Once again, it is spring break at OES (Oregon Episcopal School) for my sister’s two grandchildren, and their annual trek to Tucson is in full swing. Eli and Margaux, soon to be eleven and thirteen respectively, have grown at least six inches each since their last visit and their appetites have kept pace with their height. I took one look at them and knew that the official taste testers for my kids’ pizza recipes had arrived. However, I had no idea that a plethora of pizzas would pass through my grill and oven like rabbits being chased by a coyote. We feverishly packed four days with taste testing new recipes; tough work, but somebody has to do it!
I assembled the ingredients for the first test, Mags and Eli’s Hawaiian Pizza, and invited the children to make their own pizzas. They did an amazing job of stretching and shaping the dough and then carefully crafted each pizza to their own specifications. Margaux used the ham sparingly and Eli used just sauce and pineapple. I know what you are thinking, who makes pizza without cheese? It doesn’t make sense to me, but that is the beauty of these recipes – you can easily make them your own by eliminating and/or adding ingredients as you like. As you can see from the picture below, they did a fantastic job and were quite pleased with the results.
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| Mags and Eli's Hawaiian Pizza |
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| Maui Kazaui Pizza |
While the children assembled their pizzas, I prepared the Maui Kazaui Pizza for the adults - my sister, my nephew Mark and me. I call this the adult version of the Mags and Eli’s Hawaiian Pizza because I planned to finish it by drizzling warmed pineapple liqueur over the pizza and igniting it – KAZAUI! Once I shared this detail with my sister and nephew, the ‘discussion’ began. Elaine is a scientist and emphatically stated that liqueur, warmed or not, once dispersed over the baked pizza, would be absorbed and would not ignite. She suggested igniting the liqueur and then pouring it over the pizza. Now doesn’t that sound safe? Thankfully, my nephew agreed that pouring flaming liquid out of a small vessel onto a pizza was an accident waiting to happen so I tried it my way. As you may have guessed, it did not ignite; in fact, the only thing it did was make the pizza a bit soggy in the spot where I tried to puddle it up and ignite it. I hate to admit it, but Elaine was right – I guess you can’t argue with science. In spite of that fact that one or two of the pieces were a bit soggy, the overall taste of this pizza was outstanding.
The Maui Kazaui Pizza is a grilled pizza that has a base of orange marmalade mixed with soy sauce that is topped with a layer of camembert cheese. The cheese is then topped with pieces of smoked ham, bits of grilled fresh pineapple and more cheese. Layers of sweetness, smokiness and saltiness, interspersed with the soft creamy bite of the camembert cheese is Polynesian perfection. When I re-test this recipe, I think I will soak the warm grilled pineapple in the pineapple liqueur before placing it on the pizza…how bad can that be?
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| Sloppy Jen's Pizza |
My plans for dinner the next evening were swiftly swept aside when, after hearing what was on the menu, Margaux tilted her head while giving me the sad, puppy dog eyes and brave half smile look as she said, “Auntie Linda, I thought we were having Sloppy Jen’s Pizza tonight.” Oh boy, I was not going to win that battle! So, Sloppy Jen’s it was. I pulled the dough out of the freezer, whipped up a batch of sloppy Joes mix, grated some cheddar cheese, sliced some peppers and was ready to test another pizza. The kids enjoyed hearing the story about their second cousin Jen, for whom this pizza is named. Jen was a rather sloppy eater when she was a kid, so much so that I could always tell what she had eaten during the day by the telltale stains on her outfit when she came home from school. She loved the nights we had Sloppy Joes for dinner because it was one of the only times she could make it through the meal without being chastised for dropping food on herself – eating a sloppy Joes sandwich is a messy job for most of us so I usually gave her a free pass on manners those nights. I must say that today Jen has impeccable manners - I guess all my ‘reminders’ paid off in the long run. Interestingly enough, the only criticism on the Sloppy Jen’s Pizza came from Margaux who thought it wasn’t juicy enough. She, like Jen, prefers her sloppy Joes really loose and messy. I only used half the sloppy Joes mixture on my test pizza to avoid too much sogginess in the crust, but it would be equally delicious if you loaded all the mixture on the dough and ate the finished pizza with a fork and knife.
The BBQ sauce and ketchup give the beef a nice sweet/tangy taste which can be enhanced by using more BBQ sauce on the finished pizza. These two children have some amazing appetites and I had to nix their idea of making the S’mores Pizza, Please pizza for dessert. They would have to wait for one more night and settle for ice cream sundaes.
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| S'mores Pizza, Please |
OK ... I'll say it ... UNCLE!!!!!!
