Pizza Night

When planning tonight’s menu for our weekly dinner with The Neighbors, I wanted to keep it simple, simple, simple. I ended up going with a pizza night, which worked out perfectly. The Neighbor Wife made a salad and brought fresh fruit, so we ended up being well fed, without being overfed.

Two new recipes for the pizzas tonight, both from Rachael Ray. Both very good, but completely different. The first one was Cheese and Caramelized Onion Pizza. Seriously, when the ingredients are caramelized onions, prosciutto, grated Fontina cheese and crumbled gorgonzola, you KNOW there’s no way you can go wrong with this one. Out of the two pizzas, this was hands down our favorite, and there was not one speck leftover. Delicious, and will be a definite repeater. The Neighbor Wife even took the recipe with her, so you know that’s a good sign.

The second recipe was for a Carbonara Pizza recipe Rachael made this past week. Using all the usual components of Spaghetti Carbonara (eggs, cheese, pancetta), it definitely tasted like Carbonara. It was hard to rate this recipe next to the other one, because they are so very different. This one was good, but the other one was more like OMG good.

I thought the kids might like to get in on the act, and make their own pizza, so we set them up with a crust, tomato sauce and cheese and let them go to town. They definitely got a kick out of making their own pizza, but neither would touch it when it came out – too busy playing.

Until tomorrow…

A year ago today… American Idol and new cookbooks
Two years ago today… short nothingness; there is a vast difference in posts two years ago as opposed to one year ago, that’s for sure.

P.S. Tomorrow is our Weekend Dog Blogging round-up – be there or be square.

Carbonara Pizza
Recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray

1 refrigerated pizza dough, or one from your favorite pizza joint
Cornmeal, for sprinkling on pizza pan
Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), for drizzling
1/4 pound pancetta, chopped
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1 large clove garlic, grated
Black pepper
2 large egg yolks, beaten
1 1/2 to 2 cups shredded provolone cheese
A handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 450°F. Roll out dough into a large, thin, round or rectangular shape. Scatter a little cornmeal on the pizza pan or baking sheet before placing rolled-out dough on it. Drizzle dough with EVOO and prick it with fork tines in a few places.

Place in oven and partially bake for 7-8 minutes. Drizzle EVOO in a small skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Cook pancetta until crisp, 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cool. Brush the baked pizza crust with some of the grease from the skillet you cooked the pancetta in for a little extra flavor. (I skipped that step; extra grease not necessary) Add beaten egg yolks, ricotta, Romano, grated garlic and black pepper to a bowl and stir to combine.

Spread the ricotta cheese mixture out over the pizza crust, then top with provolone cheese.

Scatter the reserved pancetta all over and bake 12 minutes or until crust is crisp and the cheese is evenly golden on top. Scatter parsley over cooked pizza, cut into wedges and serve.

Yields 4 servings

Cheese and Caramelized Onion Pizza
Recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), plus some for drizzling
2 large onions, thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pizza dough, from your favorite pizza shop or store-bought
1/4 pound sliced prosciutto, cut into strips
1 cup grated fontina cheese
1/4 pound gorgonzola cheese, crumbled into small pieces

Preheat oven to 425°F. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat with the butter and 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons. Add the sliced onions, season with salt and pepper, and cook; stirring frequently for 20-25 minutes or until very brown and caramelized. Remove from skillet and let cool slightly.

Drizzle a little EVOO on to the pizza dough and pull and stretch until almost the same size as the baking sheet pan. Drizzle the baking sheet pan with EVOO, then set crust in place. Poke the pizza dough in several areas with the tines of a fork. Season the dough with salt and pepper, and spread the caramelized onions on top.

Top the onions with the prosciutto, then the fontina and gorgonzola cheese.

Transfer to the oven and bake until the dough is cooked through and the cheese melts, about 20 minutes. Remove, cut into portions and serve.

Yields 4 servings