Combining my new favorite cookbook with my love of Florida

I can’t recall where I read about “The Weekday Vegetarians“, but I went from reading about it to borrowing the book from the library to keeping the book past its due date to buying a copy on Kindle. I’m obsessed with these recipes. The number of times I’ve made Jenny Rosenstrach’s Artichoke Dip Pizza in the past few weeks should embarrass me, but I will not be shamed. I’m actually eating some as I type this.

We spent the week between Christmas and 2022 at St. George Island State Park, but I did as much prep in my nice, roomy, non-mobile kitchen before we left Gulfport. Since Jenny Rosenstrach’s artichoke dip pizza and zucchini pizza hit so well with us, I figured I’d try her vegetarian take on Cobb salad pizza. Campfire pizza takes some adjustment, but since I don’t want a camper big enough for an oven, that’s how I had to make it – and I regret nothing. I won’t post the original recipe from Jenny Rosenstarch’s book (as an author, I understand the importance of getting you to buy the book), but I will give you my version of her recipe, adapted for camping and cooking for someone with celiac. If you, like most of the world, don’t have celiac, check out her original recipe, as it’s easily adapted to camping, too.

Gluten-Free Campfire Cobb Salad Pizza

Adapted from Rosenstrach, Jenny. The Weekday Vegetarians (p. 40). Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed. Kindle Edition.

Ingredients

• 1 Schar gluten-free pizza crust
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (more if you like it hot)
• 1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil (we also keep a bottle in the camper)
• 1 cup corn kernels
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• Agave
• 1 head romaine, shredded
• 1 golden beet, roasted and sliced
• 4 oz. goat cheese (mozzarella- or cheddar-style)
• Scallions and chives for garnish

Before your trip

• Roast the beet and slice it
• Mix the dressing: olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice and a squirt of agave (use your judgment with the agave based on how sweet you like things, and remember the corn and beet will add sweetness)
• Shred the romaine and slice the onions

At the campsite

• Start the campfire, preferably with charcoal. While you wait for the coals, prep the pizza.
• Place the pizza crust in a cast-iron skillet; brush the top lightly with extra-virgin olive oil and the garlic.
• Mix the romaine, onions and corn with the dressing. Tomatoes are OK, here, too.
• Slice the cheese into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• When the coals turn white – and not before – place the dressed salad on the crust, then top with beets and then the cheese slices.
• Place the pizza (in the pan) on the fire*
• When the cheese melts, the pizza’s ready. Sprinkle the pizza with scallions and chives. Pour yourself a glass of red wine, and enjoy.

*Florida campers: At Florida state parks, the fire pits/grills always have grates; if you don’t have a skillet, you can place it directly on the grates but you’ll need to watch it like a hawk. A black bottom pizza crust with un-melted cheese is no fun.

When we made this pizza – and it tasted amazing, so thank you, Jenny! – we had the good fortune of winter panhandle weather, which made a hot pizza a delight. I could see it working in the Florida Keys in July, too, with a crisp chardonnay and less cheese. You could also get the crust and garlic/EVOO combo nice and hot, then throw the salad on, sans cheese, for two minutes or so for a wilted summer salad pizza. Whatever you do, though, do it outside in Florida, which makes everything taste so much better!