Food Matters Project #43: Tomato & Romaine Salad with Smoked Mozzarella

I apologize for the silence on the blog, don’t worry we didn’t leave you!  Truthfully, there have been some small changes to our schedule due to a new job, and therefore small adjustments.  But we have been cooking- so don’t worry, there recipes will be coming!

Today is another great Monday for the Food Matters Project.  Our host today is Laura, of Chef Laura at Home.  She chose Mark Bittman’s Tomato Carpaccio with Mozzarella.  Check out the original recipe in The Food Matters Cookbook, or look what other FMP participants did here.

My version is not very similar to the original recipe.  Today was my first day at a new job, with different hours than I’m used to.  In addition, we’ll be out of town this weekend- so we’re trying to use up everything that’s hiding in the fridge and freezer.  Tonight’s meal was very simple, back to the basics.  There are always days where we come home from work, and don’t want to cook or prepare anything.  I resist the urge to dial the local Chinese takeout to order our dinner.

Instead, I make a plan for something healthier for us:

1) In our freezer we had 2 Polish sausages (from the Amish Market)- I defrosted them this morning.
2) We had a lot of lettuce and tomatoes left over- it was easy to chop those up and throw them together.
3) Sam stopped at the store to pick up a ball of cheese, and chose one of his favorites: Smoked Mozzarella.

This was one of those Monday meals: fast, light and filling!  And it did make a little more room in the fridge.

Tomato & Romaine Salad with Smoked Mozzarella
Fifth Floor Kitchen Original

This recipe does not have ingredient amounts, it’s meant to be a “clean out your fridge”.  Feel free to swap out lettuce varieties (spinach, arugula), vegetables (cucumbers, zucchini, corn), herbs (cilantro, parsley), or cheeses (cheddar, blue)

greens, chopped
tomatoes, sliced
smoked mozzarella cheese, chopped
basil, finely chopped
olive oil

Add all of the ingredients (except the olive oil) in a large bowl, then toss all of them together.  Divide the salad between plates, and lightly drizzle olive oil over the salad.

Enjoy this salad as a side with grilled meat or vegetables; or make it larger as a meal.

Food Matters Project #11: Apple & Smoked Cheese Whole Wheat Pizza

This is a Food Matters Project week that we’ve both been waiting for!  Niki, from Salt & Pepper, chose a pizza recipe!  We love pizza, especially when we make our own- a perfect way to pile on what we’re craving!  Niki chose Mark Bittman’s No-Work Mostly Whole Wheat Pizza Dough.  The best part about this challenge is the variety of pizza toppings from everyone.  The Food Matters Cookbook does provide some suggestions- but I think many of us tried to take an original spin on it, check them out here.

Sam and I have made this pizza in the past, and wanted to share it with everyone.  We did make a small change, the type of cheese.  While browsing through the cheese section, I spotted Salemville’s Smokehaus Blue– an applewood smoked blue cheese.  Although we never tried it before, I figured it’d be great on this pizza.

If you’d like other pizza toppings, check out our mushroom and broccoli pizza!

Apple & Smoked Cheese Whole Wheat Pizza
The pizza dough was adapted from: The Food Matters Cookbook (page 533)
Toppings: A Fifth Floor Kitchen original

If you cannot find the smoked blue cheese, a great substitute would be a mild blue- such as gorgonzola.  Don’t hesitate to add more mozzarella, garlic or green apple to this pizza!  The pizza dough was delicious, crispy and chewy!

1 cup white flour
2 cups wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 packet of dry, activated yeast
1 1/2 cups water
2 tbsp olive oil
7 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large ball of fresh mozzarella, cut into thin slices and patted dry
4 ounces smoked blue cheese, crumbled
1 green apple, thinly sliced

Combine the flour, salt, yeast, and water in a large mixing bowel.  Stir well, the dough should be sticky and wet.  Cover the bowl with a dishtowel and let stand at room temp for at least 6 hours.

When the dough is done rising, preheat your oven to 500ºF.  Grease a large cookie sheet with about 1 tbsp of olive oil.  Using oily hands, transfer the dough to the cookie sheet and smush out into a roughly rectangular shape.

Coat the top of the dough with 1 tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle evenly with garlic.  Bake it in the oven for 7-8 minutes, being careful not to let the garlic burn.

Remove the dough from the oven and add the mozzarella and apple slices.  Finally, sprinkle blue cheese on top.  Return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes, remove when the apple slices have wilted a bit and the cheese has melted.