Pizza Anyone?

[Nrthwnd]

Well, it was on Wednesday apparently. But for now .... Happy National PIZZA DAY!

And a U.S. map was posted online, showing what states liked which kinds/types of pizzas, the best. Thank for the map, "Slice."

The way I see it, there is tooo much 'veggie' in the Western U.S. And as for 'Hawaiian' preferred in a few states .....

 

[Nrthwnd]

Here's the pizzas I had in the past couple of weeks, "across the street." All as good as ever.

And this Wed. I am repeating my "salad & meat balls" order, w/different salad.

And ordering a pickup pizza for later in the evening. It's all good.

My 'casual place setting', lol.

A repeat of their special "woodcutter's pizza". Or (as it's called) the boscaiola Pizza. Awesome repeat.

And I saved a piece for David.

This week, I noticed something 'interesting' in the beverages menu.

"dat juice, would crush" ..... ???? I mean what does all that mean? I must ask, next visit.

Double Pepperoni with Mushrooms added. All nice and chewy with the chile oil.

[Nrthwnd]

Last Wednesday I did my Once-A-Month 'Thing', which was having something non-pizza, then ordering a pizza for take out, later on.

I had the next salad offered, along with two meatballs for protein. What I got was A LOT OF greens. And my meat balls.

But I managed to take my time and eat ALL of it all. And later on, picked up a white base-sausage-rapini pizza. Still great, even eaten at home!

Still cold outside. But no snow, knock wood.

Rucola con Limone was my salad choice. And the 'crispy prosciutto' was added on.

What I got. A LOT OF ARUGULA, hmm? Red onion in there too, a nice vinagarette.... and the meat balls.

Oh yeah ..... and all of that crispy prosciutto on it, too.

My 7:30pm pick up order. So good and yummy.

[Nrthwnd]

I think I am very much hooked on pizzas with pepperoni on them, lol. Yesterday, I had the Double Pepperoni, again, with mushrooms added on, again.

And it was oh so good .... again. I added also, besides the chile oil I always use, ground parmesan and chili pepper flakes as well.

Skies are mostly clear now, but still c-c-c-c-cold and we actually got SNOW this morning. But now it's all gone.

The edge on this one was more "charred" than I usually liked. Didn't really hurt the flavour, though.

A slice, loaded with parmesan, chile flakes and chile oil. Yum!

And I left one slice for David. He enjoyed it.

[Nrthwnd]

A Busy Wednesday, This Week!

Usually, I am there at 4pm at the restaurant's opening, and "maybe" a few people will show up, or a couple, later on. This past Wednesday, as soon as I was seated, several other people showed up, most of them to dine in! I was a bit shocked, since this is The First Time a crowd has shown up at opening hours.

Hmmm. Guess the word's catching on about the place opening at 4, instead of when they used to open, 5pm.

That, and Co-vid rules are starting to be relaxed (a little) about public indoor places, like gyms, restaurants, movie places, etc.

Anyway, I decided to really treat myself, and once again, enjoyed The Cappricciosa pizza.

With a tomato base, and plenty of cheese on top of it, with mushrooms, artichokes, olives, and wonderful prosciutto and pepperoni!

Busy busy, already at 4pm!

The Cappricciosa. Mmmm.

The all-important close up shot of it all.

What I left for David to enjoy, later on.

[CaptainUnknown]

Today's lunch sponsored by DeLeo Bros. Pizza inside the Mall of America. For my money, it's the best slice of pizza in Minnesota. 

[bert425]

^ too bad it's ruined by that Pepsi behind it.

[Nrthwnd]

^^ It needs a beer, there.

Lotsa pepperoni though, which is a very good thing.

[CaptainUnknown]

On 3/11/2022 at 1:28 PM, bert425 said:

too bad it's ruined by that Pepsi behind it.

Never understood the vitriol towards Pepsi as if it just killed your entire family.

On 3/11/2022 at 8:08 PM, Nrthwnd said:

^^ It needs a beer, there.

No beer, but I did get two rides on one of the best Log Flumes out there and one ride is worth at least a 6 pack.

On 3/11/2022 at 8:08 PM, Nrthwnd said:

Lotsa pepperoni though, which is a very good thing.

You can never have too much pepperoni!

[anonymouscactus]

The only chain pizza I will eat is BLAZE. Going to pick up a pizza later for $3.14 in honor of their pi day promotion (that is good all month!). I like them because you can customize your pizza with literally more than 20 different toppings, cheeses, etc, and it's still one price (less than $11! Though I typically get the "high rise" because their regular pizza is way too thin it's an extra $2.50 I think). Any other pizza place in the area charges like $1.50 per topping or whatever, and my wife loves a bajillion toppings, so a pizza costs like $25 anywhere else. Typically for a "normal" Buffalo pizza I get cup & char pepperoni (it's a WNY thing), and maybe mushroom or Italian sausage if I'm feeling frisky. Keep it simple.

At BLAZE I like the spicy red sauce, fresh mozzarella, goat cheese, pepperoni, Italian sausage, chicken, artichoke, banana pepper, jalapeno, roasted garlic, mushroom, topped with a balsamic glaze, oregano, and red pepper flakes. It's not a typical pizza but damn it's good in my eyes.

They opened a crumbl cookie store next door a few weeks ago, and everyone is raving about their key lime cookie and glazed oatmeal this week, so I'll stuff those down my throat, too. I've never been, so it will be an interesting evening and I'll be rolling home.

[CaptainUnknown]

A quartet of homemade personal pizzas.

[Nrthwnd]

^ They all look great ... but, was this something you did at a restaurant or ....?

Not sure how you did this. Just asking.

[CaptainUnknown]

^Yeah, they're definitely made at home. Take half of a toasted English Muffin, top as you please, bake for at least 10 minutes at 350F (I think mine were in the oven for at least 20 minutes). 

The idea allows each member to make their ideal pizzas because no one likes their pizza the exact same way. 

[Nrthwnd]

^ Great! I should be able to use our small (but mighty) toaster oven for these kinds of mini-pizzas.

But I need to get me some English Muffins, lol. Sauce and cheese and toppings, we got.

By the way, the shot you took of what you made, "looked like" it was at a restaurant. That's why I asked.

[CaptainUnknown]

A slice of pepperoni from Pizza Ponte at Disney Springs.

[Nrthwnd]

^ Y' know, there's the way they'd do a really "abundant" pepperoni pizza?

Well, they could certainly have added more "slices to the slice" that you bought.

IMhO.

[Invertalon]

A few pies we made the past few weeks!

[Invertalon]

Last post was a catch-up, but these were the two pizzas we cooked up this past weekend:

1.) BBQ Pizza featuring brisket I had smoked the day prior, red onion and jalapeno. BBQ sauce was the sauce itself, of course.

2.) Pepperoni, pepper and onion with red sauce. 

3.) Bonus... Picture of the brisket and bbq plate we made the day before! Brisket was smoked just over 12 hours with just a rub of salt and coarse black pepper. All sides (mac-n-cheese, bbq beans and cole slaw) were all made from scratch, of course. 

 

[Nrthwnd]

^ Your last two posts .... even though I am saying it now ..... there are no words ..... really awesome creations, there.

And that brisket (and those sides, too!) ...... <DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL> ..... on it's own or on a pizza. Really looks beautifully done.

Thanks for sharing all the pizzas (AND brisket) you've created, cooked, and shown us!

So far, hah hah.

[Invertalon]

Thanks!! Appreciate the compliments. Cooking is one of my big hobbies/enjoyments (focus on BBQ and Pizza if you didn’t notice!). Some people question or don’t understand why we never go out to eat unless on vacation, but we just have so much more fun cooking up whatever we want at home. Usually tastes better, too!

So here are the pies from last night… This time, dough utilizes a touch of dark rye flour. Overnight ferment, high hydration to give it a bit more of that ‘Neapolitan’ style texture. It was so delicate/soft, minimal chew and just was like a pillow. Heavenly! Will likely make this again, but with a touch less yeast and perhaps a 2-day ferment to see how it influences the flavor/texture.

Tried some new tomatoes I found at the store as well. While I typically use the Cento San Marzano tomatoes as my go-to base, tried out Bianco Organic California Tomatoes (with some fresh extra virgin olive oil, garlic, salt and oregano/basil added). So delicious! Nice acidity and freshness, bright flavor. Big fan!

Cheese mix was whole-milk mozzarella, asiago and monterey jack blend.

One pizza had broccoli, olives and italian sausage (ground pork with salt, paprika, fennel, garlic, onion, black pepper, Italian seasoning and chili flakes added). The other was pepperoni and black olive.

Home run on these two. We couldn’t pick the favorite.

 

 

[Nrthwnd]

^ Ha! There was actually "one of these recent Topics LINK" that wondered ...."why do pepperoni slices CURL when cooked on a pizza?"

Truth, I kid you not! But honestly, that is a wonderful (current) lineup of pizzas you have created and cooked. YUM!!!

Very envious here. But then again - I have a BBQ KING as my partner. So .................. HAH to you!

[Nrthwnd]

^^ I have to ask you: are you using a special pizza-baking appliance for all of these delicious creations?

Or just in a regular old oven? Or neither one? I forget if you did mention your cooking process, from "all of the above".

[Invertalon]

14 hours ago, Nrthwnd said:

^^ I have to ask you: are you using a special pizza-baking appliance for all of these delicious creations?

Or just in a regular old oven? Or neither one? I forget if you did mention your cooking process, from "all of the above".

I primarily use my oven with a pizza steel most of the time, but I also use my kamado grill with lump charcoal outside with a pizza stone when doing 'wood fired' pizzas and want higher temps. My oven will go to 550F, but I can get my kamado up to 800F or so! So it depends on the pizza style and what we are after!

Recently I even tried my propane grill, just to see the results with a pizza steel on the rack. It did OK, but the pizza steel gets too hot and burns the crust quickly (just like when I tried it in the kamado). But the next time I did it using my pizza stone (ceramic) and it worked out much better, but not as nice as the oven or kamado. But it is a nice third option if lazy to fire up the kamado or it's super hot/muggy out and don't want to run my oven at 550F for 1.5-2hrs inside the house (1hr preheat to get the stone nice and hot!). 

 

Not the best pics, but our most recent pizzas! Was actually trying to make "Chicago Tavern" style for the first time, but need to make some tweaks to how thin I roll the dough (touch thick here), but the texture and everything else was incredible! Dough was soft yet had a delicate crispy crunch on the bottom. Just needs to be a thinner. So will do another trial this week or coming weekend, maybe a par-bake of the crust itself to get it a touch more crackery. 

But one was simply italian sausage, onion and bell pepper. The other was (turkey) pepperoni and black olives, so no little pepperoni cups this time with the turkey variant, haha. For those 'cups', I buy a pepperoni log and cut my own pepperoni. The cups are actually caused by how the pepperoni is cased, actually. You can buy pepperoni already pre-cut that will do it as well, but cutting your own a touch thicker than those pre-cut options results in even better 'cups'! 

Also a few from the past few weeks:

1.) Sausage and red onion with fresh mozzarella. 

2.) Cheese primarily with a pepperoni added on each slice. Red chili flakes.

3.) Gyro pizza -  I seasoned raw sausage with greek/gyro seasonings and then we had red onions on there as well. Finished with fresh made tzatziki sauce and cilantro! Was madness how good this was! Next time, I want to make a proper gyro meat (beef/pork mix, made into a compressed 'log' and sliced). But this was a great trial!

 

[anonymouscactus]

On 6/6/2022 at 8:17 AM, Invertalon said:

Gyro pizza -  I seasoned raw sausage with greek/gyro seasonings and then we had red onions on there as well. Finished with fresh made tzatziki sauce and cilantro! Was madness how good this was!

Sounds AMAZING

[Nrthwnd]

^ I just keep on drooling, at seeing every one of those he's made, and shown us, LOL!