The First Human Blood Transfusion Pizza

[Update: My girlfriend and I made two more pizzas tonight, so the photos for this post are actually of pizza #2 from June 21.]

Last night I made pizza. And it worked! This is surprising because my past efforts (numerous; check the archives if you have a morbid curiosity) at making yeast bread have met with dismal or near-dismal failure. Since this pizza was an unequivocal success, it's named after another success: the first human blood transfusion. In 1667! Can you believe that? Centuries before people figured out antibiotics Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys moved "about twelve ounces of sheep blood into a 15-year-old boy, who had been bled with leeches 20 times." Sigh of relief: the boy survived. (Cringe of disappointment: Dr. Denys went on to kill someone with a transfusion and was charged with the murder of a second person. Human bodies tend to have allergic reactions when forcefully introduced to animal blood.)

Anyway, no one died in the development of this pizza. But it did kill my hunger! (Ugh.) The dough recipe is lifted from The Perfect Pizza Press website.

To make the sauce: sauté two shallots in a pot, add half a diced red bell pepper and seven diced peperoncini. After those cook for a few minutes, add two 14.5-oz. cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes with garlic, Italian seasoning with extra oregano, fresh parsley, red pepper flakes, and some salt. After that reduces, purée it in the blender. (Fin.) Slice some white mushrooms and basil. Form the pizza crust, top with sauce, then a bit of Daiya cheese, arrange spinach and mushrooms, and cover with more Daiya. Bake in the oven at 425F for approx. 10 minutes, then add basil and bake another couple minutes.

(June 15 has like a whole month's worth of great recipe names. I hope you'll agree I chose well.)

Temporary Insanity Pizza

According to Wikipedia, on this day in 1859 NY Congressman Daniel E. Sickles won the first acquittal of murder on grounds of temporary insanity in US legal history. What a legacy.

This was my first attempt at pizza: spinach, bok choy, and walnut "parmesan." I was happy with it, but I really need a rolling pin. This crust would have worked better if I'd gotten it thinner. I sort of used this recipe from a site confused about exactly what veganism is.

makes approx. 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 c. flour

3 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. brown rice syrup

3/4 c. water

1 medium white onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 bok choy, leaves sliced in thirds

6 oz. spinach

1 15-oz. can fire-roasted diced tomatoes

2 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. rosemary

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. salt

splash red wine vinegar

oil

1/2 c. walnuts, halved

1/2 c. yeast flakes

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.

2. Sauté onion in a pan with oil over medium heat. After a few minutes, add garlic. Couple minutes later, toss in spinach. Cover the pan while you slice the bok choy.

3. Lower heat and add bok choy with a little bit of red wine vinegar; cover pan. Once the bok choy begins to turn bright, uncover and add the canned tomatoes and seasoning. Let simmer.

4. Do up the bread dough. Knead until it holds together, then press into a pan that's been greased and floured. Bake 20 min.

5. While the dough is baking, pulse the walnuts in a blender until rendered into a fine dust. Add in yeast flakes and pulse a couple more times, then stir.

6. Remove dough from oven, top with sauce and "parmesan." Bake for another 10 min.

According to Kafka's diaries, "Sisyphus was a bachelor."

Franco Bifo Berardi, What is the meaning of autonomy today?