by Aimee
Our first daytrip as a married couple went awry when we found ourselves sitting in an empty restaurant somewhere in the Croatian countryside, starving, and staring at an indecipherable menu.
The drive through the top corner of Croatia and neighbouring Slovenia had been beautiful, but about two hours past lunchtime, we were desperate. We hadn’t bothered to pack anything to eat from our villa back in Lake Balaton region of Hungary, planning to stop along the way and sample the local fare. After all, half the fun of spontaneous travel is tasting the regional cuisine; the only trouble was, we hadn’t seen anything other than the occasional farmhouse.
As our rented Opel Astra bumped along the absurdly narrow roads, I kept busy looking for a roadside restaurant or any sign of food. We finally pulled into a gravel parking lot where a low building flashed a neon Pizza sign in the window. Pizza? That was unexpected, but to us at the time it sounded glorious.
The place was the equivalent of a truck stop and of all the options available, there were two English word on the menu: “Pizza Extra”. To us, that sounded like the equivalent of an ‘all-dressed’ pie. Sure, why not. We didn’t exactly have another choice. This was long before the days of Urban Spoon or Twitter, where we could ask for recommendations on the spot. We didn’t even have a cell phone between the two of us.
Our “Pizza Extra” ordered, we sat back and waited. The two patrons behind the bar, elderly women with ample bosoms and floral dresses, observed us without the slightest expressions. The rest of the tables were deserted. Judging from the look of the place, we were not expecting greatness, but nothing could have prepared us for what was delivered to our table.
There was a pizza crust all right, and a generous smear of tomato sauce that more resembled tomato paste. But the main, nay, the sole topping was garishly coloured mixed peas and corn, most definitely the variety found in the frozen foods aisle. A few strands of cheese draped themselves over the lumpy pizza but not nearly enough to hold the vegetables together when we tried to pick up a slice. The hardened peas and corn jumped ship and scattered across the table, then rattled to the floor like green and yellow hailstones. All that remained was a remarkably bare pizza crust slicked with red paste.
I remember us being too surprised to speak, but I wanted to giggle at the absurdity of it all. Without question, it was the most disappointing pizza of my life and I am embarrassed to say it remains as my single impression of Croatian cuisine.
What’s my point? Well, while you can make pizza with almost anything you have on hand, there is a limit as to what is acceptable – especially if it comes from the frozen food aisle.
I’ve always been one to make a soup, salad or pizza from bits of this and that in the refrigerator and it’s a good exercise in creative cooking. In fact, some of my best dishes have come from moments of desperate, like today’s Green Pizza (for lack of a better name).
I was craving pizza this week, but next to nothing in the fridge resembled traditional toppings. But at a closer inspection, I spied pesto in the freezer, alongside a bag of walnuts. Bingo. I already knew that brussels sprouts on nachos were delicious, so why not pizza? Also, walnuts with brussels sprouts? Already proven to be a winning combination in this quinoa dish.
Just like that, pizza became a valid dinner option, and I didn’t even have to open a bag of corn. Just kidding.
I’ve been making pizza crust with my fresh ground soft wheat and it produces a marvellous base, with the edges crisping up like a cracker. It packs so much flavour, I like to keep my toppings thin to allow the crust to shine.
Any pesto would be delicious on this pizza, but I used a homemade ramp pesto I made and froze last year. It’s held up remarkably well over the months, but it was high time I used it up. New ramps will be showing up in our back yard in just a few weeks!
For this pizza, I spread the pesto, added a layer of shredded cheese and sent it to the oven for a prebake. The whole wheat crust takes a little longer than usual and the delicate brussels sprouts only need a few minute to cook.
While the crust was baking, I tossed the brussels sprout leaves with a dollop of pesto, the walnuts and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. This would be a pretty great salad on its own, but I had bigger plans for the greens.
Once the pesto-cheese pizza had baked for 10 minutes, I added the brussels sprouts and walnuts on top. The whole thing went back into the blazing hot oven for barely five minutes and it was ready to be sliced and devoured.
We loved this Brussels Sprout, Walnut & Pesto Pizza on Whole Wheat Crust. The walnuts were lightly toasted and the brussels sprouts were slightly charred but still crunchy. A layer of cheese hid out underneath the green and stayed soft and stretchy. And that crust! I’ve included the recipe as you are going to want to try it soon.
| Soft Wheat Pizza Crust |
Print
|
- 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
- 1 Tablespoon traditional yeast
- 1 Tablespoon liquid honey
- 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 3 3/4 cups freshly ground soft wheat
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, sprinkle yeast over the warm water. Let stand for 5 minutes. The yeast should dissolve and foam slightly.
- Pour in honey and olive oil. Mix to combine with the hook attachment.
- Dump in 2 cups of flour and the salt. Mix until a smooth batter forms.
- Add the remaining flour and mix just to combine. Turn off mixer and let the dough rest for 10 minutes to absorb the flour.
- Knead on the lowest speed for 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed.
- Remove the dough hook. Lightly oil the top of the dough and cover the bowl with a clean tea towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Turn dough onto a lightly floured table. Divide dough into four pieces. Each piece can be rolled into a 16-inch round thin-crust pizza.
- Proceed with toppings and bake as per the recipe below.
| Brussels Sprout, Walnut & Pesto Pizza |
Print
|
- 1 pizza crust
- 1 teaspoon cornmeal
- 3 Tablespoons pesto
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella or cheddar
- 2 cups brussels sprout leaves
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
- 2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan
- Preheat oven to 425F. Dust a baking sheet or pizza stone with cornmeal. Roll pizza crust into an approximate 9×13 oval. Place on the baking sheet.
- Brush pizza crust with 2 tablespoons pesto. Top with shredded cheese. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Toss brussels sprout leaves and walnuts with remaining tablespoon of pesto. Remove pizza from the oven and heap the brussels sprouts on top of the bubbling cheese. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and return to the oven for 4-5 minutes. Keep an eye on the pizza as the greens can blacken quickly.
- Remove from the oven. Slice into wedges and eat hot.
What is the wackiest pizza you’ve ever eaten?
A Croatian daytrip and “pizza extra” (Recipe: Brussels Sprout, Walnut & Pesto Pizza on Whole Wheat Crust) is a post from Simple Bites
© 2010-2014 Simple Living Media, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Simple Bites subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please contact hello@simplelivingmedia.com to let us know. Thanks.
