I have been on a french bread pizza kick lately. It's a fun, fast way to satisfy a pizza craving.
I found the key to great french bread pizza is to butter and toast the bread before you add the toppings. I added a little crushed garlic to the butter too. It makes the pizza extra crispy after you bake it with the sauce, cheese and toppings.
Aaron and I tried a new pizza place in town called Pi Craft. It's sort of the Subway of pizza parlors. You start at the beginning by choosing your pizza size. Then you go down the line and pick your sauce, cheese and all sorts of toppings.
There is a big pizza oven in the back with a revolving oven stone inside. They take your pizza and put it on the wheel and by the time it circles back to the front, it's ready! I'm looking forward to going back. The possibilities of combinations are endless!
The other night we decided to make a "fancy pizza". Somewhere I saw a pizza with eggs on top and wanted to give it a try. When I googled "egg on pizza" I found recipes for "mushroom and egg pizza", "asparagus and egg pizza", "spinach and egg pizzza", and more. I figured, why not add it all?!
We started with Wegman's pre-made pizza dough. I had enough to think about with all the veggies than to worry about the dough. To start, we coated the dough with Wegmans Basting Oil (Grapeseed Oil, Canola Oil, Dried Thyme, Dried Parsley, and Garlic - in case you don't have a Wegmans near you) and a drizzle of truffle oil.
Then I added: steamed spinach (with water squeezed out), tomatoe slices, gouda cheese, mozzerella, mushrooms, and steamed asparagus. This went into the oven at 400 degree for about 7 or 8 minutes. I kept checking it to see how the crust was doing. I slid the pizza out, cracked three eggs onto it and baked it another 3 to 4 minutes.
It was delicious but it drives me crazy that the one egg yolk broke.
We totally bought this frozen pizza because of the packaging. It really jumped out at us from the freezer case. Turns out it was one of the best frozen pizzas we've had. The toppings seemed fresher... the crust baked up crispy.
There was even a punch out moustache on the back of the box. Bonus!
My friend Tina shared a life changing tip with me. She is credited with the quote "Even bad pizza is good pizza." and is someone that I consider to be a pizza expert.
She suggested when you have leftover pizza (if such a thing does indeed occur in your house) instead of putting it in the microwave and creating a soggy mess... heat up a frying pan and fry it!
Start by heating up your frying pan and placing the slices of pizza cheese side down. Place a heavy frying pan on top of the pizza to press it down. This heats up the cheese and gets the pan greased. When the cheese looks to be melting flip the slices, replace the heavy frying pan and let the crust heat up. Keep checking that it isn't burning.
The pizza comes out crispy and I think, even tastier than when it was delivered!
We have been on the go the past few weeks and I haven't hung out with my peeps in awhile so I was happy to be able to have a Girls Night Out.
We met at South Wedge Farmer's Market and kicked things off with Ice Candy from Eat Me Ice Cream. I had the strawberry.
Then we had pizza at Napa Woodfired Pizza on their deck. Look at that crust bubble! What is it about eating outside in the summer time?
I asked Rochester peeps on Twitter where there one could find outdoor dining in Rochester and compiled this great list! Sorry they aren't hyperlinked though.
Magnolias | Sinbads | Pomodoro | Rochester Tap Room | Revelry | Richardsons | Label7 | TRATA | Owl House | Banzai Mise en Place | Tap and Mallet | Gate House | Salenas | Edibles | Victoire | Genny Brewhouse | Napa Woodfired Pizza | Jines | The Red Fern | Aladdin's (Pittsford only) | Dinosaur BBQ | City Grill | Cibon
Aaron was in Chicago for work for a couple days and surprised me by bringing home a frozen Giordano's deep dish pizza!
Chicago is famous for it's deep dish pizza. Legend is that deep dish pizza was invented at Pizzeria Uno, but I gotta say, having eaten at both I feel like Giordano's is more authentic. I've even brought it home for Aaron before!
Aaron brought home a frozen one, which I didn't know they offered, and we baked it at home. Much better than toting an already baked pizza home on the plane.
I saw an instagram of a fig pizza on Martha Stewart Living's feed and it stuck in my head.
After some research I ended up combining this Fig and Prosciutto Pizza recipe with this Pizza with Fresh Figs, Ricotta, Thyme, and Honey recipe.
It turned out great... it was sweet, yet salty and rich.
Back to the figs. Did you know the weird thing about figs? Some might say "ugly truth" about figs? Most figs are pollenated by wasps. And each fig ends up with at least one dead female wasp inside. In fact some vegans and vegetarians won't even eat them.
I had no idea! Does this change your mind about eating figs?
We are swimming in tomatoes. Some from our CSA and some from our own garden. I am determined to use every single one. There is some canning in our future. I just discovered homemade pizza sauce.
2lbs chopped fresh tomatoes
4 cloves of mashed garlic cooked in olive oil
italian seasonings
tablespoon of sugar (or honey!)
1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
Cook it until it boils, then let it simmer for an hour and a half. Use a stick blender to puree it.
We used the homemade pizza sauce on our breaded eggplant and on a pizza. I don't know why I haven't made it before. It's a great way to use tomatoes and will can well!
When I think Chicago, I think deep dish pizza. One night we went out to one of the spots that claim to have invented deep dish pizza, Pizzeria Uno's.
We got an "everything" to share. It was pretty good.
Giordano's is the other rival pizzeria. My last day in Chicago, I called ahead and ordered a small sausage pizza to carry home on the airplane. I wanted to get some deep dish pizza home to Aaron.
Guess what? You can take a deep dish pizza through airport security and it will even still be warm when you get to your gate.
I have to say... I like Giorgano's the best. Yum yum.