Written Recipes

It’s still summertime and, in Redondo Beach, CA, we are having one of the best summers I can remember.  We very typically have a marine layer of fog that covers our beaches for most of the day until it finally burns off after the relentless sun does it’s job better than the Pacific is doing it’s job of sending the fog our way.  But not this summer.  It has been…Read More…

So, I had some Bel Gioioso Creamy Gorgonzola cheese in the fridge.  I wanted to make some pizzas. What came to mind was my friend’s grandfather.  I don’t know why, but often, when I cook it seems distant memories come flooding back to me. My friend Brian had introduced me to his Nono (Grandfather) while we were back in college. As I sat there contemplating this Creamy-Gorg pizza, I got…Read More…

One of my favorite pizzas to make, each time I make pizza, is always different. What I mean is that it is never the same pizza.  It isn’t necessarily the best pizza of any particular batch of pizzas, but it is definitely one of my favorites to make. Okay, let me explain all this crypticness: When I make pizza, what I do is plan on making a couple of specific…Read More…

This is one of my favorite salads to make in one variation or another.  If I don’t have fresh mozzarella on hand, I’ll just make this as a tomato and basil salad with a little oil, balsamic and salt and pepper.  I am always happy with a tomato salad.   If you can’t get an heirloom tomato any quality tomato will work.  It’s a very flexible platform for pure goodness!…Read More…

One of our Guest Columns by Tom Carrig was called “BBQ Pizza–Not”.  It got me thinking about, what else, barbecue pizza.  My first introduction to this type of pizza was back in the 90’s when the BBQ Chicken Pizza became all the rage at California Pizza Kitchen, and also at Louise’s Trattoria here in Los Angeles, CA.  We could talk a lot about this explosion of “new” pizza ingredients that…Read More…

I have been corresponding through our email with a Pizza Quester named TJ about making the Buonchristiani Lamb Sausage with Fennel Pizza.  TJ asked a few questions and then went off and had great success making the pizza  (that really is one that you have to try — I love that pizza!).  In one of TJ’s emails he told me about one of his own favorite pizzas.  It’s a thinly…Read More…

It’s officially Fish Taco season here at Pizza Quest.  Why not?  It’s summer and there isn’t a better time to enjoy the fresh summery flavors than in a great fish taco!  As you’ve seen in recent webisodes, we stumbled onto two incredible fish taco places while visiting The Cass House Inn in Cayucos, CA.  Both the Taco Temple and Ruddell’s Smokehouse create some of the most delicious fish tacos I…Read More…

Joe D’Astice, of S’mores Pizza fame (see the Instructionals archives), is back with another demo as he shows us how he uses fresh mozzarella curd, not the stretched cheese balls, to save time and money and still come up with a gorgeous, delicious pizza.  It really raises the question of why more pizzerias don’t simply use this method instead of making or buying the more expensive version, so we’re going…Read More…

A little voice, in fact, a very persistent little voice is constantly calling out “Daddy, can you make me a quesadilla?”  Moments later the chorus continues and continues until I relent or take the dog on a walk.  This happens in the morning, after school, for dinner, or later in the night as a snack!  The result of these requests has meant that I spend a fair amount of time…Read More…

I was making a bunch of pizzas recently and taking lots of photos, so I went to the meat department where I shop to see if they happened to have any lamb sausage.  Yes, Jay Buonchristiani’s Lamb Sausage with Fennel Pizza was that good and I wanted to make it again (see the Instructional Section for the original posting on this).  And, I had another bottle of his Syrah hanging…Read More…