Hamlety Pizza

Hamlet and pork products?  I know, it's corny.  But it works!  And I think I cheated a little bit...I used my favorite version of ham: prosciutto and pancetta.  And to be even more Italian I decided to make pizza.  I've actually never made my own pizza, except for one effort that went seriously awry.  This time I used baby steps; I purchased the pizza dough from a local Italian grocery store.  I then tried three different pizza recipes all on the recommendation of my favorite food blog, SmittenKitchen.  And she didn't disappoint.  Below are my attempts at fresh ricotta and red onion pizza, bacon, onions, and cream pizza, and shaved asparagus pizza.  With a few tweaks.

"Oh that this too...would melt" Asparagus Pizza
 You'll Need:
1 medium sized ball of fresh pizza dough, uncooked
1/2 pound uncooked asparagus
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1-1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella
2 tbsps olive oil
1 scallion
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
2. Take the asparagus and starting from the base, peel upwards in strips (like with a cucumber).  No need to snap the ends off.  Get as many peelings as you can, and press firmly for thick slices.  Toss peelings when complete with 1 tbsp olive oil and salt and pepper to season.  Set aside in a bowl.
3. Roll out and stretch dough until correct size with ends slightly higher for crust.  Cover the dough with remaining olive oil and a tsp salt.  Cover baking sheet with tin foil and then place pizza on a square of parchment paper.
4. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese, then mozzarella, over the dough.  Top with asparagus.  Bake in the oven 10-15 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and asparagus slightly browned.  Immediately top with sliced scallion and set aside to cool.

"Goodnight, sweet prince" Prosciutto Ricotta Pizza

 You'll Need:

1 medium sized ball of fresh pizza dough, uncooked

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 1/2 tbsps golden brown sugar

2 tbsps olive oil

2 tbsps balsamic vinegar

1 large red onion, thinly sliced

1/4 pound prosciutto

1 tsp fresh sage

salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
2. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in medium saucepan.  Cook onions with brown sugar until dark brown and tender, about 15 minutes.  Mix in vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.  Cook until thickened, about 2 minutes more.  Turn off heat.
3. Roll out and stretch dough until correct size with ends slightly higher for crust.  Cover the dough with remaining olive oil and a tsp salt.  Cover baking sheet with tin foil and then place pizza on a square of parchment paper.
4. Spread the onion mixture over the center of the dough within a 1/4 inch of the edge.  Top with ricotta and then place prosciutto over the top.  Sprinkle with sage.
5. Bake in oven for about 12 minutes, or until bread is brown and crusty.

"To die: To sleep" Pancetta and Cream Pizza

 You'll Need:

1 medium sized ball of fresh pizza dough, uncooked

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tbsp all purpose flour

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1/4 pound pancetta, cubed

salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cook pancetta with 1 tsp olive oil until slightly browned.  Then remove pancetta and set aside.  Add onions to the pan and cook until slightly softened, about 10 minutes.  Turn off heat.
3. Roll out and stretch dough until correct size with ends slightly higher for crust.  Cover the dough with remaining olive oil and a tsp salt.  Cover baking sheet with tin foil and then place pizza on a square of parchment paper.
4. Whisk together ricotta, sour cream, and flour.  Add salt and pepper to season.
5. Spread the cheese mixture over the center of the dough within a 1/4 inch of the edge.  Top with onions and pancetta.
6. Bake in oven for about 12 minutes, or until bread is golden brown.

Different in their own ways, but incredibly yummy.  Pizza was a success!  SmittenKitchen never leads me wrong.  I keep changing my mind about my favorite, but the asparagus was very good.  Well then... until next time?  For now...I'll enjoy the melted cheese...

The Scariest Italian Food You'll Ever Eat

My decision for this week's snack went something like this:  "I want to make something scary for Rebecca."  I knew Rebecca was supposed to be creepy, and I knew it was Hitchcock, so I wanted to make scary, creepy, delicious food.  Obviously it was also important that we would want to eat it. I had many ideas, most of them involving chocolate.  I went on the Hershey website and found recipes for "Chocolate Sloppy Joes" and "Cocoa Currey."  I even found a recipe for "Chocolate Pasta."  But I think it was when I was seriously considering "Chocolate Chicken" that my friend AMS decided to step in.  She said, "That sounds terrifying."  And while that might be what I was going for, this was a friend I had invited over to eat my food.  But before I could snap that if she was so smart, she could should up with something--she did.  She said, "You know what's scary looking but really hard to make? Pasta with squid ink."

Now at first I wasn't amenable to this idea.  I don't want to ink a squid!  I also happen to dislike shellfish.  And when I pitched the idea to my roommate she said, "Absolutely not!  We are not going to have the apartment smelling like squid for days."  (Our apartment has a notorious lack of circulation.)  But as it turns out Squid Ink Pasta is not actually squid pasta.  It's a type of pasta with squid ink added.  So in fact all it does is turn the pasta black and give it a slightly salty taste.  According to AMS, this is an authentic Italian dish.  And upon further research, this recipe only became impossible if I was the one making the pasta.  Where does one find squid ink?  And so I trekked out to the North End in search of my scary looking pasta.

Thank God for Google.  I found a small homemade pasta shop with everyone that I needed (and quite a few things I didn't).  My arms full of yummy Italian produce, I hurried home to prepare.  And I think I turned out my best dish yet.  In any event it looks really, really cool.  Best Halloween pasta ever, despite it being July.

Scary Squid Ink Pasta
(serves 6)

Pancetta

You'll need:
Squid Ink Pasta (I used 3 of the containers above, about 2.5  pounds)
Pancetta (about 1/4 pound)
2 Red Bell Peppers
1/2 stick of butter
1/3 cup white wine
Garlic
Salt and Pepper
Parmigiano-Reggiano, for serving

1. Start boiling the water for the pasta.
2. Dice the pancetta into small cubes, pulling away the fat.
3. Slice the red peppers into small strips and chop the garlic. 
4. Combine half the butter and all of the pancetta into a sauté pan on medium heat, stirring frequently until  the pancetta is browned, not burnt.

5. Add the garlic, then the peppers.  Cook until the peppers are soft, not squishy.  

6. Add the white wine and cook until simmering.
7. Add the pasta to the water when it has reached a roiling boil.  The pasta should only be cooked for a few minutes, this pasta in particular needed about 5 minutes maximum.  Drain the pasta when it is al dente.

8. Add the pasta to the sauté pan. Mix everything together and season with salt, peppers, and cheese.  Serve and enjoy!

The finished product!

Terrifying.  And the credit goes to AMS.  Thanks!  I think this meal went a long way towards fixing an overly long, sometimes dull movie.  And of course my other ill-gotten, expensive North End gains didn't hurt.  Mmmm...buffalo mozzarella.....

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• imabonehead: Tiny Urban Kitchen: Squid Ink Pasta with Parsnips and Pancetta (tinyurbankitchen.com)