A Girl and Her Dragon – Beyond Pizza

You can cook more than just pizza in that oven of yours. I know, I know, sacrilege! It’s a pizza oven for a reason! Hear me out though.

I’ve catered close to a dozen events this summer, from massive corporate parties to private birthday bashes, and a couple of times clients have asked us for something beyond the basic insert-your-toppings-here package. In response to their requests, I did a bit of research (much of it on the Forno Bravo website. Take advantage of those blog recipes, they’re tried and true), performed a few experiments (burned way more dough than I’d like to admit), and now have a menu of appetizers, sides and desserts sure to tempt even the most jaded palate. Experts who have been cooking for a while have probably moved beyond these suggestions, but for people just starting out or on the verge of branching out from pizza, this post is for you!

Appetizers:

The best part of pizza dough, in my eyes, is its versatility. It can be a pizza base, a calzone, stuffed crust snacks, and more! However, when it comes to appetizers, two dishes rise to the top: garlic knots and flat bread.

Garlic knots are especially good at kid-heavy parties, while adults love trying different kinds of flat bread. Both can be cooked in the oven, though you may want to put garlic knots on a screen of some sort or in aluminum.

Flatbreads can be trickier to cook than garlic knots as some flatbread toppings need to be put on before the dough has baked (pizza style), partway through, or afterwards (i.e. salad flatbreads). Also, without the pizza sauce to hold the things together, toppings are more likely to fall off when the flatbread is being inserted in or moved around the oven.

Some great flatbreads (with links to complete recipes):
– Fig and goat cheese
– Artichoke and tomato
*Leave off the cheese to make it vegan

Sides:

Sides are a great opportunity to try something a bit outside your comfort zone. Bacon wrapped figs? Have at it! Cheesy biscuits? Why not? Personally, I like garlic bread, but if you already made the garlic knots as an appetizer, you may want to try something different.

You can also roast vegetables, just as you would in a normal oven. Asparagus with olive oil and minced garlic, halved artichokes with oil and lemon, peppers, potatoes and more! It’s best to cook vegetables at lower temperatures than you would use for making pizza, closer to 350˚.

Most pizza-oven friendly vegetables follow the same rules:

1. Spread the (artichoke, asparagus, potato, etc) out on a cast iron skillet or cooking sheet.
2. Brush the vegetables with olive oil or butter, and sprinkle with salt. Add any extra flavoring (garlic, spices), as desired.
3. Cook until lightly browned and tender.

Dessert:

The perennial favorite in this category is the dessert pizza. It’s unique, tasty, easy to make and you can use your normal pizza dough as a base. Our favorites: – Fig jam and goat cheese pizza (Put the jam and cheese on before you cook, so that the sugar in the jam is able to caramelize) – Cinnamon Bun Pizza (Pizza with cinnamon and buttercream icing, put them on after cooking the dough) – S’more Pizza -I use normal pizza dough and it tastes pretty good, but I came across a woman who uses a snickerdoodle base, and it’s worth checking out.
An important note: Chocolate does NOT cook well in an oven. By the time the dough is done, the chocolate has charred. Using M&Ms can sometimes work, or cooking the dough and then spreading chocolate sauce or melted fudge.
These of course, are just the basics. If you want more recipes, the Forno Bravo website or a simple Internet search will yield results! Have fun!

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