Recipes: Soup, Pico, and Pizza Dough

I have received multiple emailed requests for the recipes of the dishes I mentioned in my last post, so here goes!! Enjoy!! :)

Potato Leek Soup

This soup is hearty and has a lovely creamy texture. It is delicious served either hot (in the winter) or chilled (in the summer). Leeks are sort of a giant green onion and can be found in any produce aisle. They have a mild onion flavor with a hint of mellow garlic overtones, which makes for a scrumptious flavor in this soup. An excellent main dish, especially when served with muffins or garlic bread.

• 2 large leeks, cleaned (cut off the ends, slice each leek down the middle lengthwise, and then wash out dirt under faucet) and diced
• 4 large potatos (4"-5"), peeled and diced
• 2 cans vegetable broth
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 bunch scallions
• 1 c. sour cream*

(* vegan option: use extra soft silken tofu instead)

1. In large saucepan, combine leeks, potatoes, and broth. Simmer until potatos are soft.
2. Pour heated mixture into a blender and puree. Add sour cream.
3. Add salt & pepper to taste.
4. Add chopped scallions as garnish before serving. Yum!

Pico de Gallo

I took this picture of yesterday's batch. I expanded on a recipe I had gotten from my Aunt Bev, who lived in El Paso for many years and picked up a lot of the local cuisine by osmosis. She is a genius in the kitchen and is known for inventing recipes for dishes that are both delicious and good for you.

This pico is very mild, despite the jalapenos. I learned that jalapenos are only hot if you include their seeds; the rest of the pepper is really quite mild and only for flavor. In fact, just in case you're worrying, this pico came out a little too mild for me (even though it is certainly delicious)! Next time I'm planning to leave some of the seeds in for some zip! Yeehaw!

• 15 roma tomatoes, diced into small cubes (less than 1 cm. ea.)
• 2 medium (2"-3") onions, chopped
• 3 jalapeno peppers (found in the produce aisle), seeded and chopped (as long as you don't touch the seeds, you don't have to worry about your skin or wear gloves or anything - a grapefruit spoon or small knife is good for seeding)
• 1 small can of tomato sauce
• olive oil, salt and pepper to taste
• about 1/2 cup of red wine vinegar
• 2/3 of a bunch of cilantro, chopped
• 5-6 cloves of garlic (more, if you're a garlic lover like me!), finely chopped
• Option: If you like you can also add 1 diced avocado, but David hates it so I left it out for him.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well; add more vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Chill. (It only improves as it sits in your fridge, and trust me, it's so good that it'll be long gone before it goes bad!) Serve with the chips of your choice.

Pizza Crust

I just could not believe how easy this was. Until recently, anything involving yeast sort of freaked me out and I shied away from it. Now I feel like a doofus and have vowed to never buy a pre-packaged pizza crust again! Next time, I'm going to add spices to it, and maybe even a little parmesan cheese...mmmm....

This recipe is straight out of the Betty Crocker New Edition Cookbook.

• 2.5-3 c. all purpose (not self-rising!) flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 package regular or quick active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
• 1 cup very warm water (120-130 degrees F - heated in a small saucepan, feels hot but not boiling to your finger)

1. In a large bowl, mix 1 cup of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast. Add oil and warm water.
2. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed 3 min., scraping bowl frequently with rubber spatula.
3. Stir in enough remaining flour until dough is soft. Place dough on lightly floured surface (like a cutting board). Knead 5-8 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy.
4. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes.

Here are Betty's suggestions for making pizzas with this crust. I think you could probably be okay even if you didn't have time to pre-bake the crusts before adding the toppings, but who knows. As you will read, although following her directions for making your own pizza are not labor intensive, they do require a good chunk of time for rising and pre-baking, so just keep that in mind. Calzones were actually much easier and required much less time, and frankly, they're even a little bit more special than pizza because they're less common. But here's the pizza stuff anyway:

For thin crusts: Heat oven to 425. Grease two cookie sheets or 12" pizza pans with oil or cooking spray. Divide dough in half. Pat each half into 12" circle on cookie sheets. Partially bake 7-8 minutes or until crust just begins to brown. Add toppings and then bake for 8-10 minutes longer, or until cheese is melted.

For thick crusts: Heat oven to 375. Grease two 8" square pans or 9" round pans with oil or cooking spray. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Divide dough in half. Pat each half in bottom of pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes or until almost doubled in size. Move oven rack to lowest position. Partially bake 20-22" or until crust just begins to brown. Add toppings and then bake for about 20 minutes longer, or until cheese is melted.

As I said, I decided to make calzones, instead. There was no pre-baking and man did they look gorgeous! David said it looked like something you'd order from some fancy Italian restaurant. (Wish I had taken a picture! I will next time!)

Calzones:

1. Heat oven to 375. Grease two cookie sheets with cooking spray.
2. Divide dough into 4 equal parts. On lightly floured surface, press each part into a 8" (or so - it doesn't matter really) circle with fingertips.
3. Top half of each dough circle with any ingredients you want to within 1" of the edge of the crust. You can put anything in there! Mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, ricotta cheese, cream cheese, spinach, basil, tomatoes (either canned diced or fresh), veggies, pizza sauce, sausage, ham, etc. I would recommend some combination of cheese and pizza sauce (see below) as a base, but from there you can do whatever you want!
4. Carefully fold dough over filling. Pinch edges with fingertips or press with a fork to seal securely.
5. Place calzones on cookie sheets. Betty says to brush them with egg, but I didn't; I just used olive oil and oregano and they turned out gorgeously.

Pizza Sauce: To make a great pizza sauce for my calzones, I just combined 1 small can ea. of tomato sauce and tomato paste, and blended them well with a small whisk (you could just use a fork, too). I liberally added Italian spices (rosemary, oregano, thyme, and basil), garlic salt, and chopped garlic, and mixed them well.

Bonus Tip!! Ooh, and another great trick that I learned while watching the Food Network: sprinkle some oregano over your pizza or calzones before you bake them, then spray some olive oil (you can buy olive oil spray in the grocery store where you find cooking spray, or you can buy a pressurized spray can for cooking oils that you fill and then pump yourself) over the top. Your whole kitchen will smell like the most authentic pizzeria, and it browns crusts and cheese with extra flavor.

Bon Appetit!! :) (Now I'm hungry after typing all of this!! I suppose it is time for lunch, after all...)