Maybe it's because I was once a child (and a college student) in America, but for me, pizza night is a once-a-week affair. With one of the Wegel Family Creations already in your recipe box, I'm here with another one -- I wouldn't want to leave you high-and-dry on a Saturday night.
If our last pizza was a little bit too vegalicious for you, then this one might be up your alley -- for all of you "meat lovers" out there, I bring you: Baked Tofu Pizza with Peanut Sauce.
As before, tin made our wonderful, can't-get-that-goodness-anywhere-else pizza dough. You can find her recipe and instructions with the first pizza post ("Pizza Night").
The foundation of this pizza was going to be a peanut sauce. But the cornerstone was going to be an herby, garlic-y spice mix. I began by mincing two cloves of garlic and dicing a small white onion; I combined them in a nonstick pot with a tablespoon of olive oil and two tablespoons of finely-chopped fresh parsley. A pinch of salt and a healthy bit of black pepper went in for good measure, and I let everything cook on medium until the onions had caramelized.
Now you're ready to start making the sauce-y part of the sauce.
We found a prepackaged peanut sauce mix at our favorite Asian market and quickly grabbed it up, thinking it would make a killer curry (also true); ours was a dry mix* which I spooned directly into the caramelized onions and garlic, to which I added water -- slowly --, and simmered, stirring frequently. The instructions on the mix were indeed for preparing a curry-like sauce, which would have been far too thin for a pizza sauce. I added the water a few tablespoons at a time to make sure that it didn't get too soupy.
*Assuming that you, too, would like to purchase a similar dry mix, here are the ingredients in mine: peanuts (65%), paprika, salt, "herbs & spices," and sugar. The "herbs and spices" component was somewhat mysteriously unidentifiable, as are many things purchased at such markets, but the element of surprise is usually pleasant. It was in this case. And honestly, I think I probably largely obliterated any "herbs and spices" inherent to the mix itself by adding my own garlic, onion, parsley, salt and pepper. So the skinny is actually not so skinny: I presume that the other 35% of my mix was probably sugar. It's a little bit horrifying if you think about it, but... you're making one pizza. And you're going to share it with your friends, right? Live a little. It's Saturday Night Pizza Night.
With the sauce bubbling away, I got to work on the toppings.
For the obligatory vegetable component: I defrosted two cups of frozen spinach (to do this, I heated mine on low with two tablespoons of water) and mixed in another cup of fresh parsley leaves. If you're using fresh spinach, wash it up, and give it a rough chop. I then peeled and very finely sliced two small white turnips. I also had a random potato kicking around in one refrigerator drawer leftover from an evening with guests -- I cut it into slices as well. If you don't have a lingering pre-cooked potato, do feel free to eliminate this step. But take a critical look around your kitchen, because pizza night is indeed the perfect night for getting rid of strange leftovers. Another leftover -- about a half cup of corn -- would also be making an appearance on this pizza.
And now, for those of you who used to love a good meaty pizza... I submit for your approval: super-thinly sliced tofu. Baked in your oven, it's going to take on a familiar chewy texture that's crispy on the edges (think "Hawaiian Pizza"-style). For our pizza, I sliced 200g of tofu lengthwise, as thinly as I could.
We began by, again, pre-baking our dough in a 375 degree oven for about five minutes. We then removed it from the oven to put on the toppings. After evenly spreading the sauce over the pre-baked dough (leaving a half-inch perimeter), we thinly spread the spinach over the sauce; next came the corn kernels, followed by the sliced turnips. The tofu should go on the top -- bearing in mind that this tofu was unpressed (meaning that it is still "waterlogged," so to speak) you'll want to keep it fully exposed to the heat to prevent the entire pizza from turning into a soggy disaster. And from a purely textural standpoint: you're going to have a crispy dough with chewy crust, a chunky sauce, the smooth cooked spinach, soft turnips... I wanted to mirror the texture of the dough in the very top layer -- by allowing the tofu to dry out and bake until the corners start to curl up, the end product will be a little bit crispy, and a little bit chewy. -- I had enough tofu to cover the entire pizza. To top everything off, I sprinkled the entire surface with a little bit of salt and a lot of black pepper.
It went into our oven for another twenty minutes -- be patient. If you pull it out too soon, your tofu will lack the firm texture you're probably hoping for in a meat-lover's special.
Although I am usually an advocate for 100% homemade, natural ingredients, I admit that this pre-packaged peanut sauce was unbelievably good. It brought some sweetness to the earthy spinach (by all means, it certainly should have) and the little chunks of peanut made it feel authentically homemade even though it wasn't. It's flavor was so bold that I was glad I'd left the tofu au naturel.
Like last week, we had leftovers which were awesome to come home to after my work day. We popped the leftover slices into the oven at about 200 degrees for ten minutes to reheat.This pizza is best accompanied by a cold beer, and your favorite person.
_________________________________________________________________________________
The Nitty-Gritty:
Ingredients:
For the dough:
homemade pizza dough (see February's "Pizza Night") -- or a vegan store-bought dough of your choice
For the sauce:
two cloves of garlic
one small white onion
one Tbsp. olive oil
two Tbsp. parsley
salt & pepper
peanut sauce mix (I used Asli Gado Gado Peanut Sauce mix)
water
For the vegetables:
two cups of cooked spinach (or raw equivalent)
one cup of fresh parsley leaves
two small white turnips
one-half cup of corn
"Meat"
200g firm tofu
salt & pepper
Preparation:
1. If working with a homemade dough, prepare according to the instructions in February's post "Pizza Night." You can also use a pre-purchased vegan dough of your choice. Pre-bake the dough for five minutes in a 375 degree oven.
2. Mince two cloves of garlic and dice one small white onion; combine in a nonstick pot with one tablespoon of olive oil and two tablespoons of finely chopped parsley. Add a small pinch of salt and black pepper. Heat on medium until the onions have taken on a light golden, caramelized hue.
3. Add peanut sauce mix -- a few tablespoons at a time, and accordingly, a few tablespoons of water at a time -- until you have about two cups of thick, chunky sauce. Simmer to allow ingredients to combine (about five minutes).
4. Cook spinach with one cup of parsley leaves in two tablespoons of water until the water has evaporated.
5. Very finely slice two white radishes and 200g of firm tofu.
6. Spread sauce evenly over the surface of the pre-baked dough, leaving a half-inch perimeter uncovered for the crust. Likewise, distribute the cooked greens evenly over the sauce. Top with corn. Cover with the sliced radishes, and top with the sliced tofu. Sprinkle the tofu with salt and pepper.
7. Bake at 375 degrees for about twenty minutes, until the corners of the tofu slices start to turn up and the crust is golden brown.
No comments:
Post a Comment