Food So Fine (it'll blow your f-ing mind)
UPDATE: Check out foodiefights.com to vote for my entry! Also check out the other competitors here: Om-nom-nomnivore: Chisan, Chishou Maki with Gorgonzola Chili Sauce Cooking with Michele: Grilled Pizza with Prosciutto, Figs, Gorgonzola and Arugula-Walnut Pesto Food Goes in Mouth: Lamb Slider w/ Arugula Gremolata & Gorgonzola Mayonnaise Good luck to the competitors and happy cooking!  Hello all! If you remember, I competed in the first battle and thanks to the voting, I got 4th place! Unfortunately, I didn't get any judge's votes, this time I'm hoping for some different results. This fight showcased two weapons in any good Italian cooking arsenal, ARGULA AND GORGONZOLA CHEESE!! What did I decide to do?  The final result! I chose to take a classic and make it my own. The first word I thought of when seeing the ingredients was SEXY. The second word was SALAD. Well since I can't make a recipe on SEXY, at least on this website, I worked with salad. You know that salad thats in every italian restaurant? It consists of arugula, gorgonzola, pears, and walnuts with a vinaigrette. Well, a salad's WAY boring. So what's my twist? ARGULA PIZZA!  all the components pre cook! So there's 4 separate components that need to be cooked for this dish. The pizza dough, the sauteed arugula, gorgonzola cheese sauce, candied walnuts. The pear and prochiutto come as toppings. So let it commence!! First component: Pizza Dough- Taken from Macheesmo/Alton Brown Ingredients: 4 Cups All Purpose Flour 4 tbs sugar 2 tbs salt 2 tbs olive oil 2 tsp active dry yeast 1 1/2 Cups lukewarm water Flour for dusting pizza Olive Oil for rising dough Macheesmo does a great job of explaining and showcasing how to make the dough. You should for sure go over and see his explanation, but I'll just post up a couple pictures here.  First combine yeast, salt, sugar, water, and oil, then add in flour and mix!  After mixing should look like this, then start kneading and kneading  Should be nice and smooth, then place in bowl cover dough with a damp towel and let it rise and double in size!  Should end up with something like this  Wash some fine looking arugula Second Component: Sauteed Arugula Ingredients: 2 Bunches of Arugula with stems cut off 1/2 a sweet onion 3 finely chopped garlic Olive Oil to saute 2 tbs honey  Saute some garlic and sweet onions  Add in arugula and wilt  Add in honey to cut bitterness  Melt butter and stir in flour Component 3: Gorgonozola Cheese Sauce Ingredients: (taken from this recipe) 4 oz. gorgonzola 2 tbs butter 2 tbs flour 1 1/2 cup 2% milk I've never made a roux before, but I learned one main thing, of which I will share with you below:  Try #1: Add the milk quickly or else THIS happens...ugh.  Try #2: This is a GOOD roux. mmmm roux.  Add in gorgonzola cheese and keep stirring  Roast these walnuts in 350 degree oven for 5 minutes Component 4: Candied Walnuts Ingredients: 2 cups of walnuts 1/2 cup sugar  Melt sugar into a gooey amber color  Put in walnuts, cover with melted sugar, and let it cool on a nonstick surface (I failed HORRENDOUSLY here)  No rolling pin? Use a wine bottle! ENOUGH with these components, I think its time to make some delicious pizza! Take the dough we had covered and it should have doubled in size. Then you roll the dough into a nice pizza shape circle, roughly a 1/4 inch thick.  1. Roll edges into crust 2. Put olive oil onto surface and crust 3. Spread gorgonzola cheese sauce onto pizza 4. Spread sauteed arugula around  5. Layer on pears and candied walnuts  6. Add on another layer of more cheese sauce 7. Add another layer of pears, candied walnuts, and another layer of prociutto  8. Place in a oven with a upside down cookie sheet pre heated to 450 degrees  9. BASK IN THE FOOD PORN!!    So how'd it taste? Faaaannntastic! You got the savory taste of the arugula with the onions and garlic, the sweet tartness of the pear, and the sweet nuttiness of the candied walnuts, all this which is tied to the delicious gorgonzola cheese sauce which went great with all the sweetness of the pears/candied walnuts. As for the pizza crust? Not bad, not the best I've ever tasted, but its held it's own and was crispy. Mmmmm. I had lots of fun cooking, hope you guys had fun reading and good luck to the other competitors!! |