cook: lemon and onion pizza

It had been a year since I had made my lemon and red onion pizza, and I knew this because my Facebook memories showed the pizza I had made this time last year. My cooking has become seasonal and improvisational, based on what Patrick has harvested from our garden and me making do with only the ingredients in my pantry and fridge rather than running to the grocery store. And the latest harvests are alliums--spring garlic and red onions though I did buy sugar snap peas because the flowers in the garden crowd out the choice to grow even more vegetables. Also my friend, Donna gave me two Meyer lemons though I had one in the fridge leftover from the batch, my friend, Michaela gave me.     

Luckily I had bought a ball of pizza dough a week ago which I had set out Saturday morning to thaw and rise. I also made myself a sumptuous lunch of a seafood Louis salad before heading to the ceramics studio.

After my Saturday afternoon at the clay studio, it was time to assemble the pizza and some kind of salad.                          

I tried to keep my Saturday supper simple. Just arugula and spring greens with balsamic vinaigrette and Parmesan flakes. I parbaked the pizza crust for 10 minutes in a 480 degree oven and sprinkled sliced red onion, lemon peel and wheels of the lemon minus the pith, goat cheese, a bit of mozzarella, a sprinkling of grated reggiano, some of the parmesan flakes, a bit of rosemary and sage, and a generous sprinkling of thyme.                            

I popped the pie back into oven for maybe 20 minutes or until the toppings were golden brown.                           

I tossed the greens with dressing and even more cheese. I drizzled olive oil and Maldon sea salt atop the hot pie.                  

Patrick had to comment about lemon in a pizza which I ignored, but the onions were sweet and savory and complemented the tart goat cheese.               

Our light Saturday supper done, I then dug into dessert and nothing heralds spring to me more than strawberry rhubarb pie.               

Everyone I know who bakes biscuits and pies tells me that these doughs are easy peasy, but I’ve no inclination to master baking. I am happy enough to open a can for biscuits and to buy pie with perfect flaky crust from a good bakery.             

A slice of a sweet and tart pie (because berries and crust reign supreme for me as a dessert) with a scoop of Tahitian and Madagascar vanilla ice cream made me a happy diner on a Saturday night.