in the '80s until maybe five years ago, there was a pizza joint in Birmingham, Alabama (where i grew up) called Cosmo's that made some amazing pies (and introduced new ideas about sauces and toppings to Alabamians). one of their signatures was a roasted yellow pepper "pesto," the recipe for which i managed to get my paws on (and can share here if you like). we love this sauce topped with green olives, radicchio, and goat cheese---just like your recommendation of salty-bitter-sweet! yum yum yum!
I tend to go back to the same toppings every time, for over 40 years. Light layer of tomato sauce, pimento stuffed green olives (large deli ones), artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, and mushrooms. And mozzarella. Andrew shared an Italian chili crisp recipe in a pizza class—that took everything to a new level, and now it’s a must have addition.
We just foraged a HUGE maitake and roasted some and are pickling some today but hadn't yet thought to put it on pizza - adding this to this week's list of culinary adventures, thank you! Yum.
I'm a really big fan of pizzas that don't use tomato sauce (though love tomato-based ones, too). One of my favorites: butternut squash, sweet potato, or pumpkin puree spiced with garlic powder and salt as the base, topped with balsamic caramelized onions and crumbled goat cheese, and a health sprinkle of black pepper and/or spicy fresh arugula on top after it comes out of the onion. I think I like it because of the flavor triangle that Andrew mentioned in his post last year!
The family favorite is cheese, pepperoni and mushrooms on a tomato sauced pie. And the Milwaukee special (sausage, mushroom, onion) is always reliable. But I’m a huge fan of more creative flavor combos. Today I’m going to try one with butternut squash and preserved lemon (it’s in my fridge, so…), topped with blue cheese when it comes out of the oven. It sounds a little weird, but it might be good! I do like a spicy hit of something, so I’m thinking some pickled red Serrano from my garden might be a good topper too. That last bit is inspired by a recent recipe I saw from Yotam Ottolenghi on the NYT cooking site! Looking forward to reading about others’ favorites. Also, Andrew, thanks for the tips about dough sticking and such last week. I’m going to try out a couple of your suggestions today!
We have several favorite combos, depending on the heartiness of the crust....
1. Canadian bacon, green olive, and caramelized onions over a light red sauce and whole milk mozz
2. Italian sausage with dollops of homemade ricotta
3. BLT! Use Mayo and bacon topped by mozz, then when it comes out of the oven, another layer of mayo, then more bacon, chopped tomatoes, and shredded romaine
4. Boars Head pepperoni over red sauce and mozz, with a sprinkle of Penzey's pizza seasoning and parm
5. Prosciutto, sundried tomatoes, goat cheese, and mozz over pesto. And if I have some mushrooms to roast that's always a good add!
6. multi-cheese over pesto or simple olive oil and garlic
I can eat most anything on pizza. No pineapple though! LOL
I love a Fiorentina, and even goats cheese with red onion but my absolute favourite style of pizza is the margherita and I tend to order that. It was the first pizza I ever ate.
I moonlight at a locavore pizza joint that specializes in unconventional toppings and have the privilege of experiencing so many due to my staff comp meal, and more favorites are things like kale pesto, old bay mayo, hot honey, pickled onion garnishes, goat cheese... etc. Just very fresh things things, usually with a veggie forward bent. I think the biggest revelation since working there was the expansion of more than red sauce or white sauce as a base component. Like i said, the kale pesto is a favorite, but we do any number of purees.
Our favorite is a thin crust olive oil herb base with pecorino and Parmesan Reggiano then sprinkle anchovies and chopped clams finish with a light dusting of whole milk mozzarella! Heaven!
Mamma Mia's on the Beach on Lake Worth Beach, Palm Beach County, FL serves my favorite pizza: Bianco with spinach, mushroom, ricotta, mozzarella, and garlic. I would love to learn how to make it without the crust getting all soggy.
The first time I try a new pizza place I usually get a margherita to use as a benchmark. I love roasted mushrooms (especially chanterelles in season), alliums of all kinds, green stuff (spinach, arugula, etc and of course basil), roasted or pickled peppers, and salty things (anchovies, olives, pecorino). I don't have subtle, refined taste!
I absolutely love ricotta on pizza; hands down, if I see it on a menu, I will try to add it to one of the pizzas. I enjoy the puddles of creaminess that contrast the chew and temperature of the crust and other toppings. My most nostalgic iteration is a primavera pizza with ricotta, broccoli florets, diced tomatoes, (and maybe more veggies but can’t remember what else was on it) and a garlic white sauce/mozzarella cheese. I’ve also enjoyed immensely pizzas with just ricotta and meatballs or sausage. I also like mushroom and/or sweet peppers with sweet Italian sausage. In a chain pizza party setting with a lot of different options, I’ll usually go for a supreme pizza too. I have come to enjoy olives in the context of supreme but don’t tend to pick it separately. Don’t like raw-ish onions that are found on most pizzas; I want it cooked down. At home, we usually have a pepperoni pizza for the kiddo, and for the adults, whatever complementary protein we have lying around in the fridge and some combo of veggies like corn, sautéed kale, sauteed/caramelized onions, and broccoli florets. And ricotta (obvs!) if I have it on hand (not often but it totally makes the pizza spectacular when it’s there). We only do a white sauce on our pizza these days, mostly because the kid only likes white sauce and it was a pain to source like 1/4 cup of tomato sauce just for the adult pizzas. Tbh the white sauce is pretty good with all our usual toppings so we adults have come to prefer it too!
another dream pizza i continue to try to duplicate is one i had in Rome in the late '90s: sauceless crust topped with abundant olive oil and tissue-thin slices of garlic. then when it was just out of the oven, the kitchen piled on heaps of fresh mesclun and shaved ribbons of parm. my attempts at re-creating it are ok but never quite match the delicious, enchanting qualities of the original...tho maybe some of that was due to the plentiful chianti and the bustling family-restaurant ambience...
I prefer salty: olives, smoked tomato slices with kosher salt, garlic slices on top of cheese. I try to use goat cheese when I can get it to shave on top. Wife likes Brasilian Pizzas. Portuguesa: Tomato sauce, mozzarella, tomatoes, Calabirian sausage, ham, onion, bell pepper, olives, eggs or Quatro queijos: Four types of cheese, usually mozzarella, gorgonzola, Parmesan, and cream cheese (and its not American cream cheese, its lighter).
in the '80s until maybe five years ago, there was a pizza joint in Birmingham, Alabama (where i grew up) called Cosmo's that made some amazing pies (and introduced new ideas about sauces and toppings to Alabamians). one of their signatures was a roasted yellow pepper "pesto," the recipe for which i managed to get my paws on (and can share here if you like). we love this sauce topped with green olives, radicchio, and goat cheese---just like your recommendation of salty-bitter-sweet! yum yum yum!
I tend to go back to the same toppings every time, for over 40 years. Light layer of tomato sauce, pimento stuffed green olives (large deli ones), artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, and mushrooms. And mozzarella. Andrew shared an Italian chili crisp recipe in a pizza class—that took everything to a new level, and now it’s a must have addition.
We just foraged a HUGE maitake and roasted some and are pickling some today but hadn't yet thought to put it on pizza - adding this to this week's list of culinary adventures, thank you! Yum.
I'm a really big fan of pizzas that don't use tomato sauce (though love tomato-based ones, too). One of my favorites: butternut squash, sweet potato, or pumpkin puree spiced with garlic powder and salt as the base, topped with balsamic caramelized onions and crumbled goat cheese, and a health sprinkle of black pepper and/or spicy fresh arugula on top after it comes out of the onion. I think I like it because of the flavor triangle that Andrew mentioned in his post last year!
The family favorite is cheese, pepperoni and mushrooms on a tomato sauced pie. And the Milwaukee special (sausage, mushroom, onion) is always reliable. But I’m a huge fan of more creative flavor combos. Today I’m going to try one with butternut squash and preserved lemon (it’s in my fridge, so…), topped with blue cheese when it comes out of the oven. It sounds a little weird, but it might be good! I do like a spicy hit of something, so I’m thinking some pickled red Serrano from my garden might be a good topper too. That last bit is inspired by a recent recipe I saw from Yotam Ottolenghi on the NYT cooking site! Looking forward to reading about others’ favorites. Also, Andrew, thanks for the tips about dough sticking and such last week. I’m going to try out a couple of your suggestions today!
We have several favorite combos, depending on the heartiness of the crust....
1. Canadian bacon, green olive, and caramelized onions over a light red sauce and whole milk mozz
2. Italian sausage with dollops of homemade ricotta
3. BLT! Use Mayo and bacon topped by mozz, then when it comes out of the oven, another layer of mayo, then more bacon, chopped tomatoes, and shredded romaine
4. Boars Head pepperoni over red sauce and mozz, with a sprinkle of Penzey's pizza seasoning and parm
5. Prosciutto, sundried tomatoes, goat cheese, and mozz over pesto. And if I have some mushrooms to roast that's always a good add!
6. multi-cheese over pesto or simple olive oil and garlic
I can eat most anything on pizza. No pineapple though! LOL
I love a Fiorentina, and even goats cheese with red onion but my absolute favourite style of pizza is the margherita and I tend to order that. It was the first pizza I ever ate.
I moonlight at a locavore pizza joint that specializes in unconventional toppings and have the privilege of experiencing so many due to my staff comp meal, and more favorites are things like kale pesto, old bay mayo, hot honey, pickled onion garnishes, goat cheese... etc. Just very fresh things things, usually with a veggie forward bent. I think the biggest revelation since working there was the expansion of more than red sauce or white sauce as a base component. Like i said, the kale pesto is a favorite, but we do any number of purees.
Our favorite is a thin crust olive oil herb base with pecorino and Parmesan Reggiano then sprinkle anchovies and chopped clams finish with a light dusting of whole milk mozzarella! Heaven!
Mamma Mia's on the Beach on Lake Worth Beach, Palm Beach County, FL serves my favorite pizza: Bianco with spinach, mushroom, ricotta, mozzarella, and garlic. I would love to learn how to make it without the crust getting all soggy.
The first time I try a new pizza place I usually get a margherita to use as a benchmark. I love roasted mushrooms (especially chanterelles in season), alliums of all kinds, green stuff (spinach, arugula, etc and of course basil), roasted or pickled peppers, and salty things (anchovies, olives, pecorino). I don't have subtle, refined taste!
I absolutely love ricotta on pizza; hands down, if I see it on a menu, I will try to add it to one of the pizzas. I enjoy the puddles of creaminess that contrast the chew and temperature of the crust and other toppings. My most nostalgic iteration is a primavera pizza with ricotta, broccoli florets, diced tomatoes, (and maybe more veggies but can’t remember what else was on it) and a garlic white sauce/mozzarella cheese. I’ve also enjoyed immensely pizzas with just ricotta and meatballs or sausage. I also like mushroom and/or sweet peppers with sweet Italian sausage. In a chain pizza party setting with a lot of different options, I’ll usually go for a supreme pizza too. I have come to enjoy olives in the context of supreme but don’t tend to pick it separately. Don’t like raw-ish onions that are found on most pizzas; I want it cooked down. At home, we usually have a pepperoni pizza for the kiddo, and for the adults, whatever complementary protein we have lying around in the fridge and some combo of veggies like corn, sautéed kale, sauteed/caramelized onions, and broccoli florets. And ricotta (obvs!) if I have it on hand (not often but it totally makes the pizza spectacular when it’s there). We only do a white sauce on our pizza these days, mostly because the kid only likes white sauce and it was a pain to source like 1/4 cup of tomato sauce just for the adult pizzas. Tbh the white sauce is pretty good with all our usual toppings so we adults have come to prefer it too!
another dream pizza i continue to try to duplicate is one i had in Rome in the late '90s: sauceless crust topped with abundant olive oil and tissue-thin slices of garlic. then when it was just out of the oven, the kitchen piled on heaps of fresh mesclun and shaved ribbons of parm. my attempts at re-creating it are ok but never quite match the delicious, enchanting qualities of the original...tho maybe some of that was due to the plentiful chianti and the bustling family-restaurant ambience...
One that I made ages ago that was well-loved, but eschewed by one non-onion-eating roommate (works just as well as a focaccia topping):
Caramelized onions
Apples cooked with the onions toward the finish, to drive off some moisture and brown 'em)
Lots of garlic (if you're working with a really hot oven, this can be added as-is; else, pre-cook it with the onions/apples)
Goat cheese
Rosemary
coarse sea salt, especially around the exposed edge of the crust
sausage (optional)
The astringency of the goat cheese is a great foil for the sweetness of the onions/apples (but use tart apples).
Really, this is good. I haven't made it in about 20-years, so I think I'll have to take another stab at it.
I prefer salty: olives, smoked tomato slices with kosher salt, garlic slices on top of cheese. I try to use goat cheese when I can get it to shave on top. Wife likes Brasilian Pizzas. Portuguesa: Tomato sauce, mozzarella, tomatoes, Calabirian sausage, ham, onion, bell pepper, olives, eggs or Quatro queijos: Four types of cheese, usually mozzarella, gorgonzola, Parmesan, and cream cheese (and its not American cream cheese, its lighter).