Written Recipes

{youtube}W2-qC7TBau8{/youtube} It’s hard to believe, if you love cheese the way I do, that this cheese-free classic is every bit as satisfying as the best cheeser-cheeser. Kelly Whitaker, who we’ve featured here before at his wonderful Boulder restaurant, Pizzeria Basta, show us how it’s done. Make note of the beautiful bright red tomato sauce — it makes you crave it as soon as you see him spread it on. But,…Read More…

I’m becoming quite fond of those bright red pickled peppers you find in the pack your own condiment bar of supermarkets next to the olive bar–you know, the ones that look like tiny mini-me’s of red bell peppers but have a lot more zing and are sweet and vinegary and just explode in your mouth with flavor. They’re called peppadew peppers and are from South Africa originally. A few years…Read More…

I’m not going to get into the history of how this dressing came into existence–you can read all about it on a bottle of Cardini’s, since Caesar Cardini owns those bragging rights (though I’ve heard it disputed by others who claim the dressing may have other origins–if you know these stories please tell us about them in the comments section). What I do want to say is that a good…Read More…

Here’s a great pizza from Kelly Whitaker of Boulder’s fabulous Pizzeria Basta. {youtube}bwjvziBf-5E{/youtube}   We asked him to create something on the spot, using Bel Gioioso Fontina cheese and he quickly pulled together a few other great ingredients: speck (smoked prosciutto), regular prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, local mushrooms, and a garnish of arugula. We all loved it! (I got to eat the slice you see me with in the video but…Read More…

I discovered this in northern Italy, in the Ligurian town of Recco, just south of Genoa. I’m in love with it!! It is made with the simplest of all doughs yet makes an extraordinary type of unusual focaccia. The dough is unleavened and, when rolled out paper thin, is not all that different from Greek phyllo (aka, fillo) dough. It is used not only in the Ligurian Focaccia col Formaggio…Read More…

I’ve been playing with Peter’s Herb Oil recipe for a while – ever since I first read his book American Pie “My Search for the Perfect Pizza”.  I have only focused on using it with Pizza, but he has some very interesting suggestions and ideas I’d like to try some time. I woke up early the other morning, about 5:00 AM, and realized that I while I wanted to sleep,…Read More…

My guess is that you will use this more than any other specialty topping, and you can make as much as you like because it will keep indefinitely in the refrigerator. Its original use was for focaccia but then I discovered it is also excellent drizzled over many types of pizza, and can also be used to marinate or flavor various ingredients, especially fresh, sliced tomatoes and thinly sliced potatoes…Read More…

Fresh Mozzarella from Curd While we filmed recently in Boulder, Colorado, one of the pizzaiolos who attended the pizza making conference did a recipe demo using Mozzarella Curd provided by Bel Gioioso.  It is one of the pizzas he makes and people seem to really like it.  The pizza was amazing.  (Note: You’ll see more about that when we post the video in a few weeks.) I couldn’t get this…Read More…

Last week we gave you a recipe for caramelized onion marmalade that makes a killer focaccia topping when couple with walnuts and blue cheese. But any focaccia or pizza, no matter the quality of the toppings, is only as good as the crust, and this one is the best I’ve ever had, even better than in Genoa and San Francisco. See what you think and let us know. Focaccia Dough,…Read More…

You can never have too much of this in reserve as there are many dishes with which it can be used. However, my favorite application is on top of focaccia. It takes about an hour to make so don’t wait till the last minute if you plan to use it that day. It will keep for up to two weeks in the refrigerator (and for months in the freezer) so…Read More…