It is a beautiful fall day here in Arizona.  The sky is crystal clear and a color blue so pure and clear, it defies description.  The pyracanthas (firethorns) are laden with orange berries, and it is 82 degrees.  So it is not the ‘awesome autumn’ I remember from my days in New England, but it is beautiful in a desert kind of way. 

 

I find myself longing for a piping hot bowl of butternut squash soup or a bubbling apple pie – something warm on a cool fall day.  Oh, wait a minute, not so cool here…guess I will grill an Awesome Autumn pizza instead.  That way the house will stay cool, but my heart will be warmed by the memories of fall in New England evoked as I savor each bite. 

The following is an excerpt from Pizza Memoirs – all rights are reserved.

Awesome Autumn Pizza

 

Today is the first day of fall and it is a toasty 102 degrees here in Tucson, AZ. I find myself missing the sights, sounds and smells of fall in New England. As I sat outside in the heat of the day, I closed my eyes and imagined I was sitting in front of one of the fireplaces in our previous home in CT. I could feel the heat of the fire (of course it was the sun), see the vibrant foliage and hear the crunching of leaves as we buckled down to complete yard work in anticipation of winter. I recalled the bounty of apples and squash, our visits to orchards on crisp fall days and the comfort derived from enjoying a warm galette, bubbling over with fragrant butternut squash, apples and cheese. The Awesome Autumn Pizza is my snapshot of fall in New England.

 

1 tablespoon	Olive oil
4 tablespoons	Unsalted butter, divided
1 small	Butternut squash (about ¾ pound), peeled, seeded and cut into ½ inch dice*
	Pinch kosher salt
	Freshly ground black pepper to taste
¼ cup	Water (more as needed to prevent burning of squash)
	Pinch freshly ground nutmeg
8 to 10	Whole fresh sage leaves, plus additional for garnish
8 to 9 ounces	Prepared pizza dough at room temperature
1 recipe 5 ounces	Caramelized onions (page  ) Stilton blue cheese or other good blue cheese, divided
6	Whole chestnuts, roasted, peeled and chopped – available in specialty stores
1 large	Baking apple such as Cortland or Granny Smith, cored, halved  and cut into 1/8 inch slices
2 teaspoons	Fresh thyme leaves
	Maple Syrup for drizzling, dark amber grade A is preferred

 

1. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add squash, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until squash is completely coated with oil/butter mixture and slightly softened. Add water to pan, cover and cook for 5 minutes longer or until softened but not mushy. Using a slotted spoon, remove squash from pan and grate fresh nutmeg over the pieces. Set aside to cool.

2. Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add whole fresh sage leaves and cook until butter begins to brown, stirring occasionally. Be careful not to let the butter burn. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

3. Roll, stretch and shape dough into an unrefined 12 to 14” circular shape according to basic directions. Brush dough with browned butter and top with sage leaves, tearing them apart and distributing evenly over dough. 

4. Spread caramelized onions out over entire crust, leaving about a ½ inch border. Top with 2 ounces of the Stilton.

5. Scatter butternut squash over entire pizza and top evenly with chestnuts. Arrange apple slices over all.   

6. Top with remainder of the Stilton cheese and sprinkle with thyme leaves.

7. Bake on a preheated Pizza Grill or on a preheated pizza stone in a 500^o F. degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating pizza after 4 minutes to prevent sticking. Bake until crust is firm and golden, top is bubbly and apples are softened. 

8. Remove pizza from grill or oven and immediately drizzle with maple syrup if desired. Garnish with fresh sage leaves; cut and serve.

 

Note: This makes a great appetizer pizza if you stretch dough into a 14 inch long rectangular shape. After baking, cut into small squares.

WRITING A COOKBOOK ~ LABOR OF LOVE OR LOVE OF LABOR?

I find it hard to believe that it has been nine months since I wrote my last blog.  Life really does get in the way sometimes.  What’s even harder to believe is that

I began writing Pizza Memoirs in March 2009.  Talk about time flying.  While working on the final editing of the book this past month, I had to laugh when I read some of the stories containing time sensitive information.  For example, in the introduction to Julia’s Barnyard Pizza, I mention that our granddaughter Julia is five years old.  So how could it be that she celebrated her eighth birthday last week? 

Writing this book was truly a labor of love, testing one hundred pizzas – not so much!  Actually, recipe testing was the most time consuming part of the entire project; mostly because some of the recipes call for seasonally fresh ingredients and also because one can eat only so much pizza while trying to maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle.  Several months ago, I enthusiastically celebrated the testing of the last pizza recipe, thinking my pizza making from that point on would be purely for enjoyment; yet last night I found myself back in the kitchen ready to work. This time it was not to test a pizza recipe, rather to take a new photo of one of my first pizzas.  Apparently, when I started this project a part of me didn’t believe it would ever become a reality, so I didn’t really obsess over getting a perfect photo of each pizza.  I made Momma J’s “Let it all Hang out Blues” Pizza, laughing to myself as I read the introductory story about Momma J having just given birth to their daughter, Ella.  I laughed because Ella turned three this past March. Time flies, and as my father used to say, “The older you get, the faster it goes.”  How right he was – I’m feeling pretty old today! 

This recipe is from the Appetizer section of Pizza Memoirs, but it serves equally well as a dinner pizza.  Enjoy! 

 Momma J’s “Let it all Hang out Blues” Pizza

Momma J is singing the ‘woke up this morning and my pants were tight’ blues not because she ate one too many slices of this Blue Cheese BBQ Chicken delight, rather because she had just given birth to their fourth child, a beautiful girl who was their first daughter! Yes, Momma J was very proud indeed. Her reward for a job well done was this pizza created from one of her favorite foods – Buffalo wings with blue cheese.

1/3 cup	Barbecue sauce – divided, plus more for finishing
½ cup	Shredded, cooked boneless chicken thighs
8 to 9 ounces	Prepared pizza dough at room temperature
½ cup	Crumbled Stilton blue cheese, plus more for finishing
1 ear	Corn, roasted and kernels removed from cob or 1/3 cup frozen roasted corn (Recommended - Trader Joe’s®)
½	Medium red onion, peeled and thinly sliced or cut into small dice
2 to 4 ounces	Whole milk mozzarella cheese, shredded

1.    Combine 1 tablespoon of the barbecue sauce and shredded chicken in a small bowl. Set aside for topping.       

2.    Roll, stretch and shape dough into an unrefined rectangular shape approximately 12 by 14 inches, according to basic directions. Place on a pizza peel or rimless baking sheet that has been lightly dusted with cornmeal.  Spread remaining barbecue sauce over dough and sprinkle with blue cheese.

3.    Arrange chicken mixture, roasted corn and onion rings or dice over cheese; top with mozzarella cheese.         

4.    Bake on a preheated Pizza Grill or preheated pizza stone in a 500^o F. oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until crust is firm and golden and top is lightly browned. Rotate pizza after first 4 minutes to be sure it is not sticking. [To grill this pizza, see instructions below.]

5.    Remove from heat and drizzle with additional barbecue sauce; sprinkle with additional blue cheese as desired.

 Pizza Memoirs - available September 1, 2012. 

Order forms:  www.PizzaMemoirs.com                                                          

EASTER DINNER IN NOVEMBER

Delicious hunks of ham…hot, cold, in a casserole, on a sandwich, or any which way is a dream come true for our son Matt.  It comes as no surprise that our traditional Easter dinner of baked ham, cheesy garlic potatoes and peas is one of his favorite holiday dinners.  Inspired by memories of this simple yet satisfying dinner, I created Matt’s 'Mmmm Haaam' Pizza. 

Matt's 'Mmmm Haaam' Pizza

                                               

The results of this taste test were rather surprising as I have never before actually eaten pizza on which potatoes are one of the toppings.  Each gooey bite brought me back to the days of eating spoonsful of the warm leftover cheesy garlic potatoes while cleaning up the kitchen after our Easter dinner.  This pizza contains no sauce, only the freshly roasted garlic paste that serves as a base to which the shredded extra sharp white cheddar cheese can adhere. I fully cooked the potatoes which caused me to worry that they would not hold their shape while the pizza baked, but they held up well.  Since I didn’t have an entire ham roasting in the oven, I used deli ham off the bone from a local health food store.  I rolled the slices and cut them crosswise into strips before placing them among the sliced potatoes on the pizza. Ultimately, the peas did not add much to the overall taste, but tradition dictated that they be used on Matt’s pizza.  Perhaps using larger peas might help.  After topping the pizza with a final layer of cheddar cheese, I drizzled a bit of heavy cream over all.  My concern at this point was that the cream might cause the pizza to become soggy, but my fear was unfounded.  The cream added a moistness and richness to the potatoes that facilitated the melding of the slices.  The result was potatoes that looked and tasted like traditional scalloped potatoes.

You can be assured that this is not the pizza you want on your dinner table if you are trying to lose weight.  With only 8 more pounds to go to my Weight Watchers goal and a 60 pound total loss, the voice in my head began its usual ‘You’ve worked so hard you deserve it’ speech.  How I hate that speech; sometimes I can be so weak.  This time, however, I held my ground and made it through the taste testing without giving in to that deafening voice in my head.  After tasting one small piece, I knew that the recipe worked and that the pizza was both delicious and as comforting as any Easter dinner we enjoyed together as a family.    

The following recipe is excerpted from Pizza Memoirs.  Enjoy.

Matt’s ‘Mmmm Haaam’ Pizza

Ingredients:

2	Medium Yukon gold potatoes, washed (approximately 8 ounces)
	Kosher salt
	Freshly ground black pepper
8 to 9 ounces	Prepared pizza dough at room temperature
2 tablespoons	Extra virgin olive oil
1	Recipe garlic paste, see basic recipe
8 ounces	Extra Sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded and divided
4 ounces	Country baked ham, cut into slivers*
¼ cup	Frozen peas, thawed
¼ cup	Heavy cream

Directions:

1. Place potatoes into a saucepan and add water to cover.   Bring to a boil over high heat.  Lower heat to medium and simmer until potatoes are just tender, about 20 minutes.  Drain and set aside.  When cool enough to handle, cut into 1/8 inch thick slices; season lightly with salt and pepper and reserve for topping.

2. Roll, stretch and shape dough into an unrefined rectangular or circular shape approximately 12 to 14 inches according to the basic directions.  Brush dough with olive oil and spread with a thin layer of garlic paste.  Sprinkle with 6 ounces of the cheddar cheese.

3. Arrange potato slices in an attractive pattern over cheese and scatter ham slivers and peas among the  potato slices.  Sprinkle with remaining 2 ounces of cheese and drizzle with heavy cream.

4. Bake on a preheated Pizza Grill or on a preheated pizza stone in a 500^o oven, rotating after 4 minutes to prevent sticking.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until crust is firm and golden and cheese is bubbly across entire top of pizza.

5. Remove from heat, cut into squares or wedges as desired.  Serve immediately.

*Tip: You can also use deli ham off the bone cut into narrow strips.

CHRISTMAS EVE PASTA PIZZA

An historic east coast snow storm the weekend before Halloween prompted me to begin thinking about Christmas even though I live far from the cold, wet and nasty white stuff that wreaked havoc in the lives of family and friends in Connecticut.   Every Christmas Eve, our dear friends Arlene and Augie prepared their traditional Italian dish together.  Christmas Eve Pasta, as it was so aptly named, consisted of angel hair pasta dressed with a simple sauce made from olive oil, anchovies, garlic, black olives, raisins and pine nuts.   Augie joked that he only knew how to make his part and Arlene knew only hers and that’s why they stayed together for more than 50 years.  When Arlene was too ill to cook one Christmas Eve, he learned how to make the dish entirely on his own.  It wasn’t long after that Christmas that Arlene lost her battle against cancer.  In the months following, Augie graciously gave me all Arlene’s recipes because he knew how much I loved to cook and that I would use and treasure them, always keeping her memory alive.

I took Arlene’s recipe and altered the amounts of ingredients while striving to keep the integrity of the original sauce.  Thus, I used only a small amount of olive oil in which I sautéed the anchovy fillets until they magically melted into the oil, losing any fishy taste and taking on an almost nutty flavor.  Plenty of garlic went into the sauté pan next and as soon as it gave up its fragrance, I added the olives, raisins and pine nuts.  As I watched the raisins plump and the pine nuts brown lightly, I could almost see Arlene and Augie standing at their stove each Christmas Eve preparing their simple dinner.  The combination of sweet, salty and nutty tastes lent a complexity to this dish that made it surprisingly elegant.

Although my pizza recipe calls for regular angel hair pasta, I used about 4 ounces of whole wheat angel hair pasta in an effort to make myself feel better should I go off the deep end and consume the entire test pizza.  Actually, it worked out because it enhanced the nutty taste of the pizza.  After mixing the pasta in with the sauce, I had to test it to make sure it tasted good enough to go onto the pizza.  Now, do you really believe that?  I tasted it because it smelled so amazingly delicious I couldn’t stop myself.  It really was so delectable, I had a hard time controlling the size of my ‘taste’ and thought of postponing the taste testing of the pizza so I could eat the rest of the pasta right from the pan.  However, reason prevailed and I was able to get a grip on myself while I still had enough of the pasta mixture for the top of the pizza.  I put a layer of shredded mozzarella cheese on the pre grilled crust, topped it with the pasta mixture being sure to get all the pine nuts and raisins remaining in the bottom of the pan and finished it with a generous covering of freshly grated Parmagiano-Reggiano and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.  Interestingly, the parm looked like drifts of freshly fallen snow.  I popped it back on the grill and in less than 10 minutes I was removing a beautiful Christmas Eve Pasta pizza from the grill.

CHRISTMAS EVE PASTA PIZZA

 My only regret was that I had no one with whom to share it.  One taste confirmed the recipe worked … the other tastes can be chalked up to lack of self-control when confronted with an unusually unique and tasty pizza that might not be good cold or reheated.  Cook’s Note:  It was perfectly good several hours later when served at room temperature.  I’m not sure if it would stand up to reheating.  Maybe I’ll try that next time.

Today was a good day and I know that Arlene was smiling in heaven when she witnessed me making and lovingly consuming this pizza from her special Christmas Eve Pasta recipe. 





GET HEALTHY ~ EAT SALAD

Incorporate more fresh salads into your diet and enjoy the health benefits; putting it on a pizza – not so much. 

One of my favorite salads is the Cobb salad; crisp bacon, avocado, chicken, tomato and eggs diced and placed in perfectly aligned rows atop a bed of fresh greens.  How bad can that be for you?  Actually, for many years, I deluded myself into believing that a salad was a salad no matter what the ingredients were or how they were prepared.  As salads go, the Cobb can be a real bad boy with around 750 calories and 50g of fat per serving, depending on the type of dressing.  Oh yes, those counts are for salad with grilled chicken!  Now, is it just me, or do you think 'healthy' when you hear someone say, "salad with grilled chicken?"

After moving to Arizona, I began to incorporate local ingredients and spices into our meals.  I wondered if my beloved Cobb salad could go southwestern and still maintain its original integrity.  So the experimenting began; I season the breaded chicken cutlets with chipotle chili powder, used roasted red peppers, pepper jack and Manchego cheese for a southwestern flair and created an avocado ranch dressing to pull it all together.  My guess is that one good sized serving of my salad had upwards of 1,000 calories and God only knows how much fat.  Now the next question – could my savory southwestern Cobb work as topping for a pizza.  Answer – yes, yes and yes!

To make my Sunny Southwestern Chicken Cobb Pizza, I pre-grilled one side of the dough, flipped it over and spread it with roasted red pepper pesto; I then topped it with a mixture of Monterrey jack and pepper jack cheese.  I sliced my previously sauteed breaded chicken tenders crosswise and lined them up around the pre-grilled dough on top of the cheese; diced onion, halved cherry tomatoes and a light sprinkling of cheese came next; then back onto the grill for some healthy baking. 

While the pizza was doing its thing on the grill, I tossed some shredded romaine lettuce with the avocado ranch dressing.  After removing the pizza from the grill, I cut it into serving size pieces, topped it with the dressed romaine and sprinkled the minced hardboiled egg and diced cooked bacon over all.  I seasoned it lightly with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper and topped it with shaved Manchego cheese.  Although it did not have the neatly lined up rows of finely diced ingredients found in a traditional Cobb salad, I must say, it totally exceeded my expectations.  It was like eating my much-loved Cobb with a hunk of warm bread.   Try grilling some dough and topping it with one of your favorite salads – you may be surprised at the delectable end result.



Sunny Southwestern Chicken Cobb Pizza



Lu's Ludicrous 'Lobsta' Bake Pizza

Knowing how much we miss the taste of sweet Maine lobsters now that we reside in Arizona, my sister Luann surprised us on one of our trips to Connecticut by preparing an old fashioned New England lobster bake.  She kicked off the festivities with an appetizer of three dozen huge shrimp swimming in cocktail sauce.  They were so big, they looked like lobster tails!  Then, the ludicrous lobster bake began.  Lu, AKA the queen of excess, served a quarter bushel littleneck clams, a quarter bushel mussels, 15 one and one half pound lobsters, 4 dozen ears of corn and enough melted butter to float a small fishing boat.  You may be asking why I call this 'ludicrous'.  Well, truth be told, there were not twelve guests, not even ten.  No, there were only five of us at her table that night!  We talked and laughed and we ate, and ate, and ate until we could eat no more.  Amazingly, we didn't even have to trek to a beach and build a fire pit- she did it all in her kitchen.   


This pizza is my version of Lu's lobster bake and although it may take more preparation time than you would normally spend making a pizza, you will experience the taste of a traditional New England lobster bake with each bite, making it well worth the effort.

After stretching the dough into a large rectangular shape, I liberally brushed it with melted garlic infused butter into which I had stirred fresh chopped parsley and chives.  I topped this with a layer of shredded mozzarella, fontina and Parmigiano cheese onto which I nestled the clams and roasted corn kernels.  Pieces of oven roasted tomatoes, cooked diced red bliss potatoes and some sliced, smoked Cajun Andouille sausage covered the clam and corn layer which was then topped with the remainder of the cheese blend.  I was going for the layering here that one finds at a true clam or lobster bake - minus the seaweed of course.  While the pizza baked on a hot stone on my grill, I sautéed cooked chunks of lobster in the remaining garlic/herb butter.  This was the crowning glory - gently placed over the entire pizza as soon as it came off the grilI.  I finished the pizza with a hit of lemon zest, freshly squeezed lemon juice, more grated Parmigiano, red pepper flakes and sea salt.  Upon taking my first bite, I could almost smell the smoke from the fire pit and hear the waves crashing onto the shore as the sun set on Russian Beach in Lordship.

Look for this recipe in Pizza Memoirs or drop me a note and I will gladly share it with you.

Holy Pizza Testing ~ Cannoli Anyone?

It is usually not difficult to scare up a few volunteers who are willing to taste-test my pizzas; this past weekend was no exception.  When I told my neighbors that I needed to test my Holy Cannoli Pizza, they were all over it! 

Not long ago, I was thinking about one of my visits to our daughter Jen in Connecticut.  She lives only a few blocks from what is called the Italian section of town.  On this particularly beautiful fall day, she was at work and I decided to go for a walk to get some exercise.  As I put on my sneakers, I was feeling really good about choosing to do something that would be beneficial for my health.  I walked for quite some time, taking in the beauty of the fall foliage and enjoying the cool, crisp air.  Then, before I knew what was happening, I was within a few feet of Lucibella’s Italian Bakery.  Oh no, now what?  Well, I thought, it would be foolish to be this close and not go in to purchase a cannoli!  Having instantly convinced myself that there was no other choice; I went through that familiar old door straight to dieter’s hell.  As you can probably guess, I did not leave that marvelous little bakery until I had purchased a box full of cannoli and other tasty treats.  What an amazing afternoon!  And when Jen called to ask what I had been doing, I said proudly, “I went for a long walk.”  [Note to self: wipe powdered sugar off face before Jen gets home.]

I created my Holy Cannoli Pizza to pay homage to the cannoli, one of my very favorite desserts.  With just a hint of cocoa and cinnamon in its crunchy shell and a filling of sweetened creamy ricotta studded with bitter chocolate and candied orange peel, I can think of no more perfect, portable dessert. 

In order to replicate the crispy shell of the cannoli, I used a bit of cocoa powder and cinnamon in the dough, stretched it quite thin and then grilled it for 3 to 5 minutes per side directly on the gas grill grates. After the finished crust came off the grill, I spread it with a simple, yet delectable filling of creamy ricotta that I sweetened with confectioners’ sugar and flavored with vanilla, orange zest and chopped bitter chocolate.  I finished the pizza with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar, a sprinkling of chopped pistachio nuts, candied orange peel and more chopped chocolate.   My revised recipe calls for chocolate curls to finish off the pizza – it just looks fancier! 



Holy Cannoli Pizza



I must say that this was not the prettiest looking pizza I have ever made, but it ranked among the top five most delicious of all the pizzas I have made since I began writing Pizza Memoirs.  My husband Charlie loved it and he would not walk across the street for a cannoli (he's not Italian) and Faith and Charlie, two dedicated pizza taste-testers, loved it and said they would not change a thing.  If I could, the only thing I would change would be to make it calorie free!