Posts Tagged ‘pizza goon’

Daikon Wonderland

Winter is certainly the time of year for beautiful radishes. The colors of the wonderful daikon are tremendous, especially on pizza. Yes, that might sound like heresy in some tradionalists circles but I think the beautiful crunch of cured daikon like tha pizza above are brilliant. This “Super Radish Pie” I made with a 50-hour cold-fermented sourdough with natural starter and dressed with a celeriac, (celery root) and purple kholrabi pudding with roasted garlic. I then topped it with Gruyere, Manchego and aged mozzarella. Just out of the oven I dressed it with organic, salt-sugar-cured “Green Meat” diakon (aka- Chinese “tsingato or luobo green” and Japanese “minowase”) from Primatera Farms and the fat organic purple daikon I get from Shade River Organics. The highlight of every bite is the sriracha mayonnaise on top.

 

Unlike many root vegetables I put on pizzas and breads, daikon doesn’t de-colorize if you don’t add to much acid like lemon or vinegar. The Turkish-style Pide, (pee-DAY) above with Peruvian Purple potato and turmeric-garlic roasted celeriac took alot longer to roast before pairing them with the simple combination of Parmigiano Reggiano and Prosciutto di Parma.

This summer, the fine folks at Shade River Organics have supplied me with purple daikon. I just love the purple color and have shredded it for an after-oven topping on to striking effect on this Kimchi-Bacon roulade with provolone, Barbari Spice, King Family bacon ends, cilantro, sesame and some kimchi made with Cowdery farms napa cabbage, gochujang and ferment mother.

The taste of daikon varies from year to year as hotter temperatures make for spicier daikon. Farmers are using large daikon to replace lost nitrogen in soil and even at Ohio State University, they are experimenting with daikon growing in between rows of corn. I love to combine the different colors of daikon in cubes for our Vegan Boxes that we sell alot of.

These boxes (above) consist of local cabbages and greens, cured and roasted root vegetables as well as any other vegetable that doesn’t fit those descriptions. I also add a salsa verde or asian-flavored dipping sauce and some za’atar manoushe.

My new favorite this winter is the Green Meat daikon. I just love the flavor and that beautiful round of green is gently acidic and gets spicier as you gobble your way down into the white part of this root.

This week, I am combining two kimchi/pickling techniques with cubes of the tri-colored daikon. First I cubed them like traditional Kkakdugi then cured in salt and sugar, ginger and garlic and added some Calabrian Chilies for a nice heat and kept it for four days. Tomorrow I will add some scallion and water to the mix and wait for fermentation to occur like a classic Dongchimi or Korean Radish Water Kimchi. This will make a great vegan side…or maybe I could add some bacon…ha!

 

Pizza and Breads in Goon-thousand16

 

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I make my living making pizzas and it’s been a busy year. Here are some of the pizzas and breads I’ve been involved with in 2016.

Above are a bunch of Turkish style Pide (Pee-DAY) with spinach, ricotta and Parmigiano Reggiano with Fior di Latte and Valorosso tomatoes.

 

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These wonderful, (and expensive) pistachio and blueberry baguettes were a big hit.

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My Managing Partner Joel Fair and I in the wee hours baking some killer sourdough loaves that I call “Bread Zeppelin”  These babies rock and I had the honor of taking  a mid-cut and soaking it with FIVE eggs, sauteing it in my largest saute’ pan for the best damn French toast ever!

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This year I’ve really ramped up my asian flavors in pizzas. Above is a wonderful kimchi wing, “O” face pizza I made on 30 hour, naturally fermented Manitoba wheat with local baby bok choy from Green Edge Gardens, salt pickled Japanese turnip that I took for a nice swim for 12 hours in my kimchi ferment. I contrasted these bold flavors with my favorite cheese for kimchi- aged provolone and some local Romano Caprino made by Integration Acres and pumpkin seeds. I made a quick sauce of miso pudding and teriyaki. (Both tend to burn a little.)

 

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I love the crunch of a nice baguette and made these beauties with blueberry and pistachio.

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My customers out here in the wilds of Ohio are wild about the folded and horn shaped “Cornetta’s” that I frequently bake. My favorite this late summer were these oven-dried, late season Roma tomatoes with spinach, local Gouda from Integration Acres, Fiore di Latte Mozzarella, fresh basil and finished with Serrano Ham. This beaut on the left, (above) was made with Bay State “00” milled flour held for 12 hours in slow, chilled fermentation. The older dough I made with high gluten flour on this cornetta, right, (above) was baked with a much higher heat and exhibited a really cool crust.

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I had an amazing trip to Corto Olive Oil Company and was able to see the whole harvest to oil process of a fantastic extra virgin oil. I got back and experimented by making a burrata-type ball filled with this fantastic oil. It was delicious.

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I can’t do a visual of 2016 without a sample of the thousands upon thousands of Asiago Fougasse we sold this last year. Thanks to my team lead by Managing Partner Joel Fair.

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When I get so many Asian vegetables from my farmer friends, I live making stuff like this Kimchi-bacon roulade. I used a 90 percent sourdough mix and filled a rectangular dough with sesame, sesame oil, kimchi, King Family bacon ends and cilantro. I cooked this in some Ethiopian Barbari spice that my friend Michael Gillespe turned me on to. The flower on this wonderful beast is some purple daikon grown by my friend Star at Shade River Organics.

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Speaking of Kimchi and Pork!  Here is a killer pizza variant and what I call a Pain Sablier, or Hourglass Bread. Here I have pineapple-sesame-Gochujang kimchi wings with my cured and roasted pork belly, Parmigiano Reggiano, cilantro, Black garlic and mozzarella curd. On the right is a close up of a high gluten knot.

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This year we also did Beyond Bounty on the Bricks, a wonderful charity dinner that benefits the food bank. We worked with Keith Wilde, an inspirational local artist in hundred-degree heat. Our dinner was at Rich Gardens and our hosts, Rich and Anne Tomsu were very welcoming. Above is a trio of really cool vegetables.

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This was the 10th course of the dinner. We cleaned and fired hundreds of old railroad spikes from Athens, Ohio and our guests were able to cook some seared beef tenderloin on them with an Asian dipping sauce. Thanks Keith for the fotos and the dinner.

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Speaking of weird, I love making these Pane Groviglio! This bread crosses every line from bread to pasta then to sausage. I made some Baharat-roasted pork belly and mixed it with Jerusalem artichokes, cilantro, lemon zest and pine nuts- this is all tossed with old slices of bread dough and wrapped in caul fat with fresh herbs and bacon.

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Here is one large Pizza al Metro with Stanislaus Valorosso Tomato, fresh basil pesto, Corto olive oil atop aged mozzarella and provolone.

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Of all the things I’ve done last year, I have to say that working with Seth Lutton and Matt Starline to get this perennial grain called Kernza in the ground here in Athens County. Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas and we didn’t get much from this crop. We won’t stop until we can get some kernza in my menu mix.

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I’ll leave you here with two cool pics. On the left is my Lebanese style Sukkar bi Tahin with sweetened tahini and on the right is a spelt Cornetto with a local baby carrot blanketed by local spelt flour.

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Thanks or everything readers. I have alot more photo’s and videos of pizzas and breads to come soon. I hope you will hang in there for more post to come in 2017! In the meantime, sit down and have a bite of this Corsican basil fougasse.

Semper Pie.