Pizza night

It is mid December, the Holiday season. A time for family and celebration. It is also one of the busiest times of the year for a Chef. Especially if you have any catering interests. As the father of two lovely daughters,Lily is almost 5 and Vivienne is almost 2, family time is extremely important to me. Especially when the restaurant occupies so much of my time during the holidays.

One of the family activities we have found works for us is the weekly pizza night. Many people have something similar. It is a night dedicated to a simple meal that everyone can enjoy that frees up time for good quality family time. I look forward to this night more than anything else, and while we do not get the opportunity to do it every week, we make an effort to not go more than 3 weeks without one.

In the past I have settled for frozen or take out pizza based simply on convenience. The last thing I want to do at the end of a 65 hour week is mess around with pizza dough for 2 hours to ensure the proper rise and rest and all. If you have the energy for all that, more power to you. Lucky for me I have discovered recently that a person in the know can ask their friendly neighborhood baker for a little dough unbaked and ready to go. In Missoula Le Petite Bakery sells their dough in locally owned supermarkets, I'm sure if you do enough digging or ask the right people you will find a way to get your pizza night off to a good and simple start.

The other great thing about pizza night in my house is that it affords me the opportunity to get my kids involved and interested in good food. This is why pizza night is only on my day off. I spend the good part of the an afternoon with my oldest daughter planing our family activity (tonight was gingerbread men) as well as discussing the menu and going to the grocery store to get everything we need. This gives me the opportunity to help nudge the girls into eating more adventurously and to some extent it works. While we generally make a plain cheese pizza, and than one for my wife and I, Lily is a lot more open minded to new ingredients if she knows they are going on a pizza and can be picked off if she doesn't like them. She has even started making suggestions for what we should buy, however today I had to refuse to making a catfish and banana pizza simply to avoid traumatizing her into a pizza free life forever.

I would urge anyone that lives a busy life and finds it hard to simply eat dinner at home with the people you love to take the time when it is there. We all know how important it is to connect with one another, and what better way to do that than over a homemade slice.

Following is a recipe for one of my favorite pizza night experiments, enjoy

Italian Breakfast pizza

1 prepared pizza dough (either homemade or purchased from a local baker)
4 cloves garlic
1/4 lbs thin sliced Italian ham such as Prosciutto or Capicola
1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup good Italian olive oil
4 eggs

Pre-heat your oven to 475. If using a pizza stone, make sure it is in the oven when you turn it on. Remember that in order for your stone to work properly, it should be heated for at least a half an hour.

Slice the garlic and combine it with the olive oil in a small bowl.

Depending on your skill as a dough tosser, either stretch your dough by hand or roll it out on a lightly floured surface until cracker thin without any tares or holes in the dough.

Lightly brush the dough with your garlic oil, spooning on about 1/2 the sliced garlic and spreading it out evenly.

Season with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Next add the slices of ham and top with the cheese.

Place your pizza on the preheated stone and cook for 3-5 minutes. The pizza will look nowhere near done.

Open the oven door and crack the eggs directly onto the pizza, placing them strategically so that each slice will have a little bit of egg. Place back in the oven and let finish baking another 5-10 minutes or until done. Crust should be crispy and brown, cheese should be melted and the eggs should be just set. If you like your yokes less or more runny try adjusting when you put the eggs on the pizza, but make sure the whites are fully set before you call it done.

Brush the outside edge with additional garlic oil. Let cool slightly and serve with a simple arugula salad w/ shaved Parmesan, sliced apple and toasted pecans with a light balsamic vinaigrette, and Italian beer or a sturdy red wine. I like old vine Zin with pizza.

p.s. I have also had success adding thin sliced potatoes or Jerusalem artichokes to this pizza as well as caramelized onions or hot peppers.

Becoming a Wino

I drink beer. A lot of beer. If your buying I'll take a Cold Smoke or a Gusiness. If I'm buying, I'll have a PBR. Wine to me has always been the thing I want to know more about, but I was happy with anything as long as it was red. I never gave a shit about the nose or the legs. Who cares, just give me some wine. Over the last three years, that has changed, mostly thanks to the hard work of Missoula's dedicated wine distributors.
Now, on the rare occasion my wife and I go out to eat, I spend the first 20 to 25 minutes looking at and discussing the wine list with my server. I have even gone to the restaurant 15 minutes before my reservation and before my wife is scheduled to arrive so that I can sit at the bar and have some alone time with the wine list. I sometimes think, "Am I turning into one of those douche bag wine snobs I use to hate?" The answer to that question is, yes, in fact I am that asshole.
But what's wrong with that? Chef's and owners put a lot effort into their wine lists and why shouldn't I make the most of it. Most of the time I spend more time making my decision about what to drink than what to eat. The way I see it, if food is the vehicle, then wine is the key. You can have the best car made by man, but if the key doesn't fit, you can't get very far

Why do I do this?

Its a question I ask myself a lot (almost everyday since I became an Executive Chef). I thought it only appropriate to answer this question as my first endeavor into the world of food blogging. So what is it that makes a person want to cook for a living? It's not the money (at least not in Missoula). It's not the hours, or the people. It's not due to a burning desire to make people happy. I do it because I love to cook.
I told myself over and over again while I was in college, "This is just a job to get me through the next four years. I don't want to be a cook for the rest of my life!" When I would talk to my brother (also a chef) he would tell me to drop out and go to culinary school, I would tell him the same thing.
I guess it didn't become real for me until I got my grades after my 4th semester of school and was barely passing my favorite classes. I was not sure what the hell happened, so I went back and looked at my notes. I discovered that while my professors were lecturing about important battles and public figures, artists and composers, I was writing down special ideas and thinking about what the fuck I was going do with 25 pounds of kale the chef didn't mean to order.
So I dropped out of school and jumped into the job full bore. All or nothing. And though I didn't go to culinary school, I think I made my brother proud.
Now, to answer the original question I set out in this post, yes, I love to cook. I love the job, the hours, the heat, the stress, the pace, and I'll admit, it feels pretty good when a customer is happy with your dish. The real reason I do this is for me. Some people say that you have to be crazy to want to be a Chef, I say if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.