Farmer's Market Week 2, May 22 - Grilled Pizza

Lonesome Mill is one of the new vendors at the Greenway Station market and they have a lovely selection of milled grains. The pancake mix is incredible - not even I can screw them up! They also have a cornmeal-rye pancake that is great with pork instead of cornbread (although they have cornbread mix, too). I saw a package of whole wheat bread flour that I had to have. I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I knew I needed it.

I have a recipe I found on Jamie Oliver's website for pizza crust and I've been making pizza on the grill ever since. It is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. And if you don't have access to a grill or the weather is too miserable you can cook the crust on the stove top in a skillet.

I looked at crust recipe and I looked at the whole wheat bread flour and decided to give it a try.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust for the Grill
(adapted from Jamie Oliver)

• 2 lbs whole wheat bread flour - about 6-7 cups (can be combined with white bread flour if you discover you're a little short of the whole wheat - oops!) 
  2 T wheat gluten, optional, but good for getting a crust that stretches nicely
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 T instant yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar or honey
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 - 3 1/2 c lukewarm water
  
  
  
  
  Put the flour, gluten, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. In a bowl, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes. Add the yeast mixture a little bit at a time until a dough forms. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough, add water if the mixture seems dry and crumbly, add a tablespoon of flour if the dough seems too sticky.
  
  Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.
  
  Now remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands – this is called knocking back the dough. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in plastic wrap , in the fridge (or freezer) until required. If using straight away, divide the dough up into as many little balls as you want to make pizzas. The recipe says 6-8 pizzas, I got 16 individual-sized rounds.
  
  Timing-wise, it's a good idea to roll the pizzas out about 15 to 20 minutes before you want to cook them. Don't roll them out and leave them hanging around for a few hours, though – if you are working in advance like this it's better to leave your dough, covered with clingfilm, in the fridge. However, if you want to get them rolled out so there's one less thing to do when your guests are round, simply roll the dough out into rough circles, about 0.5cm thick, and place them on slightly larger pieces of olive-oil-rubbed and flour-dusted tinfoil. You can then stack the pizzas, cover them with clingfilm, and pop them into the fridge. 
  
  
  Heat a grill on highest heat or a skillet on high until smoking. Place a dough round on the oiled surface and flip after about 45 seconds. Cook for another 45-60 seconds, then remove from the heat. Add toppings of your choice and return to the grill until the cheese melts. I have found that keeping the red sauce to the side instead of trying to cook the pizza with the sauce on makes for a crispier crust. I tend not to put too many toppings on so the pizza doesn't fall apart while it's cooking.
  
  

Farmer's Market Meal - 1st Week, May 15

I love the Farmer's Market. Not just like it a lot, or enjoy it, but I LOVE it. Our local little market is on Thursdays and they are usually the highlight of my week. I love talking to people, seeing all of the produce, thinking about meals, eating my favorite foods, enjoying the weather. The last market of the year makes me want to cry and the first market makes me so excited I bounce out of bed without hitting snooze - impressive for a mother of 3.

I like to make up new recipes and tweak existing recipes. I play my own version of the Food Network show Chopped, but without the insane ingredients.

The first week is a little tough since May in Wisconsin is rarely conducive to growing much produce. Especially this May! And the first week of Market was freezing and rainy, but darn it, I'd waited 6 months for this day! Many vendors decided they wouldn't even break even if they came, so it was a small market. Tom Murphy, who had organized the Market at Greenway Station from the beginning, decided to take a well-earned retirement and has turned his table over to his grandson. Tom's wife also has decided to cut back on her baking, so the bars, cookies, and little breads are only available at the larger markets. I'm sad about this, but we've got a new bakery this summer and they also have lovely selections of goods. Cheryl Heck has now taken over organizing the Market and there are many new vendors as well as most of the reliable standbys.

I was able to get asparagus, morel mushrooms, butter, and maple syrup at the first week of Market. This gave me the idea for a couple of recipes, but of course I didn't think to take pictures when I made them.

Morels with Asparagus and Orzo

2 T Butter
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lb asparagus with ends snapped off and cut into bite sized pieces
morels - as many as you can get! - soaked to get the dirt out and chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup orzo

Cook orzo according to package directions. You can do more or less orzo depending on your taste or if you're trying to stretch out the meal.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the minced garlic. (I like to use a fine hole grater to shred the garlic since my knife skills are awful.) Let it get a little soft, but watch so the garlic doesn't burn. Add the asparagus and saute until starting to get bright green. Then add the morels and cook them all together until they reach the texture you like. There may be a lot of liquid left as the mushrooms cook down and you can either drain it or keep it as sort of a sauce when you add the cooked orzo.

This would have been good with some Parmesan-style cheese shredded on top, but I didn't have any. It was pretty delicious without it, if you ask me!


Maple Rhubarb Sauce for Waffles

2 cups of rhubarb - chopped
1/4 cup maple syrup
1-3 T water
Pinch of salt

Combine the rhubarb, maple syrup, and salt into a medium sauce pan and watch carefully as you bring it to a boil, then turn down to simmer, simmer often. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, if needed. Simmer until the rhubarb begins to break down. You can add more maple syrup to taste.

The Waffles (adapted from King Arthur Flour's Maple-Bacon Yeast Waffles recipe)

• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
• 6 tablespoons melted butter or canola oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 to 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon maple flavor, optional, for enhanced maple taste
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1) Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, leaving room for expansion. Stir to combine; the mixture won't be perfectly smooth.

2) Cover with plastic wrap, and let rest at room temperature for 1 hour; the mixture will begin to bubble. You can cook the waffles at this point, or refrigerate the batter overnight to cook waffles the next day.

3) Preheat your waffle iron, and spray it with non-stick vegetable oil spray.

4) Pour 2/3 to 3/4 cup batter (or the amount recommended by the manufacturer) onto the center of the iron. Close the lid, and bake for the recommended amount of time, until the waffle is golden brown.

5) Serve immediately, or keep warm in a 200°F oven while you cook the remaining waffles. Serve with butter and Maple Rhubarb sauce.