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!

Cold, Wind and Rain - PIZZA TESTING TIME

It is a cold, windy and rainy day in Tucson – quite unusual weather for the month of May.   OK, by cold I mean 67^o   and by rainy I mean a few intermittent spritzes as the wind blows the clouds through.  It feels like a dreary late winter’s day in Connecticut, and I am thinking of warm comfort food.  So what’s new?  This will be a good night to test a pizza and it will have to be something that is warm, creamy, tasty and just plain comforting.  The choice is made – Auntie Ann’s Creamy Chick ’n Mushroom Pizza, good old fashioned comfort food reminiscent of the chicken and cream of mushroom soup casserole popular in the 60s and possibly the 70s that every woman knew by heart.

I created this pizza for my cousin Kenny who described his favorite food as the aforementioned chicken and mushroom dish his mother, my Auntie Ann, used to make for him.  I could almost taste it as he spoke of the ‘usual’ spices she added and of the garlic.  Kenny said, “Everything had garlic as I remember.”…a statement that brought me right back to our childhood days.  I never thought of Auntie Ann as a great cook because I saw her as more of a career woman who kept very busy running Ann’s Newfield Bakery, but Kenny said he “…used to love that chicken served with the mandatory salad containing plenty of olives.”  My guess is that Auntie Ann would never have imagined that her son’s very favorite chicken dish would one day become a pizza.  When you make this pizza, don’t forget to serve the ‘mandatory’ salad.

          Auntie Ann’s Creamy Chick ’n Mushroom Pizza

Ingredients:

1 cup	From one can (10 ¾ oz.) cream of mushroom soup – recommended brand Campbell’s
3 tablespoons	Fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped; plus additional for garnish
¼  teaspoon	Kosher salt, plus additional for seasoning
½ teaspoon	Freshly ground black pepper, plus additional for seasoning
4 ounces	Whole milk mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 - 6 ounce	Boneless skinless chicken breast or thigh cut into ½” strips *
¼ teaspoon	Garlic powder
4 tablespoons	Extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon	Unsalted butter
3 cloves	Garlic, chopped
6 ounce	White button mushrooms, cleaned and thickly sliced **
8 to 9 ounces	Prepared pizza dough at room temperature
2 ounces	St. Andre triple crème cheese cut into ¼” slices

Directions:

1.  In a medium bowl, combine cream of mushroom soup, parsley, salt, pepper and mozzarella cheese.  Set aside for topping.

2.  About 15 to 20 minutes before preparing pizza, season chicken strips with salt and pepper to taste and garlic powder.  Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat.  Sauté chicken until it loses its pink color and browns slightly.  Remove from pan and when cool enough to handle, cut into bite size pieces.  Set aside for topping. 

3.  Add the butter to the pan in which you sautéed the chicken.  Heat on medium-high until butter foams.  After foam subsides, add garlic and stir a few times.  Add mushrooms and season with pepper to taste; toss to combine.  Cook for a few minutes undisturbed, then stir occasionally and cook until mushrooms are lightly browned, about 5 minutes.  Set aside to cool and use for topping.

4.  Roll, stretch and shape dough into an unrefined 12 by 14 inch rectangular or circular shape according to basic directions.  Brush both sides of dough with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and place on a large, rimless baking sheet or pizza peel that has been dusted with cornmeal.  Carefully lift dough and lay it on the preheated grill (see Grilled Pizza Primer).  Close grill lid and grill for 3 to 5 minutes or until bottom of crust is golden brown with darker grill marks.  Remove from grill with tongs and place grilled side up on a flat baking sheet or pizza peel. 

5.  Spread soup/cheese mixture evenly over grilled side of dough to within 1/2” from edge.  Carefully slide pizza onto grill, turning burner directly under pizza to low.  Close lid and bake for 4 minutes, or until soup and cheese begin to melt.  Using tongs, carefully remove pizza to a pizza peel; immediately close grill lid.  Scatter chicken strips over pizza, top with sautéed mushrooms and St. Andre cheese.  Turn off burner directly under pizza.  Return to grill and bake for 6 to 8 minutes longer or until crust is firm, topping is bubbling and cheese is melted. 

6.  Remove from heat and sprinkle with chopped parsley.  Cut and serve immediately.

**Tip:  To clean mushrooms, brush with a dry pastry brush or wipe with a damp paper towel; trim stems and

*Super Time Saver: Use 4 to 6oz. of cooked chicken breast or thigh meat, sliced, cubed or shredded and skip step #2.

I have to be honest; my expectations for this pizza were not that great.  Even as I was creating the recipe, I doubted that it could work, but was determined to give it my best shot.  I’m happy to report that I was so very wrong!  The seasoned condensed cream of mushroom soup and shredded mozzarella cheese had just the right consistency to hold everything together as the pizza baked.   The mushrooms had a full earthy, garlic flavor – Aunt Lena would be proud of me.  The final layer of St. Andre’s Triple Crème cheese was this pizza’s crowning glory; it completed the pizza with a depth of flavor and a creaminess that not only replicated the original chicken and mushroom dish, but elevated it to a whole new place in the food chain.  As we came to the end of our meal, pizza peel sitting in the middle of the table with only crumbs to remind us of the wonderful meal we had just consumed, I could swear I heard Auntie Ann singing “The Party’s Over!”   

Which Came First the Chicken or the Barnyard Pizza?

Even before our granddaughter Julia was able to walk; her love for all animals was evident.  We have pictures of her when she was less than 6 months old,  sitting in a box with her grandma Bubbie’s dog who was giving birth to a litter of puppies at the time.  The look on her face was one of pure love – she was at one with those pups!  In addition to the family pets, a German wire-haired dog named Ophelia and a really fat cat named Smithers, she is the proud “mother” of 5 chickens, 5 ducks, 2 guinea pigs and 2 rabbits, all of which she lovingly cares for and feeds. She takes after her grandma Bubbie who loves all animals and has taught Julia about the responsibility of having pets.  I still cringe when I think of the day that Julia, who was about three years old, was showing me how she feeds her guinea pigs.  Before I knew what she was doing, she had the cage open; guinea pig cradled in both her hands and was stretching her arms up toward me, asking me if I wanted to hold him.   Well, my daughter-in-law Kim probably noticed the blood drain from my face as I fumbled for a reason to say no.  “Ammie Lin can see him better if I hold him,” Kim said.  We laugh about it now, but I didn’t think it was funny at the time.  I love dogs, but I keep any other creatures at arm’s length, not really understanding my unrealistic fears.  I read stories to Julia about animals, we sing songs together about animals, but that’s as far as I can go with it.  She is 5 years old now and I can still see her as a little bit of a thing singing “Old MacDonald”….she knew every animal sound before she could even put a sentence together.  While you are preparing this pizza with your children, encourage them to sing a few verses of that wonderful old song being sure to sing about the toppings - with an oink, oink here and a cluck, cluck there.....E-I-E-I-O!!!

Julia's Barnyard Pizza

Julia’s Barnyard Pizza is easy to make and great fun to eat.  The ‘big kid’ in our household, Charlie, loves having an entire breakfast on one piece of pizza.  I tested this pizza a while ago and decided to write about it when I received the picture of Julia and one of her chickens that was taken this Easter.  If you notice, in the story I said she was 5 years old and now she is nearly 7….time is passing way too quickly and I have been working on this book way too long! 

To make this pizza, simply cut some breakfast sausage links into small pieces, sauté about two cups of frozen shredded potatoes until nearly done, stretch and shape your pizza dough and you are ready to assemble the pizza.  Spread the dough with a thin layer of tomato sauce (Hunt’s works well).  Sprinkle on some shredded cheddar cheese and, using tongs, make four ‘haystacks’ out of the pre-cooked potatoes and, using the back of a spoon, make a well in the top of each haystack.  Scatter sausages around the potatoes and bake in a very hot oven for about 5 minutes; remove from oven and carefully slide one egg into the well on each of the four haystacks.  Top with more cheddar and bake for about 7 minutes longer or until eggs are set and crust is golden.  Another option is to cook the eggs separately and place on pizza after it is baked. 

The first time I tested this pizza, I placed the raw eggs into the potato ‘haystack’ wells before placing it on the hot stone in my gas grill.  It looked quite beautiful and I was so proud thinking that this was a winner and I would not even have to revise the recipe.  Well, that was a short lived dream.  I opened the grill and deftly jerked my pizza peel to position the pizza on the hot stone and to my horror – thunk, thunk, thunk, and thunk!  Each of the four eggs kept going after the dough stopped in its place on the stone.  Oh yes, now I remember something I learned long ago about an object in motion.   What a mess – eggs everywhere.  I quickly scooped them back into their wells, which were clearly not deep enough and baked the pizza for which I had already lost my appetite.  Of course, that didn’t stop me from eating it.  After finishing it with a nice squirt of ketchup, salt and pepper, I cut it into four pieces and the real fun began.  We folded the crust around the sausage, potatoes, egg and cheese and we experienced a taste more remarkable than any breakfast sandwich we had ever eaten.   

The second testing of the pizza was considerably more successful.  Pre-baking the pizza for 5 minutes helps the crust to firm up so you can just slide it off the pizza peel when placing it back onto the stone for the remaining baking time.  So, not to worry about flying eggs if you try this pizza, just remember to pre-bake and enjoy the process.

You will find the complete recipe for Julia's Barnyard Pizza in Pizza Memoirs.

Spana~KO~Pizza

Spanakopita is a surprisingly savory strudel of sorts that is to Greeks what pizza is to Americans.  My first and only attempt at making it for my husband, whose mother was Greek, was somewhat of a failure.  My problem was that I did not know how to work with phyllo dough.  The fine sheets tore as I handled them, came apart as I brushed butter on them and dried out completely while waiting to be used.  The spinach filling was quite good, though, and I baked it in a casserole, admitting defeat.  Many years have passed since then and my fear of phyllo stands firm. Thus, I decided to eliminate it from my repertoire and create a pizza using a traditional spanakopita filling on amazing whole wheat pizza dough.  This pizza is my way of ‘thumbing my nose’ so to speak at phyllo.

For the topping, I lightly sautéed chopped onion and scallions for a few minutes.  I then stirred in frozen chopped spinach that had been thawed and drained, parsley, dill, nutmeg, salt and pepper.  I found the dill and nutmeg gave the mixture a complexity of flavor present only in the best spanakopita.  After this mixture cooled a bit, I folded in a good amount of crumbled feta cheese.  Now to top the pie - I scattered shredded mozzarella over the oiled dough and distributed the spinach/feta mixture evenly over that.  Pine nuts and freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano completed the pizza topping.  It baked up to golden perfection in about twelve minutes on my smoking hot pizza stone.  After removing it from the heat, I topped it with freshly grated lemon zest.



Spana~KO~Pizza



Since I have to be mindful of portion sizes in order to stay within my daily points plus range, I allowed myself two small slices – for lunch.  It was so amazingly savory and gooey; I then proceeded to have another slice – afternoon snack.  OK, so now I was trying to wait for another fifteen minutes so my brain could catch up and register satiety which takes the normal brain about twenty minutes; time to package the rest of the pizza and put it away for dinner.  As I placed the package into the refrigerator, the struggle continued.   “You know you are going to eat the rest of this for dinner,” I said to myself, “so why let it get cold?”  “Just take it out of the ‘fridge and let it sit on the counter,” I continued, “There is nothing in it that will go bad.”  So onto the counter went my tidy foil package containing the rest of that fabulously, delicious Greek delight of a pizza.  Twenty minutes passed and I realized that the voice in my head must have been so loud it prevented my brain from doing the satiety thing it was supposed to be doing.  Now I had to put my new behavior modification skills to work.  In order to break an old habit (eating when not hungry, for example), one should do a new activity in its place to form a new habit.  Taking a walk is a good example; so I did what I was taught.  I took a walk – right over to the counter, placed the last two slices of the Spana~KO~Pizza on my plate, sat down and had dinner at 3:00 P.M.  What is it they say about not being able to teach old dogs new tricks?  That afternoon put me about three days into my points plus value for the week, but I did not give up.  Lesson learned – for now.  But let me tell you, it was worth every bite.  That savory spinach filling on a pizza crust satisfies sufficiently – who needs phyllo?

SHRIMP COCKTAIL REVOLUTIONIZED

Over the years, I have served shrimp cocktail more times than I can count.  Eventually, boredom set in and boiled shrimp with no frills cocktail sauce held no charm.  I began experimenting with new sauces and dips, trying everything from sickeningly sweet to killer spicy – learning the hard way to use wasabi powder in moderation.  Realizing that the shrimp also played a part in this lackluster appetizer, I marinated them in garlic, oil, salt, and crushed red pepper, grilled them and dipped them into a fragrant, nutty roasted red pepper pesto.  Success!  The combination was incredible and thus became my go to shrimp cocktail appetizer.  This revolutionized shrimp cocktail was the inspiration for my Shrimp and Red Pepper Pesto Pizza.

I have tested this recipe before and found it to have amazing depth of flavor resulting from the interplay of the roasted red pepper pesto and the piquancy of the Manchego cheese.  There were also several varying textural levels from the crispiness of the crust to the smooth, buttery texture of the cheese and the slight crunch remaining in the freshly sliced red peppers and onions that added to the overall complexity of this pizza; and the shrimp, because they were nestled in the pepper pesto and cheese, were cooked to juicy perfection.   With such great results from my first test run of this pizza you might be wondering why I must test it again.  For the first test, I baked the pizza on the outdoor pizza grill and it now needs to be baked in a conventional oven as per the recipe.  Yes, the amount of testing that is needed before finalizing recipes for Pizza Memoirs is mind boggling.  So, let the testing begin. 

I placed my cold pizza stone on an oven rack in the top third of the oven and began heating the oven to 500^o Fahrenheit.  Wanting to insure that the stone was truly heated to the maximum my oven would allow, I preheated the stone for one hour.   After slipping the prepared pizza off my pizza peel onto the very hot pizza stone and quickly closing the oven door, I began shredding the fresh basil leaves to use as the final garnish.  Within four minutes, I noticed the top of the pizza was already beginning to brown.  Oh no, that’s not good.  I probably should have placed the stone a little lower in the oven; isn’t hindsight wonderful?  Within nine minutes, the pizza was browned, glistening with the oil from the cheese and ready to come out of the oven for its final garnish of basil leaves and freshly grated lemon zest.  As the blend of yeasty, peppery, buttery and herbaceous scents reached my nose, I was jolted back to reality by two words that raced across my mind like an Arizona dust devil,  ‘Points Plus’.  Yes, my dream of eating half of this amazing work of art was dashed against the rocks of reality and with renewed resolve to remain faithful to my Weight Watchers plan for another day; I sat down at the table and SLOWLY consumed two small pieces of my Shrimp and Red Pepper Pesto Pizza. 



SHRIMP AND RED PEPPER PESTO PIZZA



 Yum, yum, and yum…it tasted as good as it looked and smelled; I could have easily eaten two more pieces.  Two, who am I kidding?  I probably could have eaten the entire pizza.   Instead, I silently repeated a quote I read in one of my Weight Watchers books – “Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.”  Hang in there all my friends who are working so hard to improve your health; if you believe you can do it, you can do it.    Linda

S'mores Pizza, Please

S'mores Pizza, Please

The day has finally arrived; the last day of spring break vacation in Tucson and the long awaited testing of my S’mores Pizza, Please pizza.  I can’t even think about food at this point and, speaking of points, I believe I have used my Weight Watchers points through the end of next week!  What can I say?  Old habits die hard and mine are like vampires, not easy to kill! The s’mores pizza has graham cracker crumbs mixed with sugar and melted butter, marshmallow crème, chocolate bars broken into pieces, more graham cracker mix and a topping of miniature marshmallows.  Sound sweet enough?  When it came off the grill, it looked like heaven – big puffs of browned marshmallow and melted chocolate; a gooey delight.  Then I took my first bite.  It was so overpoweringly sweet that when I swallowed it, I felt like a cat choking on a fur ball.  Gag, gag, and gag!  The children had distinctly different opinions and critiques about this dessert pizza; Margaux said the marshmallow crème was too puffy and too much, Eli, on the other hand didn’t look up for several minutes.  He ate, and ate and ate….enjoying every warm, gooey mouthful.  Finally, I told him I was afraid he was going to get sick, but he assured me he wouldn’t and that the pizza was delicious; oh, and not too sweet at all.  That child has my father’s cast iron stomach; he didn’t get sick, he didn’t get hyper…go figure!  So the vacation ended on a high note (sugar high) and I will revise the recipe before re-testing.  It will have only a thin coating of marshmallow fluff on the partially grilled crust as per Margaux, and will have larger pieces of chocolate so that it more resembles the look of a real s’more, as per my sister Elaine.  Eli had no suggestions; his attitude being you can’t improve on perfection.  That’s our boy!

SPRING BREAK PIZZA TESTING MARATHON

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. 

Mags and Eli's Hawaiian Pizza

                                               



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?



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.

                        

S'mores Pizza, Please

OK ... I'll say it ... UNCLE!!!!!!