In the true spirit of Parfait!, I’ve taken the leftovers from three of this week’s posts and turned them into something new and (very) tasty for dinner.
I mentioned when I posted about it that the turkey Parmesan meatloaf was good, but a touch on the dry side, and how very much I was enjoying the ratatouille slathered on a bit of lightly toasted bread – well, why not combine the two on a bit of home made ‘za! dough, and while I’m at it, use up the last of that spicy tomato sauce?
I also took the chance to play around with my favorite ‘za! dough recipe – reducing the amounts so I just had the one ‘za! to deal with – and I am happy to say it all worked out perfectly.
INGREDIENTS
‘Za! Dough:
•3/4 cup warm (110º) water
•1 tsp yeast
•1/2 tsp honey
•2 to 2-1/4 cups flour
•1 tsp kosher or sea salt
•1/4 tsp black pepper*
•1 tbsp olive oil – plus more for later
•Corn meal
Toppings:
•Ratatouille
•Turkey Parmesan Meatloaf
•Spicy Tomato Sauce
•Shredded Swiss(!) cheese
*Think black pepper is all pretty much the same? WRONG! Pick up a bit of Tellicherry from your friendly neighborhood spice merchant and say so-long to boring pepper.
Pour the warm water over the yeast and the honey in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook and set aside to rest for 15 minutes, until the yeast has softened, and the mixture looks a bit foamy.
Whisk two cups of the flour together with the salt and pepper in another bowl and set aside.
Once the yeast is ready, set your mixer on low and add the olive oil and 1-1/2 cup of the flour mixture.
Mix for two minutes, then, with the mixer still running, add the remaining flour mixture – one tablespoon at a time – until the dough begins to come together and starts to cling to the hook. Use the extra 1/2 cup of flour, if you need to.
Increase the mixer speed to medium and knead the dough for four minutes – it will have mostly cleaned the sides of the mixing bowl and climbed up on to the dough hook at this point.
Drizzle some olive oil into the mixing bowl, remove the dough from the hook, shape into a ball and roll in the oil to coat all sides.
Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set in a warm space for three or four hours or – better – overnight.
Once again, I will remind you that YOU are the boss of the dough. It will have doubled in size and be perfectly fine to use in about 90 minutes, but if you have the time to let it rest longer, the flavor will only improve. I started this batch in the late morning and let it sit for about four hours before I needed to start putting dinner together.
Punch the dough down and, again, if you have the time, cover it and let it rise again for another hour or two – which is perfect, because you’ll need an hour to heat your oven to 450º and slip your pizza stone in to preheat.
Punch the dough down one last time and roll out on a lightly floured board.
Remove your heated pizza stone (mine is cast iron and works a treat) from the oven, sprinkle it with a bit of corn meal, and fit the dough to the pan, dimpling it with your fingertips as you go.
Brush lightly with a bit of olive oil (this’ll help to keep liquid from the toppings from soaking into the dough and leaving you with a soggy crust), and add your toppings.
I went with ratatouille first, then the crumbled meatloaf, then the spicy tomato sauce and, finally, the Swiss cheese, which I think was the perfect choice for this particular combination.
Bake for 15 minutes, until the crust is nicely browned and the cheese melted and bubbling.
Slice as you will and serve.
Ermmm, I gave Rich the Starship Enterprise pizza cutter for Christmas – it was on sale and I had a coupon – and it is surprisingly comfortable to handle.
By the way, this ‘za! was just as good cold from the fridge for lunch the next day as it was hot from the oven – and I think that I actually prefer the leftover ratatouille, meatloaf, and spicy sauce all together in this form than on their own.
Just don’t forget the Swiss cheese.