Pizza Party

Pizza, pizza!!  Everybody loves pizza. 

 

Even those red and white cardboard circles in the frozen food section at the supermarket spark a little excitement in my belly.  But they are nothing, NOTHING compared to homemade pizza.

 

Elizabeth Gilbert in her wonderful book Eat, Pray, Love describes a transcendental moment, a magic carpet moment—not in India—but in Naples.  She goes to Pizzeria da Michele—the best pizzeria in Naples, which has the best pizza in Italy—for the “best pizza in the world.”   It is a teeny tiny place with one oven, and one very famous pizza, a margherita pizza with double mozzarella.  One bite into the soft chewy crust, bubbling tomato sauce, and buffalo mozzarella and she is in ecstasy, experiencing the sun and earth and all that is Italy, as the cheese slides “like topsoil in a landslide,” down her arm.

 

I don’t doubt that eating pizza from a wood-burning oven while ogling bare-chested Italian cooks who look like “boilermen in the belly of a great ship,” would make your pizza experience quite remarkable.  But nothing, NOTHING is like making your own.

 

Sunday night is pizza night at my house.  I make the dough, spread a sauce, then pile on all the week’s leftovers—chicken, fish, shrimp, meatloaf, sausage, stray vegetables.  Tie it together with cheese and fresh sliced Roma tomatoes and you cannot go wrong.  Sometimes the combinations are truly fabulous!

 

So, you are having the girls over for a “Girls Night In,” or the will-not-cook-even-if-he-is-dying-of-starvation man in your house is having the guys over to watch football, or the kids want a birthday party.  What is easy and fun and nutritious?  Is such a thing possible?  

 

Yes!  Have a pizza party.  It is fun, feels terribly indulgent (but isn’t really), and it’s a great excuse to drink lots of Mad Housewife wine!

 

Buy two or four cheap pizza pans and prepare the dough ahead of time.  Then set out the toppings.  Let each guest make half a pizza however they want, then cook them in the oven.  When one pizza is done, have them make another.  You are set—food and entertainment for the entire evening.  All you have to do is open the bottles of Mad Housewife!

 

Homemade Pizza

 

Pizza is ridiculously easy to make, particularly if you have breadmaker, a truly wonderful invention.  I was the last person under fifty to get a cell phone and still don’t own a TV, but I could not live without my breadmaker.  It is a good investment, if only to make pizza dough. 

 

Regardless if you have a breadmaker, you can use this recipe.  I’ll share with you my secret ingredient for a fabulous crust—herbs in the dough.

 

Pizza crust (makes two twelve-inch pizza crusts)

 

1-1/3 cups water

3-1/2 cups flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 package yeast

¼ cup dried onions

¼ cup dried Italian herbs (or fresh rosemary)

 

Throw all the ingredients into your breadmaker in order, set to the French bread dough setting, and wait an hour and a half for your dough.  If making by hand, sprinkle yeast on warm water, then mix in a teaspoon of honey.  Let it sit for five minutes.  Then mix in the rest of the ingredients, turn out onto a floured surface, and knead for ten minutes.  Place in an oiled bowl, oil the top, cover with plastic, and let rise for an hour or so in a warm spot (75 to 85 degrees).

 

After your breadmaker is done, or your dough has doubled, divide into two, roll on a floured surface to the size of a pizza pan.  Place dough on an oiled pan and push to the edges to make a rim.  Sprinkle with olive oil and let rest for 10 minutes while you chop your toppings.

 

Note:  At this point you can freeze your pizza dough on the pan.  When you want to use it, simply thaw for 10 minutes and add toppings. (If you are planning a party, you can freeze four or more pizza dough-on-the-pans and take them out when you are ready to entertain.)

 

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Spread your sauce and add toppings.  Fresh sliced tomatoes make any pizza much better.  Cheese goes last.  Cook for 25 to 35 minutes.

 

Classic:

tomato sauce

fresh Roma tomatoes, sliced

1 bunch fresh basil, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

splash of olive oil

mozzarella cheese

black pepper

 

Variations to die for:

 

vodka sauce

fresh asparagus, chopped in thirds
shrimp (cooked or uncooked)

left-over salmon (cooked or uncooked)

sausage

fresh Roma tomatoes, sliced

provolone, mozzarella, and/or parmesan cheeses
 

basil pesto (or tomato) sauce

left-over meatloaf (or meat balls)

fresh Roma tomatoes, sliced

green bell pepper, sliced
provolone, mozzarella, and/or parmesan cheeses

 

barbeque sauce

sliced red onions

leftover cooked chicken

fresh rosemary

feta cheese

 

one nine-ounce package of frozen artichokes, thawed

1 package spinach, cooked and squeezed dry

1 red onion, sliced thin

½ cup black olives

fresh rosemary

feta, Fontina, or provolone cheese

 

Make up your own.  As I said, it is a great way to use up leftovers!

 

 

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