Garlic-Rubbed Bleu Cheese Focaccia

It doesn’t get much easier than this, folks. Especially since I’m not telling you to go make your own focaccia bread – nope, this is a delicious addition to a meal that will not only taste good, but looks gourmet.

Garlic-Rubbed Bleu Cheese Focaccia

What you’ll need:

- 2 TB extra virgin olive oil

- 1 loaf focaccia

- 1/2 cup bleu cheese crumbles

- 1 Tb chopped garlic clove

- 1/2 Tb chopped, fresh rosemary or basil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine good quality olive oil and chopped garlic.

3. Brush the top of the bread with this mixture.

4. Tear small holes (about 1” across, 1/2” deep) into focaccia.

5. Stuff each hole with two to three individual cheese crumbles. Sprinkle chopped herbs over bread. Broil 8-10 minutes.

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.

Barefoot Bloggers: White Pizza with Arugula and Mango Banana Daiquiris

I'm pretty sure Barefoot Bloggers is going to force me to try things I normally wouldn't (precisely why I joined), because there is no way in hey-ell I would have attempted this pizza otherwise. I HATE making pizzas. It's not that they're difficult. It's that I really, a whole lotta-like, love pizza when it's ordered and shows up on my doorstep. Was this pizza worth it? It was worth trying. It's a healthy alternative to the Meat Lovers situation you find yourself in on a Friday evening, chasing with beer.

Thing is...I like the cheesy, greasy fattiness of chasing cheesy, greasy pizza with beer.

But if you want to lighten things up a bit, I say go for it.* I followed the recipe mostly, but I diverged at some points to throw in some Faith Flair. I tried to get Kim, Tina and Tim to give me their honest opinions - they said they liked it, so I'm going to just have to trust that they weren't feeding me a line.

P.S. The daiquiris were FABULOUS.

*Here's what I don't recommend: staying up until 1:43am afterward, watching an incredibly freaky movie and then lying on a hard sidewalk waiting for a meteor shower to show itself. Just my two cents.

White Pizza with Arugula
adapted from Ina Garten's Back to Basics

For the dough:
1 1/4 cups warm (100 to 110) water
2 packages dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey
Good olive oil
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
Kosher salt
4 cloves garlic, sliced
5 sprigs fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

For the topping:
3 cups grated Italian fontina cheese (8 ounces)
1 1/2 cups grated fresh mozzarella cheese (7 ounces)
11 ounces creamy goat cheese
Grape tomatoes (I used mini-heirloom), halved

For the vinaigrette:
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces baby arugula
1 lemon, sliced

Mix the dough.

Combine the water, yeast, honey and 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. When the yeast is dissolved, add 3 cups of flour, then 2 teaspoons salt, and mix on medium-low speed. While mixing, add up to 1 more cup of flour, or just enough to make a soft dough. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until smooth, sprinkling it with the flour as necessary to keep it from sticking to the bowl.


Knead by hand.

When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured board and knead it by hand a dozen times. It should be smooth and elastic.

Let it rise.

Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl and turn it to cover it lightly with oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Make garlic oil.

Place 1/2 cup of olive oil, the garlic, thyme and red pepper flakes in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook for 10 minutes, making sure the garlic doesn't burn. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Dump the dough onto a board . Place the dough on sheet pans lined with parchment paper and cover them with a damp towel. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes. Use immediately, or refrigerate for up to 4 hours.

Stretch the dough.

Press and stretch dough into a large circle and place sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (If you've chilled the dough, take it out of the refrigerator approximately 30 minutes ahead to let it come to room temperature.)

Top the dough.

Brush the pizzas with the garlic oil, and sprinkle each one liberally with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the pizzas evenly with fontina, mozzarella and goat cheese. Drizzle each pizza with 1 tablespoon more of the garlic oil and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the crusts are crisp and the cheeses begin to brown.

Make the vinaigrette.

Meanwhile, whisk together 1/2 cup of olive oil, the lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Add the greens.

When the pizzas are done, place the arugula in a large bowl and toss with just enough lemon vinaigrette to moisten. Place a large bunch of arugula on each pizza and a slice of lemon and serve immediately.

Mango Banana Daiquiris
from Ina Garten

2 cups chopped ripe mango (1 to 2 mangos, peeled and seeded)
1 ripe banana, chopped
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (4 limes)
1/4 cup sugar syrup*
1 1/4 cups dark rum
Mango slices, for serving

Place the mango, banana, lime juice, sugar syrup, and rum in a blender and process until smooth. Add 2 cups of ice and process again until smooth and thick. Serve ice-cold in highball glasses with the mango slices.

*To make simple syrup, heat 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Chill.