Apple Walnut Cheddar Pizza

I've become quite a fan of the apple/cheddar combination. While I was in Boston over the summer, I had this combination in a delicious omelette. Upon returning home, I decided to put some apple slices and cheddar in a grilled cheese sandwich (which was delicious, by the way). So knowing that these two flavors work so well together, I decided to embark on the journey to bring them together on a pizza.

I did some experimenting with this pizza before I decided on something that works well. What resulted is a pizza that I've really come to enjoy. I took some cues from other pizzas I've had that use a fruit, cheese, and nut combination. This pizza ended up as a tasty and unique flavor that is different and unexpected for a pizza. Since this recipe came as a result of experimenting, please excuse the very informal measurements.

This pizza can be made on any pizza dough, though I'm a big fan of making dough at home. I can't take credit for the dough recipe that I use, though. That comes from A Couple Cooks. You can get that recipe here.

Recipe
1 batch of pizza dough
2 tablespoons of honey
1 apple
1 teaspoon lemon juice
cinnamon
black pepper
1 cup cheddar cheese
handful of walnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Stretch out the pizza dough on a baking sheet.

2. Put the honey into a bowl and warm up in the microwave for about 20 seconds so it's runnier and spreads out easier. Brush the honey onto the pizza dough. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top.

3. Core an apple and cut into thin slices. Mix the apple slices with the lemon juice, cinnamon and black pepper. Arrange the apple slices on top of the cheese.

4. Crush up a handful of walnuts and sprinkle on top of the pizza.

5. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the crust is lightly browned.

broccoli and cauliflower gratin.

This is a recipe that I was really excited to try. It's from a wonderful cookbook that one of my close friends gave me for Christmas. The book is The Best-Ever Vegetarian Cookbook and it's basically become my bible. I highly recommend it. You'll see a lot of recipes from this book--I'll always let you know when that's the case.

the recipe

Serves 4

1 small cauliflower

1 small head broccoli

1/2 cup natural yogurt

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

2 tbsp wholemeal breadcrumbs

salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Break the cauliflower and broccoli into florets and cook in lightly salted boiling water for about 8-10 minutes, until just tender. Drain well and transfer to flameproof dish.

2. Mix together the yogurt, grated cheese and mustard, then season the mixture with salt and pepper and spoon over the cauliflower and broccoli.

3. Preheat the grill to moderately hot. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top of the vegetables and grill until golden brown. Serve hot.

substitutions

As you'll find out, I don't always have the ingredients that I need, so I make my fair share of substitutions. I still try to stick pretty close to the recipe.

Honey vanilla Greek yogurt instead of natural yogurt

Honey mustard instead of wholegrain mustard

great with

I made this with a delicious Amy's California Veggie Burger, which was topped with a slice of provolone cheese, some spring mix and a little bit of honey mustard.

the review

This has a really good flavor. Having yogurt in the recipe is a really good idea and makes the broccoli and cauliflower really creamy. As you can tell from my substitutions, I added my fair share of honey flavor to the recipe, but I actually really liked it. My problems with this recipe were: I boiled the vegetables for a little too long and then I didn't let the dish bake long enough. So I'll definitely be trying this recipe again, but I'll be making sure I'm more mindful of how long I'm letting things boil and bake. Since those problems were clearly my own fault, I definitely recommend this recipe. It's a good twist on au gratin vegetables. This also saved and reheated really well.