I work right across the street from a Pizzicato, which is a little weird, because my last job was in the same office park/shopping area as another Pizzicato. I just can’t seem to escape them. But, that’s okay, because they have pretty good pizza and a wonderful pear arugula salad.
The other night I decided to bring one home. I went to the Web site to see what the monthly special was and it said:
Mele e Salsiccia
“The Northwest’s best apples are now in season so we proudly feature one of Pizzicato’s most popular specials, the Mele e Salsiccia. We start with a garlic and olive oil base and top it with whole milk Mozzarella cheese and roasted walnuts. We then add new crop roasted Gala apples, our own Parmesan Italian sausage and Gorgonzola cheese. A final garnish of shredded Parmesan and fresh basil finish off this month’s savory pie. Is your mouth watering yet?”
Why yes, my mouth was indeed watering! I called it in and 15 minutes later was picking it up to take home — it was so very tasty. Although, one thing I have noticed with their pizzas, is that I always want a couple more items on top of it than what they add. This pizza — as wonderful sounding as it was — was no exception. So, when I got it home I added onion, arugula leaves and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar before popping it in the oven at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes — I always order the pizzas half-baked. That way, when I get the pizza home, I can finish baking it in the oven instead of bringing home a fully-done pizza that I would just have to reheat and dry out.
In conclusion, even if you don’t live in the Portland area, you should really try these toppings (garlic, olive oil, Mozzarella, roasted walnuts, apples, sausage, Gorgonzola, onions, arugula and balsamic) on your next pizza! They made it very Autumn-y and quite delicious.
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On the Thanksgiving front, I made my pie crust dough last night and am storing it (in disc-form) in the refrigerator, wrapped up well, until I roll it out and bake it Wednesday night!
Last night I cleaned out the refrigerator, did an inventory of the pantry and made my final list, which I typed this morning. Unlike my usual calm collected self, I feel a Thanksgiving melt down happening. The problem stems from the fact that I am unable to finalized which recipes I’m using. I feel so inspired by your pie crust making, but what if I flail miserably. Can I just get the Whole Foods pie crusts that Cook’s Illustrated recommends and save time? And how do I do the herbed butter under the skin of the turkey? I tried taping shows on the food channel but they weren’t on when they said they were going to be. Also the CI brine you are using, is it just water and salt?
1. Don’t worry!! It’ll be fine!
2. I would go ahead and buy a Whole Foods crust as a back up (I did the same — although it wasn’t whole foods so I am that much worse off!) and try to make one. YOu can make the pie the day ahead so if your crust doesn’t work or something you’ll have more than enough time to use the WF crust!
3. You just loosen the skin where the big hole starts (hee!) and shove the butter under the skin. It’s very easy to seperate — I wouldn’t worry at all about that.
4. Yeah, it’s 2 cups of kosher salt to 1 gallon of water (I think)… It’s just that I’m going to use a fancy butter under the skin thing and my mom thinks brining is weird anyway, so I don’t want to get too fancy with that.
5. Oh yeah, and I was very tired last night so I mdae a simplier pie crust — it was just flour, shortening, butter, salt and milk. Here are the exact measurements:
1.5 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening, chilled
1/8 cup butter, chilled
1/4 cup milk
I also threw in 1/4 tsp cinnamon for fun…
Dear Michelle,
You should open a restaurant in Portland. Then the next time I am flying to the US, I’ll have a stop here to have lunch. Great !
Regarding your Thanksgiving memories: “Il n’y a de bonheur que le bonheur passé” (Victor Hugo).
Regards,
Franz
Hi Franz:
Glad you are still visiting my blog!!
Yes, it’s very good pizza!! 🙂