The theme for this month's 5 Star Makeover is Pizza. It is a fun topic because there can be so many variations in both the kind of crust and the toppings. I can't wait to see what my fellow participants will come up with!
My pizza creation was inspired by my recent trip to Scandinavia, and more specifically by our explorations of culinary ingredients and Viking history in Norway.
At the Norwegian Folk Museum, we saw a demonstration on making lefse, a Norwegian potato flat bread. Although modern lefse is supposed to be paper thin, the rustic lefse was about the same thickness as a typical flatbread such as pizza or naan. I thought lefse would make an excellent crust for my "Viking" pizza. To make lefse at home, I approximately followed a recipe recently published by one of our 5 Star Makeover participants, Aoife @ Daily Spud, making a slightly smaller portion and a bit thicker rustic form crust.
For the sauce, I decided to make "skyronnaise". Skyr is a thick and creamy Icelandic yogurt, originally brought to Iceland by Norwegian Vikings. Skyronnaise is a blend of skyr with various flavorings, herbs, spices, sweeteners and fruits. Tartar skyronnaise is one common example, served with fish and chips. For my pizza, I made a spiced skyronnaise with juniper berries and cardamom, two of the most common spices used in Scandinavian cuisine.
skyronnaise:
Grind juniper berries and cardamom separately in the spice or coffee grinder. Blend together 1 cup of skyr, 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon finely ground juniper berries, 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom, 1 tablespoon sugar, and a pinch of salt.
At the Viking ship museum, we learned the diet of the Vikings consisted mainly of wild apples, berries, and game meats such as venison. So, for the toppings, I chose caramelized apples, grilled Venison Sausage with Merlot and Blueberries from Marx Foods, and lingonberries. I also used chives for a garnish.
I had to use Norway's famous Jarlsberg cheese for this Norwegian-inspired pizza.
The combination of sweet buttery lefse, aromatic tangy skyronnaise, and sweet and savory flavors of the toppings was excellent. 5 Star Foodie Junior liked it a lot and insisted that "this was too yummy to be a pizza".
