Tis the season for homemade pizza!

With the abundance of locally grown produce such as tomatoes, onions, squash, eggplants, etc. during the summer season, it is the perfect time to jazz it up in the kitchen with some homemde pizza. It is a fun activity to do with friends, kids, or by yourself! There are endless possibilities as far as toppings go. To start all you need is pizza dough and tomato sauce.

If you don't want to make either of those by yourself, you can always get store-bought pizza dough, as well as jarred marinara sauce. To me, that takes half of the fun away.

I start out with a dough that is meant to serve 4 people and cut them up into 4 single servings. I put the rest that I don't need now in the freezer and it will keep fresh for months. When ready to use, simply defrost in the refridgerator overnight.

My homemade pizza tomato sauce:

Ingredients:

- 1 onion

- 4 to 6 tomatoes depending on size

- 2 TBSP olive oil (plus more to drizzle on top of the pizza)

- 8-10 basil leaves (chopped coarsely)

- 1 or 2 garlic cloves (I tend to like things very garlicky)

- Salt and pepper to taste

- hot pepper flakes to taste

Directions:

- Sautee onions, garlic, and olive oil for abot 10 minutes.

- Dice up the tomatoes and add to the pan. The juice of the tomatoes will start to come out.

- Cook down the sauce for about 20-30 minutes for it to thicken up.

- Add salt, pepper, and chili flakes.

- Add the basil in the very end so it doesn't lose it's flavor.

Pizza:

Add the sauce to the flattened out pizza dough and bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes.

Take it out, add your toppings and then bake it for another 10 minutes.

With mine I added bell peppers, anchovies, and Olives. But like I said there are a million possibilities.

Take advantage of all the fresh local vegetables in the summer season while you still can!

Making Terrine: take 1!

During my trip to France this past March, I discovered the world of pates and terrines. The French are so adept at taking parts of animals that we typically wouldn't want or use into something that looks and tastes amazing.

My parents and I raided butcher shops in France trying out different things made from rabbit, livers, "head cheese", etc. the possibilities were endless!! The best ones were those that had a flaky crust surrounding the terrine.

Before we left France, I bought a cookbook and 2 packages of gelatin ready to take up the challenge on my own.

However, I was afraid to try at first. Most of the meat described in the recipes weren't widely available in this area. Yesterday, I finally decided to tackle it with Salmon (yes, I still have a freezer full of Salmon left from my last restaurant job.) I look through various recipes for salmon rillettes and ended up creating my own recipe that I can incorporate into the terrine.

For 4 servings

• 4-6 oz Salmon


• 2 hard boiled eggs


• Juice of 1 lemon


• 6 - 8 cornichons (I like lots and lots)


• 1 TBSP Rice Wine Vinegar


• 1-2 spring onion (depending on size)


• Fresh Parsley


• Dried or Fresh Dill


• 2 TBSP grainy mustard (please don't use gross French's mustard for this!)


• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

• Poach the salmon in a large pot; remove and let cool


• Boiled the eggs; let it cool; peel the shells and slice it into 4 or 5 pieces


• Follow the directions on whichever gelatin mix you have


• In a mixing bowl combine all other ingredients


• Once the salmon cools combine with the mixture


• Set out 4 molds (or 1 large one or 2, doesn't really matter)


• Scoop about 2 TBSPs worth of mixture into each of the 4 molds


• Once the gelatin liquid has cooled of a bit pour it into the molds


• Carefully put 2 egg slices into each mold


• Refrigerate for at least 3 hours

Trust me once it comes out, you'll feel like you've never seen anything more beautiful! Try out your own variations, the possibilities are endless!