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Week 9: From A Can – White Clam Pizza with a can of rosé

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For this next challenge, “From a can,” I decided not to indulge in my favorite pizza standard of artichoke red pie, despite the use of both canned tomatoes and artichokes. Instead, I took on a pizza that I had never dreamt of making: white clam pizza. URBN Coal Fire Pizza/Bar in North Park, San Diego boasts a New Haven-style, thus features a classic clam pie. It’s the perfect pizza to order for lunch on a Sunday with a glass of Provence rosé.

I generally operate under a zero-seafood-from-a-can policy when I cook so I’ve decided to slap on some bacon for a bit of flavor insurance.

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Bacon offers unity between land and sea and, for those iffy about clams on a pizza, it can become the focal point of the experience.

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Garlic is the perfect aromatic to go alongside seafood so an abundance is used to coat the base.

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Classically, fresh littleneck clams are used but since freshness is already being shunned for the sake of this challenge, the clam of choice is not a point of concern.

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Ignoring how closely these clams resemble ID4 aliens sealed in an Area-51 tube once unveiled, these clams need to be coarsely chopped with the juice reserved for extra flavoring.

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Once outside of their murky clam juice home, these puppies look ready to hop on a pizza and snuggle up alongside some bacon.

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The dough used is a 3:1 bread and whole wheat flour, which was rolled out as thinly as possible while the oven climbed up to a maxed out 550°F. When freshly made, this dough can insert a subtle yeasty sweetness in the pizza’s overall flavor.

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Using olive oil & garlic as the sauce, mozzarella provided a base of cheese and the protein followed with parmesan grated overtop. Most importantly, a couple spoonfuls of clam juice were sprinkled over evenly before popping this bad larry into the oven for 7-10 minutes.

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In keeping with theme, a can of Alloy Wine Works – Grenache rosé, Central Coast, California was the pairing of choice, harking back to my URBN clam pizza & rosé days. With underripe raspberry and white strawberry notes balanced by the hint of actual sweetness in the wine, this wine tasted like the can’s own promising of sour patch kids. The inherent saltiness of the pizza even further emphasized the fruit of this rosé but it was the wine’s waxy texture and fuller body that helped manage bursts of smoky bacon.

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The briny flavors were well integrated with the garlic and bright, tangy parmesan with the occasional bite of sea water surprise that is likely inevitable with a dish like this. The pizza kept pillowy texture that stayed moist and fresh thanks to the addition of the clam juice on top, without which this pizza would be lost.

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Nailed it.

 

Week 7: Air – Basil Foam Pizza Topping

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For this week’s challenge, I dedicated some time to learning about modernist techniques for making foams and emulsions. After combing through stacks of online literature (like this, this and this), I managed to gain little confidence that some chemical tinkering would go without failure. And with that, I cannonballed into this project without concern for the outcome and came out lucky.

Basil Foam

To begin, I blanched fresh basil leaves, and a few spinach leaves for extra color, before dousing them in an ice bath.

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After wringing out the excess water from the leaves, I blended the leaves with a pinch of salt and a small amount of half and half, adding just enough to create a smooth liquid. I kept the additional cream to a minimum so as to maintain the concentration of both color and flavor in the resulting foam. This step required a few pauses to scrape down the sides of the blender for consistency, which probably would not have been as dramatic a task if I had made a bigger batch.

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Instead of leaning on any one particular technique discussed in the molecular gastronomy websites, I went for a combo punch of ingredients that would undoubtedly turn this mess into some kind of foam. Any foam.

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Adding in 1/16th a teaspoon of xanthan gum as a thickener and an egg white of one egg and 1/16 teaspoon of agar agar as stabilizers, I gave the emulsion one last blend before passing it through a sieve into an iSi whipped cream dispenser. After unloading two cartridges of nitrous oxide into the canister, shaking vigorously with each delivery, the iSi took a nap in the fridge while pizza was made.

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Basil works very well alongside tomatoes so I decided to flip this pizza onto its bottom and create an upside-down pepperoni pie with mozzarella spread right over the crust, followed by pepperoni and then heaps and heaps of freshly-made tomato sauce. Once out of the oven, the pizza was doused with parmesan and cooled slightly before basil foam was applied in the hopes of not deteriorating its delicate nature too quickly.

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The foam came out light, fluffy and of a satisfying shade of ecto-cooler green. The flavors remained fresh and leafy in its new form, which made a slice of pizza look like a crisply-wrapped present. Even when melted into alien goop, the foam was worthy of using as a dip for crust.

The pairing

With more herbaceous flavors to consider on a standard set of toppings, I wanted a wine to reflect the same green quality found on the pizza. Varietally known for its green bell pepper notes, Cabernet Franc from Bock (Hungary, 2011).

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The wine was remarkably plush and easy to get along with, primarily flaunting juicy black cherry and raspberry notes with hints of chopped mushroom and fresh soil interlaced. Together with the pizza, the soft yet powerful style of this wine was able to match the richness of the tomato sauce and provide a backdrop of dark berry fruitiness for the herbaceous flavors to play off of. Not the pairing that was expected, but one that worked nonetheless.

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With a canister of basil foam hanging out in the fridge, even some everyday cast iron tortilla pizza can use a little pizzazz. Though the classic remain classics, I found myself continuing to reach for the iSi for that extra hit of flavor. It seems I’ll have to mark this challenge down as a success.

Week 1 – Soup: Tomato Soup & Pepperoni Twists

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Thrilled to get a chance to expand my soup repertoire, I used this first challenge to hunt down a tomato soup recipe worthy of repetition, with or without its pizza flair. By using tomato as a base, the expansion into the pizza realm would be as natural as garnishing with cheese and croutons, which, while delicious, would be a snooze fest. Instead, I swam around the internet until I found a perfect companion for the tomato soup: pepperoni twists.

Having just discovered the outrageous beauty San Marzano tomatoes can bring to a sauce, I already had my main dancing partner in mind for this project. Since these tomatoes are not often found fresh, the canned version helps to significantly diminish the amount of prep work involved. Tomatoes and artichokes are the only canned produce items I keep stocked as they both are able to maintain the same quality as their fresh counterparts with the added bonus of minimizing kitchen labor.

Wanting a basic soup to showcase the charm of San Marzanos, I worked off a Chowhound recipe, adjusting all the while to suit my fancy. A few springs of thyme were steeped during the simmer for a whisper of herbaceousness while I cut the cream altogether to keep the tomatoes singing brightly. To make up for the omitted liquid, I stretched out the soup with 1/2 a cup more broth.

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Building the pizza dough from a Cook’s Illustrated standard found in The New Best Recipe, I chose to experiment with this batch using half bread flour and half whole wheat, resulting in a more textured but equally workable dough.

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As for the pepperoni twists themselves, I kept true to much of the recipe, choosing to use an indulgent amount of pepperoni so as to pack in the pizza essence.

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The marriage of tomato soup to pepperoni twists is straightfoward and obvious, yet so captivating. With each dip of bread, the sweet, meaty oil slick left behind infuses an attractive savory character into tanginess of the tomato. The fusion remains present in every spoonful to follow inspiring a pepperoni twist massacre.

Chosen to pair for its boldness of style and fresh acidity, 2006 Tenuta di Trinoro – “Le Cupole,” Rosso, Toscana IGT, Tuscany, Italy is a Bordeaux blend mainly featuring Cabernet Franc (47%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (30%). The decade of age has soften its edges, but the tannins remain firmly textured while the pairing proves to be just as hedonistic as the dish itself.

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Having leaned a little heavy on the red pepper flake usage in both recipes, the heat from the spice lingers and challenges the weighty alcohol level of the Tuscan. Even still, the bolt of intense fruit present in the wine refreshes the palate with dominating aromatics of black cherries, cooked blackberries and vanilla. Notes of tar and dusty tobacco mirror the savory components brought on by pepperoni, though the pairing seems to thrive on the contrasting of elements.

While hearty enough to stand up to the aromatics of this dish, the Tuscan is notably enjoyable all by its onesie. Meanwhile, tomato soup may never seem complete without a batch of pepperoni twists nearby. They may be distant lovers, capable of existing apart, but there will always the memory  of those couple passionate, wintery nights by the fireplace being engulfed by a cold, hungry pizza kitten waiting for a shiny upvote to appear.

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Knowing future challenges will not be as forgiving, I am exceedingly pleased with the outcome of my first r/52weeksofcooking metatheme challenge. Bring it on, Week 2.