PIZZA PARTY!

NYC is a great pizza town (Luzzo’s and Motorino and Co. are three of my faves—Artichoke is the most overrated) but the cheap ingredients and assembly line atmosphere of most places gets me down after a while. Kat and I had a new Czech friend over for dinner, and we were itching for a pizza party.

Of course, our landlord supplied stove can’t go to the necessary heat of  a real pizza oven (it tops out at 500 and feels like it’s going to melt at that) but our pizzas were light and delicious anyway.

We made three—a clam/potato pie which Kat was surprised she really liked (she’s from Rome and a traditionalist), a marinara and Prosciutto pie that was simple and awesome, and a “leftovers pie” (SEE DRUNKEN IPHONE PIC BELOW) with pork sausage, mozz, a little stilton cheese, tiny sweet peppers, olives and minced pickled jalapenos. Which was very good as well. We had a bunch of Czech beers and then I made Moscow Mules and then nobody seemed to make much sense when they talked. The End. ZZZZZZ.

KAT’S DOUGH

King Arthur flour will do the job, but if you mix in a bit of semolina you’ll get more of a bite. The easiest and best procedure is to make a starter. Take half a cup of semolina and mix it with 1,5 cup of white, unbleached, and enough luke-warm water to produce a liquidy dough. Mix up the dough with a fork, a pinch of dried yeast, generous pinches of salt and let it stand covered for 5-9 hours. 3-4 hours before you are ready to eat, mix in the remaining flour (approx 1,5 cup, but it check the texture: it needs to be springy when you’re done kneading it, but not as firm as actual bread). Keep kneading it till your arms give in (at least 10 min), then let it rise the second time, approx 3 hours, it needs to rise to triple size. When hunger seizes you, part the dough in four and start preparing the toppings. To produce a flat and round pizza, roll the dough into a ball and flatten it on a floured table, using the balm and fingers of your hand to stretch it. You can also use the gravity and hold it in the air, but it might take some practice!

CLAM AND POTATO WHITE PIZZA PIE

YOU’LL NEED: 

Pizza dough (see above)

Minced garlic

Herbs—rosemary, red pepper flakes, sage, oregano, whatevers

One medium sized potato

Can of clams ( 6 oz can should do it)

Half a ball of the best mozzarella cheese you can get

Little wedge of Parmigiano cheese (grated)

DOIN IT: Slice up a potato into thin (but not potato chip thin) rounds. Fry in a skillet for about 6 minutes until edible. Sprinkle with black pepper and a little salt.

Roll out the dough, and sprinkle with a teaspoon each of your favorite herbs—minced garlic, sage, finely chopped rosemary, basil, red pepper, etc.

Cover with potato slices. Put into the oven at the highest possible temp and cook until the crust is firm and slightly golden.

Cover pizza with clams (and let that juice fly around as well), thin slices of mozzarella and a healthy dusting of Parmigiano cheese. Put back in the over and cook until the cheese is melted and the crust browns.

Grind a little black pepper on it. Eat it up and think good thoughts of us.