This one is the best pizza I have ever tasted. Ever. And it’s not even close. This is a Thai Peanut Shrimp pizza, with spinach, ricotta, peanuts EVOO and Thai peppers, then finished with a squeeze of lime juice. It’s hard to describe the experience of eating this pizza, it’s moreish, it’s delicious, it’s divine, it’s spicy, it’s pure umami in every bite. One of the ways it was so much better was that I kept more dough on the base to it was slightly more chewable than crunchy (which I also like).
After enjoying Chris Bianco’s Rosa Pizza, we made the choice to try his Bianco Verde, Fresh Mozzarella, Parmigiano Reggiano, Ricotta, and Arugula to finish over a red sauce. We used a spicy marinara. The pizza definitely has legs, the ricotta offers a creaminess, so we need to experiment with the red sauces to find the right combination, especially since his version does not use a red sauce. He is innovative in rethinking what pizza is. In any event, we enjoyed it, especially because the arugula wilts and tastes to yummy on top of the pizza, offering a pepperiness that is needed to offset the cheeses.
Next we went simple. The Burrata is a pie on the menu of Ken’s Artisan Pizza in Portland. It’s basically tomato sauce, basil leaves and fresh Burrata after it comes out of the oven. My first thought was, “Well, this is going to leave me hungry,” but, it was really filling and super delicious. Definitely the simplest pie we have ever made. Pizza perfection.
Ingredients:
Tomato Sauce
Fresh Basil leaves (after its out of the oven)
Fresh Burrata (after its out of the oven)
We FINALLY got it right! (they were all fabulous, but this one was the BOMB!)
Next up we went back to the menu from PDX of Portland, a passion project of Chef Miriam, a NYC raised chef with good ideas. The pizza we chose to make was her Yum Yum Hawaiian which we modified by using a spicy tomato sauce, and peperoni (which we had in stock) rather than salami. We also used the jalapeno’s from the pineapple pickle and finished with hot honey. It was so delicious that we will make it again, but this time with Salami instead of peperoni.
Ingredients:
Fresh mozzarella,
Romano, fontina
Spicy tomato sauce
Fresh oregano
Fresh basil
Crisp Pepperoni
2-week pickled jalapeño pineapple
A bit easier to see the ingredients before the bake
We made the “Jersey Girl”, this one is inspired by the ingredient list on the website of Yum’s of Portland, including Imported East Coast Burrata, romano, tomato sauce, garlic, oregano, extra crispy pepperoni, basil, hot honey. It’s a real winner. Really good.
Ingredients:
Burrata
Romano
Tomato sauce
Garlic, oregano
Extra crispy pepperoni
Basil
Hot honey
Here it is before the bake. Note that I crisped the fresh peperoni before we made it. You can also see the way we tried not to overload it.
Our next effort took us in a totally different direction. Heather wanted to try the pizza she calls “Figgy PIggy Pie”. It’s a fig jam base with mozzarella, thin prosciutto, and finished with Feta. For me, its a tad too sweet, although the saltiness of the prosciutto carries it quite well. Next time we make it, we will add lemon juice to the fig jam to add the acidity I think it needs.
One of the joys of meatballs, esp that there are two of us, and the recipe makes 20 meatballs, is that we get multiple meals! We are both meat sandwich people, so as soon as we chose to make meatballs, Heather said, “Meatball Sandwiches!” we pretty much do everything the same in preparing the meatballs, that is to give them a sauce bath for 3 minutes to finish cooking them, and we toast the rolls too. FIrst we layer a thin slice of mozzarella onto the toasted bun before slicing 3 meatballs per person in half, placing them on either slice. We cover them in sauce, then layer another thin slice of mozz on top before putting them under the broiler! What you have is a delightful open face sandwich.
As the sauce ages in the fridge (about 4 days is the limit,) and as we get to the end of the meatballs, the best thing to do to finish it all up is another round of meatball sandwiches. This time we used the mini-baguette’s and only a slice of provolone on top (caramelized under the grill.) Once again, absolutely moreish!
The next pie we chose to make was the Lady Zaza, created by Ann Kim and served in her restaurant in Minneapolis. We are blessed to have access to SE Asian foods here in the PNW, so sourcing the ingredients was easy. This is a Korean spicy sausage pizza with Kimchi and a couple of other hot ingredients. It has serrano peppers, a hot kimchi, sesame oil, gochujang and a blistering hot Korean Chili Sauce, tomato sauce as well as scallions and both white and black sesame seeds to finish. It is without a doubt, one of the most delicious pizzas I have ever tasted. It is the definition of moreish. Both Heather and I said that even though it was so hot, we could not stop eating it, and, because we now have a few of the ingredients, we will be making it again next week. The best words for a chef to hear are, “Put that in regular rotation!” This was one of those pizzas!
Ingredients:
Korean spicy sausage
Napa Kimchi
Serrano peppers
Sesame oil
Gochujang a
Tomato Sauce
Hot Korean chili Sauce
Scallions
Both white and black sesame seeds
Considering that we failed to use all the ingredients the first time we made it, because the pizza was so hot (spicy) we went back to the original recipe, and realized that we had not used tomato sauce in the base, but instead, we only used hot chili sauce. Oops! So, we went again, this time making a spicy tomato sauce with hot chili sauce to offer a little acidity and sweetness. The result was MUCH better, and in fact, this is the best pizza we have made so far!
It looks so great before it goes in the oven!
I cannot overstate how wonderful this pizza is. The Lady Zaza by Ann Kim is truly a special pizza. It’s spicy, and really delicious. If you make pizza at home, make this one! It’s already one of our go to pies.
Feeling emboldened, we made the choice to foray into fusion foods. Having recently made a wonderful chicken mole, we decided to make a Chicken Mole Pizza. We used mexican cheese, mole sauce, shredded chicken, fresh mozzarella, a little fetta, red onions and fresh avocado as toppings along with fresh garlic chives. Let me say this about that. WOW! What an amazing pizza!
We next made an old staple. Pepperoni and Pineapple. This is Heather’s creation. It’s play on the classic Hawaiian Pizza, but instead of Canadian Bacon, she prefers the tang of pepperoni, and like I told her, as regards the pineapple on pizza,, like with the “I need more cowbell” SNL skit, we need more pineapple!
Ingredients:
Grated Mozzerella
Pepperoni coins
Chopped fresh pineapple
We ironed out the bake time (between 7 and 12 minutes) for the new dough, and now we are on a roll! We also have to try this with various other cheeses. Swiss and fontina come to mind as does smoked Mozzarella
You can see that we are getting the bake on the pie perfected now, and yes, its delicious bite!
My Life: A Memoir 