Food for Thought

On Fridays, Rosie serves a mixed stew of New Jersey food and dining information. Today, read about Revolutionary Pizza—Bold Pies That Will Change Your Life….and Dinner.

REVOLUTIONARY PIZZA
Bold Pies that Will Change Your Life…and Dinner
By Dimitri Syrkin-Nikolau / July 2014

We know pizza in New Jersey. We have it plain, thick, thin, with and without. Now a new cookbook, Revolutionary Pizza by Dimitri Syrkin-Nikolau, takes one of our favorite and most popular foods to a new level with outrageous, quirky and yes, fun recipes that are featured at his restaurant, Dimo’s Pizza in Chicago. Forget Margherita, forget sausage and pepper and check out the Beet Sputino made with beets, potatoes, mozzarella, red onions, pecans and raisin with a light grapefruit vinaigrette dressing or the Celia’s Sweet Peach Cobbler a dessert pizza that is sure to wow. Want something more substantial? The steak and eggs pizza is great for breakfast or dinner. There are easy to follow directions on making and shaping pizza dough as well as colorful pictures taken by New Jersey photographer (now living in Maine) Ted Axelrod. So what are the Safersteins going to do with their leftovers this Thanksgiving? Why we will make the Thanksgiving Leftovers Pie. If you love mac and cheese as much as we do try this recipe:

SMACK ‘N’ CHEESE

We turned up the heat on our infamous fan favorite: The Mac ‘n’ Cheese pizza. Chipotle peppers and grilled jalapenos harmonize with the oh-so-decadent comfort of cheesy macaroni noodles. No further introduction needed.
Recipe yields two 12 inch/30.5 cm pizzas

ENOUGH DOUGH FOR 2 PIZZAS

SMACK SAUCE
1 large jalapeno, roasted, peeled and chopped
1 (13.5 oz [399 mL]) can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
2 cups/473 mL heavy cream
¼ cup/30 g shredded cheddar cheese
¼ cup/20 g Parmesan cheese
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
2 cups/230 g of cooked, drained and cooled macaroni elbow noodles
¼ cup/30 g shredded hot pepper cheese

Combine ingredients for smack sauce in a saucepan and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, or until the sauce becomes smooth and the cheese melts completely. Toss with macaroni noodles.

If you’re making two pizzas, remember to split the ingredients equally for this part. Use a spatula to spread the noodles and sauce mixture in an even layer across the dough. Grate the hot-pepper cheese on top of the noodle mixture, evenly spread from the center of dough to the crust. Bake pizza in preheated oven at 500°F/260°C for 10–12 minutes until the crust is golden and the cheese is completely melted. Let cool for about 5 minutes to allow cheese sauce to thicken up.

PIZZALOSOPHY 101: This is only the beginning of the Mac Revolution. Turns out macaroni noodles and pizza crust make a pretty unstoppable team. Other delectable ingredients to pair with your mac pizza include shredded beef, bacon (obviously), smoked cheese, grilled seasonal veggies and even truffle cream for the foodie mac lovers out there. Experiment. You already broke the rules by putting noodles on a pizza. So why not go a little crazy?

Recipe reprinted with permission from REVOLUTIONARY PIZZA:
Bold Pies that Will Change Your Life…and Dinner

By Dimitri Syrkin-Nikolau
July 2014 / Page Street Publishing


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