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Homemade Pizza: Looks Great, Tastes Gummy

August 16, 2010

I was inspired by Smitten Kitchen’s Grilled Eggplant and Olive Pizza to make this pizza; mine included grilled slices of CSA eggplant and onion, plus fresh parsley and provolone cheese. J. didn’t want olives, so I nixed those.

I slice the eggplant too thin and didn’t brush them with enough olive oil, so instead of getting smokey and creamy while they cooked on the grill, they became a little like eggplant chips. I figured the texture wouldn’t be terrible underneath provolone, so I carried on with the pizza-making. I buy refrigerated pizza at my local supermarket — they carry both white and whole wheat varieties (I used one of each this time). I follow the directions on the package, letting the dough come to room temperature and dusting my surface with flour before stretching it out. Even though I’m able to get the dough stretched out pretty thin, it never gets crisp like a crust should. Maybe I should be par-baking the crust before I add toppings? A different pan? (Usually I use a cookie sheet.) I wind up taking the pizzas out when the tops look done, but often the crust is undercooked a bit and still doughy.

J., who is getting better at figuring out ways to be both truthful and tactful about my cooking at the same time, took one bite and said “We probably need a pizza stone in order to get the crust crisp.” He ate salad instead. The plain mozzarella and tomato sauce pizza I made for the kids suffered the same consistency/undercooked issues, and even G. who is our most eager pizza-eater only made it through half a slice before making a beeline for a container of yogurt. I thought it was fine, but clearly I have lower pizza standards than the rest of my family. I ate a couple of slices of the eggplant pizza, and then peeled the toppings off the rest of the pie to round out my lunch.

Once the three of them had alternate food in front of them, there was a lull in our lunch conversation, and G. piped up out of nowhere: “There are all different kinds of happy.” Yes, there really are. We talked about some (excited, kind of sad/emotional like at a wedding, etc.), and then I volunteered this one: “I’m happy because even though this meal didn’t turn out as planned, I’m proud (happy) that I used the grill again and that I made a nice meal for my family.” Even if they didn’t eat it. That’s still a happy in my book.

Filed under: CSA,Not our taste,Veggie Mains,Who ate it?

Tags: cooking, creamy, csa, food, sauce, tomato, whole