Deep Dish Polenta Pizza: A One-Pot Wonder!

I don't know about you, but following a full day of work (and usually some meeting, outing or exercise class thereafter), cooking can seem like a tremendous chore. Granted, making food generally acts as a therapeutic hobby for me, but there are days when picking up a phone and ordering a house chow mein is tempting.

Don't get me wrong: I have Shanghai Garden on speed-dial.

This polenta pizza will take less time than it would take a delivery man to get to your door, and the preparation is easy, too. You can variate it by adding your favorite pizza toppings. Deee-licious.

Deep Dish Polenta Pizza
adapted from Real Simple

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for the pan
1 cup polenta (not instant)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 cup fresh spinach
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced garlic
4 ounces mozzarella, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 lb pork sausage, italian style

1. Heat oven to 400° F. Oil a 9-inch springform pan or pie plate; set aside.

2. Brown sausage. Drain, set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan, bring 2¼ cups water to a boil. Whisking constantly, slowly add the polenta. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring, until the polenta starts to pull away from the side of the pan, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the Parmesan, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.

3. Using a spoon, spread the polenta over the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan.
In a bowl, combine the spinach, tomatoes, garlic, mozzarella, the remaining tablespoon of oil, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture over the polenta and bake until the polenta is crisp around the edges, 25 to 30 minutes.

Vegan Week, Day 2

Happy Veterans Day, folks! Hopefully this day finds you not sitting in an office in front of a computer, but rather sitting here, reading I Pray to Gouda. I mean, you don't have anything else to do today, right?

Day 2 of this vegan life showed me a tempting side to life. Case in point:

My lunch at an all-staff meeting: salad, steamed veggies and bread.

The luscious, chocolatey, cream cheese-filled dessert that accompanied the other staff members' lunch.

I did not cave! Instead, I ate a Clif Z-bar, Chocolate Brownie flavor to be exact. These are almost as tasty as the Mojo bars from Clif, and the perfect size if you are searching for a sweet, midday snack. My ability to avoid those little chocolate pieces of heaven at lunch meant I needed to have a great dinner. Enter Tal Ronnen's Lemon Asparagus Risotto from his new vegan cookbook, A Conscious Cook. Stephanie and Ally put aside meat and cheese to imbibe in this vegan dinner. Thanks, girls!

Lemon Asparagus Risotto

from The Conscious Cook

Sea Salt

1 lb asparagus, cut into 1" pieces

ground black pepper

3 Tb olive oil

3 shallots, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups Arborio rice

1 cup plus a splash of dry white wine

6 cups vegetable stock (optional: boil the broth with 3-4 dried porcini mushrooms. This will give it a meatier flavor)

Grated zest of 3 Meyer lemons

Juice of 2 Meyer lemons

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted.

1. Fill small pot with water. Add 1 tsp salt and bring to a boil. Blanch the asparagus in boiling water for 1 minute, drain and season with salt and pepper.

2. Place large saute pan with steep sides over medium heat. Sprinkle bottom with a pinch of salt and heat for 1 minute. Add pinch of salt and rice and saute for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Add in shallots, onions, lemon juice and wine. Saute until onions are soft.

4. Start adding in the broth, 1 cup at a time. Wait for each cup to be absorbed by the rice prior to adding the next cup. This process will take about 30 minutes (be patient, it's worth it!).

5. Add in lemon zest, a dash of salt and pepper, and top with pine nuts.

Food Post from Paris: Potato Gnocchi with Thyme Vinaigrette and Lemon Cashew Cream Sauce

Paris is such a Faith city. Bustling streets, apartment buildings from the 1500s, a cozy cafe on every corner and people who are more interested in enjoying each hour of every day rather than rushing through it. I came to Paris not for the Tour de Eiffel, the Louvre or Versaille, but to experience the culture of a people who sit and enjoy an espresso or fromage with friends without worrying about tight schedules or how much money they put in the meter. And I've been able to get my full experience in this amazing French city.

So here I sit in my apartment in Les Halles, doing one of my fave things - food blogging!

This is a recipe my friend, Jennifer and I made on New Year's Eve. Jennifer is vegan, and I must say that the sound of this recipe sent a tiny shiver down my spine when I first heard of it. Amazingly, however, this gnocchi dish is phenomenal. It's a little bit of work, but fun to do and even more fun to eat.

Potato Gnocchi with Thyme Vinaigrette and Lemon Cashew Cream Sauce
Serves 2-3

For Gnocchi:

2 Russet Potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 Scant Cup Bread Flour (No salt!)

For Thyme Vinaigrette

2 Tbs Fresh Thyme, leaves only
1-2 Pinches Salt, to taste
4 Tbs Olive Oil
1 tsp White Wine Vinegar

For Lemon Cashew Cream

1 Cup Water
1 1/4 Cups Roasted, Salted Cashews (or raw)
Zest of 1 Lemon
1/2-1 tsp Lemon Juice

For the specific cooking directions, head on over to Vegan YumYum...