Squash Blossom Pizza? Hello, Summer!

Tell me this doesn't look like a delicious late May dinner:

Even with the mediocre point & shoot picture quality, just looking at this pizza makes me want another slice.

This spring has really been a squash blossom discovery for me. Not just your typical fried squash blossoms (I had some great ones at Ford's Filling Station earlier this month before interviewing for the awesome new job Veronica and I landed). I had some in a light pasta dish, some in a risotto (wow, heavenly) and have spied them on pizza/flatbread menus all over town.

And so when I saw them at the market on Sunday, I figured, "How hard could a squash blossom pizza be?" And, for once, the answer was, "Not very hard." And thanks to a pre-made whole wheat pizza dough from TJs, the leftover mini-squashes from our Memorial Day bbq at Abby's and some cherry tomatoes, it actually seemed pretty freaking healthy. Especially when served with a crazy simple veggie sautee using the other bbq leftovers (The key to good sauteed veg? Lemon juice squeezed on after cooking).

Dare I say I've found a new vegetable lover? Sorry, beets, but your season is over.

Squash Blossom Pizza
by Sarah

1 Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough (or homemade dough for one 12-14" pizza)
12-24 squash blossoms (I bought 60¢ worth and used them all)
10 or so mini-squashes, thinly sliced OR 1 zucchini, thinly sliced
20 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 c. ricotta cheese (can be part skim or whole)
1/4 c. mozzarella (fresh is ideal, but I didn't have it and used pre-shredded without an issue)
freshly chopped basil
olive oil
dried basil & oregano
red pepper flakes

1. Preheat oven to the highest possible setting (about 550 farenheit on conventional kitchen ovens).
2. Toss, stretch or roll out your dough, to your preference. The thinner the better with this one. Then lightly sprinkle with olive oil (1 tsp or so) and rub oil into crust. Sprinkle dried basil, oregano and pepper flakes to your liking on crust.
3. THIS IS THE SECRET: Put your crust in the oven (either directly on a pizza stone or on a pizza sheet) and bake for 6-8 minutes. You want a decent brown-ness to the dough. This will keep it from getting too mushy, something the ricotta might do to your crust. I do this with all of our doughs when we cook pizza and it makes a HUGE difference. Gives a slightly more Neapolitan crunchiness to the crust, which I favor.
4. Remove dough from the oven and put on the toppings in whichever order you see fit (leave the squash blossoms and basil for later, though). I made a thin layer of the ricotta, then put on the thinly sliced mini-squashed and halved cherry tomatoes. *It's important to put the cherry tomatoes with the cut end facing UP. This way they won't sog-up your nice and crispy crust. Then I sprinkled the entire pizza with a small handful of the mozzarella. I think you could also do the veg first, then dollops of ricotta and spots of fresh mozzarella. It's pizza, you really can't fuck it up.
5. Put the pizza back in the oven and cook for 10 minutes.
6. Remove pizza again and put the squash blossoms on top. Slide back in the oven and cook for 5 more minutes.
7. Remove pizza and sprinkle with basil. Purple basil adds a colorful punch to the dish.
8. Enjoy pizza while watching the season finale of SOUTHLAND. Which totally kicked ass, by the way.

Halloween, Part One

We went to a real, old fashioned pumpkin patch up in Ventura a few weekends back, during Abby's "Beach House Birthday Weekend". It was fab, a movie-perfect rural experience. They had a Pumpkin Chucker, people. I didn't pay the $5 to chuck one of the orange lovelies, but I did watch several of the squash grenades launched by others. I think I might have Noah build one of those things in our backyard...
There were several dozen varieties of pumpkins, squash and gourds for sale. We got one of the cool Ghost Pumpkins and this crazy thing called a Speckled Swan Gourd. Jealous?
Anyway, it all got me in the Halloween mood way early. And now it's almost, finally here. The kids in the neighborhood helped me set up the porch with all kinds of decorations today. Tomorrow night we're gonna be lame and not go out and party and instead stay home and pass out way too much candy to all the kids. Haven't decided whether or not to carve some of the pumpkins we have or not. Hmm... Guess you'll find out tomorrow.

Squashin' Good Time

Recently I wanted to make a quick bite, something that would use up some yellow squash I had and wouldn't take forever to make.

I found a zucchini recipe in Alice Waters' "The Art of Simple Food", which happened to already be open and on my kitchen counter when the hunger struck. It called for five ingredients - zucchini, garlic, oil, salt and marjoram (which we grow in our garden and I never remember to use). The most difficult thing to do in the whole recipe was grate the squash. I substituted the yellow squash for the green zukes and 15 minutes later I was enjoying the dish. You sprinkle the squash with salt in a colander and let it sit for 10 minutes, so most of that was waiting time.

It worked out pretty well. In retrospect I would probably have used less garlic (I used two cloves and I think the recipe only called for one) and sauteed it with the squash instead of turning the cloves into a paste and mixing it in raw.

Grated Yellow Squash with Marjoram
adapted from Alice Water's "The Art of Simple Food", her recipe is Grated Zucchini with Marjoram

2 yellow summer squash
1 clove garlic
1-2 tbsp. olive oil
salt
marjoram

Grate the squash into a colander and sprinkle with salt. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then press to remove excess water.
Use a mortar and pestle or food processor to turn the garlic into a paste. In a bowl, mix squash, garlic paste and as much oil as you feel the dish needs.
Heat a saute pan on medium, then transfer the mixture into it. Saute until cooked, about 5 minutes.
Turn off the heat and mix in a tablespoon or so of marjoram leaves. Add salt, if needed.
Serve.