Son of Pizza Meetsa Mozza

Yesterday it was experiment time. Now I know enough about pizza-making to not panic when things go wrong. (Famous last words).

One thing I've learned about an extensive pizza session is to prepare the day before. Do all the prep of the meats and vegetables and cheese. That means, cook the Italian sausage, shred the prosciutto, slice the olives, onions, peppers, mushrooms, garlic or whatever it is you're using, make the tomato sauce you'll be using, and stash it all in the refrigerator. Then actually assembling and making the pizzas should be fairly brief.

So the next day all you have to do is preheat the oven (I suggest for at least an hour at 550 degrees, with your pizza stone in), bring the dough to room temperature, bring out the mozza di bufala and let it drain, assemble your dough board, corn meal, olive oil and brush (if you use olive oil) and you're set.

I had a to-and-from with Blork as I was doing the prep and I asked if he thought my following theory might hold water: I figured that if you kept all the ingredients as cold as possible, they wouldn't cook as quickly and the crust would have more time to develop a char and a crispy underside.

He figured that it would probably delay the cooking for less than a minute, and maybe possibly cool the stone down as well. Good reasoning!

Then, I wondered if the layering made a difference. He pretty much described his layering the same way I do it; stuff like green peppers, slivered onions, mushrooms (if any are being used) on the bottom, followed by possibly some cheese, then the meats/olives and then the top layer of cheese.

I agreed with him, but since I was making four pizzas I decided to experiment.

One thing I found out right away is that the first pizza will be the best. The stone will be ultra-hot and the oven won't have been opened for an hour and a half.

Then it goes downhill with all the opening of the oven and the repeated cooling of the stone, but it's unavoidable, unless you have all four pizzas dressed and sitting on their peels and you just shove them in one after the other. Which can't be done in my kitchen.

What I also found is that the cheese on the bottom is a very bad idea. I did two identically topped goat-cheese pizzas but just reversed the layering, and the one with the toppings on the top burned badly. The one with the cheese on top was pretty damn good.

I found that I could get a pizza done in 7-8 minutes, which is pretty good, considering some home recipes call for 15-20 minutes on 425! Ouch, don't be giving me a slice of that.

So, the pizza saga goes on. I will not rest until the dough does! (Hey, I'm getting pretty good at spinning! They're actually looking non-rhomboid!)

Pizza Update #3

I decided to try putting the pizza stone on the bottom rack of the oven this time before preheating it, as with my previous methods since watching the action at Luzzo's in New York involved putting the stone as close to the broiler as possible. The reason was that I was not getting a good char on the bottom, and I theorised that if the stone were nearer the bottom element I could cook the pizza on broil (550F) and the top wouldn't get incinerated before the bottom had a chance to get done.

Blork, my partner in pizza crimes, agreed with me, so that's the way I did it. Results, however, were disappointing.

The pizzas turned out okay but there was no appreciably upped char on the bottom of the pizzas even with an extended cooking time. The ones nearest the broiler had been done in seven minutes and the ones on the bottom took at least ten. The char on both kinds was not very developed, but the ones done near the broiler had their toppings very well cooked, as you can imagine.

Blork stresses that getting a good char in a domestic oven is probably not going to be possible, and I agree with him. But I'll keep working on it . . .

Another thing I noticed with this batch is that making three pizzas out of the boule de pâte from the pizza place at Atwater is a mistake; I should divide it into four pizzas instead of three because the ones I tried to make were too huge and became square. My pizzas have to be hip.

Pictured is a goat cheese pizza with Hungarian peppers, garlic, olives, Toscano ham and Marechal de lait cru cheese with cherry tomatoes. Damned good if I may say so myself.

Saffron Chicken II

Tonight I made my fantasized recipe . . . and it worked amazingly well! I tried to follow the score as faithfully as possible and didn't taste it until the very end. There were only a couple of points where I diverged from the method; namely, I upped the amount of spices, I sautéed the shallots separately from the onion as the pan seemed to be quite crowded with the shallots alone, and I added some cornstarch towards the end to thicken up the sauce. But other than that, it was a fantastic success, and extremely easy to make.

Next time I will put some bamboo shoots in it, perhaps, or some red pepper, or substitute shrimp for the chicken. However, all in all, it's a brilliant base recipe that proves I right the thongs that make the hole whirled thing. Or something like that.


Saffron Chicken
4 tablespoons ghee or peanut oil
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
6 large shallots, finely diced
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, cut in 1/2 inch squares
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon chile powder
3/4 cup coconut milk
1 cup chicken broth
3/4 tsp. salt
1 teaspoon palm sugar
1 teaspoon tamarind paste
1 tablespoon saffron threads
Juice of half a lime
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Method
Brine chicken in salt and sugar (about 1/4 C each per litre of water) for about 2 hours in the refrigerator. In a non-stick saucepan, sauté the shallots in 1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter) or peanut oil on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until translucent. Remove from pan and sauté onions in another tablespoon of ghee for 8 minutes. Add garlic and sauté another two minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add 2 more tablespoons ghee. Heat until sizzling, then add the chicken, cumin, coriander and chile powder. Mix well and sauté until browned on all sides, stirring frequently, about 8-10 minutes. Add back onion mixture, then coconut milk and chicken broth. Bring to a boil then reduce to medium low and simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

When sauce has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon (if at this stage it is not thick enough, add 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed in water), add the palm sugar, tamarind paste and saffron. Stir well to combine. Simmer another ten minutes, covered, stirring occasionally. Add lime juice and 1/4 cup cilantro. Stir well to combine. Serve on steamed basmati rice with cilantro garnish.