

This is my journey as I have been rediscovering pizza. I have been experimenting with different doughs, sauces, cheeses and ovens and even on the BBQ. I am striving for perfection as I pursue the ultimate pizza.
Elvis Presley - It's Now Or Never Lyrics It's now or never, come hold me tight Kiss me my darling, be mine tonight Tomorrow will be too late, it's now or never My love won't wait. When I first saw you with your smile so tender My heart was captured, my soul surrendered I'd spend a lifetime waiting for the right time Now that your near the time is here at last. It's now or never, come hold me tight Kiss me my darling, be mine tonight Tomorrow will be too late, it's now or never My love won't wait. Just like a willow, we would cry an ocean If we lost true love and sweet devotion Your lips excite me, let your arms invite me For who knows when we'll meet again this way It's now or never, come hold me tight Kiss me my darling, be mine tonight Tomorrow will be too late, it's now or never My love won't wait. |
This recipe is the most requested hors d’oeuvres ever!
It is great with wine and crackers and good friends.
8 oz. softened Philadelphia cream cheese
1 T. milk or 1/2 & 1/2 or cream
1 T. minced sweet onion
1 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning
Dash freshly ground pepper
6-8 oz. can crab meat (fresh is best!)
1/3 cup sliced almonds OR
1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan
Stir milk into cream cheese. Blend in onion and seasonings.
Gently fold in crabmeat. Spread in greased casserole dish.
Sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake for 15 minutes at 375.
Serve with assorted crackers or crispy French bread slices.
When you wake up thinking about dough, sauces, techniques I could've tried instead of things I need to do today you start to wonder about yourself. At least I'm not skipping work to wrestle with a new dough recipe. But, on your day off you drive 78 miles one way to find some canned tomatoes that are nearly impossible to get your hands on unless you are a restaurant is that cause for alarm? I say yes, if the tomatoes are no good. However, these aren't any old canned tomatoes. These are Alta Cuchina whole plum tomatoes from the Stanislaus Valley. So what, you say! OK, let me explain. The canned tomatoes that I paid $5.99 that came from Italy's Compania region near Mt. Vesuvius called San Marzanos are becoming harder to get. I have heard rumors that the region is becoming polluted and the tomatoes are not what they used to be. In any event. Tony, remember Tony from earlier blogs? Tony is buying these tomatoes. If Tony is buying these tomatoes it's like saying,"OK, Van Gogh is using Grumbacher paints. Shouldn't I be?" The tomatoes by the way are available to the public if you can find this place in Modesto at an Olive Oil plant called Sciabica & Sons. His olive oils are worth the drive alone.
But that's not what this web log is about. I would wake up and know that the dough in my refrigerator is in a kitchen that is bordering on total boredom. Face it, the kitchen is where guest congregate and lean on the counters and set their drinks. There is no escaping it. You can build a wine room, you can build an outdoor patio station that some people would envy, you can decorate your family room with actual artists like a signed original by Peter Max, a signed print by Salvador Dali and two by my very good friend and international wildlife artist, Terry Isaac, it doesn't matter. The people come back to the kitchen. That's where the food is. That's where the action is and that's the comfort zone. (Just a thought: maybe it's the original Vince Larsen pizzas that keep them in the kitchen! ) Anyway, it almost embarrassed me at how plain the kitchen was. Yeah, I know, I'm an artist so it's my fault. Truth of the matter is there wasn't much wall space but there was a lot of need for some character. I thought about emailing HGTV for a kitchen makeover. I figured I would be lost in the thousands of emails there so I decided to do something about it myself. I wanted color. I wanted texture and I wanted it to represent the current journey of rediscovering pizza that I am on.
Along the way I found it necessary to experiment and try other dough recipes and other styles. I had the opportunity to go to Tony's Napoletana Pizzeria in San Francisco. Tony is famous internationally in the world of pizza and food in general. He has been world champion pizza tosser for numerous years as well as world champion pizza maker by actually beating the Italians in Naples at making a Margherita Pizza. He's all over You Tube, Food Channel, Jay Leno, Rachel Ray and you get the idea. We got the chance to meet him and taste his award winning pizzas. There were 5 of us so we ordered 3 pizzas. The award winning Margherita named for Queen Margherita of Italy designed to be the colors of the Italian flag. The red tomato sauce, the white mozzarella and topped with green basil leaves. Besides that one we also ordered a cheese pizza and a garlic and clams on a white sauce which was in itself worth the 2 hour drive from Sacramento. Tony unknowingly opened up a whole new world of pizza to me. These were all thin crust Napoletana style baked in a brick fired oven imported from Italy. Did I mention they bake in 90 seconds at 900º? I knew exactly what my new goal was now. I had to try and duplicate what the master does 73 times a night. When Tony reaches 73 Margherita's he's done for the night. I used my standard dough recipe made for thin crust and rolled it out as thin as I could from tossing and finishing with the rolling pin. On it I did not use my standard sauce. I had done my homework. On his menu that we brought home tells you the type of San Marzano whole plum tomatoes imported from the Compania region of Italy near Naples grown in the ash of Mt. Vesuvius that he uses. He had also mentioned imported Mozzarella di Bufala on his menu as well. We shopped and we found at Nugget the brand of tomatoes Tony uses for $5.99 for a 28oz can. We also had found tubs of the mozzarella di bufala imported from Italy at Grocery Outlet. A basil plant was all we needed and it was pizza time. I preheated the oven for over an hour and a half at 550º with the pizza stone on top of the tile stones. This warmed up the kitchen a tad. I turned the vent fan on low and paced myself. The sauce I made earlier was simple. Crushed tomatoes with a little bit of red wine vinegar, salt & pepper. I did not cook the sauce, I chilled it. I applied the sauce to the dough and it spread out almost translucent. I had sliced the mozzarella and dried the slices on paper towels. Spreading the cheese out carefully now and drizzling it with a high quality extra virgin olive oil. I slid it into the hot oven. I was anxious but I was peeking through the glass in the oven door. I had some basil leaves ready, opened the door and dropped them on and slid it back in quickly. About 3 minutes was all it needed as light as it was in mass. I pulled it out with noticeable charring on the edges and bubbling cheese. Let it rest a minute or two and listen for that crunch when you cut it. OMG, when I took my first bite I knew I wasn't far behind Tony. He had given all his secrets on his menu and on You Tube. |