If there's one chef who has always really represented seasonal cooking to me, it's Suzanne Goin, chef-owner of LA's Lucques and A.O.C. The combo of persimmon and pomegranate shows up…
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Pizza
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Been awhile since we've had a slice, hasn't it? The good news is, I'm bringing pizza and beer. You can thank Andris and his beer crust experiments on the Baking Steel Facebook page last weekend. A day later, I had a batch of dough with Silver City Red Ale doing its thing in the fridge, just waiting to become a FridayNightSlice. The first beer dough pie was a simple pepperoni and mushroom. But for you, I'm fancying it up a little. This week's FridayNightSlice features that beer dough with pancetta, swiss chard and criminis.
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The door's open and I'm staring into the fridge. What've I got that might make a good, simple flatbread? No time for sauce, what can I throw on there for a quick snack? What did I get at the farmers market? Zucchini. Corn. Chiles. A basket of grape tomatoes. The dough was already stretched out on the board, so I needed to be fast. I took out the zucchini and remembered that julienne peeler I bought a couple of years ago. It seemed like a good idea at the time, the whole zucchini noodle thing. The truth is, I made "zoodles" about three times before that peeler went in to the drawer, got shoved to the back, and didn't come out again.
Turns out, it's the perfect tool for shaving down a medium zucchini so it'll cook up quickly without making a watery mess of your pizza. In celebration of actually using that damn peeler again, this week's Friday Night Slice is the Zucchini Cherry Bomb. It's vegetarian, it's sauceless and it's delicious.
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Today's Friday Night Slice was inspired by a pie posted by @baconluv, an Instagram friend who lives down in Portland. A few weeks ago she posted a killer looking cherry pizza from a place called Lucca. I filed it away in my brain and last night, with a handful of cherries chilling out in my refrigerator, it was finally time to have a go at a pizza pie with cherries. This one I'm calling the Neil Diamond (Cherry, Baby). In retrospect, looking at the pictures, maybe I should have called it Purple Rain.
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If you're a Trader Joe's shopper, you know some items don't stick around long. They appear on the New Items shelf one week and a month later, they might be gone, not popular enough to keep their shelf space. I worry that the Hot 'n Sweet peppers are going to be one of those items, especially around here, where most people ask for 1-star spicy at restaurants. These little peppers are fan-freaking-tastic on pizza and they're one of the items on today's #FridayNightSlice -- the DailyWaffle Deluxe.18
You know who really needs Spring Break? Adults. Teacher friends, you were smart to get into education. It’s a job I know I could never do, let’s face it, unless I taught 1st or 2nd grade, all the kids would be taller than me. But more than that, you get breaks!
We’re just back from some time in Hawaii for the annual escape to sunshine, hence the radio silence around here. The one thing we didn’t have for the duration of our trip was pizza. Hanalei Pizza Company is gone, about to be replaced by a Puka Dog. So, for the first time in ages, we went 10 days without even a slice of pizza. Since we had nothing else in the house, pizza was our first meal back.
And whaddya know, my first post back is a Friday Night Slice. Today’s slice is a vegetarian Kale, Calabrian Chile & Mozzarella pie with thinly shaved garlic.28
No one has really committed to Spring yet. We’re still in the rainy season and our grill remains bundled up, still in its winter slumber, but this week's Friday Night Slice is one you can make today and carry into the summer barbecue season. I can’t say I know exactly where this one came from. Was it a craving for island breezes and sunshine? Or just a passing thought about the pepperoni and jalapeño from Pizza Port? Maybe both. This week’s slice is a vegetarian pizza I’m calling a Pineapeño.
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We’re almost a week into Daylight Savings Time and I still haven’t quite adjusted. 7 am, when it’s just getting light, feels like the right time to get up. Any earlier, it’s pitch black and I just don’t want to roll out of bed, not even for coffee. This week’s Friday Night Slice falls on Pi(e) day, so if you happen to not be fan of flaky-crusted sweet or savory pies, or you just don’t have the time or inclination since we're all in a bit of a haze, a slice of pizza pie is here to mark the occasion. So let’s get to this week's topping inspiration – Fra'Mani soppressata, red onion and cherry tomatoes.07
The thing about pizza it's easy to fall into a toppings rut. You can never go wrong with a good, basic slice of pepperoni with red sauce, but what about when you don't have any tomatoes or jarred marinara on hand? No sauce? No problem. Open the fridge. You got some jam or fruit butter in there? Now hold on, I'm not suggesting we go all peanut butter and jelly on this pizza, though I did have it once in the '80s at a place in Pacific Grove, CA. No, this week's Friday Night Slice is uncured Columbus Genoa salame, mozzarella and fig butter. You get a bit of the sweet from the fruit butter and a little salty from the salame.
Top it after baking with some grated parmesan and a sprinkle of chopped Italian parsley.