Pampers and Paklava

Gluten-free Pizza Recipe – with caramelized onions, pear and herbed goat cheese

by

Udi's gluten-free pizza Gluten-free pizza with caramelized Walla Walla onions, pear and herbed goat cheese

After our recent trip to Walla Walla, I’ve got onions on my mind. And, in keeping with my gluten-free experimentation phase, I decided to give pizza a whirl. Okay, I didn’t make the crust. Udi’s did. However, the Walla Walla sweet onions and the herbs used in the herbed goat cheese were grown right outside my back door. Now all I need is a goat.

Take the road less traveled,

Beth

Gluten-free pizza with caramelized Walla Walla Onions, pear and herbed goat cheese recipe

Note: This pizza crust is very thin.

Ingredients:

  • One Udi’s gluten-free pizza crust (they come in a package of two), defrosted
  • 1/2 cup caramelized onions (recipe below)*
  • 1/2 cup herbed goat cheese (recipe below)*
  • 1/2 pear, thinly sliced
  • Olive oil
  • Optional: drizzle of aged Balsamic vinegar
  • Optional: chive blossoms

*Amounts can be varied to suit  your taste

How to construct your pizza:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 (per Udi’s directions).
  2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the crust on top.
  3. Brush crust with olive oil.
  4. Spoon caramelized onion onto the pizza crust and spread it out evenly.
  5. Place pear slices in a circle on top of the caramelized onions.
  6. Drop small spoonfuls of herbed goat cheese all over the pizza.
  7. Bake for 7-10 minutes until crust is golden.
  8. Before serving, sprinkle a handful of chive blossoms on top.
  9. Slide onto cutting board and slice.

Walla Walla onions and herbed goat cheese

Caramelized Onions* (Note: This recipe makes enough caramelized onions for one small pizza. If you want to make a bigger pizza, or two pizzas, double the recipe)

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil* (You can also use 2 T oil and skip the butter)
  • 1/2 pound of Walla Walla or sweet Vidalia onions (roughly 1 medium onion; my garden Walla Wallas were much smaller so I used more)
  • 1 teaspoon brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon water

How to Caramelize Onions:

  1. Cut the Walla Walla onions into thin slices. I personally like to cut my onions into rings.
  2. Add the butter and oil to a cold non-stick skillet; melt butter over high heat.
  3. Once the butter melts, stir in the onions and brown sugar.
  4. Let the onions cook; stir on occasion until the onion soften down and are slightly wilted. This should take about 5 minutes.
  5. Reduce the heat to medium and cook. Stir often until the onions turn deep brown in color. Depending on the amount of onions you use, it can take up to 50 minutes to cook down and caramelize onions. Patience is a virtue.
  6.  Once the onions are caramelized and you achieve the color you are looking for take it off the heat. I like mine mahogany colored.

Note: Don’t stare at the clock. Instead, pay close attention to the pan. If you want caramelized onions, not burnt onions (which I have made on occasion), stir often and check to make sure the onions are not getting burnt. I can’t stress this enough. Once the onions start to brown, they can burn quickly. You’ve been warned.

Herbed Goat Cheese

Ingredients:

  • Log of goat cheese
  • Olive oil
  • Herbs (assortment that might include any/all of the following: thyme, basil, rosemary, chives, sage, parsley), a few tablespoons chopped.

How to:

  1. Put a log of goat cheese in a bowl; add a healthy drizzle of olive oil and mix in a few tablespoons of minced, fresh herbs.

Want to drool over more deliciousness? Check out Wanderfood Wednesday!

Go galette: Leek, Walla Walla, goat cheese galette

by

I love to cook but I am not much of a baker. While I have taken pizza making classes and bread making classes, I don’t think I’ve ever made either. And though I love pies (which would pair nicely with ice cream I frequently make), I can count on one hand the number of pies I’ve made. Why? I have dough-phobia.

Leek and goat cheese galette in the makingThat’s right. Fear of dough, or at least of making it. I worry my end-product will be inedible: crusts too dry, loaves too dense, pizza dough too mushy. Too brown? Not brown enough. On top of this, the perfection aspect of crusts, in particular, makes my hands tremble. Cute little lattices or scallop-edged crusts seem so fussy.

So that’s why the idea of making galettes has appealed to me for quite some time. Rustic, free-form and imperfect: now there’s dough I could learn to love. I finally decided to give galettes a go.

Galette before bakingA few leeks in the garden were ready for picking and my Walla Walla sweet onions were also coming in nicely. I remembered a recipe from my old Deborah Madison cookbook that would handily transfer my garden alliums into galette gastronomy.

Poor Big Papa. I sweated and fretted as I went about making the dough, rolling it out and filling it with my precious garden cargo. Should I have a back-up plan for dinner? Was my galette going to get the green light?

The answer: YES! My, oh, my. The dough was crispy where it should be crispy, chewy where it should be chewy, and the perfect foil for the creamy goat cheese and savory leek-onion filling nestled inside. Galettes are definitely a go from now on.

Leek and goat cheese galette

Leek, Walla Walla Onion and Goat Cheese Galette


Galette Dough
2 cups all purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
12 tablespoons (3/4 cup) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 to ½ cup ice water, as needed

Mix the flour, salt, and sugar together in a bowl. Cut in the butter by hand or using a mixer with a paddle attachment, leaving some pea-sized chunks. Sprinkle the ice water over the top by the tablespoon and toss with the flour mixture until you can bring the dough together into a ball. Press into a disk and refrigerate for fifteen minutes if the butter feels soft.

Filling Ingredients

6 large leeks, including an inch of the green (*I combined a few leeks with a few Walla Walla sweet onions)
3 tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon chopped thyme
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup cream
Salt and pepper
1 egg beaten
3 tablespoons chopped parsley or chopped tarragon
Galette Dough
1/2 cup soft goat cheese (you could also use Ricotta Salata or feta, though I prefer the creamy texture of the goat cheese)

Directions

Slice leeks/Walla Walla onions in circles about an inch thick.  You should end up with about six cups.

Melt the butter in a medium skillet.  Add the leeks/onions, thyme, and 1/2 cup water.  Stew over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the leeks are tender, about twelve minutes.  Add the wine and continue cooking until it’s reduced, then add the cream and cook until it just coast the leeks and little liquid remains.  Season with salt and pepper, and let it cook for 10 minutes. Then stir in all but 1 tablespoon of the beaten egg and 2 tablespoons of the tarragon or parsley.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Roll out dough for one large galette.  Place unbleached parchment paper on a baking sheet. Put the rolled out dough on top of the parchment paper and spread the leek-onion mixture on top, leaving a 2-inch border around the edge.  Crumble the cheese on the top and then fold the dough over the filling.  Brush with the reserved egg and bake until the crust is browned, 25 to 30 minutes.  Remove, scatter remaining parsley over the top, and serve.

Recipe adapted from Vegetarian for Everyone by Deborah Madison

Want to chew on more deliciousness? Check out Wanderfood Wednesday!