Peppe Miele, Part 9, Pizza Bianca

White pizza can take on many forms, whether with ricotta cheese and spinach, as we often find in the popular New York-style version, or simply any pizza without tomato sauce.  In this classic Neapolitan version, Peppe shows how he builds his bianca by first making, essentially, a Margherita without sauce, and then layering on the flavors after it comes out of the oven. In this instance, fresh prosciutto crudo (raw, cured ham) and a heaping pile of fresh baby arugula, then drizzled with olive oil. As you will see from the blissful look on my face, the flavors exploded in my mouth, with the saltiness of the prosciutto tempered by the peppery arugula and basil, all sitting on a bed of molten mozzarella curds. Pure delight!  For me, this segment beautifully highlights the complex simplicity of pizza with its inherent approach to building flavors from the crust up. It’s not rocket science but, perhaps, it’s even better than rocket science.