Spinach-Artichoke Heart Pizza

We have had a wood-fired oven in our backyard for three years now.  With the exception of a few main course dishes, we have mostly used it for pizza.  On my to-do list is to utilize the oven more.  I especially want to bake bread in it. But, we really enjoy making pizza.  It's a fun and easy way to entertain.  I prepare the dough and toppings ahead of time and we have our guests form their pizza dough on a wooden paddle and then accessorize with their choice of toppings. Lots of laughter as people, form their dough into rounds. Some aren't so round but they all taste good! My Hubbers mans the fire and cooks the pizza.  The cooking part only takes a few minutes as the oven is very hot! The oven temperature is over 700 degrees so if it's really warm outside, we bring him a cold beer every now and then!

I always have toppings for the traditional red sauce/pepperoni pizza.  Everyone loves the classic combination. I like to experiment with my pizza, trying new combinations.  I really enjoyed this spinach-artichoke topping. The white sauce makes the perfect base for the sautéed spinach. More fresh spinach, lots of cheese, and artichoke hearts made for a great combination. If you are one of those who must have meat on your pizza you can also add some roasted or grilled chicken pieces.

Homemade pizza is easy to make in a kitchen oven, too.  A baking stone and a very hot oven will do the trick! If using a pizza stone, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Place pizza stone in the preheated oven and let heat for 20 minutes before transferring pizza to the stone. You can use parchment paper under the dough to help prevent sticking.  It's not necessary in the wood oven, we turn the pizza quite frequently to prevent sticking and provide even cooking time near the burning wood.

Spinach-Artichoke Heart Pizza

1 batch homemade or store-bought pizza dough
8 oz. fresh spinach, divided
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 oz. shredded or finely chopped provolone cheese
4 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
4 oz. shredded Parmesan cheese
1 (16 oz.) can artichoke hearts (not marinated), drained well, quartered if large

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add 3/4 of the spinach and the minced garlic, and
sauté until spinach is wilted, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a layer of paper towels and gently press some of the water out. Finely chop the spinach mixture and set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat (do not brown).  Whisk in the flour and onion powder and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly whisk in the milk and increase temperature to medium high and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture has thickened.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from heat and stir in the spinach mixture.  Chop the remaining spinach and set aside.

Stretch or roll out pizza dough to desired thickness on a floured wooden pizza paddle (flour well so the pizza will easily slide off the paddle into the oven).  Spread the spinach sauce evenly over the pizza, leaving a one-inch border around the edge. Sprinkle fresh spinach over the sauce, then top with provolone and mozzarella cheeses. Add chopped artichokes (and cooked chicken, if using) and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Using the pizza paddle, slide the pizza onto the surface of the wood oven or the hot pizza stone. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly. 

Guinness Beef Stew

In the course of the last week we've gone from keeping the windows open in the house to wearing sweatshirts and watching it rain.  Oh, how we need the rain! Even though it's already November I feel it's only now time that I start cooking fall/winter comfort food items; things like soup, pot pie, and stew.

I belong to a small food board. We share recipes there and it's the first place I go to on the web to look for a recipe.  The ladies who belong to this board never let me down, they are wonderful cooks and bakers. Betsy pointed us all in the direction of this stew and, one by one, we've all been making it. Today was my turn and I wasn't disappointed. The recipe was originally found on Cooks Country (recipe here).  Each of us has tweaked the recipe a bit to suit our tastes. Though the recipe does take some time to make, most of that time is in the oven. It's very easy to put together. We are still curing our wood oven so we cooked this in that oven. Unfortunately, for me, we had a torrential downpour as I was putting the veggies in the stew! It's not everyday I get drenched cooking dinner!

The recipe calls for a boneless chuck roast, that is then cut into cubes.  At the grocery store I went to, the roast was $4-something a pound.  "Stew meat" was virtually the same price.  As the stew cooks for such a long period of time, I didn't think meat quality would make that much difference so I went with easy and bought the pre-cut meat. Call me lazy, I don't care!

Beer & I don't agree much but I couldn't leave it out as it is such a big part of the recipe.  The brown sugar tempered it some and I found the flavor to be quite nice.

The stew, along with a baguette of sourdough bread, made a wonderful and filling meal. This won't be the last time we have this stew this winter!

GUINNESS BEEF STEW

1 ( 3 1/2 to 4-pound) boneless beef chuck-eye roast, pulled apart at seams, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 yellow onion, chopped fine
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups beef broth
1 (12-ounce) bottle Guinness Draught, divided
4 1/2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon mince fresh thyme (or equivalent dried)
1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Season the beef with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add the onions and salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned, 8 to 10 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and garlic and cook for 2 minutes.  Stir in the flour and cook for an additional 1 minute.

Whisk in the beef broth, 3/4 cup of the Guinness, brown sugar and thyme, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot.  Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the beef and return to a simmer.

Transfer the pot to the oven and cook, uncovered, for 90 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking.

Stir in the potatoes and carrots and continue cooking until the beef and vegetables are tender, about 1 hour, stirring halfway through cooking.  Remove the pot from the oven and stir in the remaining 1/2 cup of Guinness and the parsley.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Don't know what to do with the rest of the can of tomato paste?  Put one tablespoon dollops (is that a word?) onto waxed paper, freeze for 10-15 minutes until firm.  Then store in freezer Ziploc bags.  Whenever you need a little tomato paste, just grab a dollop or two!

Wood-Fired Oven

My Hubbers rides a Harley as one of his hobbies.  In the biking world there is a saying that goes "it's not the destination, but the journey"; basically don't be so concerned about where you're headed to that you don't enjoy the ride along the way. Shouldn't life be like that, too?  We all know there will be an end to our life here on earth. Our goal in life should be enjoying the journey along the way, to follow our dreams, to dream big. There is something gratifying about working hard and having your dreams come to fruition.

For the last few years I've been dreaming of having a wood-fired outdoor oven. We (especially me) are homebodies, our house is our castle. I love to cook and bake, my Hubbers loves to socialize, so an outdoor oven appealed to me on many levels. After much "hemming and hawing" we bit the bullet and our oven is now finished! At first, this was my dream and my Hubbers just went along with me.  The inner caveman in him has emerged during this process (man + fire equals some sort of mystical combination!) and he is very excited about the oven, too.  I know we have a steep learning curve ahead of us but it will be fun, something that we can learn together.

We opted to have a masonry contractor build the oven, though I know many do it themselves. Our contractor is wonderful, he did our brick courtyard a few years back.  Watching him and his crew work is like watching a symphony, all the parts blending together, truly magical.  After seeing the process I'm glad we didn't attempt it on our own.  It would've taken us forever and our marriage may have taken a hit! It took three highly-qualified men four days to complete this oven! The process began with a concrete pad. A block frame was then constructed on top of the pad. Another layer of concrete was done and the actual oven dome (which is from Forno Bravo) was placed on top of it. Then the dome was insulated and surrounded by more block. Sand was poured between the dome and block walls to further insulate the oven. Finally this was all topped by more blocks to enclose the unit.  Brick was then applied to get the decorative finish we desired. Whew!

The Forno Bravo cooking dome and fire-brick oven floor. Looks rather like an igloo!

The block frame complete and ready for brick. The bottom area is for wood storage.

We have about two more weeks that the mortar needs to cure before we can start using the oven.  The mortar has to totally set so that the high heat the oven gets to won't crack it.  In addition, we have to start with small fires in the actual cooking dome, gradually building up to a full roaring fire over about a week time span. We think we will have our first meal from it the first of November.  In the meantime, I'm devouring cookbooks, website articles and YouTube videos, trying to learn as much as possible. Our first venture will be pizza, that seems to be an easy process, but anything can be cooked in the oven. Our future will hold many nights of various wood-fired meats, vegetables and, even, desserts coming from this oven. I'm anxious to bake bread in it and we plan to do a lot of entertaining.  I can't wait!