Pizzette and fun

Do you ever have those days where nothing seems to go right? Like if you really really wanted to make flatbreads with a cashew veggie spr...

Do you ever have those days where nothing seems to go right?
Like if you really really wanted to make flatbreads with a cashew veggie spread and thought about making them all day at work, then came home, knowing you had everything you need in your fridge, then got half-way through making them and realized you didn't have one essential ingredient?
You were then forced to fly by the seat of your pants and come up with plan b. 
What do you do when life gives you pizza dough?

Make pizzette of course!
So the original plan was flatbreads, as you know, but once I had a food processor full of veggies and cashews, I reached to the back of my fridge for my tofu, and it was a frozen solid block. The spread isn't much on its own, not to mention proteinless (cashews aren't quite enough), so I scrapped it. I had pizzette on my "to test" list under the appetizer category and hadn't made any pizzette in a while, so since I had pizza dough at my fingertips, I thought I'd test a recipe I had jotted down earlier in the week. It was called "Pizzette with caramelized onions and barbecued artichokes." Sounds great, right? So I reached into my fridge and grabbed a full jar of artichoke hearts packed in water, for my barbecuing pleasures, and twisted. Nothing happened. I twisted and I twisted until my hands couldn't twist anymore. The boyfriend met the same end to the jar of artichokes. As posted on instagram, "All the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't open that freaking jar of artichokes." And now we're looking at plan C. 
Cauliflower.
I have been seeing people buffalo it like crazy lately, and have been wanting to try it. Why not put a practical twist on the buffalo and barbecue it? 
So I gave it a shot, by steaming first and then tossing in barbecue sauce. It ended up a little watery, making my lovely bite-sized pizzette a true barbecue experience because they became ridiculously sloppy. A quartered artichoke heart would be perfect. So someday, when I get my jar open, I will try again with the way I intended. 

Sometimes I do baking math on this blackboard in my kitchen. Sometimes I need to visualize a dish before I can begin to create it. I am a very visual learner. You should really see my baking math pictures. One time, my friend at work was saying how bad at spelling he his, and to make him feel better, I told him how embarrassingly bad at math I am, and told him that to triple or quadruple recipes sometimes I draw circles and quarter them, and then shade in how many quarters I will need and count how many total cups it makes and that's how I use my drawing board for baking math. After I explained my method to him, he said, "You're lucky you're pretty." Thanks, Rahul.

So here's plan C. Stay tuned for plan B. I will not be beaten by a jar of artichokes. 
Pizzette with caramelized onions and barbecue cauliflower

1/2 recipe, pizza dough
4 vidalia onions, sliced into shoestrings
3 tomatoes, sliced
1/2 head of cauliflower, sliced into florets
1/3 cup BBQ sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
canola oil spray

Roll out your pizza dough into a pretty thin circular mass, at least as thin as 1/4" thickness. Now take a beer glass and flip it upside down and place it on top of the dough and twist to cut out circles. Cut as many out from the rolled dough as will fit, then re-roll your scraps and cut again. I got about 20 circles.

In a large sautee pan with lid, place sliced onions, sugar and salt and turn on to low heat. Let cook about 35 minutes, stirring occassionally and keeping covered. When onions have released all their moisture and have turned a deep golden brown, they are ready. Turn off heat.

Prepare a steamer basket and steam cauliflower for about 15 minutes, or until fork-tender. Transfer to a mixing bowl and toss with barbecue sauce. Set aside.

On a hot grill pan, spray some canola oil. Carefully place your tomato slices down and leave alone for 2 minutes. Very carefully using tongs or flexible spatula, flip and grill second side about 2 minutes. Carefully remove from pan and place on a plate. 

Spray pan again with canola oil and place down pizza dough circles. On a hot pan, these can go about a minute on each side, so that they have formed a crusty exterior with a slightly dough interior. 

Spread a dab of bbq sauce on each pizzette. Over the sauce, place a slice of grilled tomato. On top of the tomato, using a fork, gather a bit of caramelized onions and spread them carefully on top of the tomatoes. Now, take a piece or two of bbq caulifower and place it in the center.
You're done!

Hi, I'm KZ. I live, cook, and chow down on vegan food in NYC.

You Might Also Like

3 comments

  1. SarahOctober 2, 2012 at 11:17 PM

    It still sounds delicious! I would totally eats it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. coldandsleepyOctober 3, 2012 at 12:10 AM

    Aaaah, I hate those last minute ingredient dramas! Especially when you're so sure you have the (whatever) and then you pull it out and it's (frozen/stuck shut/full of bees/whatever).

    These pizettes look fantastic though, and I'm intrigued by the BBQ cauliflower!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kirsten LindquistOctober 12, 2012 at 2:47 PM

    thanks for the laughs! btw, to open tough jar lids, use the handle end of a butter knife and give the edge of the lid a couple of good thunks and it should break the vacuum seal and voila, you will have artichokes!

    ReplyDelete