The Aug 5th "Cooking with Farmers Market Produce" Event was Simply Delicious

The combination of delectable pizza, a gorgeous dining room at 2 South Street, Carmela’s passionate description of her cooking, and the inspiring stories from Grafton women made it a very special event.

Thank you to Jane Mitchell of W.B. Smith Companies for hosting and donating wine, and Carmela Telese for bringing us some great healthy recipes!

I will continue to update you on upcoming events.

-Theresa

Here are Carmela's recipes for home-made healthy pizza:

Carmela’s WHOLE WHEAT HONEY PIZZA DOUGH (with Flax Seed)
1 tbs (or package) of yeast

1 cup luke warm water

1 tbs. honey

Mix together and let get frothy, approx. 5 min. Add that to:

1 cup of white flour

1 cup of whole wheat flour

1-2 tbs. of ground flax seed

1tsp. of salt

Mix together with a dough hook or by hand until you can form a loose ball... but you may have to add flour or water depending on the weather. You want to be able to work it, but it should not be hard and crumbly - wetter is better.

Cover dough and let it rise about 30 min to an hour in a warm place. ( Cover the bowl with a towel or blanket). When the dough had doubled in size, punch it down and stretch it out....add toppings, and bake at 425 F for approximately 30 minutes.

Various Pizza toppings:

Fresh Tomato and Basil

Thinly slice approx 1 1/2 cups of fresh ripe tomatoes - mix that in a bowl with freshly chopped basil, chopped garlic, some salt to taste, and dried or fresh oregano. Pour approx. 2 -4 tbs. of good olive oil and let it sit and marinate while the dough is rising. You can also add dried hot pepper flakes. (There are no measurements here because you really have to do this to taste and base it on the ripeness of your tomatoes...you'll need less flavors when the tomatoes are garden fresh and sweet)
You can top with fresh parmesan, mozzarella, or just a drizzle of olive oil. I prefer it cheeseless because the tomatoes really roast nicely.
Zucchini, Pepper and Onion

Thinly slice green, red, or yellow peppers and onions. Toss them with 2-4 tbs of olive oil and gently saute in a frying pan. Add salt and black pepper to taste. If the peppers and onions are dry and not carmelized, add water a few tablespoons at a time. I do this a few times until they are nice and creamy ...you don't want to put raw or dry veggies on a pizza! Add sliced zucchini half-way throuh they won't take as long to cook as the onions. Make sure they are wet and moist. You can add some more olive oil after it's all cooked to toss them and spread them on your pizza.
Beets and Sweets

This one is a bit more complicated. Carmelize onions like you would in the recipe above (without the peppers). Put them aside
Peel and slice raw beets and sweet potatoes and thinly slice them. You'll use 1/2 a sweet potato and 2-4 beets depending on the size. Add about 2 tbs. of olive oil to a pan and saute the sliced beets. Add salt and black pepper to taste, and again, when it dries up, add water a few tablespoons at a time. You don't these to be oily, but you do want t hem to be cooked. Cook for approximately 10 minutes or until they are tender but not fully cooked.
Remove from pan and set aside, do the same with the sweets. (You can cook the sweets and the onions at the same time in the same pan.). If you find that any of the veggies are dry and not moist - add some additional olive oil and toss. ...then alternate, sweets and beets and spread the onions all around. You don't HAVE to do it this way, but the beets will bleed onto everything if you don't separate them!