Archive for the ‘Local Ingredients’ Category

The Devils Bidding

Two weeks ago, the Chesterhill Produce Auction got underway with a bang!  It is run fabulously by Tom Redfern and Bob Fedeski of Rural Action. Despite a few thunderstorms, everyone was in great spirits and looking forward to a great growing year. I was looking for ingredients to make a killer pie! I bid on some fresh asparagus, French breakfast radishes, multi-colored Swish chard and spring garlic. This is the pizza I made, but first a little psychological ditty about bidding at an auction. And it ain’t pretty.
                        

If you’ve ever been to an auction of any kind, you’ll know that the little aggressive pilot light inside your unsually calm and empathetic soul starts heating up.  At first, the auction looks daunting but as long as you follow the few rules of etiquette, you’ll have no problem. Rule number one: NO ONE IS YOUR FRIEND AT AN AUCTION.

This is an experience I (my auction number is 186) had last summer:

 A flat of bodacious Mortgage Lifter tomatoes is held up by an Amish guy. These are the most wonderful tomatoes I’ve seen in my life. I am salavating already so I start the first bid.

” I have two, two, two dollars?” The auctioneer says and I look around daring anyone to bid against me. These tomatoes are mine.

A sweet old woman raises her hand extending her little pinky and smiles innocently; she instantly becomes my worse enemy.

“Humma-na-humma, two-fifty, two-fifty, do-I-have-a-three?” the auctioneer looks at me pointing his arm. I nod and grit my teeth hoping to look like a mafia hit man.

“Three-a-ma, Three-a-ma, humana-humana, do I have four-four-four-four dollars?” The auctioneer senses blood in the water now as he arm-points to the woman. She looks trepadacious and I think she’s gonna cave in soon. Then she nods and raises her pinky.

 In my eyes, the bidder is not a nice old woman anymore, she is Beelzabub, lord of darkness and is trying to reek havoc upon my world. She is going for my throat and will crush me with that little pinky she keeps waving. Therefore I must  counter her childish bidding with strength and the full might of my two years experience here at this auction. My next  trumping bid is gonna be an ugly upper-cut to her psyche. 

“Four-fitty, do I have four-fitty, fitty, fitty, four-fitty to you?” He says with an arm point. I nod an aggressive yes.

Now Beelzebub is turning and talking to others gathered around her for guidance. They back off, not wanting to help, or hinder this fight. She looks down, worried. She is going down like the Titanic. I smirk in self-admiration for vanquishing Miss Pinky.

“Humana-humana-humana, five, five, five, do I have…”

“Shoot, I’ll pay eight dollars.” The woman says, upsurping the process. She looks in her purse at the cash she has. The auctioneer looks puzzled but smiles at me and shrugs his shoulders.

 My mouth drops and I wanna complain about her not following protocal. She has now cast me into a pit of doubt. My mortgage lifters have sprouted wings and are flying away like some 70’s cartoon. I look to the auctioneer for guidance. No help there because he loves when the price to goes up. The Amish guy who raised these tomatoes is smiling also. A sinking feeling drops from my chest to my feet.

“Ah, I guess we have eight, eight, eight, humana, humana. Are you in, number 186?”

It’s decision time for me now and all 50 people eye me, the poor bastard that got out bid by an old womans pinky. Or, I could still carry on and bid $8.50 for this flat- but that would make me a chump, paying too much at the height of the summer tomato glut.

I nod my head no. I am finished. Beelzabub won.

“Yay! I got those beautiful tomatoes? For only eight dollars? Yay!” says the woman over and over.

I shuffle away from the bidding and look at the other vegetables feigning a laissez-faire attitude. I know that I have been whipped but must keep my cocky composure or this flaw may be taken advantage of by other bidders.

 The auction continues and I bid and win everything I need to make some glorious pizzas but all the while, I keep an eye on her, my arch-nemesis.

 I had hoped for bidding redemption someday but I haven’t seen her again.

 Below are the fabulous vegetables to be found at our little auction.So you think I’m being a little hypersensitive about vegetables, well just check these out.

Morel Mushroom and Spring Garlic Pizza

                                                             

O.K., I admit it, I am a fanatic for Bellwether Farms cheeses.  I saved some of  thier fabulous crescenza from my exploits in Italy just in time for morel mushroom season! It’s also time for the farmers to start trimming the tops in thier garlic fields, life cannot connect the culinary dots any better than this!

                                  

The older I get, the more I notice that when it comes to really fabulous pizza, perfection is more easily obtained with great ingredients and simplicity. The Bellwether Crescenza has matured from it’s creamy, young state and has become more tart, assertive and lemony with that hard to duplicate coastal nuance from the California breezes. The Italian Fontina I will pair with this creamy cheese will add a textural mouth chew and allow the light morels to stay afloat atop this melting cream.  This pizza is simple and is gonna rock, and, because of new technology, you can now just lick the screen and taste the perfect springtime pizza. (I’ll wait.)**

                         

This year there is a bumper crop of morels here in southeast Ohio. They are as thick in the woods as fleas on a tick, (or is it ticks on a flea.)  The rain and mild climate are making the asparagus bolt faster and the mushrooms are poppin’ as fast as people can pick ’em. I’ve pried myself away from Athens, Ohio and  Avalanche Pizza long enough to make this pie and this entry.

                       

Here is my recent cache of grey and blonde morels. For scale I  included a Star Wars laser pistol (with silencer, of course.)

It’s too bad that the State of Ohio has issued a decree that any and all wild mushrooms are off limits for me to prepare for my customers. This level of absurdity even covers morels, which do not look like any other mushroom at all. They have no poison twin sister out there that even looks like a real morel.

                             

 Instead, (this is the hilarious part) I have to buy morel mushrooms from China, and; guess what? They grow wild there and are harvested, dried, put in bags and sold to large food conglomerates to ship to Ohio. This is a perfect example of the level of  corruption in our food system under the guise of “making food safer.” Our wonderful corporate barons have slowly eroded our culinary knowledge about wild things and have even lobbied governments to make it illegal to sell any food made from nature. But enough of the rant, lets eat a great freakin’ pie from the forest and the field!

                         

Close up of the grey morel on the left and the coveted blonde morel on the right.

Garlic tops are the tops of the garlic plant that get cut off to facilitate a larger bulb in the ground. Rich Tomsu has graciously given me boatloads of this glorious and pungent plant. The tops, when ground up, present a smooth mellow garlic tang unlike a raw bulb. I love to pair this with cashews (the roasted, salted kind) and extra virgin olive oil.

                                       

Here is Rich Tomsu of Rich Organic Gardens. He’s one of the most dedicated farmers I’ve met. That’s a garlic top that wasn’t trimmed on the right. Looks for all the world like some psycho-orchid.

Recipe:

Make two, seven-ounce dough ballsl from the Easy Dough Recipe on this blog. Put one in the freezer unless you are making two pies.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and place a pizza stone or heavy cookie sheet upside-down on the middle rack.

                        

Ingredients:

Six to eight garlic tops

Two ounces roasted salted cashews

Six tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Three ounces Fontina cheese

Five ounces Bellweather Farms Crescenza cheese

Five large morel mushrooms or up to 10 smaller ones

Just a splash of black truffle oil

                                                                    

 Chop the garlic tops into very small rounds as close to a chiffinade cut as possible. (this prevents a stringyness to occur in the pesto.) Place in a food processor, pestle or a glass container (if using an immersion blender) with the olive oil, cashews and a pinch of salt. Blend on high until  nice and viscous like above.

                        

Bang out the dough ball as prescribed in the Easy Dough method to create a 10 to 12 inch round disc.

                        

Place the Crescenza then the Fontina on the dough disc.

                              

Slice the morels lengthwise and create a starburst pattern, cut the last one horizontally creating hollow rounds, place this in the middle of the pizza. Sprinkle with black truffle oil for a spectacular taste.

                                    

Place the pesto on and slice into the hot, preheated oven for 10 to 14 minutes until golden brown along the edges and more brown on the bottom.

Serve immediately.

** Oh, after you clean the saliva off your screen, I have a great website for great desert acreage in the Sahara.