Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Fresh Tomato, Fresh Basil, Fresh Mozzarella Pizza - Before and After


8 comments:

Anna said...

sooooooo good, chef john. your blog is a gem!

Unknown said...

Am I missing something here - a photo - no instructions - no video?

Chef John said...

Everything you need to know is in the title!

See previous pizza posts for baking temp/times. This was just dinner, and I thought folks would enjoy a photo.

Anonymous said...

Some sense of humor - dear chef - what we'd enjoy is eating some pizza like this, that you just made for us!

Anonymous said...

Do you have a recipe for spaghetti sauce, I am getting tired of using the prego jar sauce, please help me?

Tony said...

BRAVO JOHN: A home-run again. This beats all other recipes for thin crust pizzas. I use fresh herbs and tomatoes as much as possible. Avoid using tomato sauce - it's just not done.
Add rosemary to the flour - yummy.

Tony said...

Antonio's Sugo di pomedoro

The are as many tomato sauce recipes as there villages in Italy and of course each one has the best sauce. This one is fast, easy & nutritious.

1 can 28 fl oz Italian tomatoes (if whole, cut into smaller pieces; use diced if
available)
½ to 1 can tomato paste (optional - more tomato paste = richer sauce)
1 medium cooking onion, chopped or halved
1 to 2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 green pepper (optional)
2 or 3 fresh basil leaves
2 or 3 sprigs Italian (flat) parsley (if not available, just use extra basil)
4 tbsp. olive oil (extra virgin)
1 to 1 1/2 tsp. salt (don't be shy)
1/3 cup of good red wine (optional – makes sauce richer)
fresh ground pepper
dash of red chilli peppers (optional)
your choice of pasta

45 to 50 minutes once you get the hang of it

A variant of this recipe is to add meat which cooks in the sauce. Choose the meat you want – I prefer veal shoulder, lamb chops or pork ribs. You can then serve the meat as the second dish (il secondo).

Save time; don’t chop anything except the onion & garlic. Heat (medium to high heat) 2 tbsp. olive oil. Add onion and sauté for a few minutes and then add the garlic. Don’t burn the garlic - it will impart a nutty flavour. Alternatively, don't chop the onion but cut it in half and add it to the tomatoes. Nor sauté the onions & garlic.

Add tomatoes, tomato paste, green pepper and herbs. Cook at a medium boil & stir frequently. Be careful not to burn the sauce! The tomatoes should start to break down; help them along with a wooden spoon if necessary.

At about 30 minutes, add rest of olive oil. Reduce heat to a simmer; don't stir as much.

Add the sauce to your cooked pasta in a pasta bowl & serve the plates from the pasta bowl. Never! Never! Never! add the sauce to individual plates. You want the pasta to absorb the sauce. Never! Never! Never! Wash or rinse the pasta with water – the starch on the pasta helps the sauce to adhere. Cook the pasta until it is “al dente” (firm to the tooth).

To test the sauce, dip a piece of bread in the sauce – instant bruschetta.

Don’t scrimp on the ingredients. Remember GIGO: Garbage In Garbage Out. Use quality products and produce. Don't use prepared and or dried herbs – they leave an aftertaste.

Do watch "Big Night" - Stan Tucci & Tony Shaloub.

Buon Appetito!

Gretchen in NOLA said...

this is delish with Chef J.'s "hide-the-little-fishy" pizza sauce! No anchovy fillets, but did find my tube of anchovy paste...heaven