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!
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
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Barbecue sauce – divided, plus more for finishing
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½ cup
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Shredded, cooked boneless chicken thighs
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8 to 9 ounces
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Prepared pizza dough at room temperature
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½ cup
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Crumbled Stilton blue cheese, plus more for finishing
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1 ear
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Corn, roasted and kernels removed from cob or 1/3 cup frozen roasted corn (Recommended - Trader Joe’s®)
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½
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Medium red onion, peeled and thinly sliced or cut into small dice
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2 to 4 ounces
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Whole milk mozzarella cheese, shredded
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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 500o 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
