All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2014
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
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All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
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Well – I got some very cool news today! Book Soup – one of the most important independent book stores in the US – read my book & agreed to stock it!!! Yay! They are a very discriminating bunch so I am going to let myself feel flattered. Check it out HERE.
Now on to pizza! Some people think the idea of egg on pizza is nasty and I must confess I used to think that way. Until I tried it. It is kind of spectacular. Despite knowing it tastes yummy, I am still psyching myself out about using eggs at all – because of how the hens are treated. And, when you think about it, eating an egg is really fucking gross. But – I still do it now & then. I try to only buy pastured eggs – which means the hens really ARE living cage-free – like this:
Not this legal version of cage free:
Which is only 1% better than this:
So – please try to support the PASTURED (and grass-fed) meats & eggs etc to show that industry that you are willing to pay a little more for some humane treatment. Here are the eggs I bought. The word pastured is between “vegetarian” and “fertile” – hard to read – but there. PS – they list vegetarian because factory farms feed their chickens ground up chickens. How fucked is that? You don’t want to eat that pain & fear & disease. Do you?
OK – now I feel like a nutjob posting a non-vegan pizza – but I am going to plod ahead. If I have totally ruined eggs for you forever – blow them off. The pizza is yummy without them. You can also use vegan cheese if I have completely converted you.
I use this Naples-style pizza dough recipe from Saveur. I do not store it 48 hours. I use it as needed from immediately to several days later. I notice little difference. Also, I make it in my bread machine on the dough cycle. Easy peasy!
PIZZA DOUGH
MAKES FOUR 12-OZ. BALLS
INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp. sugar (⅞ oz.)
1 tbsp. olive oil, plus more (½ oz.)
½ tsp. active dry yeast
5½ cups “00” flour, preferably Caputo Pizzeria Flour (1 lb. 12 oz.) (or just use regular, organic flour – like me.)
2 tbsp. kosher salt (¾ oz.)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Combine sugar, oil, yeast, and 2 cups cold water in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook; let sit until foamy, 8-10 minutes. Mix flour and salt in a bowl. With motor running, slowly add flour mixture; mix until a smooth dough forms, 8-10 minutes. Transfer dough to a greased baking sheet; cover with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature 1 hour.
2. Divide dough into 4 balls; transfer to a greased 9″ x 13″ dish; brush tops with oil. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate 48 hours (or get impatient like me & use it immediately).
Caramelized Red Onion & Gruyere Pizza with Egg & Arugula
INGREDIENTS
Pizza dough at room temperature
1/2 large red onion – sliced
1 TBS olive oil
1 TBS butter (or vegan alternative)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Gruyere cheese – grated (quantity to taste)
Fresh Thyme – leaves pulled from stems (quantity to taste)
Grated mozzarella or other cheese (quantity to taste)
Eggs (optional)
Fresh arugula
Tomato – chopped (optional)
Lemon (to squeeze on the arugula) optional
S&P
Olive oil to drizzle (optional)
DIRECTIONS
Heat the oven to 450. Make sure it reaches full temperature before cooking your pizza.
Make your dough or let your store-bought dough reach room temperature (so it is easier to roll out).
Caramelize the onion by heating the olive oil & butter over med-low (NOT HIGH) heat. Add the onion and salt & sugar and saute – stirring frequently – for about 20-30 minutes or until they are soft & brown & before they burn. Mine crisped a bit on the edges & I liked that! Set aside.
Now simply assemble the pizza. Roll out the dough & place it on a cooking sheet treated with olive oil or cooking spray. Drizzle some olive oil on it & brush it around & add the thyme & the cheeses & some caramelized onion.
Cook this for about 7-10 minutes or until you think it is a few minutes from being done. I overcooked mine just a bit – so – pull it out before the crust looks like this – all crispy & golden:
because you are gonna break a few eggs on there & cook it another 3-5 minutes or until the eggs are cooked to your liking. I broke one of the yolks. Oh well! Err on the early side here, too, if you want a runny yolk. The eggs will keep cooking once you remove the pizza from the oven as the pizza heat will still be acting as a hot pan beneath them. So – if you want ooey-gooey yolks – pull this guy out JUST BEFORE you feel the whites are cooked all the way through. In fact, even if you pull it out a tad early, just spreading the egg a bit over the pizza will cook it quickly.
Now add S&P to taste & top with arugula & chopped tomato – if you are using tomato. You might even want to drizzle a teeny amount of olive oil on the arugula & squeeze a bit of lemon – or toss the arugula LIGHTLY with olive oil & lemon before putting it on the pizza. And there you go! Crack open that Trader Joe’s box of wine & kid yourself that you are having less wine than you really are because who the fuck can figure out what they have consumed out of an opaque cardboard box that holds like – what – three bottles? Then blame the hangover on the cheapness of wine – not the quantity you consumed!
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