Garlic, Tomato, and Rosemary Focaccia Bread

Bread recipes intimidate me.  Too much rolling, too much rising, too much work.  BUT this recipe is so easy and delicious!  Give it a try. 

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup olive oil

3 garlic cloves

2 tbs fresh rosemary

2 tbs fresh oregano

2 tbs fresh thyme

1 tbs red pepper flakes

Salt Salt (to taste)

Pepper (to taste)

1 cup warm water

1 package of yeast ( 2 1/4 teaspoons)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp honey

6 cherry tomatoes 

Method: 

In a medium sauce pan combine olive oil, fresh herbs, and garlic and cook over medium heat until fragrant. 

 

 

 

In a small bowl combine warm water, honey, and yeast.  Let sit for five minutes until foamy.  Combine 1 1/2 cups of flour and yeast mixture in a large bowl.  Stir until combined.  Add the remaining flour and 1/4 cup of the olive oil/herbs mixture and stir until the dough is completely combined into a large ball. 

 

Knead the dough ten to fifteen times until smooth.  Gather the dough into a bowl and place in a well-greased bowl.  Cover with a damp cloth or saran wrap and let the dough rise for about an hour. 

Preheat the over to 450.  Spread out the dough onto a heavily oiled 9 by 13 baking sheet.  Top with the remaining oil mixture, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper.  I added cherry tomatoes to the top but it is completely optional.  You can get creative at this point using sun-dried tomatoes, or goat cheese.  Anything of your choice can work.  Well maybe not….chocolate. 

 

Bake in an oven for 15-20 minutes until the bread is crispy and golden brown. 

Cut the bread evenly into square pieces. 

 

 

 

Caprese Salad

Fresh Tomato, Basil, and Mozzarella drizzled with  balsamic vinegar reduction.

The Enhanced Egg Sandwich

 

This sandwich is the perfect and a semi healthy lunch.  Yah I know prosciutto isn’t really healthy but we can just pretend.  

Fry and egg, stick it on some bread, and add fresh arugula, tomatoes. Enjoy! 

Salami Mushroom Pizza

I just recently purchased a PizzaCraft Pizza Stone and have been dying to use it.  I finally got the chance tonight after my copious amount of leftovers ran out.  I’m so excited to have a stone because I have always struggled getting the pizza to cook fully through.  Stones are perfect for eliminating hot spots and allowing for a uniform cook through.  I used store bought pizza dough (sue me I’m lazy) and got cooking!

First I washed and diced some mushrooms and preheated the oven to 450 degrees.  Last year I trained myself to like mushrooms.  Literally trained…I ate them everyday until I learned to appreciate their deliciousness.  (This summer I have trained myself to enjoy raw tomatoes).  Now I love mushrooms, especially on pizzas.

Next I diced a red onion and threw the onions and mushrooms into a pan to sauté in olive oil.  I also am obsessed with red onion/mushroom combo on pizza.  Note, I did not have to train myself to like red onions. They are a weird food that I’m in love with.  I literally eat them raw… I’m weird.

Right now I was praying I had some bell peppers to throw in.  I didn’t 😦  I cooked the mushrooms and onions for approximately ten minutes.  Hidden secret: I added a squirt of Sriracha (my favorite) to add a wee bit of a kick to the mixture.

So now I will let you in on a little secret.  I was strolling through Whole Foods one day looking for fancy sopressata when I stumbled upon this gem.  Really this is a gem of an ingredient.  If you love a smokey sausage flavor PLEASE go and buy this salami.  Honestly, I bought it because I was cheap and didn’t want to spend money on sopressata.  But seriously Naturalissima I dig your meats.

 I added the mushroom and onion mixture and tossed it with a 1/2 cup of marina sauce (of your choice) 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese and 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese and the salami.  You really could put any meat in here.  I think sausage would be pretty tasty.

I then rolled out my pizza dough, dusted the stone with corn meal, and spread a few spoons full of marina sauce onto the dough.  I sprinkled 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese.  It’s really hard for me not to shove shredded mozzarella cheese into my mouth so I’m really proud of myself for having enough leftover to make this pizza. 

 I evenly topped it with the mushroom mixture. I had some leftover ricotta sitting in the fridge so why not right?  Like ricotta cheese could ever ruin food…please.

I baked the pizza for 20 minutes until the crust was golden brown.  Yummmmm.