Swiss Chard & Corn Pizza with Cherry Tomatoes and Basil

"All in all it was a never-to-be-forgotten summer - one of those summers which come seldom into any life, but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going - one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather, delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world."              
                                                                                   ~ L.M Montgomery

Thanks for letting Lucy Maud cover for me today.  My mind is elsewhere - mainly on the summer produce that needs picking just outside my door.  Beans aren't gonna blanch themselves!  Plus this week has been heavy with deadlines and work, and I'm just tying up a few loose ends before I head out of town for a bit. Finally my mini-vacay is here!  Not venturing far - just jumping in the car and going to see some of my favourite people in the whole world; key players in some of my never-to-be-forgotten-summers.  It feels like eons since I've hit the road; windows down, music loud, with just the horizon to drive into.  Well, let's rephrase that.  I hate hair in my eyes, so the windows are up.  Music is loud, but not that loud (I'm old after all), and I'll be squinting while driving into the sun.  But it's my road trip, dammit, and it's gonna rock.  

And so my going away present to you is this pizza - a great way to use up the ample amounts of chard you may be finding in your CSA or gardens right now.  Cooked with leeks, fresh corn and garlic, it makes a mighty fine topping.  Those cherry tomatoes are sweet like candy and really match perfectly with the fresh basil.  I had bocconcini to use up, but go ahead and use goat cheese or feta as a replacement.  It's pizza, so feel free to play around.  Use caramelized onions instead of leeks or kale instead of chard.  I won't look away if you add bacon either.  Might even give you a high-five.  If you serve it with a little balsamic reduction drizzled on top - well that gets you a fist bump. 

And with that, I'm gone like the wind. 

Swiss Chard & Corn Pizza with Cherry Tomatoes and Basil

I used the same crust I used here.  It was even frozen for more than a month and still perfect. 
Rolled out to about 9x13 inches, it proved to be a great base.  That being said, feel free to substitute your go-to crust. 

2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups sliced leeks, be sure to rinse them well
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp chili flakes
6 cups Swiss chard
1 cup fresh or frozen (thawed) corn kernels.  Leftover corn on the cob would be great too. 
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
2 cups fresh cherry tomatoes, cut in half
100 grams bocconcini cheese, sliced
handful fresh basil leaves, torn

Roll out your crust so it's roughly 9 x13 inches.  Grease a bake sheet with olive oil and sprinkle a little cornmeal on top.  Place the rolled out dough on top of this.  Preheat oven to 450*F. 
Heat butter and oil in a deep skillet.  Saute the leeks until softened and starting to brown, about 10 - 12 minutes.  Add the garlic and chili flakes and cook another minute.  Stir in the chard and corn, cooking until chard is wilted and corn warmed through - about 3 minutes.  Let cool a few minutes - slice your cherry tomatoes and cheese while it is cooling.  Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella on top of dough.  Spread the chard filling on top of this.  I had about a cup extra which I saved for sandwiches later in the week.  Arrange the cherry tomatoes and bocconcini on top of the chard filling.  Slide into the preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until golden and melty.  Scatter fresh basil leaves on it once out of oven.  Slice into wedges.  Serves 3-4. 

 

Win! Warm Lentil, Bacon & Asparagus Salad with Fried Eggs

This is a sponsored post, but there is no shortage of love for lentils on these pages.  And you guys know me - I wouldn't tell you about something unless I really was in love with it.  So here we go!  

First things first.  May is Love your Lentils month (but I'm crazy about them the whole entire year - just scroll through my recipe index and you'll find the love) and to help celebrate Canadian Lentils has created a really fantastic contest.  Here's the part where I tell you about the good stuff:  the grand prize is a trip for 2 to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (my hometown!) and the heart and soul of the world's lentil production.  We love our lentils here.  Not only will you get to hang out in my beautiful city, but also take a tour with famous chef Michael Smith, stay in a posh hotel by the South Saskatchewan River for 3 nights, and you get $500 to spend on fun stuff while here.  All you have to do is enter your lentil recipe - you can be a blogger or a home cook - and just by voting you have a chance to WIN.  I won't bother you with all of the particulars - you can read them here.  But I urge you to enter, and while you're there, throw a vote my way too, because I really, really want to stay in that hotel (and meeting Michael Smith wouldn't be too shabby either.  Oh, and the cash, yeah, the cash, that would be nice.  And I've got a hankering to tour a farmer's field like nobody's business.)  So go vote!  Pretty pretty please and thank you. 

Reset: Tuscan White Bean Soup with Leeks & Roasted Garlic

 

First off, I want to express my gratitude to all of you who left me a comment or sent an email regarding my last post.  Thank you thank you thank you.  Your words mean so much and I am frankly overwhelmed by everyone being so kind - especially those of you I've never even met.  I'm doing okay - much better than I was a couple of weeks ago, that's for sure.  The other day I even caught myself humming, against my musical judgement, that Bruno Mars song.  You know the one, so damn catchy I might have even danced a little.  While I may have lost the handsome man, I'm still surrounded by so many other good things right now, and if I don't remind myself of it, others do.  Every day is a chance to press reset.  While 2013 started off quite crappy bumpy, I relish the opportunity to make it better.  Like I wrote in my final post of 2012 ... you just never know what is going to happen to you.  Words to hold near and dear.

Sprouted Kitchen: Braised White Beans with Leeks & Bacon

My email inbox is often full of surprises.  Sure there are the requests to pimp out products, and hey, have you heard blah blah blah is happening, and hey can I advertise on your site, and so on and so forth.  Then there is the really good stuff, like when sweet strangers comment on a recipe, and when I was offered a job doing this, and when I was invited to go here, and when a classmate from over 30 years ago (I'm old, okay) dropped me a line to say hi, because she saw me making these on TV.  And then there was the biggie, the email that pretty much took my breath away, the one thing I still think about almost every day.  Email.  Almost like Christmas morning.  Almost.  So you can imagine my delight when I received an email from Ali at Ten Speed Press wondering if I would like a review copy of The Sprouted Kitchen cookbook to check out.  Yes!  Please!