Rooftop Gourmet

Challenge #5: Recipe Remix

Challenge Prompt: One recipe, 72 variations! We’re challenging each of you to put your own spin on the same recipe. How you do it is up to you. Will you try out some molecular gastronomy techniques? Share a super-secret trick? Or re-envision the dish from a different perspective? You’ll be asked to put your own spin on Pizza. For the purpose of this contest and challenge, we are defining pizza as having a solid base, a sauce and at least one topping.

Welcome to America; where fast food chains are searching for new ways to pump out larger portions at even faster rates. Grab-n-go meals cater to our fast-paced society, making it convenient for those who don’t have the time to wait for something to actually cook. Pizza chains compete with each other, seeing who can deliver your pie the quickest. They always forget my freakin’ pepperoni but who cares… 32 minutes and it’s FREE! What’s next… a SpeedPass for your local drive-thru window? 

In 1986, a man named Carlo Petrini founded the Slow Food Movement as a way to protest the opening of a McDonalds near the Spanish Steps in Rome.

This international organization not only begs us to turn down our ovens, but to also fully support local farmers, and promote nutrition. The impact that Slow Food has on the world is nutritional, economical, cultural and clearly monumental.

They are solving problems by raising taste awareness and stressing the importance of “field to fork” communities. By understanding where our food comes from, how it was produced, and by whom, people can appreciate the cultural and social importance of food.

When I discovered that pizza was going to be the common denominator in this challenge, I made an effort to take the fast food aspect out of the equation.

I’ve been known to inhale a few slices of late night Domino’s in my day, and if you asked me what it tasted like… I probably couldn’t tell you. For that very reason, I introduce to you the Patience Pizza! A culinary frisbee, loaded with local ingredients that were carefully and thoughtfully cooked at a tortoise’s pace in order maximize flavor.

I started off by making a homemade, whole wheat dough speckled with fresh herbs. The nutritional crust contains more valuable carbohydrates than regular pizza dough and the aromatics were snipped from my roof deck herb garden (it doesn’t get more local than that).

 The scent of the activated yeast reminded me of driving by the old Wonderbread factory in Natick, making dinner rolls in Home Ec. class, and the nose of a full bodied Champagne. I kneaded the dough until my forearms were mush and patiently waited while it doubled in size.

In the meantime, I prepared my local, grass-fed beef short ribs for braising. 

I seared off my meat and slowly layered my ingredients into a dutch oven. Classic mirepoix, tomato paste, and of course two bottles of hearty red glugged into the pot and sat there, simmering away for an hour to reduce and concentrate the flavors.

Once I was happy with the braising liquid, I reintroduced the short ribs to the pot and popped them into a 325 degree oven; the same oven that contained a vampires worst nightmare. Earlier, I decapitated a dozen heads of garlic, revealing a cross-section of the bulbous cloves and roasted them whole.

The once pungent garlic slowly caramelized and became sweet and mushy. On the stovetop, I casually sweated out some thinly sliced onions, watching them gradually darken with color.

At first they made me cry like I was watching an episode of Extreme Home Makeover, but after an hour they made my taste buds drool over the dark, candied appearance. When the short ribs were melt-in-your-mouth tender, it was time to assemble my Patience Pizza.

I rolled out my room temperature dough as thin as I possibly could and spread a layer of creamy Mascarpone cheese over the base.

I zested three whole lemons on top of the Italian cream cheese, which I feel was hands down the most important component of this dish.

With all of these rich, slow-cooked flavors melding together, the pizza desperately needed something to liven it up.

The fresh, zippy, lemon zest awakened each ingredient and brought the individual flavors to life. I then carefully placed the sliced short ribs, whole cloves of roasted garlic, and stringy, caramelized onions all over the disc. I chose a rather nontraditional pizza cheese that would compliment the slow cooked toppings by adding a funky aroma, but ceasing to overpower the flavors with its mild taste.

Robiola is a soft, creamy, Italian cheese that best resembles a French Brie.

The tame flavors melt extremely well, and present the picturesque stringy goo when two slices are separated from one another.

After only a few minutes on the red hot pizza stone, the crust was crispy and flaky. I drizzled the pizza with a reduction of the red wine braising liquid which seemed to rejuvenate the chunks of beefy, short ribs.

 A sprinkle of fresh parsley and this work of art was ready to be devoured. I uncorked a bottle of the 2006 Elio Grasso Vigna Martina Barbera d”Alba for both its striking acidity, and its concentrated fruit.

Barbera is the wine that Italians drink while they’re waiting for their Barolo to age. It is meant to be enjoyed young and fresh, because the tannins aren’t as gripping as its big brother, Nebbiolo-based, counterparts.

The Elio Grasso is perfumed with red licorice and spice, while the medium bodied wine, is full of cranberry and bing cherry gastrique flavors.

The youthfulness of the of the fruit and bright acidity was a great contrast to the slow-cooked, bulky flavors in the pizza. Each and every bite was greatly appreciated because it reminded me of the time and attentiveness that was spent creating this pizza.

Unlike its fast food competitors, the Patience Pizza was thoughtful, sustainable, and incredibly recession-friendly. By turning down your oven, and buying inexpensive cuts of meat, it’s a beneficial way to feed your family for a week, all for the price of two large pizzas. Items such as short ribs, pork shoulder, and brisket, can be slow cooked, to yield an insane amount of meat. Instead of wasting your money on cellulite-inducing value meals, put some effort into your dinner and teach your family how to eat slow food…. now that’s Amore!!!

 One of my favorite vegetables has always been broccoli no matter how it’s prepared. Steamed, roasted, sauteed, or even grilled… its vitamin rich, dark green stalks are always delicious.

The bitter flavor is great on it’s own but when combined with other flavors such as garlic or chilies, the broccoli lives up to its full potential. One of my favorite Italian pasta dishes is orchiette (small, ear shaped pasta) with sauteed broccoli rabe and sausage. There’s something about the combination of spicy pork, and the buttery, wilted greens that really wakes up my taste buds.

Broccoli rabe, or rapini, is a member of the broccoli family that tends to be quite leafier. The stalks are edible and within all of the dark leaves, tiny little florets sprout out at the ends.

 Last night we decided to make pizza in a pan, and I wanted to incorporate all of the flavors of my favorite dish. Due to the warm weather, I have been grilling broccoli a lot lately, and the char from the grill combined with the bitter greens and some great olive oil is a wonderful combination of flavors.

 I dumped three huge bushels of rapini on my fiery hot grill and let them char on one side before removing them. I made a pesto-like concoction in my food processor with the charred broccoli rabe, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and some Pecorino cheese.

The bright green pesto was laced with black speckles from the grill and it added an amazing smoky flavor to the spread. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to make homemade pizza dough, so I grabbed some from the the supermarket and left it on the counter to rise a little bit.

 Once we had it ready to roll out, I realized that I don’t have a rolling pin, pizza stone, or anything else that is generally needed to make homemade pizza. We improvised rolled out the dough by hand and stretched it into a large skillet. The final result didn’t come out as thin as we had hoped but it was still absolutely delicious.

 I spread a thin layer of creamy mascarpone cheese on the dough before lathering on my charred broccoli rabe pesto. Next, I sliced up from fresh balls of buffalo mozzarella and arranged them on top. The contrast in colors was very eye catching. On top of all that, I sprinkled some spicy Italian sausage that I rendered down in a pan, and a dusting of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Into the oven the pizza went, where it baked for about twenty minutes. I popped the light in the oven on a few times just to watch the thick slabs of mozzarella bubble and ooze down the sides of the crust. By the time we cut the pizza into slices, I needed a pair of scissors because the cheese was so stringy. I popped a bottle of 2006 Poliziano Vino Nobile di Montelpulciano from a small town in the hills of Tuscany. Vino Nobile or ‘Noble Wine’, is primarily Sangiovese, known locally as Prugnolo gentile, with small traces of local varieties blended in such as Caniolo Nero and Mammolo.

 This wine truly accentuates the terroir and the ancient Tuscan bond between soil, man, and culture. It’s deeply concentrated and well structured with aromas of herbs, oak and red fruit. On the palate, the wine is bursting with acidity and tons of black cherry flavor.

There is a subtle, leathery, tobacco note in the finish that plays nicely with the charred broccoli rabe. The pizza dough was crispy at the crust and pleasantly chewy in the middle. All of my favorite flavors came together on every single slice. The good part about making a huge batch of the broccoli rabe is that we have a wonderful pasta dish for tomorrow night.

Amidst all of the unpacked boxes, and time spent icing our backs and knees from the moving process, we still found time to order a pizza and pop a house warming present. Trust me, it’s killing me staring at my new Vermont Castings monstrosity of a grill (more like an entire outdoor kitchen range) and brand new stove without whipping up something creative, but we’re just too exhausted. Literally collapsing after hours of moving and unpacking, an eleven o’clock pizza sounded like the way to go.

I ordered a half double mushroom-onion, and half bacon-olive with extra cheese on both halves. Deadly, but much deserved, and washed down smoothly by the bottle of 2000 Dom Perignon. The ferocious Champagne bubbles temporarily lifted me out of my exhaustion coma and made me alert enough to devour a few slices before passing out.

Sometimes pizza take out menus can be ridiculously repetitive and boring; the same old dough, the same old sauce, and the same core toppings to choose from. Once you’ve exhausted all of your favorite combinations, it can be time for a change. The other day, a friend of mine mentioned to me that I never cook any Indian dishes so I decided to make an Indian themed pizza. I started off with some Naan bread, which is a staple in Indian cuisine.

Naan is a pita-like, flat bread that is traditionally cooked in a tandoor, or clay oven. The bread is used as a canvass for meats and vegetables, or as a spoon to scoop up curry dishes. I incorporated the curry into the sauce by combining some Yellow Madras Curry powder with lemon zest and creamy Mascarpone Cheese. I also marinated the chicken breasts in a spicy red curry sauce.

I simply grilled the chicken breasts and sliced them before making them the star of the pizza. I wanted to balance the spicy, smoky curry flavors in the sauce and the chicken with some sweet ingredients so I added some freshly diced pineapple chunks and some golden raisins.

The pineapple added a juicy acidic punch that helped cool down my taste buds, and when the golden raisins baked in the oven, they got plump and gooey. A few thin slices of Thai chile peppers added a subtle kick and some fresh cilantro topped everything off. After about 15 minutes in the oven, the Naan bread got nice and crispy on the bottom like a Tuscan thin crust pizza but remained pleasantly soft and chewy in the middle.

The combination of flavors were definitely new to me but totally worked in terms of balance. I figured that the heat in the curry and the Thai chilies were too much for a red wine, so I paired the pizza with a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

The 2008 Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc is one of my all time favorites from Marlborough, New Zealand. Loaded with zesty tropical fruit and tart acidity, and finishing with a clean, refreshing crispness; this is your French Sancerre on speed.

Throw all of the grapefruit and balanced minerality out the window and get ready for a fruit-forward torpedo of flavor; a perfect match for such a bold pizza. Look for Naan flat breads in your local grocery store because Naan pizzas are the English Muffin pizza of the 21st century.