If you follow this blog, or my Instagram page, you probably know that I'm part of a group of women who meet weekly in each other's homes to chit-chat in Italian. What started out as a simple espresso and dessert gathering has morphed over the years to include lunch as well as something sweet. Milena, who is originally from the Liguria region, has taught cooking classes and frequently makes something from her home region, including this stuffed pizza di verdura. She used escarole, scallions, anchovies and capers in the filling, but you could use any greens you like -- spinach or Swiss chard, for instance. Milena said she has made it with only scallions in the past, which is also delicious. Her family likes to tease her, calling it "garbage pizza" because she'll use any vegetable that's on hand. A few weeks ago, she gave our small group a demonstration of how she puts the dish together and now you can see for yourself how she does it, even though you may live far from central New Jersey, where our group meets each week.
The dough as well as the filling recipe is below. After spreading the filling over the base, Milena tops it with another layer of dough.
Then she pricks it all over, and smears some olive oil and salt on top.
Here's a video of her placing the anchovies on top of the escarole. For those of you who understand Italian, you don't need a translation. For the rest of you, she explains that the anchovies and capers contain a lot of salt, hence you don't need to add any more. Also, she says that sometimes she add olives, sometimes not, depending on what she has on hand.
After about 45 minutes, it's ready to remove from the oven and eat.
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Milena's Pizza Di Verdura (Vegetable Pizza)
for the dough:
1/2 cake compressed yeast or 1 package dry yeast
2 cups water
5 1/2 cups bread flour (approximately)
1 tsp. salt
1/8 cup olive oil (optional)
Make sponge:
In a large bowl, soften yeast (.6 oz. of fresh yeast) in 2 cups of body temperature water, using a wire whisk to mix. Note: If using dry yeast, use water at a higher temperature, between 105-115 degrees. Add 2 cups bread flour, mix well with a wire whisk. Cover with a cloth and let the mixture rest in a warm place until bubbly, approximately 10 minutes. At this point, the mixture is called the "sponge."
Stir sponge, add salt, olive oil and additional 2 1/2 cups flour. Mix with a spoon until dough is blended.
Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the last cup of flour onto wooden board.
Turn out dough onto the floured wooden board and knead, using a bread spatula and adding additional flour as required. When well kneaded, place into a large greased bowl and cover with greased waxed paper and a dish towel. Note: best if large bowl is warmed first, so that dough is not in contact with a cold surface.
Let dough rise in a warm area until double in bulk, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Punch down and shape innto desired forms or divide dough and shape into desired forms.
For the Filling:
3 lbs. mixed green leaf vegetables (Milena used escarole)
5 T. olive oil
1 crushed clove garlic
2 bunches green onions cleaned and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 T. capers
10 anchovies
6 black olives, pitted and sliced (optional)
black pepper
olive oil
Directions:
Place vegetables and green onions in a large pan with oil and garlic. Saute about 5 minutes. Add 5 anchovy filets, cook five minutes longer. Remove garlic and let cool. When dough is ready, return it to floured board pound it lightly to deflate it and divide into 2 pieces. Spread out 1 piece over bottom of an oiled 12" baking pan. Place vegetable mixture over dough in pan, on the vegetables sprinkle capers, anchovies and olives.
Cover with other piece of dough. Press edges together and trim excess dough. Prick surface with a fork, brush with olive oil and bake at 400 degrees F. until puffed and golden, about 45 minutes. Serves 6
So many of our dinners come about simply because of grocery items that have been lingering too long in my refrigerator and need using before they go bad. Such was the case here, where I had some olives nearing their toss out point, and a bag of lemons that I’d never get through unless I whipped up lemon meringue pies for the whole neighborhood. Now, I do cook for my neighbors from time to time but in this case, I wanted something savory and less caloric for dinner, and something that included those lemons and olives.
This recipe, adapted from one I found in Food and Wine’s website, by Lidia Bastianich, fit the bill perfectly. I halved the amount of chicken, to serve only two people, but since I wanted more sauce, I kept the proportions for the sauce ingredients as if I were preparing the recipe with a larger amount of chicken. To see the original recipe, click here.
The original recipe asks you to drizzle the lemon slices with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake at 375 degrees, but to get that browned edge, I found that broiling them works best. Keep a close watch on them so they don’t burn. I didn’t bother with the salt, pepper or olive oil either, because there is plenty of seasoning in the recipe itself.
DO NOT buy thin chicken breast slices for this recipe. They’ll cook too quickly and dry out. Buy a boneless chicken breast. It will be too lumpy and uneven to cook as is, so you’ll need to slice through the thickest part to open it up and make it flatter, pounding a bit with a food mallet (the flat side, not the spiky side). Season with salt and pepper and dust lightly with flour. Cook the chicken pieces in olive oil at high heat for a few minutes until they’re golden, flipping once, to brown the other side.
Make the sauce while the chicken is in the pan, adding the chicken broth, olives, capers, the lemon slices and the rest of the ingredients. The original recipe doesn’t call for it, but I added some lemon juice at the end as well, to give it a really fresh taste, and increase the amount of sauce.
It’s a dish that’s fairly easy to prepare and good enough to impress company too.
When you slice into it, the meat is still juicy and tender, and picks up all those flavors that blend so well together. This was a recipe I’ll be making again and again, and next time I won’t wait until I have leftover olives and lemons sitting around.
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Lemon Chicken With Olives and Capers
Cuisine: Italian
Author: Ciao Chow Linda, inspired by Lidia Bastianich in Food & Wine Magazine
Two 6-ounce skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 cup all-purpose flour, for dusting
1/4 cup pitted olives, sliced (I used Kalamata olives, but you could use green olives as well)
1 tablespoon drained capers
3/4 cup chicken stock or low-sodium broth
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small dice
1 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Arrange the lemon slices in a single layer.
Broil for about five minutes, keeping a close eye on the lemons so they don’t burn.
Remove from the broiler when the lemons begin to brown around the edges.
In a deep medium skillet, heat 1/4 cup of oil.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper and dust with the flour, shaking off the excess.
Cook the chicken over high heat, turning once, until golden, about 6 minutes.
Add the olives, capers and stock and bring to a boil.
Cook over high heat until the stock is reduced by about two-thirds, about 5 minutes.
Add the roasted lemons, the lemon juice, butter and parsley, season with salt and pepper and simmer just until the chicken is cooked through, about 1 minute.
Transfer the chicken to plates and spoon the sauce on top.
