Spicy Sausage & Honey Marscapone Pizza

HIS IS THE PIZZA to end all pizzas.  A couple of years back, I had one of the most lip-smackingly delicious pizzas that I can recall.  Though it is a well known fact that I am uncannily partial to these heavenly pies, the sausage and honey pizza at Vesta distinctly stuck out to me because of the savory sweet combination that I talked about in my last post. 

Not being able to make reservations on a Friday night, I decided it would be simple to recreate the meal at home.  Indeed it was... you can bet that this pizza is definitely going to get some major facetime with my friends.  In essence, my lack of planning last Friday has become your good luck.

INGREDIENTS

• Pizza dough
• Pizza / tomato sauce - I like to buy pizza sauce and add minced garlic
• 2 spicy Italian sausages - you can also use vegetarian sausage like I did
• Marscapone cheese
• 2 Serrano chili peppers
• Honey
• Roughly chopped fresh parsley

Scatter sausage and Serrano chili peppers over sauce-covered pizza.

DIRECTIONS

1. Lightly scatter all-purpose flour onto your work surface so dough does not stick.  Roll out pizza dough to about a 1/4" thickness, about 10 in. in diameter.
2. Cut Serrano chili peppers into thin slices, about 1/8".
3. Spread pizza sauce, then top with thinly sliced Italian spicy sausage (I used pre-cooked sausage but you should cook yours beforehand if raw).
4. Preheat oven to 425°.
5. Place pizza into the oven for approximately 12 minutes until crust is golden.
6. Wait 5 minutes before sprinkling fresh chopped parsley on top, spreading marscapone cheese, and drizzling with honey.
7. Divide and conquer!

Perfect Panzanella

OU CAN NEVER go wrong with Italian food: red vine-ripened tomatoes, fresh herbs, and a loaf of piping hot bread are tried and true Italian classics. To celebrate the start of summer, I made a refreshing yet hearty Panzanella that is unlike most other salads without meat in how filling it is.

SALAD INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups of French bread cut into 1" cubes
• 1 hothouse cucumber cut into 3/4" slices
• 2 large tomatoes cut into 1" cubes
• 1 seeded red bell pepper, cut into 1" cubes
• 1 seeded yellow bell pepper, cut into 1" cubes
• 1/2 small red onion, finely diced
• 15 basil leaves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons capers
• grapeseed or olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

VINAIGRETTE INGREDIENTS

• 1 tsp. spicy Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat grapeseed oil in pan, adding cubes of bread and salt and tossing often, for 10 minutes.
2. Mix tomatoes, cucumber, bell peppers, onion, basil, and capers in a large bowl. Whisk ingredients of vinaigrette, then add it to salad ingredients, and lastly, add toasted bread cubes.

On a tangent, there are some realizations that I've made in the last few months. As much as I love the fashion industry, I think I owe it to myself to seriously explore the world of culinary art, or more broadly-speaking, design. I often find myself wishing I could offer an unparalleled level of content for food/design-hungry readers but simply not having time to put the energy into such a lofty goal! Transitioning into this may not be financially feasible for the next couple of years, especially since my goals run the gamut from visiting gastronomically celebrated cities to taking culinary classes... but mark my words, I'm not going to let these aspirations die.

Until next time, enjoy!

MARGARET

P.S. I've been dying to use this bowl that I got from Anthropologie for Christmas, and now that I have, I can say that it is nothing short of awesome... so if you're on the fence, you should get it! It's the perfect size for salads, soups, or cereal.