Kosher Critic: How I learned to stop worrying and love the nine days

As daunting as the idea of nine solid days without meat may seem, I have always found the culinary challenge presented to be a test of creativity in the kitchen. I break out the cookbooks, turn on the Food Network and log onto Allrecipes.com for inspiration.

I gather dozens of recipes for things like fish tacos and fettuccine carbonera and after amassing this Alexandrian Library-like collection of parve and dairy culinary possibilities, I inevitably develop an overwhelming sense of laziness and head to the local pizza store like everyone else. This year the pizza store was mobbed even more than usual. Elbows were thrown and stamped feet as people howled for their orders. I dejectedly got back into my car and drove back home. As I drove I realized that I still had a tremendous craving for pizza and that pizza isn’t really that hard to make. So instead of making a b-line for home I stopped by my local Shoprite and purchased the making for pesto pizza with mushrooms and golden tomatoes. What follows is my recipe some of the best pizza I have ever eaten:

You will need:

• 1 bunch of Italian basil
• 1 small bag of pine nuts
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 package mushrooms
• 1 package golden tomatoes
• 1 can of pizza sauce (I prefer to use Don Pepino)
• 1.5 bricks of cheese. I used Natural & Kosher’s Pepper Jack that has a nice flavorful spiciness to it as well as their cheddar, which has a wonderful sharpness to it.
• 1 package pizza dough. You can find packages of kosher ready to make pizza dough at any Shoprite, Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. Often the dough is frozen so move it from it’s package to a bowl with some flower and let it thaw and rise before using it.
• You will also need olive oil.