Pizza Pizza! Part 2

Happy Monday!  To remind, you can leave comments or questions on this thread.  Scroll to the bottom to see where. 

We just ended a most glorious week on Long Island with my family.  Every time we stay at my mom’s house, we make a lot of pizza in her outdoor wood-burning oven and we also sample lots of local pizza too.  In last week’s newsletter, I listed a few items that are helpful for making pizza at home.  This week I thought it would be nice to share our favorite pizza restaurants and topping ideas!  Pizza is quite personal.  Hubs and I had a lively discussion (i.e., we disagreed!) during a long car ride together about who and what makes the best pizza.  I’m not here to tell you what to like and what’s “the best.”  I do have my favorites:

• Pepe’s in New Haven, CT

• Modern Pizza, New Haven CT

• Emmy Squared, Brooklyn

• Pizzana, Los Angeles

• Lodge Bread, Los Angeles

• Gjelina, Los Angeles

• Jon & Vinny’s, Los Angeles

• Bettina, Santa Barbara, CA

• Iron Born, Pittsburgh, PA

• Hubs loves Sal’s in Mamaronek, NY.  My daughter Emma loves Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix.

As far as toppings, my preferences tend to be veggie-forward and a little lighter.  Hubs likes more classic toppings (e.g. Margherita) or he likes pineapple on his pizza. Go figure. My son doesn’t like cheese, so he leans toward a tomato base with anchovies and crushed red peppers.

Sometimes when I am trying to think of a new way to top pizza, I either think about pasta recipes I like or I look at the menus of pizza restaurants.  Generally speaking, it is not difficult to copy pizzas you’ve eaten out!

Sauce

My favorite “sauce” is just jarred crushed tomatoes with olive oil and salt.

Hubs likes the “pizza sauce” from Uncle Giuseppe’s Market on the East Coast.

Or you can make a nice light fresh sauce like this:

1. Warm 3 Tablespoons of olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat.  Add a large smashed clove of garlic and cook until fragrant and barely golden. 

2. Add 4 cups of crushed or diced tomatoes from a jar or can (or smash up some whole peeled canned tomatoes) plus ¾ teaspoon of salt, a pinch of sugar (totally optional), and a couple of basil leaves (large ones torn, small ones left whole). Simmer uncovered until thickened and doesn’t taste raw, about 30-40 minutes.  Taste for seasoning.

Alternatives to a tomato sauce

• California Pizza Kitchen makes a popular BBQ chicken pizza which uses BBQ sauce as the base.

• A “white pizza” has no sauce and uses just cheese.  You can do a combo of ricotta and mozzarella. Hubs loves a dollop of pesto on a white pie with sauteed spinach and/or grilled zucchini.

• Sometimes I do my cauliflower-cashew ricotta as a base.

• Try my roasted red pepper pesto from Quicker Than Quick

Toppings

Again, personal preference - I generally use cooked ingredients on my pizza BEFORE it goes in the oven and raw ingredients AFTER it comes out of the oven.

I like roasted, sauteed or grilled vegetables as toppings so they taste better and don’t release water on my pizza.  Eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, onions are some of my favorite (cooked) vegetables.  Fresh basil and arugula or other salad greens I prefer to use after the pizza is cooked. Fruit I add raw before the pizza is cooked. I don’t think I’ve added fruit other than figs, peaches and pineapple.

Although pepperoni, sausage, and prosciutto are popular, they’re not meats we eat at home.

New fun ingredient of the moment: hot honey!  Honestly, it’s delicious!  I have two I like, Red Clay and Zab’s.

Feel free to give a shoutout to your favorite local pizza joint as well as the best topping combos you’ve ever had!

xxPamela