I have a number of friends who maintain blogs with varying levels of attention and rigor. The good people over at Montanacyclocross.com do a great job of keeping the content fresh, entertaining, and informative, but most are updated sporadically at best. For instance, the Old Man Coffee Chronicles haven't been updated in over a year, and that blogger doesn't work all winter. The Matt Shryock Blog goes to show that buying a house is the worst thing for a person's blogging consistency. I frequently assail these friends for their sloth, but I haven't posted a thing in ages. It's long past due.
I don't think of this as a cooking forum, but we made pizzas the other night and one in particular was met with rave reviews. It was never supposed to be the subject of a blog post, so no one took photos, but as there are a few things that I would like to tweak we'll surely be doing it again soon. I'll post photos then. Another Biga Pizza inspired recipe, this one is heavily influenced by the famous Flathead Cherry Pizza.
To make two large pies as we did, you'll need:
two crusts, for gluten intolerant guests (it's so hot right now) we like Udi's gluten-free pizza crusts.
3 medium to large red onions
1 lb dried cherries (no sugar added)
1/2 c. balsamic vinegar
1 c. good (but not too good) and full bodied bourbon, I like Bulleit.
1 lb Italian sausage
10 oz. Gouda cheese
Prep:
Soak the dried cherries in bourbon overnight in the refrigerator or for several hours at room temperature. If you're using a pre-made pizza dough (such as Le Petit, here in Missoula) be sure to let it sit on the counter for two or three hours. When the dough is cold it doesn't stretch well and the crust winds up too thick.
Once the cherries have soaked for a while, separate the bourbon soaked cherries and the cherry infused bourbon. Do not discard either, although you may want to filter the bourbon through cheese cloth to get rid of any cherry sediment.
Super Bonus Mid-Recipe Recipe: Uncle Ben's Cherry Manhattan
1oz cherry infused bourbon (you just made this)
1oz bourbon
1/4-1/2 oz Italian vermouth, depending on taste
Angostura Bitters
Chill a martini glass (a real one, not those gigantor novelty-esque ones from Planet Hollywood or something) in the freezer. I store mine in the freezer, but this only takes a few minutes if you're in a rush. Add both bourbons, as much vermouth as you like (start with a 1/4oz and experiment), two dashes of bitters, and ice to a cocktail shaker and give it hell. Shake it like a British nanny until your hands freeze to the shaker. When you pour it into the chilled glass little ice crystals should form in the froth on the surface of the cocktail. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Now that you've recycled your cherry marinade (sustainable drinking is so Missoula) and your guests each have a cocktail in hand, get back to the pizza. Preheat the oven to 425F, or if you're going to do it like Jay-Z does it, preheat the grill. Slice the onions into thin rings, no thicker than 2-3mm (I drive a Ford, which allows me to switch between metric and English units arbitrarily). Add the onions to hot olive oil in a large wok or skillet, and cook on med-high or high heat until caramelized. Once the onions are very soft and brown, reduce the heat and add the soaked cherries and balsamic. Simmer until the vinegar has reduced and turned to a sweet syrup.
In the meantime, squeeze the sausage from its casings (if it came in link form) and cook in a separate skillet.
While the sausage and onion mixture are cooking, coat a table with cornmeal and roll out your pizza dough. Get it as thin as possible (but make sure it will still fit in your oven or grill) without punching holes in the middle. Brush the crust with olive oil and place directly on the oven rack (without a cookie sheet or stone) or grill and cook until the crust is golden brown on the bottom. Be careful if you're cooking in an oven, you're probably going to burn yourself. Remove it from the heat, flip it upside down (grill lines facing up), and set it aside. It's important to note that the crust shouldn't be all the way cooked at this point, just crisped.
Once the sausage is cooked through and crumbly, and the onion-cherry-vinegar reduction is reduced, brush the top of the crust with olive oil and layer the sausage, onion mixture, and slices of cheese. Bake it in the oven or grill until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown and crispy.
Serve and enjoy.
That is the way we made it last time. I think that it would also be excellent with bacon instead of sausage (or for the intrepid Pizzeur, sausage and bacon?), and I'd like to experiment with adding either walnuts or pine nuts, too.
A note on grilling pizza: It's important to get the grill very hot, so that you still bake the pizza, but if you apply high direct heat, you'll just set your whole dinner on fire. I like to turn the grill on full bore until it's very hot, then turning the center burners all the way down or off, and keeping the lateral burners on low-medium. If you act quickly while putting the pizza on and taking it off you should keep enough heat in there to work. You may have to reheat the grill between pizzas, and experiment a little to see what works best with your grill. I've never done this with a charcoal grill, and suspect that results would be either a fantastic success or a spectacular failure, with almost no middle ground.
I don't think of this as a cooking forum, but we made pizzas the other night and one in particular was met with rave reviews. It was never supposed to be the subject of a blog post, so no one took photos, but as there are a few things that I would like to tweak we'll surely be doing it again soon. I'll post photos then. Another Biga Pizza inspired recipe, this one is heavily influenced by the famous Flathead Cherry Pizza.
To make two large pies as we did, you'll need:
two crusts, for gluten intolerant guests (it's so hot right now) we like Udi's gluten-free pizza crusts.
3 medium to large red onions
1 lb dried cherries (no sugar added)
1/2 c. balsamic vinegar
1 c. good (but not too good) and full bodied bourbon, I like Bulleit.
1 lb Italian sausage
10 oz. Gouda cheese
Prep:
Soak the dried cherries in bourbon overnight in the refrigerator or for several hours at room temperature. If you're using a pre-made pizza dough (such as Le Petit, here in Missoula) be sure to let it sit on the counter for two or three hours. When the dough is cold it doesn't stretch well and the crust winds up too thick.
Once the cherries have soaked for a while, separate the bourbon soaked cherries and the cherry infused bourbon. Do not discard either, although you may want to filter the bourbon through cheese cloth to get rid of any cherry sediment.
Super Bonus Mid-Recipe Recipe: Uncle Ben's Cherry Manhattan
1oz cherry infused bourbon (you just made this)
1oz bourbon
1/4-1/2 oz Italian vermouth, depending on taste
Angostura Bitters
Chill a martini glass (a real one, not those gigantor novelty-esque ones from Planet Hollywood or something) in the freezer. I store mine in the freezer, but this only takes a few minutes if you're in a rush. Add both bourbons, as much vermouth as you like (start with a 1/4oz and experiment), two dashes of bitters, and ice to a cocktail shaker and give it hell. Shake it like a British nanny until your hands freeze to the shaker. When you pour it into the chilled glass little ice crystals should form in the froth on the surface of the cocktail. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Now that you've recycled your cherry marinade (sustainable drinking is so Missoula) and your guests each have a cocktail in hand, get back to the pizza. Preheat the oven to 425F, or if you're going to do it like Jay-Z does it, preheat the grill. Slice the onions into thin rings, no thicker than 2-3mm (I drive a Ford, which allows me to switch between metric and English units arbitrarily). Add the onions to hot olive oil in a large wok or skillet, and cook on med-high or high heat until caramelized. Once the onions are very soft and brown, reduce the heat and add the soaked cherries and balsamic. Simmer until the vinegar has reduced and turned to a sweet syrup.
In the meantime, squeeze the sausage from its casings (if it came in link form) and cook in a separate skillet.
While the sausage and onion mixture are cooking, coat a table with cornmeal and roll out your pizza dough. Get it as thin as possible (but make sure it will still fit in your oven or grill) without punching holes in the middle. Brush the crust with olive oil and place directly on the oven rack (without a cookie sheet or stone) or grill and cook until the crust is golden brown on the bottom. Be careful if you're cooking in an oven, you're probably going to burn yourself. Remove it from the heat, flip it upside down (grill lines facing up), and set it aside. It's important to note that the crust shouldn't be all the way cooked at this point, just crisped.
Once the sausage is cooked through and crumbly, and the onion-cherry-vinegar reduction is reduced, brush the top of the crust with olive oil and layer the sausage, onion mixture, and slices of cheese. Bake it in the oven or grill until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown and crispy.
Serve and enjoy.
That is the way we made it last time. I think that it would also be excellent with bacon instead of sausage (or for the intrepid Pizzeur, sausage and bacon?), and I'd like to experiment with adding either walnuts or pine nuts, too.
A note on grilling pizza: It's important to get the grill very hot, so that you still bake the pizza, but if you apply high direct heat, you'll just set your whole dinner on fire. I like to turn the grill on full bore until it's very hot, then turning the center burners all the way down or off, and keeping the lateral burners on low-medium. If you act quickly while putting the pizza on and taking it off you should keep enough heat in there to work. You may have to reheat the grill between pizzas, and experiment a little to see what works best with your grill. I've never done this with a charcoal grill, and suspect that results would be either a fantastic success or a spectacular failure, with almost no middle ground.
