Deconstructed Pizza

Hand crush some Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes, add some sliced garlic, fresh oregano and sprinkle with a little sea salt. To go rustic, I then toss in some bigger chunks and even a couple of whole tomatoes and, when it's time, slide the pan into the WFO and simmer it all for a little bit before serving. Delicious!

Wood Fire Roasted Sausage with Beer n’ Things: I tear up a few sausages into bite size pieces and toss them in olive oil in a cast iron skillet and add anything that sounds like fun: chopped red onions, some red Fresno chili peppers, fresh basil, some of my whole or torn up Bianco DiNapoli’s, and finish it with some beer to keep it juicy and have it all ooze together and become one. It’s sort of like taking sausage and creating a marinade for it. Definitely one to include anytime you are making multiple pizzas. Could also be an interesting topping on a pasta - with more tomatoes, it could become the sauce as well. Play with it.

Oven Roasted Figs: I walked by this fig display at Whole Foods. How do you pass this up? I cut the figs in half and drizzled with a good amount of olive oil and a little sea salt and then sprinkled some brown sugar on them. Into the oven, roast, flip, roast and they come out shrunken and shriveled and charred and delicious! I serve them on a plate with some creamy gorgonzola, some wild baby arugula dressed with olive oil and sea salt, and some torn pieces of prosciutto. A little of each on some of the dough and this turned out to be the WOW pizza of the night. All of these sides cook fast - a few minutes will do it in a wood fired oven. Alternately, some of them could be prepared on the stove or in a home oven. You prepare all of the sides first because the doughs are going to cook fast and you want them hot, right out of the oven. This was a lot to do as a "test", but we often just dive in and go for the "whole enchilada," don't we?

The Pizza - or should I say The Dough: I used a traditional 00 Neapolitan Dough recipe. Any will do. First, I stretch them by hand; they don't have to be perfectly formed. It was fun tossing the doughs into the oven onto the coals that I had spread out across the floor. Just like my test, I cooked the doughs for a bit and flipped them and then pulled them out and knocked off any coals that stuck. Amazingly, not that many stick.