American

Hello world! Tried and true, no matter how busy life gets, I will never abandon Ling Li Eats. Wearing many different caps has kept me running around the last few months, but believe me when I say I would never give up the invaluable opportunity to do what I actually enjoy. Priceless :)

The potato leek pizza, a la Pioneer Woman, is a tribute to my favorite food group on the food pyramid (though to be fair, it’s pretty much neck-to-neck with the meats). Forget the Atkins diet, carbs make such excellent comfort food. Add some crumbled dairy on top, some thinly sliced meats aka bacon, a few strands of vegetables, and voila! You have yourself a well balanced meal. I usually go for your standard marinara sauce pizza with mozzarella cheese and pepperoni/mushroom/sausage, so adding potatoes, leeks, and my goodness, goat cheese?? to my pizza was a fascinating new concept.

I cheated last time I made pizza from scratch, using Boboli pizza crust as a base. No shortcuts this time. I had serious concerns about the dough being too sticky, but setting the covered dough in a warm area fixed that right up. Watching the yeast work its magic on the dough was well, kinda magical!

Thin layers of sliced red potatoes.

Ingredients:

1/2 recipe for Pizza Crust (see below)
6 slices thick-cut bacon, 1-in pieces
3 Leeks, rinsed well to remove grit and thinly sliced
5 small red or Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced paper thin
1 lb fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced thin
4 oz goat cheese, crumbled
Grated Parmesan cheese
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Spread pizza crust in baking pan and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt.

2) Fry the bacon over medium heat until cooked but not crisp. Set aside.

3) Leave some of the bacon fat in which to saute the leeks. Cook the leeks until soft, about 3 minutes. Set aside.

4) Use a sharp knife or mandoline to thinly slice the potatoes. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer over the crust, slightly overlapping the edges. Sprinkle lightly with salt.

5) Lay the mozzarella slices in a single layer on top of the potatoes. Place the leeks on top of the cheese, then arrange the fried bacon pieces over the leeks.

6) Sprinkle more crumbled goat cheese, grated Parmesan, and pepper on top.

7) Bake the pie for 8-11 minutes, until the edges of the crust are golden brown and the cheese is melted and bubbly. Slice and serve immediately.

How to make Pizza Crust:

Yield: 2 pizza crusts

Ingredients:

1 tsp or 1/2 packet active dry yeast
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling

Instructions:

1) In a mixing bowl, pour the yeast over 1 1/2 cups of warm water, stirring gently.

2) Combine the flour and salt in a separate bowl. Drizzle in the olive oil and mix well.

3) Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, mixing until the dough forms a ball. (I used my hands)

4) Drizzle a little olive oil into a clean bowl. Toss the dough into the bowl and turn to coat. Cover the bowl with a moist kitchen towel and set in a warm place for 1-2 hours. You can also cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge for up to 2 days.

5) Once the dough has risen, divide it in half and stretch the dough to the desired shape, pressing it into an oiled 13×9 pan with your fingers. The thinner the better. The surface of the dough should be lumpy from finger marks so it receives and holds toppings better. The remaining dough be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerated up to 3 days before use, or frozen for up to 6 months.

Mmhmm…Delicious pizza, fresh out of the oven. With the pizza loaded with toppings, it was actually easier eating with forks and knives. Excellent flavors with the potato, leek, bacon, goat cheese combination.

Silly me overestimated the amount of dough necessary per square inch though, resulting in a thicker than desired pizza crust. If that happens to you, I recommend either sticking it back in the oven for a few more minutes or doing what I actually did. I placed a few pizza slices in a frying pan and crisped the bottoms over the stovetop. Yum.

To continue the story of my Florida adventure, which unfortunately already feels like a faint memory of the past, we roadtripped to Orlando that Friday after 2 nights of warm sunny Miami beaches. Amidst the mandatory BCG mingling and organized events, we were still able to scrap together an entire day of doing whatever we wanted. First choice without even the slightest doubt in our minds: HARRY POTTER WORLD, HERE WE COME!

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