Category Archives: Baking

Baking, Basil, Breads, Butter, Fennel, Food, Garlic, Honey, Johnsonville Italian hot sausage, Mozzarella, Olive Oil, Onion, Parmesan, Pepper, Pine nuts, Pizza, Pizza dough, Portobello mushroom, Roasted garlic, Roasted pine nuts, Salt, Sandwiches, Smoked paprika, Tomato

Johnsonville Italian Sausage Pizza With Roasted Garlic, Portobello Mushrooms and Parmesan Crisps

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For the past two months, we’ve been hosting weekly pizza parties.  Well, truth be told, they have been competitive throw downs where our friends are invited to say goodbye to the week that was and bring their best recipes to battle it out for the pizza crown.   We’ve had some pretty fantastic creations.  After 8 weeks though, inspiration begins to wane. So we were quite excited to hear of the tastespotting.com Johnsonville Italian Sausage competition.  Inspiration, the chance to get our pizza on our favorite food porn site AND the likelihood (albeit remote) of winning a food making competition.  How could we not be excited?

Anders had this one on his mind for a whole week and came up with this creation: Johnsonville Italian Sausage Pizza with  roasted garlic, Portobello mushrooms and topped with parmesan crisps and toasted pine nuts. Does it get any crazier than this?   We hope you like it, and if you do please vote for us when the time comes.

Johnsonville Italian Hot Sausage Pizza
Johnsonville Italian Hot Sausage Pizza

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Baking, Blue Stilton, Breads, Butter, Fennel, Fish, Food, Garlic, Honey, Lemon, Olive Oil, Olives, Onion, Paprika, Parmesan, Pizza, Pizza dough, Portobello mushroom, Salmon, Smoked paprika

Smoked Salmon Pizza With Garlic Butter Fried Portobello Mushrooms And Parmesan

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This was a pizza Anders put together during one of our weekly pizz-off’s, where we wave goodbye to the old week… with a friendly pizza competition amongst friends. The goal is not to win, but to have a great time (and win). Our newfound love for smoked paprika once again manifested itself in a generous sprinkle on top, which has the odd side effect of producing some rather red-tinted photos (for which we apologize). As we were all sitting around the table, sipping red wine like the pro’s, we reminisced about our childhood cardboard-pizzas from the nearby Domino’s or local pizza pusher, and wondered why we didn’t make our own pizzas while in college when it’s really not that hard and so much better.

Smoked Salmon Pizza With Butter Garlic Fried Portobello Mushrooms And Parmesan Wafer thin slices of Lemon, Onion, Stilton Blue Cheese, Smoked Paprika, Tomato Sauce with Honey and Anise
Smoked Salmon Pizza With Butter Garlic Fried Portobello Mushrooms And Parmesan Wafer thin slices of Lemon, Onion, Stilton Blue Cheese, Smoked Paprika, Tomato Sauce with Honey and Anise
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Baking, Breads, Cheeses, Fig, Food, Goat cheese, Honey, Olive Oil, Onion, Pizza, Pizza dough, Sandwiches, Thyme, Walnuts

Grilled Fig Pizza With Goat Cheese And Honey

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Reason number 1099 why I love living in Southern California: fig season! We don’t have our own fig tree – a gardening oversight that we plan on remedying soon. We have the perfect spot picked out and Wendie has done her research to determine which variety to grow. More on that later. Between the local farmers markets and generous friends we’ve eaten more figs this season than in our entire lives. We love eating them fresh from the tree and have also experimented with making preserves, jams, sandwiches and this latest use – on pizzas. This little configuration was served as dessert in a recent pizza party: fig and goat cheese pizza with caramelized figs and onions.

Grilled Fig Pizza With Goat Cheese And Honey
Grilled Fig Pizza With Goat Cheese And Honey

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Apricot, Arugula, Baking, Buffalo mozzarella, Cheeses, Food, Fruits, Lemon zest, Olive Oil, Pizza, Pizza dough, Prosciutto, Sandwich Styles, Thyme, Vegetables

Pizza: Apricot with Prosciutto, Thyme and Arugula

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As we promised, we will be posting pizza recipes from all of our Pizza Cookoff Fridays. Actually, I should confess that that title is the more sanitized and hence publishable version of the actual title.  Here’s another of our creations – this was week 2. This is a sauce less pizza (distinct from the saucy pizza with all her insolence and impertinent attitudes :-)) that we find works best early in the evening of pizza debauchery. Light and pleasing, it was a nice introduction and palate opener to the heavier pizzas that were to follow that night.

Apricot prosciutto pizza with mozzarella and arugula
Apricot prosciutto pizza with mozzarella and arugula

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Baking, Buffalo mozzarella, Food, Garlic, Goat cheese, Lemon, Mushrooms, Olive Oil, Oyster mushrooms, Pepper, Pizza, Pizza dough, Salt, Sandwiches, Shimeji mushrooms, Thyme

Pizza With Sautéed Leeks, Grilled Mushrooms and Goat Cheese Whipped with Lemon Zest

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This summer we have introduced a new tradition in the Amazing Sandwich home – Pizza Cook-off Fridays. What started as dinner with a friend who came over to show us how to make pizza on the grill, has morphed into my new favorite evening of the week. The basic concept is this: get some friends together, Anders and I provide the dough and competitors bring their favorite wines and toppings for 3-4 hours of trash talking, ardent pizza making, even more ardent eating, and just a wonderfully good time.  So far, we’ve had some awesome creations: classic margarita with fresh tomatoes from our respective gardens; pesto with grilled mushrooms; feta with hummus, grilled pork and finished with tahini drizzle; smoked salmon with thin lemon slivers; apricots with prosciutto and arugula. But my favorite so far was one entry from last weekend: sautéed leeks with garlic, grilled oyster and shimeji mushrooms, buffalo mozzarella and then topped with dollops of a whipped goat cheese/lemon zest blend and sprinkled with fresh thyme.  It was divine. I mean really…it was soo good it bears repeating – it was divine!  We whipped the goat cheese with a fork, added some lemon zest and bit of olive oil.  After baking in the oven, it was so light and creamy and the lemon just gave it the perfect amount of tang.  I can’t wait till Friday – we might just make this one again.

Leeks with grilled shimeji and oyster mushrooms and topped with whipped goat cheese
Leeks with grilled shimeji and oyster mushrooms and topped with whipped goat cheese

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Baking, Breads, Butter, Food, Garlic, Goat cheese, Mascarpone, Meats, Mushrooms, Pesto, Pizza, Pizza dough, Prosciutto, Roasted garlic, Sandwich Styles

Pizza: Prosciutto, Sauteed Garlic Mushrooms, Mascarpone/Pesto Cheese, Roasted Garlic, Goat Cheese

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A great tasting pizza for every occasion. This is fairly simple to make except for the dough, but places like Trader Joe’s now sell pizza dough which should make this super easy. We made this pizza as part of a giant birthday party involving 8 other pizzas which you can find elsewhere on amazing sandwiches.

Pizza: Prosciutto, Sauteed Garlic Mushrooms, Rembrandt Gouda Cheese, Mascarpone/Pesto Cheese, Roasted Garlic, Goat Cheese
Pizza: Prosciutto, Sauteed Garlic Mushrooms, Rembrandt Gouda Cheese, Mascarpone/Pesto Cheese, Roasted Garlic, Goat Cheese

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Baking, Breads, Cheeses, Cooking styles, Food, Garlic, Honey, Mascarpone, Onion, Pesto, Pizza, Pizza dough, Roquefort, Thyme

Caramelized Onion Pizza with Roquefort and Roasted Garlic and Pesto-Mascarpone Sauce

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Caramelized onions are such a treat but requires good quality sweet and savory onions to really bring out the best taste of the food. They go extremely well with mild blue cheese, such as the Roquefort we used here. The first time we really discovered the joy of caramelized onions was at a visit to the farmers market in Temecula, Ca. The ‘strawberry lady’ had brought some gigantic onions that she was raving about. She told us to go home and slow-cook them (caramelize), and basically just eat onion for dinner. We did almost that, but added a steak too (man must eat). However, since then we regularly enjoy this often overlooked treat in our cooking. Most people probably don’t realize how easy it is to make amazing food with something as cheap and simple as onions, so hopefully this can server as inspiration.

Caramelized Onion Pizza with Roquefort and Roasted Garlic and Pesto-Mascarpone Sauce
Caramelized Onion Pizza with Roquefort and Roasted Garlic and Pesto-Mascarpone Sauce

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Baking, Breads, Cheeses, Feta, Food, Herbs, Ingredients, Lettuce, Olive-Rosemary Load, Open Faced Sandwiches, Oregano, Paprika, Sandwich Styles, Sandwiches, Smoked paprika, Tarragon, Tarragon salad dressing

Greek Oven Roasted Feta Sandwich

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Last summer we went on vacation to Greece, to the island of Lesvos. We were prepared to taste amazing foods, local delicacies and great tasting salads. Our friends have told us enough stories about the Greek islands that we were rather excited to taste the cuisine. Honestly though, it was a bit of a letdown. The island seems to have gotten a bit ‘touristy’, and the food was usually bland. It wasn’t bad per se, it was just not very interesting. After two weeks eating all over the island, we did find a restaurant on the last day of our trip which was actually great, but that was the exception. Given the less-than-satisfying culinary experiences, we did find one simple dish we kept returning to; The greek salad. It is a salad with a simple dressing, topped with a gigantic block of feta cheese. We decided to combine this a little with the pan seared feta dish called saganaki. We roasted a slice of feta in the oven, and placed it on top of a simple salad on toast. The result was amazing, and here is the recipe.

Greek Oven Roasted Feta Sandwich
Greek Oven Roasted Feta Sandwich

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Baking, Dark Rye Bread, Food, Leeks, Lemon, Liver pâté, Meats, Olive Oil, Open Faced Sandwiches, Sandwich Styles, Sandwiches, Walnuts, Zucchini

Liver Pâté Sandwich With Toasted Walnuts And Sautéed Leeks With Lemon And Grilled Zucchini

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Call me crazy, but I just love the dark brown parts of liver pâté. I realize that may not be the preference of most other sane people, but what can I do against such deliciousness. So these pictures may not do full justice to the wonderful slice of Maria’s liver pâté, but I can assure you that once you bite into this little black diamond, your buds will thank you.

The sautéed side of zucchini with garlic and lemon matches perfectly the sautéed leeks and roasted walnuts.

Liver Pate Sandwich with Roasted Wallnuts and Sauteed Leeks and Squash
Liver Pâté Sandwich With Toasted Walnuts And Sautéed Leeks With Lemon And Grilled Zucchini. The side of the pâté got a little dark, but inside it's moist and good.

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Baking, Bell Pepper, Cheeses, Food, Fruits, Garlic, Ham, Ingredients, Jarlsberg, Mascarpone, Meats, Mushrooms, Onion, Parmesan, Pepitas seeds, Pizza, Pizza dough, Tomato, Toppings, Vegetables

Pizza Recipe: Black Forest Ham, Red Onions, Heirloom Tomatoes, Sautéed Garlic Mushroom, Jarlsberg/Parmesan Cheese, Peperino Seeds (pumpkin), Pesto/Mascarpone Sauce, Roasted Garlic

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This pizza makes for an excellent dinner if you are having a few friends over to share a nice bottle of Barolo. The black forest ham is great on sandwiches, and excellent on pizza. It’s not overly salty and thus goes really well with the veggies. As always, enjoy making pizza, have some fun, and don’t be afraid to experiment a little. Pizzas are the Chef’s playground, they are very hard to mess up, and everyone always enjoys fresh-baked bread. Just buy decent ingredients, and kick loose. We made this pizza on the spur of the moment, with ingredients we mostly ‘found’ in the kitchen. Adding Peperino seeds was purely because we had some. Black forest ham? We had some. Green bell pepper? Yup, we had some. That’s how we make pizzas, and the best ones go on the blog for you guys.  So go crazy tonight. Make your own pizza, or try this one.

Pizza: Black Forest Ham, Onions, Heirloom Tomatoes, Sauteed Garlic Mushroom, Jarlsberg/Parmasan Cheese, Peperino Seeds (pumpkin), Tomato Sauce, Roasted Garlic
Pizza: Black Forest Ham, Onions, Heirloom Tomatoes, sautéed Garlic Mushroom, Jarlsberg/Parmesan Cheese, Peperino Seeds (pumpkin), Tomato Sauce, Roasted Garlic

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