I never give Maria any of my cooking recipes, I admit to having a phobia about it.

I told her if I gave her all of my recipes to her favorite foods, she might just run off with a younger man. She is stunned by the warped logic of this, and I know it’s kind of extreme, but there it is. When you’re crazy, you don’t get to choose  your phobias and unwarranted fears.

And the awful thing is, I believe it. But it’s time to move forward so her is my cheese, spinach and pear recipe.

I thought this would be a good night for pear and goat cheese pizza (tonight I used a different cheese).

The temperatures were a balmy 20 degrees this morning, but it doesn’t feel like the Apocalypse any longer.

It felt like a pizza night.

It takes me about 90 minutes to make this pizza, from beginning to end. I set the oven to 475 degrees.

I use a pizza stone and a wood cutting board.

I lay out my ingredients.

Sliced Scarmorza Rella cheese. Pine Nuts. Pesto. Fresh spinach leaves. Two pears.  One package of multi-grain dough from my local supermarket.

I leave the dough out until it gets to room temperature but before it starts to swell. I roll it in wheat flour so I can handle it without it sticking to my fingers.

I take a rolling-pin and roll it on a wooden board until it is round and thin. I hold it up and pull it and spin it to thin it out more. I try to do the twirl, but it’s tricky and not really necessary.

When the dough is round and flat enough, I sprinkle corn meal on the pizza stone to keep the crust from sticking, rub garlic paste on the dough,  and put it on the stone.

Then I put the crust in the oven (475) for 10 to 12 minutes. That’s how I get a crispy crust (make sure to poke the dough with a fork or thin metal so it won’t bubble up in pockets.)

 

When I’ve seen that the crust is strong and dry – never soggy –  I take it out of the oven and make the  pizza.

I brush five or fix teaspoons of pesto across the pizza dough  from one end to the other.

Then I take about a dozen slices of pear and arrange them around the outer room of the pizza.

I put a thin slice of Scarmorza Rella cheese (or mozzarella) between each of the pear slices.

I spread 15-20 spinach leaves on top of each pear slice.

I sprinkle pine nuts across the top.

I drizzle virgin olive oil across the spinach leaves.

I brush the outer rim with virgin olive oil to give the dough some character and flavor (and crispness).

I cook the pizza at 475 for between 10-12 minutes.

That’s it, thats my recipe. This one turned out very well. This pizza is both delicious and healthy. It’s one of my favorite things to cook. Tomorrow, I think I’ll try scallops.

I did not ever in my life imagine that people would be asking me for my recipes, it feels strange, but the truth is, I love cooking for Maria (and me) and once in awhile, I  do something we both really like.

This one of our favorites. I’ll post the rest.

Over the weekend, I’ll post some Spaetzle and Kale/Spinach recipes.