The Luigi

First off: YUM!

The Luigi, from The Sexy Vegan Cookbook, is the counterpart to The Mario. Both are pizzas (obviously. They are Italian), and both worth the work involved in making them. The Luigi didn't seem as labour-intensive as The Mario. I did already have two of the three cheeses made: The Not-zzarella Sauce, and the Parmesan Topping. I also planned it's making better than The Mario. I made the third cheese (Cashew Ricotta) the night before. She can be taught!
I admit that I was pretty nervous to try pizza with kale as a topping. I mean, I do love kale massaged in a salad, in smoothies, and baked into chips with some nooch. I was very pleasantly surprised. I'm very happy that I made myself make this.
I'll add that the kitchen smelled amazing from the garlic. Carlos was a happy man. (I brushed my teeth at work when I took leftovers)Naturally, I posted this picture on Facebook for my friends to drool over. One of my vegan friends asked what the differences between The Mario pizza and The Luigi pizza were. I explained that The Mario had a variety of vegetables, and two cheeses. More substance is what I said. The Luigi has three cheeses, kale, and garlic. That same vegan friend added that The Luigi was more green.
I NEVER EVEN THOUGHT OF THAT!! Duh. Luigi has a green outfit, while Mario has a red one.
BRILLIANCE, I SAY!

I did try the basic pizza dough again. Check it. It rose. I was mighty pleased. See...sometimes, most times, you have to try something more than once to be successful. And there's nothing wrong with that.
It was light, and baked out very nicely. Rolling it out was much more pleasant than when it didn't rise. Yeesh.

I think what I really appreciate about this cookbook (besides its' really tasty recipes, intriguing and apt recipe titles, and perfectly amusing cooking instructions), each recipe I've tried teaches me a new kitchen skill. I don't get tired of learning new skills. I take special delight in it. I'm always impressed that my 'severely injured' brain is still capable of learning. Growing up, I was always told that once your brain was damaged, that was it. There would be no way for it to repair. I'm seeing everyday that that just isn't true. So, I like learning. It's great cognitive therapy.

New skills I learnt making this pizza was cooking the full garlic bulbs in olive oil, and steaming kale. I've massaged kale, but I haven't steamed. It's pretty easy.
Overall, this will be a staple pizza in our house. Not gonna lie, I made the extra dough into more of the very same pizza for future meals.

The Mario

 

The Mario 

I made this on Saturday night because I'm wild and crazy like that. The Mario was so tasty and satisfying, but I did not plan the making of it properly.
First off, there are only six ingredients listed, but five of those are other recipes found in the book.
So, first gander, you think, "oh this is pretty simple." If only.
Don't get me wrong-I absolutely love that I know exactly what goes into my food! I appreciated that this pizza was entirely made by me, and not even the sauce was from a can! (Save the Daiya shreds-I just didn't feel like putting the time and effort into making the Not-zzarella Sauce-however I did make the Parmesan Topping!)
But man alive, I really regret not planning this pizza properly and making a couple of the ingredients the day before. I could have made the sauce, the Parmesan topping, and the Caponata on Friday night, then the pizza itself on Saturday.
I am a little reluctant to say how long this took me...please keep in mind that I am recovering from severe brain trauma, and it typically takes me almost twice as long to do most things that it takes other people to complete the same task.

The Tomato Killer

Caponata

Six hours.
Six hours spent in my hallway of a kitchen, chopping, roasting, frying, sauteing, blending, mixing. But ya know...it was worth the trouble...I learned a lot of skills, like roasting Roma tomatoes...and thoroughly reading recipes! Hahaha <sigh>

Sadly, my pizza dough did not rise. Damn it. Ah well. I used it anyway. By that time, it was already pretty late, and I longed for my bed again. The dough was tough to roll out, and it didn't go as far because it didn't rise, but it still tasted great!

I had intended to make half the recipe for the Caponata because The Mario only called for half of it, but the tomatoes were roasting for the full recipe, and I had already sliced the eggplant, salted it, and let it sweat for the instructed time for a whole recipe. Bah! Clearly, my brain needed a break. Hell-I'll make the whole thing.

I do blame the music that I've been trying to have playing while I cook~remember it's hard for my brain to focus on a task with a distraction like music. It is getting better though!

I plan to use the leftover Caponata in pizza rolls from The Vegan Zombie. I think that will be amazing. And if it is (I might call them Mario Rolls), I intend to make those for the next vegan/vegetarian potluck.

Of course, because I'm a sucker for punishment, I'm making The Luigi this week. Cause, I mean, how does someone make The Mario without making The Luigi? Am I right?!
I hope to apply what I learned from making The Mario to The Luigi.

Lessons learned:
*study the recipe
*plan the process properly

Conclusion: Yum! And yes, I will make this again.