PIZZA!

Making your own pizza dough is easy. It just takes a little time. Last week I made pizza dough with my good friend Dorita Pina. She is a fabulous home chef, but had not made pizza so we did it together. Seems to be a trend of late, which I enjoy tremendously. Cooking with friends is fun, especially when they share the same passion for food as I do...and Dorita definitely does!


Dorita punching down the first rising.

This recipe is from Giada DeLaurentis. I've made it before. Find the recipe here:
http://cookwithcindy.blogspot.com/search?q=pizza
One of the things I like about pizza dough is the simplicity of ingredients: flour, yeast, water, salt, a little oil for drizzling. That's it!

This recipe makes 3 very thin pizza pies. This time I doubled the recipe, but still made only 3 pizza pies. The pizza was more like a thick-crust Chicago-style pizza. I prefer a thinner dough so next time would make 5 pizzas from the doubled recipe. Once cooked, they freeze well. The day before Dorita and her husband Rudy arrived I made a pizza sauce.

 

TRADITIONAL PIZZA SAUCE

This was enough for 3 pizzas.

Ingredients:
1 12-oz. can tomato paste
2 Tbsp. Sun-dried tomato paste (optional)
12 ounces warm water (110 degrees or warm to the touch, but not scalding)
6 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp. minced garlic
3 Tbsp. honey
1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried marjoram
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (or more if you like it hot)
1/8 tsp. dried red pepper flakes (ditto)
Salt to taste. I used 2 tsp.

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Heat until cheese starts to melt. Will keep covered in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Our appetizer was an antipasti platter featuring
the homemade Tuscan and Calabrese salami
I made with Jay Bileti and the homemade
pepperoni (top left).

Rudy and Jerry solving the world's problems.

Once your dough has risen a second time, using your hands spread it evenly over a pizza pan.

Dorita is a pro, instinctively
knowing just how to spread the dough.

I had also prepared a bunch of different toppings ahead of time so everyone could 'weigh in' on what they wanted.

Toppings included:
Pre-cooked Italian sausage
Pre-cooked Ground Beef
Pepperoni
Green Pepper, cooked slightly
Mushrooms, cooked slightly
Roasted Red Peppers
Caramelized Onion
Raw Onion
Red Pizza sauce
Basil Pesto Sauce
Various grated cheeses: Mozzarella; Parmesan; Provolone

 

 

 

DESSERT WAS A  BIG HIT, TOO!

TARTUFO!

This is Brian Boitano's recipe. He served his
Tartufo with a caramel sauce and also cut
the Tartufo's in half exposing the cherry.
I left them whole so the cherry would be a surprise!

 

 

Tartufo is an Italian ice cream dessert originating from Calabria. It usually consists of 2 or more flavors of ice cream, fruit or fruit preserve all wrapped in a chocolate shell. The shell is either formed by molding melted chocolate or you can simply crush chocolate cookies, which is what I did. 

You could also make this dish with homemade ice cream, but I used Haagen Dazs Vanilla Bean and for the fruit...these fabulous Amerena cherries.

For the chocolate crust I mixed a whole bag of Pepperidge Farm chocolate, chocolate chip crispy cookies with 1/2 of a Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet chocolate bar. Blend together in a mini-food processor until fine crumbs form.



Slightly soften the ice cream so it is easily scoopable. Fill the scoop and then carefully punch a hole into the scoop of ice cream using the handle of a wooden spoon and insert the cherry. Cover over with ice cream and gently roll in the chocolate crumbs. Refreeze until ready to serve.

What a fun dinner party we had! Jerry Vale was serenading us throughout the evening and we almost felt like we were in Italy.

Until next time...

 

BUONA MANGIATA!

 

www.cookwithcindy.com

PIZZA...AS EASY AS PIE!

Last night I made a Salami Pizza using my new pizza pan. Because of the perforated pan I think the pizza cooked more evenly and the bottom crust was perfectly browned. I had made this pizza dough a few weeks ago and froze 2 of the 3 portions. The dough did not rise as much after being frozen, but was still delicious and made a beautifully thin crusted pizza.

A few days ago I made a really rich tomato sauce so putting this pizza together was fast and easy. Of course you can use sauce in a jar, but it is more fun and much better to make your own!

Recipe for the dough is from Giada De Laurentis. I love most of her recipes and this one is no exception.

 

PIZZA DOUGH

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water (100-110 degrees), plus extra as needed
1 packet active dry yeast (I Tbsp.)
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra as needed
1 1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
Olive oil for drizzling

Preparation:
Put the water in a small bowl. Add the yeast and stir until dissolved. In a large bowl, whisk the flour and salt together. Add the yeast mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. If the dough is too dry, add a little more water, 1 Tbsp. at a time. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour, also 1 Tbsp. at a time. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. With floured hands, knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic, about 10-12 minutes. That is a lot of kneading, but I believe that is why this dough is so tender and yummy. Drizzle the inside of a clean bowl with olive oil. Put the dough in the bowl, roll it around to coat with oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or kitchen towel. Set the bowl in a warm, draft-free place (not easy in Ireland!), until the dough has doubled in size; about 2 hours.

Using a fist, punch down the dough in the center and cut it into 3 equal-sized pieces. Form the dough pieces into 3 balls and put in oiled bowls. Cover each bowl loosely and let rest for another hour. Remove the dough and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate up to 1 day, or freeze as I did for a couple weeks, or use straight away.

Using your fingers gently spread the dough out on a pizza pan or cookie sheet. As you can see my dough did not quite reach the edges of the pan, but that is no problem.

Drizzle with red sauce and then add whatever toppings you like. 68% of Americans prefer meat toppings and pepperoni is the most popular choice, but experiment with different veg: eggplant, roasted red pepper, cauliflower.

Pizza ready to bake.

I topped with Salami Milano and Coppa Salami, freshly grated Parmesan and Mozzarella cheeses. Salami Milano is a cured sausage consisting of fermented air-dried pork or beef. I used pork. Coppa or Capocolla is a traditional Italian and Corsican sausage made from the dry-cured muscle running from the neck to the pig shoulder.

To cook your pizza pie, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook for about 20 minutes depending on your preference of crispy or doughy crust. Let rest a couple minutes, then slice, and EAT!

Each man, woman and child in America eats an average of
46 slices of pizza per year. My husband, Jerry, loves pizza! 

That's all for today. We are leaving Ireland in less than 2 weeks returning to the land of sun and warmth in beautiful Arizona. This year has been a challenge cooking in Spiddal, Co. Galway, Ireland as we are doing renovations on our house and I have had no kitchen for the last 3 1/2 months. I am cooking on our old stove which has been set up in the garage. Not the most convenient, but a fun challenge!

THANKS FOR TUNING IN

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