2 medium sized artichokes or 4 small
1/2 lemon for preparing artichokes
1 oz pancetta, diced
1 tbsp olive oil preferably extra
1 virgin
1 onion, finely chopped
1 salt & freshly ground black pepper,, to taste
1 large leek, thoroughly claned and s, liced thinly
3/4 lb pizza dough
1 semolina or cornmeal for dusting
2 oz mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated, (2/3 cup)
3 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese
Directions
Place a pizza stone, baking tiles or an inverted baking sheet on the
lowest rack of a cold oven; preheat for 30 minutes to 500 degrees F
or the highest setting.
For each of the artichokes, peel away and discard the tough outer
leaves, snapping them off at the base, until you reach the pale
yellow leaves with the darker green tops. Slice off the darkest green
top and rub the artichoke with the cut side of the lemon half.
With a paring knife, trim the artichoke where you snapped off the
leaves, removing any green portions. Rub with lemon. Trim the bottom
1/4 inch off the stem and pare away the tough outer skin. With a
melon baller or paring knife, remove the fuzzy choke from the center
of the artichoke. Cut the heart into quarters, then cut each quarter
into 4 pieces. Squeeze the lemon into a bowl of water and place the
artichoke pieces into the acidulated water to keep them from turning
brown.
Heat a skillet over the medium heat, add pacetta and cook, stirring
until golden about 4 minutes. Drain the pancetta on paper towels.
Pour off fat from the skillet. Add 1 1/2 tsp. of the olive oil and
onions to the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions
are soft but not brown, about 3 minutes. Add the drained artichoke
pieces and stir to mix well. Add pepper and 2/3 cup water. Cover and
cook over low heat until the artichoke pieces are tender and most of
the liquid has cooked away, about 15 minutes. Add leeks and stir to
mix well. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding salt if desired. Let
cool completely.
Here we go with the dough again...Place dough on a lightly floured
surface and pat into a disk. Use a rolling pin or your hands to roll
or stretch the dough into a circle that is 1/4 inch thick and 10 to
12 inches in diameter. Transfer to a semolina or cornmeal dusted
pizza peel or inverted baking sheet. Brush the dough with a little of
the remaining olive oil. Distribute the artichoke mixture over the
dough. Sprinkle the cheeses over the artichoke mixture. Drizzle with
the remaining olive oil.
Carefully slide the pizza onto the heated pizza stone and bake for 6
to 8 minutes, or until the bottom is crisp and browned and the top is
bubbling.
Entered by: Diane Pahl (1:2410/120) Recipes from: Eating Well, The
Magazine of Food and Health (tm) ISSN 1064-16399
Servings: 1 pizza
Artichoke & Leek Pizza (Ew) Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Italian; Pasta; Pizza; Vegetable
The History of Recipes
It is actually possible to trace the history of written cooking instructions back into antiquity, in truth as far into history as pharonic Egypt, and quite possibly further than that. Having said that, generally, these early recipes were just primitive pictorial recipes for preparing food.
The truth of the matter is, the most ancient recipe discovered so far, according to experts in ancient history is a collection of ancient tablets in ancient Sumerian which show the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making anyone who drank it feel exhilarated. Moving on, there are two interesting recipe books which were published in the fourteenth century : a book entitled `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary called `Curye on Inglish`. Perhaps surprisingly, these books are nothing to do with the curry that we all know today, but instead accounts of the types of meals eaten by the rich and wealthy people of those days. During the following few centuries, the powerful families of Europe tried to offer the most extravagent banquests, and because of this the best chefs and their collection of recipes increased in prestige. Nevertheless, it wasn`t until the 1800s that formal cookery and recipe books reached a high level of popularity. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, dedicated years of their lives to assembling, testing, and publishing popular recipes of the day. By the advent of the 1900s, cooking books were starting to become popular as a result of higher levels of literacy, people having increased spare time and a general increase in wealth. The revolution that is television brought us celebrity TV chefs and the demand for the spin-off recipe books. And that pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of computers and the internet, permitting everybody to search through thousands of recipes just like those on this web site. |
We hope you enjoy this Artichoke & Leek Pizza (Ew) recipe.
