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Potato Sausage Focaccia

  • May 24, 2022

Don’t make this recipe unless you’ve got a crowd on the way, or you’ll end up eating way too many slices of this addictive, potato sausage focaccia. Don’t say I didn’t warn you when you have to loosen your belt buckle. Seriously, if you’ve never had the combination of potatoes on pizza or focaccia, you’re in for a treat.  Years ago, I posted a recipe for Jim Lahey’s potato pizza, and it’s delicious but a whole different texture – thinner and crispier.  This recipe is thicker and uses potatoes that are cooked, along with sausage and mozzarella cheese. Are you salivating yet? Well, let’s get started first by making a very shaggy dough. I start it the night before I bake it, allowing the dough to rise slowly in the refrigerator overnight until it’s more than doubled in size and looks bubbly like this:

Then I punch it down using a silicon spatula (hands are good too).

Then plop it into a buttered and oiled baking sheet. Don’t try to spread it out now or it will fight you. Let it rest for an hour or more and then come back to it.

It will have spread part way all by itself. Using your fingers dipped in some olive oil, spread it out to the edges of the pan and make dimples in the dough.

After an hour or more, it will rise further in the pan like this:

Spread some cooked potato slices, and bits of raw sausage on top, along with a drizzle of olive oil, minced rosemary and some sea salt. Place it in a preheated 450 degree oven for twenty minutes, then remove from the oven and sprinkle on some grated mozzarella. Bake it for another ten minutes, or until the cheese is melted and browned on top.

It will be hard to resist, but wait a few minutes to cut into it.

Or not.

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Potato Sausage Focaccia
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 1¼ oz. envelope dry active yeast (about 2¼ tsp.)
  • 2½ cups lukewarm water (from 105 degrees to 110 degrees)
  • 2 tsp. honey
  • 4-5 cups flour
  • 1 Tablespoon kosher salt or 5 teaspoons table salt
  • 6 Tbspns. extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for hands
  • 1 large baking potato
  • 1 link of Italian sausage
  • a few tablespoons minced rosemary
  • kosher or coarse sea salt
  • butter to grease the pan
  • 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
Instructions
  1. Whisk the ¼ oz. envelope of yeast with the honey and 2½ cups lukewarm water (temperature of water can be from 105 degrees to 110 degrees)
  2. Let the yeast sit for 10 minutes or so to see if it activates in the water.
  3. If it doesn't look creamy or foamy, your yeast is dead.
  4. Start adding the flour and salt, adding only 4 cups to start.
  5. Add more flour if needed, but what you want is a shaggy dough, with no streaks of flour.
  6. Put 4 tablespoons olive oil in a large bowl.
  7. Transfer the dough to a bowl, turn to coat the dough, and cover with plastic wrap.
  8. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight.
  9. If you're in a hurry, let the dough rise at room temperature.
  10. Meanwhile, boil the potato in water until it's cooked nearly all the way through.
  11. Don't let it cook past that point since it might fall apart in the water.
  12. it's actually better if you slightly undercook the potato.
  13. Let the potato cool, then peel and slice it thinly.
  14. Generously butter a 13" x 9" baking sheet, for thicker focaccia, or a 18" x 13" rimmed baking sheet, for thinner, crispier focaccia.
  15. Dump the dough into the pan and let it rise a second time before trying to stretch it out to fit the pan.
  16. After it has risen another hour or two, grease your fingers with olive oil and spread the dough across to the corners of the pan, dimpling with your fingers.
  17. If you want a thicker focaccia, you can let it rise another ½ hour to an hour.
  18. Otherwise, slice the potatoes and layer them gently over the focaccia.
  19. Sprinkle with salt and rosemary, and spread pieces of sausage all around.
  20. Drizzle with a little more olive oil.
  21. Bake at 450 and check after about 20 minutes.
  22. Add the grated mozzarella and bake another ten minutes or until browned on top.
 

Crispy Cheesy Pan Pizza

  • February 25, 2020

I’m partial to Neapolitan pizza, but when I saw this on King Arthur Flour’s website as its “recipe of the year” I was more than a little intrigued. The company has one of the best websites for recipes anywhere, and I have found that their recipes always produce optimum results. This may resemble a thick crust Sicilian pizza, or maybe you’re thinking Chicago deep-dish pizza. But it’s nothing like either of those. The dough, although thick, is not at all dense due to the long rising time overnight in the refrigerator. In fact, it’s quite light and easily digestible. It’s a snap to bake at home in a cast iron skillet, a technique that produces a crunchy bottom and side crust that crackles when you bite into it. It uses only a half cup of tomato sauce, which gets dolloped on after you’ve spread a layer of mozzarella cheese, ensuring that the dough doesn’t become soggy.

If you’ve made no-knead bread before, this procedure will seem familiar to you. You can check out the King Arthur page for more explicit photos on how to handle the dough (it’s easy).

Leave the dough in the refrigerator anywhere from 12 hours minimum to 72 hours maximum, allowing the dough to develop flavor and great texture. It also gives you lots of flexibility in case your plans change at the last minute and you want to save the baking for the next day. When you are ready to get down to business, just press the risen dough into an oiled cast iron skillet. It does require proper timing and close attention on the day you bake it and the directions seem long, but if you read through them before starting, and follow them exactly, it’s really easy to make.

Spread the grated mozzarella cheese thoroughly all over the dough, all the way to the edges, to get that crispy, crunchy, cheese-y top. Then dollop the tomato sauce on top, (sorry, no photo for that step but check out the King Arthur website) and add the rest of the mozzarella cheese. I also sprinkled a little grated pecorino cheese over everything for a sharper tang. You could add other toppings if you like as well, but don’t get too carried away or you’ll weigh down the dough too much.

When you remove it from the oven, you won’t be able to resist digging into it right away. It pulls away from the pan easily, and you could even slide it out of the pan onto a plate or board for slicing.

Or not. We couldn’t wait to dig in, so we sliced it right in the pan.

We could have eaten the whole pie by ourselves, but used a bit of restraint and saved half for another night. It could serve four for dinner, with a salad or soup on the side. Or it would make a great appetizer, sliced into smaller pieces and served with some drinks before dinner. It may even have you forgetting all about that Neapolitan pizza you thought was your favorite!

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Crispy Cheesy Pan Pizza
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 2 cups (240g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon instant yeast or active dry yeast
  • ¾ cup (170g) lukewarm water (I had to use almost ¼ cup more water but it depends on the humidity/dryness of the day)
  • 1 tablespoon (13g) olive oil + 1½ tablespoons (18g) olive oil for the pan
  • TOPPING:
  • 6 ounces (170g) mozzarella, grated (about 1¼ cups, loosely packed)*
  • ⅓ to ½ cup (74g to 113g) tomato sauce or pizza sauce, homemade or store-bought
  • freshly grated hard cheese and fresh herbs for sprinkling on top after baking, optional*
Instructions
  1. Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess.
  2. Place the flour, salt, yeast, water, and 1 tablespoon (13g) of the olive oil in the bowl of a stand mixer or other medium-large mixing bowl.
  3. Stir everything together to make a shaggy, sticky mass of dough with no dry patches of flour. This should take 30 to 45 seconds in a mixer using the beater paddle; or about 1 minute by hand, using a spoon or spatula. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to gather the dough into a rough ball; cover the bowl.
  4. After 5 minutes, uncover the bowl and reach a bowl scraper or your wet hand down between the side of the bowl and the dough, as though you were going to lift the dough out. Instead of lifting, stretch the bottom of the dough up and over its top.
  5. Repeat three more times, turning the bowl 90° each time.
  6. This process of four stretches, which takes the place of kneading, is called a fold.
  7. Re-cover the bowl, and after 5 minutes do another fold.
  8. Wait 5 minutes and repeat; then another 5 minutes, and do a fourth and final fold.
  9. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest, undisturbed, for 40 minutes.
  10. Then refrigerate it for a minimum of 12 hours, or up to 72 hours.
  11. It'll rise slowly as it chills, developing flavor; this long rise will also add flexibility to your schedule.
  12. About 3 hours before you want to serve your pizza, prepare your pan.
  13. Pour 1½ tablespoons (18g) olive oil into a well-seasoned cast iron skillet that’s 10” to 11” diameter across the top, and about 9” across the bottom.
  14. Heavy, dark cast iron will give you a superb crust; but if you don’t have it, use another oven-safe heavy-bottomed skillet of similar size, or a 10” round cake pan or 9” square pan.
  15. Tilt the pan to spread the oil across the bottom, and use your fingers or a paper towel to spread some oil up the edges, as well.
  16. Transfer the dough to the pan and turn it once to coat both sides with the oil.
  17. After coating the dough in oil, press the dough to the edges of the pan, dimpling it using the tips of your fingers in the process.
  18. The dough may start to resist and shrink back; that’s OK, just cover it and let it rest for about 15 minutes, then repeat the dimpling/pressing.
  19. At this point the dough should reach the edges of the pan; if it doesn’t, give it one more 15-minute rest before dimpling/pressing a third and final time.
  20. Cover the crust and let it rise for 2 hours at room temperature.
  21. The fully risen dough will look soft and pillowy and will jiggle when you gently shake the pan.
  22. About 30 minutes before baking, place one rack at the bottom of the oven and one toward the top (about 4" to 5" from the top heating element).
  23. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
  24. When you’re ready to bake the pizza, sprinkle about three-quarters of the mozzarella (a scant 1 cup) evenly over the crust.
  25. Cover the entire crust, no bare dough showing; this will yield caramelized edges.
  26. Dollop small spoonfuls of the sauce over the cheese; laying the cheese down first like this will prevent the sauce from seeping into the crust and making it soggy.
  27. Sprinkle on the remaining mozzarella.
  28. Bake the pizza on the bottom rack of the oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and the bottom and edges of the crust are a rich golden brown (use a spatula to check the bottom).
  29. If the bottom is brown but the top still seems pale, transfer the pizza to the top rack and bake for 2 to 4 minutes longer.
  30. On the other hand, if the top seems fine but the bottom's not browned to your liking, leave the pizza on the bottom rack for another 2 to 4 minutes.
  31. Home ovens can vary a lot, so use the visual cues and your own preferences to gauge when you’ve achieved the perfect bake.
  32. Remove the pizza from the oven and place the pan on a heatproof surface.
  33. Carefully run a table knife or spatula between the edge of the pizza and side of the pan to prevent the cheese from sticking as it cools.
  34. Let the pizza cool very briefly; as soon as you feel comfortable doing so, carefully transfer it from the pan to a cooling rack or cutting surface. This will prevent the crust from becoming soggy.
  35. Serve the pizza anywhere from medium-hot to warm. Kitchen shears or a large pair of household scissors are both good tools for cutting this thick pizza into wedges.
 

Stuffed Pull-Apart Christmas Tree Bread Knots

  • December 17, 2019

Whether it’s a good French baguette or hefty Italian bastone, I love a good loaf of bread, and don’t need any extra incentives to eat more. But this one is irresistible and can weaken my resolve to consume fewer carbs. It’s an easy-to-make stuffed bread treat that’s a kissin’ cousin to pizza. Your family and friends will love it (unless they’re gluten intolerant). With a glass of wine and a side salad, it was dinner for me and my husband last night. We could have eaten the whole thing by ourselves, but we stopped before we became truly gluttinous. You don’t have to make it in a Christmas tree shape, but that certainly does make it festive for the holidays. You could simply make it in a circle or wreath shape, or in a square format. I started out with frozen pizza dough – about a one pound package. Of course, you can make your own dough, if you’ve got the time and inclination. But there’s enough going on at this time of year, that I take short cuts when I can find them.

Start out by rolling or stretching the dough to a rectangle that’s about 6 inches by 16 inches. Have cooked sausage (1 large piece of Italian sausage, with the casings removed — crumbled and cooked in olive oil.) and some shredded mozzarella cheese nearby. Cut the dough into 16 pieces. You’ll need 15 for the actual tree, and one for the stump.

Press the piece of dough into a square shape and into the center of each piece of dough, place a small bit of the sausage and some of the cheese. Pinch the ends together firmly to seal. Make sure none of the filling is visible or it will leak onto the baking sheet.

Arrange the balls into a Christmas tree shape, pinched ends underneath, with the stump (which you have also filled with cheese and sausage) at the bottom.

Brush with beaten egg and bake in the oven. As soon as it comes out of the oven, brush with the garlic-infused olive oil, sprinkle with parmesan cheese, parsley and bits of tomato to decorate. Serve immediately.

Bet you can’t eat just one!

Click here to connect with me on Instagram and find out what Ciao Chow Linda is up to in the kitchen (and other places too.)

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Stuffed Pull-Apart Bread Knots
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 1 uncooked pizza dough (about 1 pound)
  • mozzarella cheese, about 2 cups shredded, or 1 large ball
  • 1 cup cooked Italian sausage, crumbled and cooled
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • ⅛ cup olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
  • a few sprigs of parsley, minced
  • marinara sauce, optional
Instructions
  1. Roll out the pizza dough into a rectangle, about 6 inches by 16 inches long.
  2. Cut the rectangle in half lengthwise, then cut each rectangle into 8 pieces.
  3. Flatten out each piece of dough into a square shape, then holding a piece of dough in your hand, stretch it a bit to accommodate a piece of sausage and a bit of the mozzarella cheese.
  4. Pinch the dough together, enveloping the filling inside the dough, shaping it into a ball.
  5. Place on a silicon baking mat, parchment paper or on a greased cookie sheet.
  6. If you're making a tree shape, you'll need 15 pieces, plus another one for the stump.
  7. If you're making a circle shape, make as many as will fit on your cookie sheet.
  8. After filling the dough, place on the Silpat mat, with the pinched side facing the baking sheet, making sure the dough balls touch each other slightly.
  9. Beat the egg and brush a little of the beaten egg over the dough balls.
  10. Bake in a preheated 15 to 20 minutes or until golden.
  11. While the dough is cooking, gently saute the garlic cloves in the olive oil.
  12. Drain the garlic, retaining the oil.
  13. Brush the oil over the dough, and sprinkle with the grated parmesan cheese and parsley.
  14. Decorate with bits of chopped tomato or roasted peppers.
  15. Serve immediately, with marinara sauce, if desired.
 

Summer Veggie Pizza

  • August 7, 2017
There are so many reasons I love summer, including the delicious sweet corn that grows prolifically here in New Jersey. We’ve been eating it at least once a week, just boiled in water for three or four minutes.
With one of the leftover ears, I was inspired to make a summer pizza using more terrific Jersey produce – (we are the “Garden State” after all!) after seeing something similar on my friend Stacey’s blog. 
The first time I tried it, I also added some zucchini and a bit of anchovy – just enough to give it a zing.
I can just hear those of you who are anchovy averse turning off at this point. But wait – the second time I made it, I added small cherry tomatoes and pancetta in addition to the corn and zucchini. In both cases, I used fresh oregano and basil (and mozzarella cheese of course).
For all you vegetarians, you can skip the anchovies or the pancetta and it will still be delicious, provided you have sweet corn in season.

Although I used a perforated pizza pan to bake the pizzas at a high temperature, the bottom crust just wasn’t getting browned enough. So after about 12 minutes at 475 degrees, I slipped the pizza off the pan and slid it directly onto the lowest of the oven’s wire racks for a few more minutes. Keep a close eye on it so it doesn’t burn on the bottom.

It worked beautifully and created a crispy, crunchy bottom crust, without burning the toppings.

So take your pick and choose either surf (anchovies):

or turf (pancetta). In either case, you’ll want to try this corn pizza while fresh corn is at its peak.
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Summer Veggie Pizza
pizza dough (your own recipe or store-bought)
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese (or several balls of fresh mozzarella, sliced)
1 ear of corn, kernels scraped (either raw or leftover boiled)
1 small zucchini (or half of a large zucchini), sliced thinly and salted
either – 2 anchovies in oil or 6 thin slices of pancetta, fried until crispy
8-10 red or yellow cherry tomatoes, cut in half
fresh basil
fresh oregano
black pepper
olive oil
Whether using your own homemade dough, or store-purchased dough, put it in a bowl smeared with oil and let it come to room temperature and rest for about an hour. Punch it down and spread it out over a large perforated pizza pan.
Scatter the mozzarella over the dough, then place the zucchini and corn kernels and/or cherry tomatoes on top .
If using anchovies, lay them in a few places across the pizza. Do the same if using the pancetta.
Sprinkle with the fresh herbs and black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.
Bake at 475 degrees for 10-12 minutes. If the dough is not browning on the bottom, slide the pizza from the pan directly onto the lowest rack of the oven. Let it bake for another 3-5 minutes, checking to make sure it doesn’t burn.

Roman Pizza Party in New York

  • November 16, 2015
When the opportunity arises to enjoy a meal prepared by Rome’s pizza patriarch and one of New York’s most talented chefs, it’s a no-brainer. You make sure you get a spot at the table. So I did – at The Chef’s Table, a New York City restaurant run by Food and Wine Magazine that invites different chefs to take over its kitchen about six times a year.
Last weekend, it was Nick Anderer, chef/partner of New York City’s Maialino and the more recent Marta, restaurants that both feature Roman food, with an emphasis on wood-fired cooking at Marta.
Gabriele Bonci is practically a household name in Italy and hopefully Americans will soon know more about him too. His hole-in-the-wall pizza shop called “Pizzarium” churns out some of the best pizza Rome has to offer, and I frequently catch him on “La Prova Del Cuoco,” an Italian cooking show that’s available to subscribers in the U.S.
The menu and beverage pairing chosen and prepared by Gabriele and Nick was a real treat, starting with these supplí prepared by Gabriele.
First came classic supplí, with melted mozzarella tucked inside the crunchy exterior of the rice croquettes. Another supplí shared the plate, with bits of sausage and a pungent gorgonzola kicking up the taste. A dollop of creamy broccoletti provided a textural and flavor contrast.
Nick’s lemony mustard greens, anchovies and a luscious stracciatella cheese joined forces with bits of sweet potatoes to make for a perfectly balanced salad.
And though a picture is worth 1,000 words, this photo can’t convey the crispness and acidic flavor in this giardiniera made by Nick. I’ve never craved pickled vegetables more.
Accompanying the above was a wonderful Italian craft beer called Enkir, an ale made with ancient grains. You can buy it in the states at a few places listed here.
The pizza course came next, including the one in the first photo – a pizza patate alla carbonara. It’s featured on the menu at Marta, and Nick explains how he came up with the idea for it here.
Meanwhile, Gabriele created a pizza Amatriciana, like the eponymous pasta dish, made with tomato, guanciale and pecorino cheese.
 A last minute sprinkling of cheese.
 The pizzas were served with a sparkling dry rosé wine from the champagne region of France – a combination I would never have thought of of, but which was terrific. Click here to find out where to buy it.
 The main course, made by Gabriele, was a showstopper: a heritage pork shoulder baked in a pizza dough. Legend has it that during world war II, when food was scarce, Romans would steal a pig and bake it inside bread dough to conceal the aroma from neighbors.
At the restaurant on Friday night, once the outer shell of the dough was removed, the aroma wafted throughout the restaurant. After cooking for six hours inside the dough, it was fork tender.
If you felt a little more seasoning was necessary, no problem. Each table had its own tiny bowl of Himalayan sea salt, shaved from the 1,500 pound behemoth hanging from the ceiling.
The remaining courses were prepared by Nick, and included wood-fired Nebrodini mushrooms with wilted spinach:
 And grilled broccoli and broccoli romanesco resting atop spiced chick pea hummus.
 The main course was paired with a red wine from Lazio, Italy called “Ferro e Seta” (Iron and Silk) from Villa Simone vineyards. I didn’t get a photo of the bottle, since it arrived decanted at the table. But we loved it, and I found out it’s available at a couple of stores, including one not far from me, in Trenton, N.J. Click here for info.
There was still a little room for dessert and thankfully after filling up on all the previous courses, dessert wasn’t too heavy. Nick prepared a intensely delicious concord grape sorbet that helped cleanse the palate, accompanied by an almond and chewy chocolate cookie.
It was accompanied by a sweet dessert wine from the Piedmont region of Italy – Fosso della Rossa. It’s available only at a few outlets here in the states. Click here for more information.

Passion for Pizza

  • May 21, 2015
Not long ago, I received a book to review – “Passion for Pizza.” Bloggers frequently receive these types of offers, and I turn down most of them. But when the subject is pizza, it’s hard to resist. I mean, who doesn’t love pizza? The book more than lived up to my expectations. It’s divided into two sections – Italy and the USA, with various chapters on pizzerias in those two countries, and recipes at the end (including one at the bottom of this post.) It covers different types of pizzas, from crispy -crusted Roman style, to deep-dish Chicago style and many others, including my favorite, Neapolitan style.
I’ve visited a few of the places mentioned in the book, both here and in Italy, but it’s clear that I’ve got a long road ahead of me if I’m going to make a real dent in the list. With this book as my guide, hopefully I’ll get to some of the others in the future.
There are so many great pizza places around the world that it’s hard, if not impossible, to include all of them. For instance, a real standout that’s not included is La Renella in Rome. They make outstanding bread as well as many varieties of pizza, and like most Roman pizzerias, you order by indicating to the person behind the counter how much of a slice you want them to cut.
Among the places listed in the book is another spot where I’ve eaten great Roman-style pizza, –  Gabriele Bonci’s tribute to pizza, Pizzarium (which recently expanded from its little hole in the wall).
Thankfully, there’s a chapter on Naples, the city where pizza Margherita was created more than 100 years ago for Queen Margherita of Savoy and where I’ve been lucky enough to indulge in pizza on a couple of trips to that great city, including one a few weeks ago.
The ownership of Brandi has changed over the years, but it’s still turning out fabulous pizzas from these wood-fired ovens.
Including the famous pizza Margherita, made with simple but high quality ingredients – tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil. It’s hard not to dig right in, but if you wait a minute or two, the center won’t be as runny as it cools down a bit.
Despite the criticism New York City Mayor DeBlasio received from Americans when he ate pizza in Naples with a knife and fork, go ahead and follow his example. It’s the way Italians do it and Neapolitan pizza can be very floppy and difficult to handle when it’s hot from the oven.
Pizza Margherita is only one of the many types of pizza on Brandi’s menu. Another winner I had to try was this one with prosciutto, arugula, cherry tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. I’m still dreaming about them both.
 Fortunately, I have some great Neapolitan pizza places not far from where I live in New Jersey, including Nomad Pizza in Hopewell (soon to open another place in Princeton by the end of the year!); Porta in Asbury Park, N.J., and Brigantessa in Philadelphia.
If you want to try your hand at making pizza at home though, “Passion for Pizza” has a plethora of recipes from many of the pizzerias listed in the book.
 It’s nearly impossible to get the same kind of dark mottled crust from a typical home kitchen, since the temperatures can’t reach the heights of a professional pizza oven.
But it’s still fun to try, and the results, if not the same as your favorite pizzeria, can be delicious anyway.
I recently tried three different pizza recipes from the book, using two different doughs — the “Neapolitan dough” recipe and the “our favorite dough” recipe. We scarfed down the pizza Margherita:
And we loved the pistacchio e salsiccia pizza recipe from Kesté’s in New York (although it could have used a bit of olive oil on top):
 And although mine didn’t look as wonderful as this photo from the book, we all loved the pizza with brussels sprouts, mozzarella and ricotta cheese, inspired by Motorino Pizza in New York City. The recipe is below.

 Pizza with Brussels Sprouts
From “Passion for Pizza”
printable recipe here

1 t. sea salt
2 ounces Brussels sprouts
pizza dough (use your favorite or get the recipe from the book for “our favorite dough”)
2 ounces fresh mozzarella, shredded
1 ounce fresh ricotta
1 ounce Pecorino Romano, crumbled
1 ounce smoked pancetta, thinly sliced (alternatives:bacon or unsmoked pancetta)
1 clove garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
Parmigiano-Reggiano, for grating
coarsely ground black pepper, to taste
extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

 

  1. Place a baking stone in the oven, and preheat to 500 degrees F. or higher for one hour.
  2. Bring 1 quart water with sea salt to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan.
  3. While the water is heating, rinse the Brussels sprouts in cold water, and remove any wilted leaves. Place the Brussels sprouts in the boiling water, and cook for 2 minutes.
  4. Remove the Brussels sprouts with a slotted spoon, and place them in a bowl of ice water for a few minutes to cool.  Pour off the water.
  5. Stretch the pizza dough to a diameter of 12 inches.
  6. Distribute the mozzarella, ricotta and Pecorino Romano over the pizza.  Distribute the pancetta and garlic over the pizza.
  7. Peel the leaves from the Brussels sprouts, and place them on the pizza.
  8. Bake the pizza on the baking stone until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbling.
  9. Remove the pizza from the oven, and place it on a plate. Top with coarsely ground black pepper and a bit of olive oil, and serve

Grilled Pizza with Figs and Other Delights

  • August 28, 2012
Whoever thought of making pizza on the grill deserves a medal from the culinary medal committee. The grill can get much hotter than my inside oven, delivering that crunchy, nearly burnt crust that’s so loved and so authentic. I’ve made it several times in the past, always placing the pizza dough directly on the grates. This time, I wanted to heat up my pizza stone on the grill and toss the dough onto the stone. It really does produce a more even browning, and it’s much easier to handle when it comes time to flip it over. The only problem is that until you recognize just how hot the pizza stone can get, you’re likely to burn your first attempt. That’s what happened to the first round of dough I placed on the stone. It burned in only one minute. That didn’t keep my neighbor’s daughters, Janie and Annie, from munching on the burnt offering while we were putting together round two of the pizzas.
Get all the toppings ready ahead of time because the cooking goes really fast. In this case, we were making a couple of pizzas – first the pizza with figs, prosciutto and other goodies. I posted about this pizza in my early blogging days when I had no readers other than my family, and it’s so delicious I thought it was worth a repeat here.
Stretch out your pizza dough (purchased or home-made – this one is from a local pizza shop). Toss it on the grill or pizza stone and keep a close watch on it. It will take only a couple of minutes to brown.
Flip it over and cover with the cheeses, chopped walnuts and the sliced figs.
Remove it from the grill and add the sliced prosciutto and arugula. Last time I posted about this pizza, I added all the toppings and cooked them together, but now I much prefer to layer the prosciutto and arugula after the pizza is cooked. They taste much fresher that way. Drizzle with a little extra balsamic “essenza” or glaze if you’ve got it. If not, don’t fret. It’s delicious even without it.
Figs and gorgonzola not your favorite? Just go with a classic topping of tomatoes – in this case grape tomatoes from the garden – mozzarella cheese and basil. A grinding of salt also enhances.
Grilled Pizza
Printable Recipe Here
Buy pizza dough or make your own.
Heat up the grill to highest setting. As it turns out, the highest setting on my grill was too hot and burned the first batch of dough. Experiment to see what temperature works for you.
Cook the first side of the dough directly on the grates or on a pizza stone that you’ve heated on the grill.
Flip it over and add any toppings you like.
In these two cases:
Pizza with Figs, Prosciutto and Gorgonzola
Cook the first side of the dough as described above. Flip it over onto the grill or pizza stone. I placed figs, chopped walnuts, about two ounces of gorgonzola and four ounces of mozzarella on top and let the cheese melt. It took another two to three minutes and the other side of the dough gets cooked and browned.
Remove to a platter and top with slices of prosciutto and arugula that’s been tossed in some oil and vinegar.
Pizza with Grape Tomatoes and Mozzarella
Cook one side of the dough on the grill or pizza stone. Flip it over and top with grape tomatoes, about four ounces of mozzarella, fresh basil and a sprinkling of salt. If I had thought about it ahead of time, I might have cooked the tomatoes whole to caramelize a bit before placing on the top. Either way, it’s pretty irresistible.

Fennel Pizza

  • December 16, 2008

I get my hair cut by student stylists at a salon in New York City ‘s Soho. Mostly because it’s a bargain – but my other excuse to go there is because it’s just around the corner from Sullivan Street and the Grandaisy Bakery. It’s the previous home of the Sullivan Street Bakery, but the former bakery moved to W. 47th Street and kept the name – even though it is a little counter intuitive to name a place Sullivan Street Bakery if it’s not located on Sullivan Street. But their bread is so renowned that the name has cachet for New Yorkers – or for anyone who’s eaten it.
Enter Grandaisy Bakery, which makes breads, cakes and pizzas that taste like they’re made with the same recipes that the Sullivan Street Bakery uses. Among the offerings are artisanal breads and pizzas topped with seasonal ingredients. In the fall that means atypical toppings you won’t find elsewhere, such as cauliflower or fennel.
I adore fennel in all variations so I just had to try to duplicate what I ate there several weeks ago. You’ll need to pull out your mandoline to slice the fennel thinly enough. Or you can try using the slicing attachment on your food processor. Either way, it’s easy to prepare and the recipe makes enough to fit into a large cookie sheet. It’s perfect for a party when you want to serve finger food for lots of people. You can make it ahead of time and reheat later — that is if you can resist the aroma when it comes out of the oven.

Fennel Pizza

For the dough:

If you don’t want to make it from scratch, buy some fresh dough from your local pizzeria

3 cups flour
1 package dry yeast
1 1/2 cups water
1 T sugar
2 t. salt
3 T. olive oil
cornmeal
freshly ground salt
more olive oil for the top

Bring the water temperature to about 105 to 110 degrees. Use a kitchen thermometer to test. This is very important. Otherwise, if the temperature is too hot, you risk killing the active ingredient in the yeast. If the temperature is too low, it will take too long to rise. Add the yeast and sugar to the water. Wait for about 10 minutes to make sure it “blooms,” or puffs up. That will ensure the yeast is working and the dough will rise.
Put the flour and salt in a large bowl and add the water, yeast and sugar mixture and the olive oil. Start mixing it together with a wooden spoon or your hands. You may have to add more water, depending on the humidity that day. It should come together in a ball. If it doesn’t, add more water if it seems too dry, or more flour, if it seems too sticky. Knead on a flat surface for about five minutes or longer until it starts to feel and look smooth. Let it rest in a greased and covered bowl until it doubles in size. This may take as little as two hours or longer, depending on where you put the bowl. Leave it in a warm spot to make it rise faster, or you can even put it in the refrigerator overnight if you want to make it the next day.
When the dough is ready, grease a large cookie sheet with some olive oil, then sprinkle with cornmeal. Take the dough and stretch it out on a floured board or counter using a rolling pin. When it is nearly the same size as the cookie sheet, transfer it with your hands to the prepared sheet and shape the dough into the cookie sheet. It is a very resistant dough, so you have to keep working it to get it to all the corners. Take a fork and puncture the dough all over. Then grind some salt and sprinkle more olive oil all over the surface. Let the dough rise a second time in the pan for at least one hour.

Top it with the following:

1/2 large fennel bulb, or 1 small fennel bulb, sliced thinly
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
1 T. freshly chopped thyme
1 T. freshly chopped rosemary

Bake in a preheated 475 degree oven for about 15 to 20 minutes or until bottom crust looks browned and crispy and top is golden.

Pizza with Figs and Prosciutto

  • October 2, 2008

If you’re a pizza purist and think it isn’t pizza if it’s not topped with tomato sauce, then you can skip this one. But I warn you, you’ll be missing out on one of the best pizzas you’ll ever taste.
We recently shared a similar pizza as an appetizer with our friends Al and Ellen Stark at Orso, a New York City restaurant that’s a favorite of theirs.
The list of ingredients blend together to create a perfect harmonic symphony of tastes: the sweetness of fresh figs, combined with the saltiness of prosciutto, the sharp tang of gorgonzola cheese, the mild goodness of mozzarella, the bitterness of arugula and the crunch of walnuts, all fused together on top of a crusty dough. It was a pizza that none of us could stop eating.
I knew I had to try duplicating it at home and guess what? The homemade version was every bit as good as the restaurant’s. And it was easy to boot. I’ve made it twice in the last week and a half, and the first time I absent-mindedly forgot the prosciutto (well, it’s got a LOT of different toppings to remember after all). For all you vegetarians out there, it was delicious even without the prosciutto. But I promise you – with the prosciutto it’s sublime.

Pizza with figs and prosciutto

You can make your own pizza dough if you like, but I went the easy route and bought some already made at a local pizzeria. I just stretched it out on a 12-inch round metal pizza pan, pierced it all around with a fork, and let it rise for about 15 minutes. Douse with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Bake it in a preheated 500 degree oven for about 10 minutes on one side, until browned. If the bottom is not substantially browned, flip over the pizza shell and bake it with the bottom side facing up for another 10 minutes. Watch carefully so it doesn’t burn.
Remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Scatter the following ingredients over the pizza crust:

2 ounces gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
4 -6 very thin slices prosciutto
about 10 small fresh figs, quartered*
a small handful of arugula, chopped
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until cheeses are melted.

*I haven’t tried this recipe using dried figs, but if you do, drop me a comment and let me know how it works out.