Primordial Pasta

Out of a clamorous clash of titans, born of a seawracked tempest, came a primordial pasta, immersed in the essential broth from which life emerged.


My Mom's favorite pasta dish is Linguine with White Clam Sauce. We each have our own way of doing this. I have to admit, that the pasta sauce she made today was the best I've ever had. (Of course, I cooked the linguine to the perfect point.)

Over the years, she has developed a recipe using simple ingredients but an exact technique that if done according to the following instructions, will bestow upon the eater a pasta of primordial essence.

There are a few basic but essential keys to this dish.
• Butter
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Garlic
• Canned chopped clams
• Dehydrated onion flakes
• Fresh parsley
• Bottled clam broth

•Linguini pasta. We like Barilla. You can pay more if you wish.

Here is the method, to serve 4 persons.

• 1 pound of linguine pasta.
• 4 quarts well salted, boiling water.

Put the pot of water on the stove, turn the heat up to full.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce.

You'll also need 3, 6.5 ounce cans of chopped clams. We had great success with Snow's brand. Open and drain, reserving the liquid.

• 1, 8 ounce bottle of clam broth. We happened to have Cento brand.

• 5 cloves of garlic, peeled, trimmed and ready to press.

• Sweet butter, at least a stick. You will need a lot of butter. Don't hold back!

Extra virgin olive oil.

Fresh parsley, washed, patted dry and trimmed of coarse stems. Chop about 3+ tablespoons parsley medium fine.

In a 2 quart saucepan, put about 1/8 cup of olive and a tablespoon of butter. Melt over low heat. Press the garlic cloves into the pot. Cook over low heat, stirring. Do not brown.

Pour in the reserved liquid from the clams plus the 8 ounce bottle of clam broth plus the parsley. Add a generous shake of dry onion flakes. Let's say 1 tablespoon. Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.

By now, the salted water for the pasta should have come to a full boil. Put the pasta into the water gradually, stirring with a wooden spoon or fork so it does not stick to itself.

You may turn off the heat under the sauce as the linguine cooks, approximately 6-8 minutes at near sea level, longer at higher elevations.

Please cook it al dente, so it is still slightly resistant to the bite. Test a strand often.

Meanwhile, prepare a serving dish as follows: in  a microwave proof casserole or souffle dish, place 3/4 stick of butter (6 tablespoons) and heat in the micro until the butter is melted and sizzling.

Just before the pasta is done, turn up the heat on the clam broth-garlic-parsley mixture. Drop in the reserved clams and bring just to a simmer, then turn off the heat.

Drain the pasta into a colander in the sink. Do not rinse. Shake the colander a couple of times and invert the contents into the dish with the heated butter. Toss well to coat every strand with butter.

No linguine lingers languidly in the bowl.

Serve the pasta separately from a bowl of the clam sauce. Heated soup bowls are strongly advised. Forks and soup spoons are the tools of the day.

Perhaps it should be called Green Clam Sauce

Pass the black pepper grinder for those who wish it. It is not the custom to put cheese on seafood pasta.

Primordial pleasure in pasta

Pass some warmed, crust French or Italian bread for sopping up the extra juices.

For dessert, we had freshly and lightly cooked peaches and plums, with just a little sugar. I also indulged in a Pignoli Cookie.

(By the way, my Mom isn't even Italian.)

Time for a change?

I'm thinking of renaming this blog.

When it started, back in 2006, it was supposed to be about Mexican food made in my kitchen. You can see where it has evolved. There's precious little about Mexican home cooking, let alone home cooking of any sort. Let's face it. I hate to type recipes, and it's very challenging to photograph step by step cooking techniques.

Others do that so much better than I.
I also don't want to be committed only to Mexican food, which, despite its obvious vibrant warmth, is but one of the world's great cuisines.

My Mexican Kitchen has become a restaurant review site, with the occasional home dinner description. I like it this way, but the name no longer reflects the reality.

The decision is not yet made, but I'm open to suggestions from our readers for new, descriptive names. Points OFF for alliterative names!


Saludos,
 Don Cuevas

Sol Mar, Tarrytown, NY

How far would you drive for a special meal? Yesterday, we drove nearly 50 miles from the Oranges, NJ area to Tarrytown, NY, to meet our niece and her husband for lunch.


J, our niece, had suggested that we meet about halfway between their central Connecticut home and our family's home in New Jersey. To tell the truth, they drove twice as far as we did.


I had read something of dining in and around Tarrytown, on the Hudson River, just north of the Tappan Zee Bridge. (Which,it should be noted, charges $5 USD per car going eastward and nothing going westward. I appreciate the gesture.)


After much intensive Internet research, using Yelp!, Chowhound and other foodie sources, I'd focused on the Portuguese and Brazilian restaurant, Sol Mar. Other contenders were Tarry Tavern and Sweetgrass, but in the end, Sol Mar won.


Why? Because I believe that ethnic restaurants can provide honest cooking and are a good value. It's not that I don't appreciate locally sourced, perhaps organic ingredients presented in creative ways. (Well, to be honest, it doesn't excite me much.) But I get more excited by a family operated ethnic restaurant serving specialties of their native land.

Sol Mar 12 Main Street, Tarrytown, NY

Sol Mar proved to be a very good choice. As always, I sought out dishes of which I was unlikely to prepare at home.


We were brought crisp crusted, warm bread, good butter, and a few small cubes of cheese on food picks. Good start.


The Lunch Menu.

But, first, the drinks.

I had a couple of glasses of a delightful Fuzelo Vinho Verde, throughout the meal. It was refreshing, flavorful, balanced and with an impudent effervescence, an attractive sign of its youthfulness. (Hmm?)

My companions quaffed several kinds of Brazilian and Portuguese beers, including one very black brew. At the opposite end of the visible light spectrum was "Sköl", a light, Brazilian lager. It was the only one presented in a can.

For appetizers, we began with an order of Bolhinos do Bacalau, or codfish fritters. They were everything I wished for. Slightly crispish outside and creamy salt cod interior. The salt was present but restrained.

J. had a Portuguese Salad with grilled sardines, a rather substantial affair, spangled with capers.

Crab cakes on a menu are hard to resist, and while this pair, served with a sweet red pepper sauce and a beurre blanc were fine, they were overshadowed by the other dishes.

Doña Cuevas made a very wise choice in ordering Grilled Calamari with Sun-dried Tomatoes, a treatment which made a mockery of the ubiquitous breaded rubber bands accompanied by overcooked Marinara Sauce, as commonly served.

I opted for Grilled Sardines. These were the subject of some controvery on Yelp! or Chowhound. So, like, OMG! Sardines have bones! Yelp!

The sardines were pure, simply prepared, and tasted like fresh, grilled sardines should. They were seasoned with a little olive oil and coarse salt, and garnished with a few strips of roasted sweet peppers. Boning them was a snap.

WAITER! My sardines have bones! ;-)

G went all out and got Feijoada, the Brazilian national dish. It's a hearty dish of black beans, pork and choriço, accompanied by rice and a trio of traditional condiments.

Feijoada

From left, clockwise: toasted manioc meal; garlicky collard greens, vinaigrette dressing.

J, in an adventurous mood, ordered Porco Alentejano, a remarkable dish of tender pork stewed in a rich but mild sauce, topped with whole Little Neck clams in the shell. I might be tempted to call this dish "a revelation", but I'll refrain.

Porco Alentejano

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Desserts

Of the five desserts presented on a tray, several looked a little tired, but Alex assured us that we would get fresh portions. He is a sincere and affable young man. two were made in house. They were the "Molotov", a soft meringue striped with a caramel sauce; and flan.

Flan. We have eaten hundreds of flans over the years. They have ranged from terrible to acceptable to pretty good. But the flan at Sol Mar is unmissable, probably the best we've ever had. It's a delicate custard, perfectly flavored, and had a serious burnt sugar top, as it should be.

The Molotov would not have been my choice, as I am not fond of whipped egg white desserts. But this was very pleasant. (I only ate a small spoonful.)

We finished with coffee, an Americano for G and an espresso for me. The espresso came very close to meeting the ideal standards of our absent friend, Ron, El Exigente.

Alex returned with a bottle of Moscatel do Douro and four cordial glasses. We were treated to a drink on the house. I went up to Chef-Owner Senhor Carlos Mendonça to thank him and congratulate him.

The bill was serious,, but not because the prices are high. The cost was because we'd totally indulged ourselves, enjoying a great meal.

RATINGS

Food: *****

Service: *****

Cost: $$ (Each $ represents approximately $10 USD per person.)

Ambience: warm and friendly, quiet while we were there.

Restroom: Tiny, clean and it works.

Patio dining available.

Reservations suggested: Tel 914-333-0151

914-333-0153

Website www.solmartarrytown.com

A Better map:

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When it's cherry blossom time in Orange, New Jersey, we'll make a peach of a pie.

"When it’s cherry blossom time in Orange, New Jersey

We’ll make a peach of a pair. I know we cantaloupe
So honeydew be mine..."

Fragment of an nutty routine by Danny Kaye. Lyrics by Sylvia Fine. Complete, insane routine, "Manic Depressive Pictures Presents" here.


A nutty, insane routine food magazine recipe for stone fruit pie follows, with my snarky comments.

California Dining Part V: Vung Tau

 No Pho, Pa?

We'd almost forgotten about Vung Tau, as our 10 days in the San Jose, CA area drew to a close. Although we love Vietnamese food, the Vung Tau Vietnamese Restaurant had been an alternate choice for our Tuesday lunch with our financial adviser. But we ended up at McCormick and Schmick, which was very nice, indeed, in an Executive Luncheon sort of way. (I see that I haven't posted that yet. Sigh... maybe some day.)



On Sunday we realized that we had an unfilled spot in our California dining calendar. So, with my in-laws, we went Monday at about 1:00 to Vung Tau.

After first parking on a nearby street, my brother in law, R. realized that there was free customer parking at the restaurant, so he moved the car.

The menu is intriguing and presents a style of Vietnamese cuisine that is more upscale, yet accessibly priced, than many other restaurants of the genre. Full PDF menu here. It was notable in that I found only one kind of pho, Pho Bo. Possibly there's others and I just didn't see them.

O.k. Here is the menu. Click to enlarge.

For starters, the Banh Khot were highly recommended by other reviewers. They are described as "cupcakes", but really, they are small, crispy skinned rice tortitas, filled with shrimp and green onions. Truly outstanding.

Banh Khot

We then chose a Shredded Green Papaya Salad with Dried Sesame Beef and Basil. This was a delightful mingling of tart and sweet flavors with small herbal explosions of taste.

Shredded Green Papaya Salad with Dried Sesame Beef

I couldn't resist the Lemon Grass Marinated Grilled Ribs on the menu. They were nearly perfect in the combination of porkyness, aromatics and a nice nibble. The only flaw was perhaps a bit too much salt.

Lemon Grass Marinated Ribs

A Tamarind Soup with fish was next up. R & J got to choose which fish, and they decided on striped bass.

This was a very nice soup, although I would have preferred to have the vegetables cut a bit smaller as well as cooked a little more.

The fish soup was followed by another fish course. From among the many possible options, we chose a Caramelized Catfish with Fish Sauce and Black Pepper in an Earthenware pot.

This is comfort food; extremely soft, almost custard like in texture, in a lush and savory sauce.

Caramelized Catfish, etc.

The restaurant closes for lunch at 3:00 p.m. and at that time, our waiter asked us to place any last requests and to settle the bill. (This, of course, would almost never happen in Mexico.) But it was done courteously, so we paid, after two of us ordered hot Vietnamese drip coffee with condensed milk. My new opinion of that drink/dessert is that I don't have the patience to wait for it to finish dripping. Besides, when it's done, the coffee is usually tepid.

The bill was quite reasonable, $106.89 before tip.

RATINGS

Food: *****
Service: *****
Price: $$-$$ 1/2
Ambience: Simple, modern
Restrooms: Clean and well maintained
Would we return? Most definitely!

Dim Sum in Sunny Shanghai

WikiPedia.org photo

Dim Sum are among the greatest gifts of Chinese civilization to the world.
When we are California, we almost try to have at least one dim sum meal. They're a heart's delight of numerous and highly varied little treats bought to your table. A dim sum meal is best shared so you can sample more varieties of these dainty, savory and sweet little "dot hearts". While a Cantonese specialty, other regions of China also make them a treat.

In Spanish, they might be equated to "antojitos", or "little whims". But they are almost unknown in Mexico.  On the San Francisco Peninsula of California, the challenge isn't finding a dim sum restaurant, rather to choose one from the long and tempting list of dim sum parlors.

California Dining Part 3: Are You Tigellish?

WARNING: The following post describes an exceedingly decadent, indulgent and expensive meal. Reader discretion advised.

Do you enjoy tigelling? What, you may ask, are tigelle? Here's a nice description, from the website Mangiandobene.

Real life tigelle at Tigelleria

They are similar if not identical to piadine, something a bit like crumpets without the holes, or pikelets, but not sweet. They are pleasant but bland and are best with boldly flavored meats, cheeses or spreads, such as these below.

L-R, clockwise: humus, sundried tomato, olive

I must back up a bit here.
While doing preliminary dining research for our California trip, my brother-in-law sent us a list of suggested restaurants that he and my sister-in-law had enjoyed. Near the top was Tigelleria, billed as "an Organic Italian restaurant."

California Dining Part 2: Pizza and noise

Two Italians and two Asians walk into a bar...

Not really, although could be hereabouts. The notable restaurants of the latter part of our 10 day visit to the San Jose, CA area were two Italian and two Asian.

The first Italian restaurant, La Pizzeria, was a last minute find via Google Map search last Wednesday. Doña Cuevas and two of her sisters had gone on a drive to view sculpture at Stanford University, then to the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. Later, I was asked for suggestions for supper. Pizza and salad sounded good to me, so I brought up Google Maps and typed in "Campbell, CA pizza". The results are below. Click "A" for the top hit.


View Larger Map

At this point, I want to extend my heartiest thanks to Google Maps, Google in general, but a special thanks to Google Maps Street View. In fact, there has been a Street View Car parked not far away from us. It's surprisingly small. I'd been envisioning at least a pickup truck.

My hero!

It's but a short drive to La Pizzeria, in beautiful, affluent downtown Historic Campbell. (Historic for having been a center for orchards and fruit drying in the earlier parts of the XX Century.)

The restaurant is small, noisy but smells delicious. In fact, the noise level at the time of our visit neared the threshold of pain, due in a large part to the group of young, merrymaking ladies whooping it up, seated close to the big front window. We could scarcely talk among ourselves, not to mention our very helpful waitress. But we did successfully order a pretty good antipasti platter to share, three thin crusted pizzas and one calzone.

One of our party also had an Insalata Italiana, which didn't appeal much to me.

Insalata Italiana

We subscribed to the "Less is more." philosophy, so the pizza toppings we chose were fairly simple.

Pizza alla Marinara

Add Pizza Vegetariana

Pizza Valtellina,
And, resembling an Etruscan weapon;

this big calzone

The pizzas had thin, but exceedingly chewy crusts. They also come to the table uncut, a bad combination, in my opinion, although my brother in law liked that. THe sauce was simple but good, and in a couple of instances, we ordered pizzas without cheese. I had a taste of the Pizza Vegetariana and liked it. Mine was the Valtellina, which had bresaola,  thinly sliced cured dried beef, arugula and shavings of Parmesan cheese. I drank a glass of red wine.

Younger sister in law said that her calzone was too done, as evidenced by the blackened blisters on the crust.

Here's the final score, from my viewpoint.

Food: ***
Service: ****
Price: $$-$$$
Ambience: Dimly lit,"Aren't we cool". And NOISY. WHAT??? I SAID NOISY!!!!
Bottom line: kinda good but not worth the money nor the headache.

Next episode: Tigelleria Organic Italian Restaurant. A very different sort of Italian restaurant, only a few blocks away, but also NOISY!

California Dining Has Become a Reality Part 1

On our trip to the South Bay of the San Francisco Peninsula, we found food, too much food, most of it very good. This will be a capsule report for the most part.

Price key: One $ sign equals about $10 USD a person.


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San Jose, California greeted us with beautiful weather on our arrival. On our flight from Guadalajara, the lovely Volaris flight attendants had given us ample beverages, but the food was little more than packaged cookies and snack food.

Facing the Music

It's been gospel that we don't generally enjoy live musical accompaniment with our restaurant meals, especially when the musicians (some of whom barely qualify for that honorable title) come to our table and start in on "Cielito Lindo" or other chestnuts of Mexican music.

But recently whle in Tonalá, Jalisco, we had to come to terms with live musical entertainment.

Cocina Económica "Mary" Uruapan

Mary's is in the white building

A Cocina Económica is an inexpensive place to eat, usually with a three to four course comida. There are often some choices offered in the courses. Author David Lida recently wrote a good description of the comida corrida offered by cocinas económicas.

We first learned of the Cocina Económica "Mary" from a Lonely Planet Guidebook. Since then, we've eaten there three times and nowhere else in Uruapan.

Anniversary Waltz

On June 21st, 2011, Doña Cuevas and I celebrated our 43 years together as man and wife.

We also marked our 5 years here in this house, on the Rancho, or as our amigo, Felipe calls it, "The Sticks".

You are invited to read more about our house, here, on my other blog, Surviving La Vida Buena.

Saludos,
 Don Cuevas

Rehash: Four Morelia Restaurants Revisited

We were in Morelia over a weekend recently, and revisited three restaurants which we'd reviewed earlier. The results were mixed.

Friday afternoon, we went to El Pescador, on Avenida Cuautla, just south of Av. Madero Poniente. This will undoubtedly be our last visit. Its not that the food is bad, it's that it fails to meet expectations through lack of attention to detail.

A michelada con clamato was passable, but came with a branch of celery  that had seen better days.

I had a Coctel "Viagra". of mixed seafood. It had some really unattractive shrimp "cooked" in lime juice and other chunks of seafood, all in a "chabela goblet" with an acidic tomatoey broth. The bits of green olives added nothing to the overall good.

Doña Cuevas ordered Camarones al Mojo de Ajo. It was overcooked and the garlic was burnt. It was accompanied by the usual insipid, sweet mayonnaisey, shredded carrot salad and some unimaginative salad garnishes.

Moderate, but not worth the price at that.

---

We did much better late that night, returning from the Morelia Airport with our in-laws to Hamburguesas Richard's, Av. Morelos Sur # 396. Weekend nights are the best time to eat at Richard's, if you want to enjoy the special Hamburguesa al Pastor, a freshly cooked, all beef patty topped with crisp shavings of pastor meat. Our vegetarian in-laws loved the fresh cut papas fritas. We think that they are the best in Morelia.

But this is the classic combo: a hamburguesa con queso, an order of French fries, some searingly picante chiles toreados and grilled onions on the side, and a soothing glass of horchata.

A bargain!

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On Saturday morning, we walked from our lodgings at Casona Rosa to the Mercado Niño Santo, Calle Nicolás Bravo at Calle Granaditas, to breakfast at at Cocina Económica Doña Feli's, aka Local # 127.

We enjoyed the friendly atmosphere and ate some Chiles Rellenos de Queso, frijoles y arroz.

What distinguishes the chiles rellenos at Local # 127 is that they are dipped in the egg batter and fried only when ordered. It is attention to detail that is not usually found in most restaurants.

We also enjoyed a tall glass of melon juice, brought up from the juice stand on the main floor below.

A bargain!

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On Saturday afternoon, we took a cab from Casona Rosa to Spaghetteria Gian Carlo, on Av. Aquiles Serdan at the corner of Calle Revolucíon. It's across from the Hotel Pórtico.

There we split an Ensalada Árlequin with a excessivly thick but delicious cilantro dressing. Doña Cuevas then had Spaghetti Palermo with tomatoes garlic and chunks of swordfish. I had a simpler plate of Spaghetti with fresh shrimp, tomatoes and parsley. My in-laws, Ellen and Dave, both ordered penne pasta dishes, one with butter and fresh sage; the other with cream and gorgonzola cheese. The gorgonzola dish was deemed to be the better one, as the sage was very understated in the first.

Spaghetteria Gian Carlo rates as one of the best Italian restaurants that we've vsited in Michoacán. Perhaps it's because they focus on pasta, salad and panini, without venturing into meats, poultry and seafood dishes. That also keeps the prices low.

The "wine list" is extremely limited. You can get a glass of house red or white. I didn't care for the white. It was more yellow and tasted sweeter than I like, with a "cooked" taste.

A bargain!

Extolling Atole de Grano

You can talk all you want of tacos, brag on birria, squawk about enchiladas de pollo, or marvel at menudo. But for me, the finest street food Pátzcuaro has to offer is atole de grano. It's pure, clean, nourishing, comforting and delicious, as well as cheap.

Ray's Focuses On Pizza

A wedge of Ray's Pizza

We went out for pizza recently while visiting family in New Jersey. There's no shortage of pizzerias in the area, many of them notable. My mom and sister chose Ray's Famous NY Pizza, in Verona, NJ.

The surprisingly small building  is located on a busy suburban corner, and is shared with two or more other businesses. Ray's has counter type seating facing out the big windows, and a few concrete picnic type tables outside. One would imagine that most of its business is takeout, but it seems to do a good trade in slices. When we were there, they were running a special of two slices and a soft drink for either $5 or $6, depending on the chosen toppings.

We ordered a large pizza with sweet peppers and onions; a family favorite. The pizzas are made up at a baker's table in a narrow nook to one side of the ovens, The small space doesn't seem to inhibit the skills of the pizzaiuolo. The wait was about 20 minutes, but worth it. While we waited, I scoped out the pies that they had ready to offer by the slice. The variety was large and most all very attractive.

When our pie came, it was a beauty, heaped with thickly cut sweet onions and red peppers, simple crushed tomatoes, and just the right amount of cheese. Less is best. The crust was a bit unusual, with an even, regular texture. But it was o.k. We had no problem consuming the entire pizza on the spot. It was filling, but without the heavy greasy feeling one might get from over the top toppings.

Rays ratings:

Food: ***1/2

Service: friendly, but limited. Order at the counter, carry food yourself to car or table.

Price: unavailable, but probably average for the area.

Ambience: very casual and functional

Hygiene: looks very good

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Back home once more, the memory of that pizza remained with me, so I indulged an impulse and on Monday made pizza. I decided to keep it simple for a change. For the dough, I used only 1 teaspoon of instant yeast in over 4 cups of flour, plus a 1/4 cup of gluten. The fermentation took place over some 4 hours. That gives a better flavor.

For sauce, I followed the simple instructions of various Italian cookbooks. A can of Italian plum tomatoes in puree and juice, coarsely chopped and drained over a strainer. The saved juice and puree made the foundation of a great Bloody Mary later on.

The seasonings were salt, freshly ground black pepper, a little orégano, a bit of (o.k. A lot) of crushed garlic, and a tiny squirt of olive oil.

The toppings for the two medium pizzas would be alla Margherita, with tomato, mozzarella* and fresh basil; and the second alla Puttanesca; with anchovies, two kinds of olives and a dusting of hot red chile flakes.

*I used a funky chunk of mozzarella that needed to be trimmed of mold before being sliced and placed on the pizza. Nothing to be scared of. It tasted fine when baked and there were no ill effects.

I stretched and rolled the dough balls gradually and placed the circles on my dark, solid (not perforated) medium sized pizza pans. They baked well and in a shorter time than than I'd experienced with the perforated pans. The finished crusts were more characterful than Ray's.

The pizzas not only looked good, but tasted wonderful. Different from Ray's, both good in their own way.

RECIPE:

Pizza dough (adapted from The Vegetarian Epicure, Book Two, by Anna Thomas)


1 tsp dry yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 tsp sugar
3 or more cups of flour
1/4 cup gluten flour (optional)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil


Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of the water with the sugar. Let sit 5 minutes.


Put the dissolved yeast and the rest of the water in the mixing bowl, along with the salt and 3 cups of flour and the gluten, if used. Add the tbsp of olive oil.


Begin mixing with the flat paddle beater. Beat on low to medium speed two minutes, approximately.


Switch to the dough hook, and mix on low speed about 8 minutes, adding enough flour to make an elastic dough. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl from time to time.


When the dough forms a ball, wrapped around the dough hook, and cleans the inside of the bowl, it's ready. Oil lightly the ball of dough and put back into the bowl, covered with a clean kitchen towel or similar. Let rise until more than doubled, about 2 to 3 hours.


During this time, you should prepare your sauce, cheese and other toppings.


Lightly punch down the dough and form into two balls. Cover with the towel and allow to rest 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the oven to 450º F or as high as it will go. The oven racks should be well spaced to allow for optimal heat circulation.


Gently pat, stretch and roll a ball of dough into a circle of even thickness and enough diameter to reach up the shallow sides of your pan.


Set that aside and repeat with the second ball.


Cover each pan of dough with chopped and well drained canned Italian tomatoes, seasoned as above, or the sauce of your preference. In either case, they must be thick and not runny.


Place toppings sparingly, and when done, place pizza into oven. With our oven, they take about 20 minutes to bake.


Rotate the pizzas top to bottom and reverse on the shelves to ensure even cooking. When the toppings are cooked, the cheese melted nicely, and the bottom of the crust is browned, they are done. 


Remove each pizza from the baking pan to a cutting surface, and with a large, sharp knife or pizza cutting whel, divide into desired serving sizes.


Try to wait a few minutes before eating, as mouth burns may otherwise result. 

More Pizzas In History

Pizza Margherita

Pizza Puttanesca