Pizza with Braised Fennel, Caramelized Onions, and Green Olives
I know what you're thinking. Pizza? Aren't you in tech and previews?
Yes.
And I am tired.
But pizza is easy. And I wanted to make a barley soup with greens that is made best with the fennel fronds it calls for. So I had a fennel bulb to deal with. So, pizza? Why not?
I found this recipe from Food & Wine and decided to go all in. It's a treat I deserve!
Planning!
I have a go-to pizza dough recipe that I love and depend on. But as I read this recipe, I decided to try this new dough. The honey and the beer sounded like they would be lovely with the cooked-down veggies. I'll try anything once!
Meanwhile, I decided to sub out the trugole/asiago for mozzarella. I haven't had trouble with asiago in the past, but I can't recall ever eating it in such high volume, so I stuck with safe mozzarella. I also saved a ton of calories by deciding to go with half the called-for amount of cheese.
And after thinking it through, I omitted the Pernod. I don't keep it in the apartment, and don't have much use for it.
I also decided to skip the fresh basil garnish... diminishing returns when you're transporting and reheating. Storage is not kind of fresh basil.
Here's the nutritional breakdown from Fitbit...
Groceries I had on hand...
- yeast
- honey
- AP flour
- whole wheat flour
- olive oil
- kosher salt
- fennel (from the soup!)
- white wine (well, actually, I used rosé)
- onion (I used yellow onion rather than vidalia)
- veggie stock (I dipped from the stock I prepped for the barley soup)
Groceries I had to buy...
- brown ale ($3.25)
- mozzarella ($4.49)
- green olives (.14lb @ $8.99/lb = $1.26)
Total monies spent for the entire recipe: $9.00
Total monies spent for each of these 4 pizzas....
$2.25 per pizza
Cooking!
Pizza! All you do is let dough rise, stretch it, top it, and bake it at high temp! Easy peasy!
I made the dough (did you know that if you dip a measuring spoon in oil or hit it with cooking spray, honey will pour right out of it?), then got the veggies working. The fennel took forever but it was GORGEOUS and WORTH IT. The onions were fine, though I charred them a bit... no harm, no foul. Most of the time, I was breaking down greens for the soup, honestly.
When the dough was ready, I portioned it and let it rest, then stretched it out. I cut the mozzarella into four chunks, then hand-shredded it onto the dough. Then the onions and fennel. Then I sliced two olives each onto the pizzas, and into the oven they went! (I forgot to take a "before" picture... sorry!)
When they came out they were beautiful and smelled AMAZING. I ate one right away for lunch. My teammates have been jealous of me all week. This has been exactly what I needed!
