Bellisimo!

Last night I successfully made pizza for myself and for hubby - but not at the same time. Rafa was working very late last night, so I made the 'pizza' for myself when I got home, and then made his later on.

87. French Bread Pizza - *Junk Food*
88. Fiorentina - *Junk Food*

My inspiration to make pizza was because I managed to get some fabulous Italian groceries at a shop near my job. In NYC, 'near' is a relative term. It was actually straight down Spring Street and into Little Italy; this is where I shopped at Dom's during my lunch hour.

I discovered Dom's just a few days ago when hanging out with my friend, Elana, in Little Italy and Soho. I needed a place to source some dried porcini mushrooms and porcini mushroom stock cubes. What I was so psyched to see was the same exact brand of peeled plum tomatoes that Tom uses in Cupboard Love. Here is La Bella San Marzano!


Notice the lovely plum tomatoes on her crown! Peeled plum tomatoes is not something I would make a fuss over, but I figured a relatively inexpensive thing like the canned tomatoes I could make an effort and find the 'real deal.' My verdict of these tomatoes is further on down!

I started the French Bread Pizza first. Tom mentions this is a type of 'seventies' dish as he remembers his mom making it for him. I also have a sort of childhood story related to this dish. I was 'bestest bestest friends' with a lovely girl named Nicole - I think we must have been 11 or 12. Anyway, she lived in Mill Basin, the 'Beverly Hills' of south Brooklyn! I was so impressed with her 'very typical' American family - they made Jello on Thanksgiving, and Nicole's mom would make her a home version of the frozen-food favorite, French Bread Pizza. The fact that her mom would do that for her daughter was so cool in my eyes. I would come home and instantly tell my mom how to make it -- a halved baguette simply spread with tomato sauce/pizza sauce and lots and lots of shredded mozzarella cheese (the yellow kind!), and then bunged into the oven until the cheese was brown and bubbly. This version tasted like heaven to me! I thought I was just the coolest to have junk food at home!

Tom's version differs slightly. First I cut a baguette lengthwise, and I scooped out the interior. I pulsed the bread pieces into rough crumbs using my gorgeous food processor....


Then I set those aside and got to chopping up the rest of the ingredients.

Mozzarella into cubes.

Tomatoes deseeded and chopped -- and return of the over-ripe tomatoes!

Prosciutto sliced into shreds.


Plus some grated pecorino and chopped oregano with the rest of the ingredients, and this was all mixed in with a beaten egg and the processed bread crumbs.


The hollowed out baguette was then filled with this mixture and baked. Mmmmm.


And pretty good it was! It was just a tad on the salty side. I think that was the combo of the ham and the pecorino. I think next time I would omit the ham altogether and maybe just add a few olives instead.

So onto Rafa's pizza! I had some thawed pizza dough that I made last time, and I decided on the Quicker Tomato Sauce, though mine should be the Quickest since I didn't bother to measure the ingredients or use the food processor. LOL. Basically, I took the San Marzano plum tomatoes I bought, and squished them in a colander. Let me tell ya, what a difference! The tomatoes I used in the past were tough and once squished the juices went everywhere. The San Marzanos were softer and easier to crush - just a more pleasant experience, and I felt good knowing that Tom used these tomatoes too! There's hope for me yet.

I mixed the tomatoes with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar and finely chopped garlic. That was the sauce done!

The toppings for the pizza just involved some light preparation - grated whole milk mozzarella (the white kind!), drained baby spinach leaves, garlic slices, a broken egg in the middle, and a sprinkling of pecorino and nutmeg!

I did a fabo job of rolling out the dough and got it to fit the entire pizza pan - finally! The pizza came out thin and crunchy - yum!


And Rafa liked it!