i didn't intend for this to be a one entry a month blog, but that's the pace i'm on. i'll see if i can't pick it up. it might be partly that i haven't made much really new and interesting food that i've been proud enough of to make into a post, so i'm going to post about one of the first gluten-free, amanda-friendly dishes i started making last winter.
when amanda first discovered her allergies, one of the foods she immediately started missing was pizza. with wheat dough and tomato sauce, it was pretty much right out the window. she was heart-broken. in an effort to cheer her up and prove that we can make tasty foods that fit into her diet, we found this website and picked out this recipe. for the dough, we found this mix and figured we'd try it. i can't remember what all toppings we went with the first time, but now that it's firmly in our dinner rotation, we usually go with spinach, artichoke hearts, ground italian sausage, diced leeks (which are our go-to substitute for onions), cubes of mozzarella (in lieu of shredded), parmesan, and fresh basil (since we've got plenty growing in our "garden"), or most commonly some subset thereof. when we're in the mood for some added gluttony, we'll throw some bacon on there.
the romesco sauce turned out to be an absolute revelation. it's great just to dip lentil chips into or toss with pasta like a pesto sauce. the pizza certainly isn't like what you'd get at pizza hut, but it's delicious in its own right. the crust is unique and although not very bready, holds together better than most homemade pizza doughs. we use a pizza stone, which helps, but if you're following the package on the bob's mill package, i'd recommend extending the times a little to make sure it's crispy (just so you can see it brown a little before putting the toppings on.
we've also mixed it up with creamy pesto sauce instead of the romesco, but that makes it a bit more fattening. for the pesto sauce, i just saute some garlic in butter, then add a few tablespoons of pesto sauce, a few tablespoons of heavy cream, and a few tablespoons of parmesan until it looks about like what i think of creamy pesto sauce. it makes for pretty awesome pizza.
here's the ingredients list:
for the romesco sauce:
-1/4 cup of almonds (i've used pecans when i didn't have almonds)
-jar of roasted red peppers
-2 cloves garlic (or several smaller ones)
-1 tbsp fresh rosemary (when we have enough in the garden, 1 tsp of the dry stuff when we don't)
-1 tbsp fresh oregano (we always have more oregano than we can ever use)
-1 tsp sugar
-1 tsp salt
-2 tbsp red wine vinegar
-pinch of cayenne (i usually go with a shake)
-1/2 cup olive oil
for the crust
-bob's gluten-free pizza dough mix
-1 1/2 cups warm water
-2 eggs
-2 tbsp olive oil
toppings
-1/2 lb italian sausage
-1/2 package frozen spinach
-1/2 of 8oz block of mozzarella (better the mozzarella, better the pizza)
-1 chopped leak
-1/2 a jar of artichoke hearts
the romesco sauce recipe makes enough for two pizzas as does the dough mix, so you'll notice all the toppings are conveniently purchased to make two pizzas as well.
