Week 30: Trenta

Electricity is really just organized lightning.

George Carlin

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This week we are celebrating our 30th post. We are also celebrating that we have electricity. Fellow Californians will join me in rejoicing for this luxury that we so often take for granted. With electricity we can both heat up our oven and cool down our house. It’s truly a miracle.

Last week intense lightning sparked fires throughout California and there are now over 350 active fires burning throughout the state. We’ve had rolling blackouts and everyday are on alert for possible outages. It’s been super hot, over 90° everyday. Heat is a foe to dough.

Cooks Illustrated tested three dough proofing methods and found that leaving your dough overnight in the fridge makes for a better tasting, more evenly browned crust, than proofing in a warm or even cool room temperature room. If you are short on time, you can use a premade crust, which is what we did this week to create this simple, tasty vegan pizza.

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Ingredients

• pizza crust of choice- we used a thick corn crust that comes in a pack of 2
• vegan ricotta
• 1 medium tomato, sliced and lightly salted
• handful fresh spinach, washed
• 1/2 cup vegan mozzarella
• 1/4 cup corn kernels
• 1/4 onion, diced
• 10 jalapeño slices
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1-2 tbs. olive oil
• salt, pepper, and dried oregano to taste

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Instructions

1. Heat your oven to 425° for about 45 minutes before you bake your pizza.
2. Heat a frying pan over medium high heat. When hot, add a glug of oil and onions. Stir and let cook 2-3 minutes before adding other ingredients.
3. Add garlic and heat for an additional 30 seconds.
4. Add salt and pepper.
5. Add fresh spinach. Turn heat down to low. Let spinach wilt while you prepare your crust and place on parchment paper.
6. Spread a thin layer of ricotta over the pizza. Sprinkle with oregano.
7. Add vegan mozzarella (less for thinner crusts).
8. Top with tomato slices, jalapeño slices, and corn.
9. Top with onion, garlic, spinach mix.
10. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Slice, share, and enjoy!

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We enjoyed this simple pizza, loaded with healthy veggies and layers of flavor. If you have a food processor and want to try another variation, you can put the ricotta, raw onions, garlic, and fresh spinach in a food processor along with a little salt, pepper, and oregano and blend it all together. This makes a yummy base. Top it with mozzarella, tomatoes, corn, and jalapeño. Both ways are delicious. It just depends on whether I feel like getting out my food processor or frying pan!

We hope that wherever you are in the world, you are healthy and safe and that you have something delicious to eat this week. If there’s anything special you’d like to see us make during the next 22 weeks of recipes, let us know @52veganpizzas.