Pine Nut Pizza

Pine nuts are the seeds of pine cones. Specifically, piñon pine cones. They are the basis of pesto, pureed with basil leaves and oil. They are a garnish and a wonderful addition to a lot of foods. 

If you toast a few in a saucepan for just moments on medium heat, they get brown and nutty tasting, but these are not tree nuts, they are seeds of pine cones. Don't walk away while they are toasting, these burn in seconds.

And now you can't get them any more. Whole Foods is out, Sprouts no longer carries them. There is a worldwide shortage of pine nuts in 2022. What?

Why? Well, there's a shortage of everything it seems, but the very labor intensive process of separating seeds from pine cones is one issue. And the over-harvesting of pine cones globally is another.

My Monday night meal (yes, I'm still cooking on Mondays, thank you for following along) called for toasted pine nuts on top. This was a pizza made of:

olive tapenade from a jar, like a bruschetta spread

blobs of goat cheese, 

red peppers and red onions sautéed,

a few cherry tomatoes, sliced 

and  . . .

roasted pine nuts.

 

Also a few basil leaves on top. I used cilantro because I had it.

Not a typical pizza. No tomato sauce, no mozzarella. No pepperoni. 

I did finally find pine nuts at Albertson's. Expensive, but you only need a few to elevate a dish. Can you see the toasted pine nuts on top of this single-serve pizza? They're there.

This was amazingly good. So. Good. Served with cantaloupe to quell the spicy richness. The olive tapenade was spicy, salty and rich, the onions and red peppers were sweet, the overbaked pizza crust was cracker-like and the goat cheese was a tangy complement. And the pine nuts . . .

Yes, Jim said he could taste them, a bit of toasted nuttiness to go with the complex flavors of this pizza.

It's the little things, isn't it? Pine nuts on top of an awesomely delicious chopped olive red pepper pizza.  

Pay attention to the small things. They make a difference.