base: stinging nettle/walnut pesto
toppings: sauteed mushrooms/mozzarella/pecorino/fennel sausage
results: nettles are pretty great on pizza. thanks to maur for making a delicious nettle pesto, which had a nice nutty taste and lots of garlic flavors going on. wish i could take credit for that idea tbh. the sausage tasted nice in this one as well, and the mushrooms were a good complement. though nettles supposedly offer all sorts of groovy health benefits, i probably counteracted any of these by cooking the sausage and mushrooms in delicious pork fat! i think it was worth it tho, and again i recommend the flavor combo. on the downside, the crust on this one was a bit underdone and could have probably got a bit more char to it if i par baked a little more.
base: garlic/point reyes toma/pecorino/cream sauce
toppings: stinging nettles/fennel sausage/caramelized onions/point reyes toma
results: lots of toppings but this flavor combo was actually pretty successful. large amounts of nettles tasted great with a rich cream sauce made with fancy local butter and fancy california cheese. also fennel sausage and caramelized onions never hurt anything right? will make this again. soon. nettles are growing like crazy around portland this time of year, and so long as you wear gloves when you cut off the leaves and blanche them before consumption it’s a win-win. more pizzas with nettles coming soon (twas the theme).
base: olive oil
toppings: pecorino horseradish cream sauce/black trumpet mushrooms/cinnabar chanterelle mushrooms
results: more of that sauce! i need to remember to make all of my mushroom pizzas like this, sooo rich but it was worth it. jerr flew back from the east coast with these crazy black trumpet mushroom things, and WOW. if you ever, EVER see these mushrooms make sure to buy them because they are so smoky and crazy looking and delicious. the internet tells me they are one of the most prized mushrooms in existence, and i am prone to believe the internet based on tonight’s dinner. and in the picture you can sorta make out the smaller, coral-colored cinnabar chanterelles, which we kinda just threw in there because we only had 4 or 5 and they looked interesting.
base: olive oil/fresh rosemary
toppings: pecorino horseradish cream sauce/fingerling potato/caramelized onion puree/grilled corn
results: probably the best potato pizza i have attempted, mild and hearty flavors that worked pretty well together- though next time i’ll probably ditch the caramelized onion to keep things simple. i made this one to go along with a smoked venison steak entree made by a friend for his birthday dinner, so i chose typical steak-sides like horseradish and potato for the toppings. and as usual i had a lot of extra help so jeremy gets to take credit for the corn and mauria for the sauce (the best part)
base: fresh roma tomato & garlic puree toppings: mozzarella/goat cheese/tails & trotters sicilian sausage/spinach/sage/garden squash/caramelized onion results: overall good texture, but the spinach and the mozzarella don’t do much flavor-wise without a stronger tomato base, and unfortunately the sauce for this one was bland as hell. i usually don’t fare well with fresh tomato sauces but was feeling experimental with this one… the end result was a weird orange-colored thick liquid substance that just sorta fell flat. i normally don’t need to add aardvark to my pizzas but this thing needed some extra spice. the sausage was delicious though!
base: garlic
toppings: gorgonzola/parmesan reggiano/t&t pancetta/garden squash/sage/carmelized onion/hazelnuts
results: really good flavor combination, so THANK YOU farmer’s market people for helping me come up with this one! i sorta overcooked the pancetta last time so i only fried it up a little bit before i placed it on this pizza, so there was still a lot of pork grease going on but not as overpowering as last time- more stayed in the meat, too. and you can see that the crust got a little charred in the picture, but it turned out great anyhow and was worth it to get that egg yolk right. oh, and i can’t remember the name of the squash i used but it came from my friends jeremy and mauria’s garden. and it was delicious.
base: chopped garlic/pork grease
toppings: rogue creamery oregonzola/parmesan reggiano/tails & trotters pancetta/mission fig/egg/hazelnuts/arugula
results: it’s been so long, so much has changed! for starters, a friend bestowed some sourdough yeast starter to me last fall at some point, and ever since then i have been making my (sour)dough with a completely new recipe. supposedly that’s how the legit napoletano pizza makers do things, so there you have it. also- i got a kitchen-aid for christmas, so no more hand-mixing (for better or worse). now if only i could find access to a hotter oven… !
i’m living in portland, or now, and have better selection than ever when it comes to fresh local meats and produce. the pancetta used in this pizza came from a local pig farm at the buckman farmer’s market, tails & trotters, who feed their stock with hazelnuts to get a truly amazing and barnyard-esque finish to their pork products (especially the pancetta). instead of the usual olive oil and garlic base i decided to reuse the pork grease, so those very intense fatty flavors were everywhere with this one. i also included some hazelnuts to reinforce that finish, and some farm-raised, fresh and locally-sourced eggs that produce the most colorful yolks i’ve ever seen! also, that oregonzola stuff is delicious and i recommend it to anyone looking for some tasty oregon cheese action.
i slightly overcooked this one because i was concerned about thoroughly cooking the egg, but it still tasted pretty good- though i ate this one alone so i am the only one who can vouch for this! it’s good to be at it again tho, and start looking forward to a lot of hand-gathered forest mushroom pizzas this coming fall! and since the selection is incredible up here, beer pairing suggestions are on the way too!
base: sugar/water/corn starch/vanilla glaze
toppings: rhubarb/creme fraiche
results: “damn. this is really really good, better than the pears.” - jimmy
“pretty impressive.” - alex
i’ve been experimenting with rhubarb in other desserts lately, and decided to throw it on a pizza with some other sugary stuff to see what happened. and it turned out to be the best dessert pizza yet! sour and sweet (but not too sweet) and creamy and delicious. jimmy had like 4 slices.
base: san marzano tomato/garlic/basil/olive oil sauce
toppings: mozzarella bufala/pecorino romano/enoki mushroom/crab mushroom/oyster mushroom/cipollini onion/fennel seed
results: nobody gave any negative feedback on this one, and i think the flavor combination worked out ok. BUT, i had some difficulty cooking this one, and there was actually a rather large HOLE in the pizza that i unsuccesfully tried to patch up and basically just ended up covering with mushrooms and cheese. it turned out ok, all things considered. plus i have lots more of these interesting mushroom varieties i found at an asian market nearby.
base: heirloom tomato/garlic/olive oil sauce
toppings: mozzarella bufala/pecorino romano/chicken andouille sausage/jalapeno/spinach
results: “this cheese is so good!” - alex
the two of us ate this one pretty fast. i’ve had excellent results everytime with the jalapeno + sausage equation, and this was no exception. i liked the chicken andouille quite a bit in this context, actually.
base: heirloom tomato/garlic/olive oil
toppings: fresh mozzarella/pecorino romano/cipollini onion/fennel seed
results: “i like the simple ones the best” - jen h
i like simpler ones too, especially with good cheese and sauce. i made this because of the success of the cipollinis yesterday, and the fennel seed was an unexpectedly great last minute substitution for the basil oil.
base: walnut/date/rc cola spread
toppings: bartlett pear/brown sugar/creme fraiche
results: “i just don’t think i like dates.” - jen h
“pretty good dude” - jimmy
a little overdone. i think i’ll use a less-juicy pear next time, or possibly use them as the base. on the plus side, the rc cola was a lot less overpowering than the armagnac in the spread.
base: heirloom tomato/garlic/olive oil
toppings: fresh mozzarella/pecorino romano/sardine/oyster mushroom/oregano
