Pesto Pizza Please

It has been a week colored with closed conversations - passionate offline dialogue that isn't ready for the public's attention. So as a blogger with too much to say, but under the guidance to hold off for now, what to do?

I'm guessing, just talk about the other things that happened this week, which for us, of course centered on food. That and the many hours I have spent watering the garden.

It has been a remarkable summer in Chicago so far - remarkable in that the heat indexes have consistently soared above 100 degrees, the humidity makes the neighborhood feel like a sauna, and we have reached drought status. We've only seen about an inch of rain in the last 30 days. The lawns are scorched, except for my neighbor down the block who must have a permit to produce a rain forest climate in his yard. The hostas, hydrangeas and lilies around the block have browned. And there are trees that are already changing color and losing their leaves.

While I let our grass go an au naturale brown, I refused to give up on the garden. I had worked so hard on it at the beginning of the summer, and I was determined to make it thrive. I've probably spent a good 40 hours alone watering plants - a labor of love, dedicated Double G and Dad, my gardening role models. But it has worked. This week, the tomato and butternut squash vines started showing more and more young fruit, I harvested the first round of jalapenos, the herbs got fuller and fuller, and the flower beds showed bigger, brighter colors. I felt like I could finally say that I had traded in my dirty thumbs for green thumbs. (And I was pretty proud.)

On Tuesday we added the jalapenos to the beef kebobs. And last night, I gathered basil, Italian parsley and a little bit of mint to make pesto for the first time this year. 

We used it as a base for one of the pizzas we made. On top of it, we stacked shrimp, sun dried tomatoes, and goat cheese. Then as we've been doing a lot this summer, we took the cooking outside. We baked the pizza at 525 degrees in the gas grill, which resulted in the best crust yet. Airy and a little bit chewy on the inside, crisp on the bottom and around the edges.

(This photo was taken about 10 minutes into baking, we let it bake another 5.) 

The next best thing besides food to keep your mind off of things is traveling. So I'm off to Park City for my first blogger conference. Now this should be interesting ...

Lo.

Pizza Dough

3 1/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon yeast
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups luke warm water

Mix together flour, yeast, and salt. Add water and stir until shaggy. Using your hands, bring dough together until it just forms a ball. Cover it and let is rest for 10-15 minutes.

Take dough out of the bowl and knead for 5-8 minutes, until smooth and supple. Do not add extra dough - use a dough scraper if need be.

Using the dough scraper, divide the dough into four equal pieces. Roll each into a ball. Then one at a time, roll each ball of dough up like a carpet, then turnover and seam side down, roll up again, and then one more time. Mold the dough into a tight ball from there, roll in flour and set on a tray. Repeat this folding and rolling process with the remaining balls. Cover the dough, and let rise for 5 to 6 hours.

When finished rising, either heat grill or oven to 500 - 525 degrees. (I can never get my oven hot enough.) Top pizza with desired toppings. Tonight we went traditional: Garlicky roasted tomato sauce (roast garlic, shallots, tomatoes with juice, salt and pepper in 2 tablespoons butter for 30 minutes), pepperoni, mozzarella. And gourmet: pesto, roasted red peppers, shrimp and goat cheese. And bake for 15 -18 minutes.
 
**Tips**

* For this dough recipe, you really do have to wait 5 or 6 hours, don't skimp because that rising period adds so much air and dimension to the dough.

* Using the grill made the best pizza crust yet - we cranked it all the way up to 525 degrees. If you have an outdoor oven you will get the same effect, but in my experience, using our indoor oven hasn't cooked the crust as evenly as possible.

* Brush the edge of the crust with olive oil - it gives the crust a nice brown color and makes it taste even better.

'Look at You. Eating Your Pesto.'

Last week I had a tough time at work. I got the job done, but for some reason, working just didn't seem like the right thing to do. Sure, I had packed for a business trip - equal parts work clothes, running gear and jean/cardigan ensembles for dinner time. But something made the past couple weeks seem a lot more like vacation than usual.

It was the cozy bed, chest of drawers and the walk-in closet in our beautiful yellow room. It was the well-stocked kitchen, Bounce dryer sheets, and appliances that worked better than they were supposed to. It was the Forest Preserve trails, friendly neighbors, local markets, and nightly meals that lingered a little longer. It was losing myself in two very good books, gaining a power-walking partner, and finding 40 additional quality minutes to my day thanks to an 88-less commute. In short, living at the in-laws was pretty fantastic - on par with a great vacation.

We even picked up a souvenir or two this weekend. 

As vacations go, the meals that I've prepared for the family over the past two weeks have been staples - recipes that I know like the back of my hand - guaranteed family favorites that won't tax the grocery shopper and chef. Tacos, mushroom risotto, chicken kebobs and the like. Dinners that give you more time around the table, sharing stories and laughing, than in the kitchen, chopping, stirring and simmering. 

But when you hit the last night of vacation, you want to go a little bigger. It's the last hurrah - you've got to make it count. With spring and a couple of its showers in the air, I thought we should do a little pesto / fruit of the sea combination. So we colored our plates as greenly as the lush landscaping, and feasted around a full family table - a great grand finale.

Ellie even got into it, enjoying her first strings of cappellini, applauding with vigor.

With our closing this afternoon, our mini vacation comes to an end. And tomorrow we'll be unpacking in a house that I believe was meant just for us.

Lo.

Pesto Pasta with Grilled Shrimp and Calamari

Ingredients
3 pounds shrimp
1 pound calamari - tubes and tentacles
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt, pepper, parsley
2 tablespoons chopped Kalamata olives 

2 cups chopped basil
1/2 cup mixture of chopped parsley, cilantro and mint
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil, add a little more if necessary
1/4 cup pinoli nuts
1/4 cup slivered almonds
Salt, pepper

1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk
Nutmeg

Directions
Marinate shrimp and calamari in lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, calamata olives, salt and pepper. Set in refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour. Skewer and over a charcoal grill, grill for 2-5 minutes. Remove from grill, cover and keep warm.

Mix pesto - in a blender, pulse until smooth, basil, parsley, cilantro, mint, garlic, parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, pinoli nuts, almonds, salt and pepper. Set aside

Boil water add pasta, cook till al dente. 

Make bechamel - in a large saute pan, melt butter, add flour, whisk into butter for 1 minute, add milk slowly, whisking rapidly. Add nutmeg and salt, and cook over medium low heat for 5 - 10 minutes until the sauce thickens to coat the whisk. Add pesto, stirring until smooth. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for a couple minutes. Add pasta, shrimp and calamari. Serve immediately.