Monday, August 13

CLOUDY AND GREY!

the sun did NOT come out at all yesterday-
and while it was lugubrious as heck out there in the grey, wet, disappointment
of atmospheric interference,
it was the perfect temperature for the number one attitude adjuster
that comes out fresh and hot from my oven....
yep.
i'm talking about pizza.
again.
pizza forever, man.
pizza all the effin' time.
when do i want pizza? always, always, always, like, right now even.
yeah!
how much pizza do i want?
dudes, i want ALL the pizza. i want MORE pizza. also, i want some pizza, please.
ok.
so, it was another 'nother pizza party.
but what was poppin' on my plate THIS time?
take a look:

PEE EYE ZEE ZEE AYY!!!
woooooooooooooooord!
it's been well established that potatoes on pizza is a good idea.
the first time i had 'em was at a roadside pizza spot outside venice, italy,
something like twenty years ago.
since then, the little spudlets have been perpetually invited to attend my pizza parties.
they're really good.
so,
while my oven was preheating to 480 convection-activated circulatory fahrenheit degrees,
i had three small, red, skin-on potatoes halved and sliced into the wedges you see above,
oiled, pink salted, black peppered, GPOP'd, and smoked paprika sprankled,
to roast in the climbing temperatures until they were golden, but only slightly.
(they still had to bake ON the pie, guys, y'know?)
mmmmmmm.
i grilled up a bunch of leek ringlets, with a glug of oil,
until they had a respectable level of char on 'em.
i'm kind of an onion-head, kids. that's real.
and all the onions and their relatives are welcome in my kitchen and on my plate.
so, in addition to the leeks, i had raw red onion strips and scallion greens, too.
that's how i like it- an overabundance of excellence-
too much is the right amount, right?
...heck yes it is.
saturday night's tomato sauce was expert- across the board it rocked all the socks.
and then sunday's upgrade took it to eleven,
and then up and out into a whole new dimension of taste and texture, too-
the leftovers were cooked in all of the reserved tomato juice,
but with another cup and a half of sliced grape tomatoes reduced down
to the thiccckest thickness,
and then pureed to a super smooth consistency-
like, really, how many of you need a recipe for success?
i laid it out, now forge your own path, buddy. you can do it, for sure.
also, i decided something- cooked sauce is acceptable on pizza.
i know, i know, purists will say that crushed san marzano tomatoes are the only way.
i've just eaten several pizzas that say otherwise, so i can't agree completely.
that's a thing.
-
and when i added a whole head of chopped broccoli, seared in oil,
and slightly steamed with a splash of warm water prior to the big bake?
damn, duders- pizza at the Folk Life & Liberty Fortress is an epic event, each and every time.
that's no joke.
i even had regular-A* pizza crust for the first time in a few minutes-
uh-huh.
-
*
REGZ!
-
in my trusted assistant, the stand-upright mixer's big bowl, i combined:
2 cups a.p. flour;
2 tsp salt;
1 tsp sugar;
1 pkg regular-ol' slow-actin' yeast;
3/4 cup warm water;
1 tsp fast actin' bread yeast.
that's it.
kneaded up for ten minutes, covered and proofed alll day-
it was a crisp thin-crust dough, and it did the trick, quickly.
i've got no complaints about THAT.
-
stretched and laid out on the seasoned, lightly oiled steel pan, the dough was dope
before it ever hit the hot stone.
expert is as expert does,
and i'm on that pizzaiolo jaun with all i've got to give.
-
double the daiya chee'? yes.
cheddar AND mozz, for that potato and broccoli and pizza blend.
anything else?
why, yes, as a matter of fact, because rules is rules,
there's fried garlic sprankles on there to keep the muh-fuhhhh'r really real.
yes, yes, and also, YES.
pizza is the brightest spot in a dark day.
every single time there's pizza, every single thing seems a bit better for it's presence.
righteous, elite, awesome radical vegan pizza is the thing i'm into the most.
and luckily, it's also the thing i have the know-how, wherewithal,
and ingredients to create the most often-
so i'm doing ok, bro.
it's all okay.
***********
...and i've got the fullest day ahead.
and i've got a head full of to-do's and other assorted doo-doo, to do, too.
yeah.
first things first, i need to get groceries, and the right time to do that is right when
the grocery store opens....
nobody is there besides one cashier and two old people, and me (so, three old people?)
without more fresh veggies, every day is bullsh!t, and i'm not trying to live like that.
i've got places to go, and things to find places for,
and places where things need to go full of things that need to go....
it's all really happening, all of it;
every last little excrementable item, is underway
in real-time 1080HD 360° surround-sound space-and-time occupying pressure
in between all the other other bits of my day that need doing.
gross grocery getting, grosser dog walks, slightly-less-gross tattzapps all day long,
delightful dinnertime, gross dog walk, and somewhere, maybe a little other exercise,
and whole lotta packing up, which really just means sorting and organizing,
in between bouts of removal of a decade's worth of history, comedy, and tragedy.
that's real life, isn't it?
some combination of all of the above?
yep.
so, there you have it.
today is a day full of real life;
never quiet, never soft.....

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