Week 3 - A Pizza Ending

I've eaten a lot of pizza in the last two days, and I am not complaining.  I spent Friday night with my two little boys and made a very simple rosemary-sprinkled pie as well as a ricotta and tomato sauce rendition for my little one who seeks for things to look "normal" before he eats them.  The rosemary crust was delicious, though next time I will be sure to add even more rosemary as it made the pizza pop.

Tonight I had plans to make yet another pizza, this time being so kind as to let my husband choose which kind (from the Smitten Kitchen, of course).  He chose the fresh ricotta and red onion pizza which meant I needed to make fresh ricotta.  Deb has two recipes for this on her site that I am aware of.  The first is included on the aforementioned pizza's post.  The other has a post all of its own.  I decided to go with the latter due to the fact that I had no buttermilk on hand, as the former recipe needed.  I dreaded having to use 3-4 cups of milk to make a cup of ricotta when we are currently going through nearly 3 gallons of milk a week at $7/gallon!  So, I cut the recipe in half and combined it with the remaining store-bought ricotta I had in the fridge.  Sadly, my ricotta never amounted to anything non-liquidy, but I think my use of cheesecloth is to blame, and I plan to get it right on the next recipe (yes - goals!).  Regardless of my lack of fresh ricotta, this pizza was superb.  I ate my first three slices and made the adult-like decision to not overindulge and instead save my final slice for lunch tomorrow.  Truth be told, "lunch tomorrow" became 30 minutes later...but it only helped me to learn that this pizza is somehow better when it's cooled down to room temperature.  See, overindulging can have its advantages.

I'd like to say that I ended the week out on a sweet note.  Especially after pizza - my body begs for something sweet after pizza.  But alas, my kitchen is currently void of sugar and there is still snow and ice on the ground that would require more energy to get out to the store than I could possibly muster.  Sigh.  Perhaps cookies tomorrow.

1/20

- Jim Lahey's Pizza Bianca

1/21

- Rich Homemade Ricotta

- Fresh Ricotta and Red Onion Pizza