sauce | Adventures in Thyme

Pizza Buffet

Another summer is winding down. New school year’s are starting, gardens are in full harvest mode, and everyone seems to be squeezing out all the “staycation” exuberance they have left. So this week, we’re highlighting the ease and playfulness of a pizza buffet.

We are lucky enough to live in time where gluten free, dairy free, and organic products are almost as easy to find as “regular” products of similar ilk. So offering a pizza buffet to family friends is easy as assembling together all the ingredients that float your unique culinary boat (ie: tolerated, suitable, tasty, adventurous).

For our buffet we purchased pre-made gluten free pizza dough from the freezer section of our grocery store, and toppings such as: Sheep Ricotta, Dairy Free Mozzarella, Buffalo Mozzarella, Prosciutto, Pancetta, Smoked Salmon, Pepperoni, Ham, Bell Peppers, and fresh herbs and tomatoes from our garden. We also had berries, honey, and jam to pair with the ricotta for a pizza dessert. You can cook your pizzas on a bbq or in the oven, however it works best for your buffet plans too!

Although we could have opted for a store bought pizza sauce, we chose to make our own, here’s the recipe we used for a quick sauce:

2 15oz cans of tomato sauce
1 6oz can of tomato paste
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 Tablespoons honey
2-3 Tablespoons fresh chopped oregano
1 tsp salt
pepper as desired

Stir together over medium heat until just boiling then turn down and simmer until ready to use.

So use your pizza dough as a blank canvas on which you can paint your very own masterpiece of yumminess, and best of all – everyone gets to make their own leaving you just a few more dulcet moments to enjoy the pleasures of summer.

Penne with pepper vodka sauce

Here’s a tasty little recipe that will keep your own torch burning using a little Stoli Hot (jalapeño infused vodka).

Ingredients:

1 Box of Penne Pasta (1lb)
~2 Tablespoons each of Butter & Olive Oil
1/2 Sweet Onion, chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 Cup of Vodka (1/2 Stoli Hot, 1/2 plain vodka)
1 Can Tomato Sauce (~15oz)
1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
~1/4 Teaspoon each of Rosemary, Basil & Thyme
Generous Cup of grated Pecorino Cheese (can substitute with parmesan)
Black Pepper to taste

How to cook it:

Set your pot of water on the stove and bring to boil. Cook noodles per product directions.

While the water is coming to temperature, heat a frying pan on medium low with butter and oil, adding chopped garlic and onions when ready. Allow these to cook ~10 mins or until translucent then add the vodka. Bring this mixture back up to temperature (you can see it begin to steam and bubble), add the can of tomato sauce, herbs, salt & pepper. Mix well and bring back up to temperature.

At this point I grab a strainer, mine is about 6″ wide and using a ladle pour my vodka sauce thru the strainer and back into the fry pan – so basically I am removing all the chunks of garlic and onion. This is a personal choice of course, you can certainly leave them in, but I prefer a smoother sauce and the garlic and onions have already made their contributions to the party (IMHO). Add the cream and mix well. Grab your pecorino (or parmesan) and grate a generous cup of cheese – take 1/2 a cup or 3/4 cup whatever suits your fancy and dump that into your vodka sauce, mixing well.

The noodles should be done by now, so strain those out using a colander. Fill your bowl with noodles, spoon some vodka sauce over the top and sprinkle on some additional cheese. The Stoli Hot adds a subtle heat well suited to this creamy sauce. You can also substitute the Stoli Hot with bacon infused vodka. Yes, I said bacon!

Pizza – Assemble!

Goodbye Sochi, Hello Stoli!