Pizza with Spinach, Rosemary, and Fresh Mozzarella

Still working on the big log of fresh mozzarella I made! I hope no one is getting too tired of pizza recipes. This one used a nice big bunch of spinach from the farmers market, along with rosemary from my potted plant. If you you like rosemary, fresh is so much better than dried, and it's really easy to grow potted rosemary inside. When I lived in California, I saw huge bushes of it growing in people's yards as shrubs, but it's not hardy here in New England. However, it grows pretty happily in a large pot and can go outside for the summer. Now is a good time to pick up a small one at the farmers market.

1 14-inch pizza crust
olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
6-8 cups spinach, stemmed (about 1/3 lb)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup tomato sauce
4 oz. fresh mozzarella, in small chunks

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Paint the pizza crust lightly with olive oil.

In a large skillet, heat a little olive oil and saute the garlic and rosemary for a minute or so. Add the spinach (in batches if necessary) and saute until wilted. Stir in salt and pepper.

Spread the tomato sauce over the crust, then top with the spinach mixture. Strew mozzarella chunks over the top.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the crust is done and cheese is melted and lightly browned.

Serves 3-4.
Spread the tomato sauce

Pasta with Arugula Tomato Garlic Sauce

The arugula in my garden was starting to bolt, so we harvested it all. I had been thinking about making arugula pesto, but decided to throw this together instead. This sauce is also quite nice with polenta. If I still had tomatoes left in the freezer, I would have used those--thawed, skinned, and drained. This year I'm going to freeze more tomatoes. You could make this with other greens besides arugula--use what you have.

1 lb dry cut pasta (such as gemelli or shells)
olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste
8-10 cloves garlic, minced
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
1 Tbsp dried oregano (or 2 Tbsp fresh if you have it)
2 cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 15-oz can)
6-8 ounces arugula
Feta or Parmesan for topping

Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water. While it cooks, make the sauce.

Heat a little olive oil in a Dutch oven or large saucepan. Add the garlic and saute over medium-high heat until it starts to turn golden brown. Add the tomatoes, oregano, and chickpeas, and simmer for a few minutes. Then add the arugula. You may have to do this in batches.

When the pasta is done, drain it and return it to the pot. Toss with a little olive oil, then add the sauce and toss (or, if you prefer, top with sauce at the table). Top with feta or Parmesan at the table.

Serves about 6.

Pizza with Asparagus, Dried Tomatoes, and Fresh Mozzarella

Seeing as I have over a pound of fresh mozzarella in my fridge now, I thought perhaps I ought to make some pizza. There is always a good reason to make pizza, after all! If you don't have fresh mozzarella, just top with with regular shredded mozzarella. It won't be quite the same, but it will still be tasty.

1 14-inch pizza crust
olive oil
1/2 cup tomato sauce
8-10 spears asparagus, in 1/8-inch rounds (tough ends snapped off)
3-4 bunching onions, in 1/4-inch rounds
1/4 cup dried tomatoes, rehydrated and diced
Salt and pepper to taste
4 oz. fresh mozzarella, in small chunks

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Paint the pizza crust lightly with olive oil. Spread with tomato sauce. Sprinkle the asparagus, onions, and tomatoes over the sauce. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. Spread the chunks of mozzarella over the pizza. You are not aiming for full coverage.

Bake 14-16 minutes, until crust is golden brown and cheese is turning golden.

Serves 3-4.

Learning to Make Cheese

I spent all day Saturday at Ricki Carroll's house in Ashfield attending a beginner's cheesemaking class. If you've read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, you know who Ricki is. If you haven't, suffice it to say she's a celebrity in the artisan cheese world who has been teaching cheesemaking since the 1970s. Ricki's business has quadrupled or so since Barbara Kingsolver's book came out, so it's good thing my husband registered me for this class back before Christmas (it was a Christmas present)--they fill up quickly and there are waiting lists.

So I spent the day with about 40 other people learning the process to make many different soft cheeses (fromage blanc, queso blanco, creme fraiche, yogurt (not really a cheese, but included anyway), etc), mozzarella, ricotta, and farmhouse cheddar. I went home exhausted and with my brain feeling overstuffed, but excited to give it a try myself. I bought her mozzarella and ricotta kit, along with a gallon of raw milk from Sidehill Farm (also in Ashfield). In the class we worked with both raw milk and regular pasteurized whole milk from the grocery store (not ultra-pasteurized, though--it doesn't work for cheese).

This morning I made my first attempt at mozzarella, and although it was not quite as exquisite as the example made in class, it wasn't half bad. I'm looking forward to experimenting with other cultures and cheeses and working on the mozzarella some more. I should note that the techniques for the mozzarella, ricotta, and soft cheeses are all quite simple and you end up with the final product in anywhere from 30 minutes for the mozzarella to 18 hours or so for something like fromage blanc.

Making your own cheese from local milk is about as local as you can get your food to be, unless you own and milk the cow (or goat) yourself. But of course, here in the Pioneer Valley, it's entirely unnecessary unless you want to do it for the fun and the challenge, like me. After all, we have several excellent local dairies making truly wonderful cheese, and certainly much more interesting and sophisticated cheese than I am ever going to produce at home. But if you're interested in learning more about the cheesemaking classes, or ordering Ricki's book or other cheesemaking supplies, check out her website: www.cheesemaking.com.

Grilled Asparagus

Memorial Day is almost here, time to get out the grill if you haven't already! Asparagus is lovely grilled, perhaps as a nice accompaniment to some local pork chops or lamb.

Wash the asparagus and snap off the tough ends. You can grill it plain--a few minutes should do the job, turning it over once. But to make it a little more exciting, try painting it with one of these options:

1. olive oil and balsamic vinegar; add some garlic if you like
2. olive oil and red wine vinegar
3. olive oil and white wine vinegar; add some fresh tarragon if you like
4. sesame oil and grated ginger and/or minced garlic; add a little soy sauce as well if you like

For a different twist, put a cast iron frying pan on the grill and fry up a couple eggs while the asparagus cooks; serve several spears topped with a fried egg.

Pizza with Arugula, Chicken, and Edam

Arugula and other greens are flourishing in my garden and plentiful at the farmers market. I combined the arugula here with some cooked shredded chicken that I had in the freezer and the remains of the Dutch Gold cheese from Chase Hill Farm that I bought last week, and found that the flavors melded pleasantly.

1 14-inch pizza crust
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 cups arugula leaves
1 cup cooked shredded chicken (or less if you like)
3/4 cup shredded Edam cheese
1/4 - 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella (optional)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Paint the crust with a little olive oil, then spread the tomato sauce over it. Spread the arugula over the crust in a fairly even layer, then sprinkle the chicken, Edam, and mozzarella (if using) over it.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, until crust is getting crisp and cheese begins to brown.

Serves 3-4.

Savory Rhubarb Lentil Dal

This is slightly adapted from a Mark Bittman recipe published in the New York Times. It is the only savory rhubarb recipe I've seen (not that I have hunted exhaustively). The rhubarb lends a lovely sour note to the curry, something that might otherwise be achieved with keffir lime leaves. I thought this was fantastic, but my husband didn't like it that well, alas. Try it for yourself and see what you think. Serve this over brown rice.

3 cups rhubarb pieces (1-inch lengths), peeled first
1 1/2 cups red lentils
1/4 tsp cardamom
3 whole cloves
1-2 whole dried chili peppers
1 1/2 Tbsp mustard seeds
3 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
6-8 cloves garlic, minced
Salt to taste
Plenty of coarsely ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and add water to cover everything by about 1 inch. Bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat until the lentils and rhubarb are very soft. Remove the chili peppers and cloves (if you can find them). Stir the dal quite a bit so that the rhubarb and lentils both sort of disintegrate.

Serves 4-6.