Monday, June 25, 2012

Pizza Perfect

I have been having explicit pizza fantasies for several weeks now. And somehow every time a pie presented itself, I thought, "This can't be it. Don't waste your opportunity on this specimen of mediocrity." But I did succumb a few times. There was that weird practically crustless perversity in the suburbs of Chantilly VA: a lot of cheese and meat and nothing else. Hardly anything even vaguely pizza like. I couldn't bring myself to eat pizza in Germany either, though it looked good. Perugia offered a decent one two weeks ago, but it was all crust, a hint of dark tuna and broccoli rabe. The idea was pure genius, but the execution so imbalanced and off center, that it was very unpizzaic in the end. And then NY this past week. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? I ate no pizza, but certainly ogled, smiffed and dreamed about it every moment. So, I am home today and thought I must just cook it. And the idea Perugia was still stuck there. And it truly is genius. Not my idea, but the ingredients must be right. Sautee the rabe first so it comes out crisp in the oven. Canned (YES) solid tuna in water, ordinary mozzarella. But all in perfect balance. Got to be a paper thin crust or you would lose the tuna, but very crispy. And it is beyond beyond. If you can think of a better unusual combination, let me know.

7 comments:

Juana Isabella/Donna said...

The preferred non-standard pizza in my house is fig pizza. Top the crust with a bed of carmelized onions. Crumble and cook some duck fig sausage and scatter over the onions. Halve figs and smash flat with a cleaver and place as you will on the pizza. Dot with chevre. Drizzle with balsamic and cook. It being fig season, that's what we're having for dinner on Friday. If you'll be in the City dear Professor, please come by and share :-)

Juana Isabella/Donna said...

BTW, tuna, rabe & cheese sounds lovely.

Deana Sidney said...

sounds like heaven indeed... can't believe you skipped pizza in NYC>>> madness.

Ken Albala said...

BUT, Deana, I did do Buco the first night I was there. FABULOUS. THanks. I had beans, greens and charcuterie.

Ken Albala said...

And Sor Juana, that fig pizza sounds incredible. NEXT one, I will try it. Promise.

Jeremy said...

Our non-standard pizzas are only such because they are from house-made ingredients: sourdough crust, tomato paste from last year's Romas or pesto from last year's basil, house-cured lonza or duck proscuitto...
I want to make pizza now.

Marvine said...

Yummy! That looks pretty good.