the door I asked, "do you have fresh ricotta?" And was told that in fact they do.  Ahhh, saved!   I'm chastising myself for not having gone there in the first place.  But then, what do I see?  The woman behind the counter take out a big honkin tub of Miceli's ricotta.  For those of you not in this region where Miceli's is sold, it's the plastic tub of ricotta you get in the dairy aisle of the supermarket.  You know the stuff, right next to the sour cream.  This is NOT fresh ricotta.  There is a big difference.  My shock lead to my purchase of the lesser cheese because I couldn't pick my mouth up off the floor in time to object.

Now, armed with cheese I don't want for this pizza, what can I do?  Well, I can try a couple more places.  I had in my sights the gourmet market, West Point Market in Akron and DeVitis Italian Market in Akron.  I'm quite positive both places will have it, but since I'm already out and driving past West Point Market, I went there first.  JACKPOT.   But holy shit!   Fresh ricotta at West Point Market is $8.79 a pound!   This being an item I don't buy all that often, it seemed steep to me.  But alas, the bee in my bonnet about it would not stop buzzing so I bought half  pound and was on my way.

The ricotta gets dropped by teaspoonfuls onto the pizza in lovely little dollops of joy.  That ricotta was worth every single penny and I'd go back and buy it again, sticker shock and all.  It was absolutely delicious straight out of the container. 

Bake at 450 until the crust starts to brown, but not too brown (15-20 minutes)! 

And of course, the obligatory zebra plate picture.

Pretty damn delish.  Buon Cibo mia Amici

Spring Has Sprung Some Asparagus

The best thing about spring is probably the asparagus. Well ok, the sunshine is pretty nice too. But ahhh asparagus. I've blogged several asparagus recipes through the years, like this one and this one, and this one. The one I'm posting today, is classic Kathy. It's how I cook, it's the way I make things. It's nothing innovative or new. It's just yummy.

So we start out as I start out so often lately, with the roasting of the shallots. What can I say, I haven't yet fallen out of my shallot kick. Although, the leeks have been catching my eye lately.


Take 2-3 whole shallots, cut off the ends, drizzle with olive oil and wrap in foil. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 35-45 minutes. They will come out soft, sweet and oh so very delicious! They will slide right out of the outer skin.

While the shallots are roasting, roast the asparagus too.


Trim off the ends (bottom) of each stalk and then take rinsed asparagus and put in a pan. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and place in the 350 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes, until lightly browned.


While the asparagus and shallots are roasting, saute the mushrooms. I use Baby Bella's as my go to mushroom. They have a bit more character than button and are comparable in price. Saute with a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.


When the mushrooms soak up all the oil, instead of adding more I like to splash in a little wine, but if you don't like wine you can always add a little chicken stock. Let the mushrooms get soft and a just starting to brown. Then added the already roasted shallots and asparagus to the pan.


You should also be boiling your water for the pasta while the roasting is going on. I used one of my fave pasta shapes Orecchiette and I actually found it in a whole wheat variety. What luck!



Orecchiette takes a little longer to cook than other pastas so be sure to read the package instructions if you go with this shape. But you can use any shape you want.... long, short, round, whatever. It's all good.

When all your ingredients are done, pasta is drained, toss it all together. You may want to add a little olive oil if the pasta looks dry or some of the pasta water. Top with some Parmesan or Romano cheese and enjoy!

Lemony Broccoli Pasta!!!

Ahhh a recipe for you Lenten observers. Being a recovering Catholic myself, I no longer adhere to Lenten observances, but I used to and I know many who still do. So this recipe is very timely in that respect. Plus it's very easy and very yummy. Two big bonuses! So start with the broccoli. I found some gorgeous broccoli last week. It was so fresh the stalks so thin it almost looked like broccolini (which would also be great for this recipe)!




Wash it, and cut it into flowerettes with a nice sized stalk attached. You don't want them too long or too thick. If you have a lot of stalk left, cut those into same sized pieces as your flowerettes. Don't waste them! They are still good. Then place it all in a roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, give a good stir and put in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. Check it after 30, if it's not browned enough, go another 5 - 10 minutes. You don't want it too dark, but you do want it caramelized.


While the broccoli is roasting, you should also be roasting your shallots and boiling your water for the pasta. OK, OK... I know I use shallots a lot. But I love them! They impart such a lovely flavor, especially when roasted. They are sweet and tender and oh, just a whole lot of yum. If don't have shallots or don't like shallots than use garlic and roast it!


Yes, I used three rather large shallots. You don't have to use that much but why wouldn't you? If you got em, use em! To roast, cut off the root end and put the shallots in foil, then drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil over them and close up the foil. You may want to double foil them or what I do is after they wrapped in foil I put them on one of those foil pie tins and put the whole thing in the oven. Sometimes the oil can leak out of your foil and cause bad smells and an ugly mess on the oven floor.

When shallots come out of the oven (same time as the broccoli), cool them enough to touch them and then squeeze them out of their skins and give them a rough chop.


Depending on the kind of pasta you use, you'll need between 7 and 10 minutes before the broccoli and shallots are done to cook the pasta. I am using Barilla whole wheat spaghetti. It takes a little longer than regular spaghetti, but not by much.

So when all the ingredients are done at roughly the same time, oh yes... it can be done, mix them all together. Add salt and pepper to taste and about a quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil if there isn't a lot of oil left over in the broccoli pan. You can also add the juice from the bottom of the foil that the shallots were cooked in. Don't waste the yum! You just want to make sure the pasta isn't dry. And wait! Don't forget our lemons! You will need the juice of at least two lemons. If they are juicy lemons, then two, if they aren't real juicy then three. Toss all of this together with some Parmesan cheese and you've got one delicious dinner!

And Still Another Foccacia Bread

I've written about foccacia bread before. Several times. And now, I have another. A real crowd pleaser I might add. I always said that nothing could top the Rosemary Garlic Foccacia, but I'm not so sure about that anymore. Shallot Thyme Foccacia is pretty darn yummy. I start out by roasting the shallots. It's really the same process as roasting garlic. I cut off the tops and the bottoms of the each shallot (I use about 6-8 shallots for this recipe), place them on two sheets of foil and then drizzle with olive oil. Wrap the shallots up and place in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. When they come out, they look like this and smell insanely divine!


I'm not going to go through the whole bread recipe again, since it's already on here twice. You can get the ins and outs of making the bread down at here or here. We'll just fast forward to the dough being ready to be baked.

Take your shallots and chop them up rather fine. Then take a good bunch of fresh thyme and add it to the shallots. You'll need to take the leaves off the stems. It's a little tedious, but I find herb aroma rather soothing so it doesn't bother me to strip these stems of their lovely little leaves.



To the shallots and thyme, add about a teaspoon of salt and about a quarter cup of olive oil. Mix well and then spread the mixture over the top of the bread. Then bake at 400 for about 20 minutes. The edges should be just starting to brown a little and the top will be golden.




YUM!