Thursday, September 11, 2014

Fried Peach & Pancetta Pizza – A Savory Twist on a Childhood Sweet

Growing up, I always loved when my family made pizza from scratch, but what I loved even more was what came after the meal. Any extra dough and scraps were rolled out, left to rise, fried, and sprinkled with sugar to create a simple, but delicious donut-like treat.

Here we’re doing a savory twist; using the technique to make a pizza featuring ricotta, pancetta and peaches. Obviously, you can use any and all classic pizza toppings, but this particular combo comes highly recommended.

Besides a fun change of pace, this method is great for making a bunch of crusts ahead of time, and then dressing/baking when needed. Imagine setting up a “make your own pizza” bar, with your guests customizing theirs any way they want. Add a couple cases of beer to the mix, and you’ll be hosting a pizza party of epic proportions. I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!


For One Small Fried Peach & Pancetta Pizza:
(all ingredient amounts are purely guesses)
2 tablespoons ricotta cheese, plus a pinch of salt if needed
fresh thyme leaves
fresh ground black pepper
2 ounces pancetta
5-6 slices fresh peach
freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
extra virgin olive oil, plus regular olive oil for frying

3 comments:

Unknown said...

What would I need to do if I wanted to make these ahead?

J. Little said...

Chef John! I quoted you (sort of) in my last blog post! Check it out: mylittleperspective.com

You're the best.

Anonymous said...

I made this over the weekend and it came out pretty good. I wanted to make this more sweet than savory so I nixed the parmigiano. I will do a few things different next time for my taste. I don't like cooked/melted ricotta so I think I will cook the components separately and then build on top of just the cold ricotta spread. It will also allow me to cook the peaches a little softer and make a nice peach syrup to drizzle. Anyway all in all like I said it was pretty good.