Great friends, fresh air, the ocean, and amazing food. Those four words sum up my weekend. A woman in my program invited the entire class to her house on Fishers island. We spent the weekend kayaking, swimming, clamming, cooking, and relaxing. It was the perfect getaway from the loud busy city.
Having eight culinary students in the same kitchen for the weekend ensures the meals will be good. On the menu- fresh guacamole, salsa, bruschetta, grilled pizzas with roasted pepper sauce, spring fava beans with asparagus, corn, and feta in a lemon dressing, and caprese salad for dinner. Followed by gourmet s'mores for dessert. For brunch we made pancakes topped with rhubarb strawberry compote and pecans. My piece of advice for everyone...invite a few culinary students on your next vacation. Your stomach will thank you.

GRILLED VEGGIE PIZZA
INGREDIENTS:
-1 cup warm water
-1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast (1 tablespoon)
-1 tablespoon rice syrup OR maple syrup
-1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
-2 1/2- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
-1 teaspoon kosher salt OR sea salt
-assortment of vegetable to grill and choice of cheese

DIRECTIONS:
-Combine water, yeast, and sweetener in a medium mixing bowl and stir until the yeast and sweetener dissolves. Stir in oil and 1 cup of flour. Stir in second cup of flour and salt. Sprinkle some of the remaining flour over a work surface and on your hands. Scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto the work surface. Gradually knead in additional flour until the dough no longer feels sticky
-Lightly oil a large bowl. Shae the dough into a ball and rotate it in the bowl to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft free place until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. Punch the dough down and knead it for about 1 minutes. Return dough to the bowl and let rise again, about 15 minutes.
-Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces. Form each piece into small disk. Brush oil on both sides.
-On an oiled grill, grill pizza on one side for about 2-3 minutes (until cooked halfway through)
-Flip pizza. Add the sauce, an assortment of veggies, and the cheese of your choice.
-Cook until the cheese melts and the dough is cooked through.
-To speed up cooking time, once the pizza is flipped and the toppings added you may place a large bowl over the pizza (trapping the heat).

We grilled eggplant, zucchini, onions, and peppers. For cheese we used fresh mozzarella and goats cheese. For the sauce we roasted red peppers, combined them with sweated onions, garlic, and salt. Into the blender it went until creamy. It was finished off with a splash of Tabasco sauce. It was a nice alternative to the basic tomato pizza sauce.

Our best culinary creation may have been the s'mores. We grilled them on the griddle to ensure the chocolate melted entirely.

GOURMET S'MORES
INGREDIENTS:
-8 whole Graham crackers broken in half
-one Theo's organic chili chocolate bar(70% dark)
-8 marshmallows (we used vegan marshmallows found at Whole Foods. One of the girls is a vegetation and regular marshmallows contain Gelatin)

DIRECTIONS:
-Preheat griddle
-Place one marshmallow and two chocolate squares on half of the graham crackers (8 halves).
-Top with second graham cracker half.
-Wrap each s'more in tin foil. Place on top of griddle until chocolate is melted through.
-serve immediately.