Baby Steps

This weekend I’ll travel 5000 miles for pizza. That’s got to be close to some kind of record, it’s five times further than the Proclaimers were prepared to go. I’ll be going to spend some time at Pizzicletta. There are arguably better pizzerias around, and definitely closer ones but I doubt there’s one which is closer to my vision - a friendly neighbourhood restaurant serving good ingredients on good bread. It helps that they make everything from scratch, including their own gelato, that they focus on the best of local ingredients and even bake their own bread in house – not even the oven’s residual heat is wasted here. So it’s not hard to understand my attraction, what takes a bit more explaining is why I’m taking my allotted two week’s annual leave and flying to the other side of the planet to work 14 hour days and stay in a crappy motel.

The truth is I can’t wait. It’s a first tentative step towards my dream. The dream of running my own pizzeria. The trip is a test, I love the idea but am I prepared for the reality.

The owner, Caleb also started out in a very different field, as his name suggests he’s not Italian, but he’s got pizza in his soul and his story has been an inspiration to me for some time. Whilst over there I’ll also be spending some time in New York – it’d be rude not to – and ticking off some of the long list of pizza joints I’ve wanted to try for an age. I’ll also be meeting another legend from the pizza scene a Mr Paulie Gee who’s generously agreed to spare some time to share his own experiences in moving from IT professional to owner of one of the most popular restaurants in New York. Cheers Paulie!

As for what happens after that, who knows. One step at a time. Baby steps.

Top That: Tomato Masala

Pizza number two was a combination I've wanted to try for a while and relied on a homemade masala paste which I  currently can't get enough of. We use a Simon Hopkinson recipe which has been the basis of some of our more successful curries - make in bulk and keep in the fridge - I wanted to see how it'd work on a pizza.

Ingredients

Our favourite sourdough base

Fresh tomatoes, courtesy of our friendly next door neighbour

Masala paste

Basil

Extra prep?

Other than making the masala paste, none.

What I'd do differently

The basil didn't add anything so I wouldn't bother next time, coriander would have worked better but we didn't have any. The peas went on to add a bit of sweetness, the bright green also contrasted nicely with the reds. Next time we'd add some paneer too, that'd make this a real winner.

Top That: Charred Leeks with Capers and Brown Butter

It'd been a while since we'd fired up Bertha, turns out getting married takes up quite a bit of your time. A sunny Bank Holiday Monday formed the perfect excuse though and a great opportunity to try some new toppings. First up a take on a restaurant dish I'd seen on Raymond Blanc's: How to Cook Well, BBQ & Grill program; leeks were thrown directly onto the coals, the idea being was that the core steamed in the charred and soon to be discarded outer leaves and what's left is juicy and tender with a subtle hint of smoke - worth a try at least.

Ingredients

Our favourite sourdough base

Leeks

Peas, I used frozen so defrosted in a bit of boiling water

Capers

Butter (soon to be browned)

Extra prep?

Heat the butter in a small pan taking off the heat when it reaches a hazelnut brown colour, stir in the capers and set aside

Throw the leeks straight on the fire, I did this while Bertha was warming up. The outers will blacken completely but you're not eating this bit. Rotate after a couple of minutes and remove when the stem is soft to pinch. Allow to cool and once they're at a temperature to handle grab a few outer leaves from the top and pull down. Discard the blackened outer, slice and set aside the centre.

the fun bit

What I'd do differently
For the last slice, we added some lemon zest which really lifted the flavour so we'll be doing that from the start next time.

The leeks were a real success and I'll definitely use this technique again. The same leeks on a béchamel base with ham or chicken would make a great combination.

Top That: Isle of Wight Ninja

A second topping post following on from last weekend's firing, this one slightly more traditional, a margherita with spicy nduja sausage or as I prefer to call it, the Isle of Wight Ninja. I picked up some stunning Isle of Wight tomatoes from the market, crushed over the dough these were better than any tinned tomatoes I could have used. For a bit of spice I added some nduja, the spicy Calabrian pork sausage and favourite of the Pizza Pilgrims 

keeping it simple, the oregano's not pictured here as that went straight from the plant to the pizza

Ingredients

Our favourite sourdough base

Isle of Wight toms

Mozzarella

Fresh Oregano

Parmesan

not a bad looking set of ingredients

Extra prep?

None again, I wouldn't add any extra oil, plenty comes out of the nduja

What I'd do differently

Not much, I'd possible add a chopped chilli for a bit more kick but given every batch of nduja seems to have a different level of spice this is one to adjust to taste

Top That: Stilton Cheeseboard

I've long been a fan of the Serious Eats pizza blog, Slice and in particular their Top This feature which in their own words "show[s] you how to replicate unusually topped restaurant pies at home". Now I'm a pie fan but a pie to me is prefaced by the word "pork" and as a British pizza blogger I'll be sticking with the word pizza. Minor quibble's aside it's a great series and I've enjoyed following their suggestions to create many a memorable pizza at home. As homage to this I'd like to do something similar so here's the first post with one of my own creations, the stilton cheeseboard.

We had a block of stilton in the fridge which was looking pretty sorry for itself and that formed the inspiration for this pizza. Combined with some rosemary from the garden, walnuts for texture and some grapes for a touch of sweetness this turned out reasonably well.

...decided against adding the pancetta and parmesan cheese in the end

Ingredients

Our favourite sourdough base

Stilton

Chopped rosemary

Sliced grapes

Walnuts

Mozzarella

Rocket

Olive Oil

ready for Bertha

Extra prep?

None really, although I added the rocket after baking to retain it's freshness

straight out of the oven

... and just before we demolished it

What I'd do differently

The olive oil wasn't needed, a fair amount of oil came out of the stilton. I'd add half a teaspoon of honey next time to balance the acidity and salt in the stilton too.

Return of the Jedi

Well, not quite, more Return to the Pizza Jedis, but Ealing certainly felt like a galaxy far, far away from North London. It'd been ages since we'd been to Santa Maria, too long, but Ealing is a bit of a mission. It always took something special for me to make the trip, previously that was either great sushi or great pizza, but now Sushi Hiro's closed its doors it's the pizza that's the main draw.

And what pizza. Santa Maria are the daddies when it comes to Neapolitan pizza (no pun intended writing this on Father's Day) and no matter whose review, list or blog you read they're always knocking about the top spot of London's best pizzeria. It's well deserved too, as far as toppings go they're pioneers of the less is more approach, but with a crust like that and first rate ingredients who can blame them.

We arrived mid afternoon in the usual lull between lunch and dinner but the front area was full; their seating's split either side of the oven - I guess this helps during quieter periods as they can still fill one section completely and keep the atmosphere. We started with a garlic focaccia and aubergine parmigiana, the latter being spooned onto the former to make an impromptu mini starter pizza - don't judge - I was starving and this seemed like the most efficient way to offset a hunger related tantrum. 

Two starters, or one if you're starving

Civility restored the mains started arriving and by this stage the waiters were warming up for their Saturday night and had started singing along to what I assume were Italian classics. Let's just say their pizzas were better than their vocals but it all added to the atmosphere. We opted for the Santa Maria, essentially a pizza marinara, simply tomato sauce, olive oil, garlic (lots of), basil, oregano, a Neapolitan classic. Our second choice was their San Gennaro a napoli, with anchovies olives and capers. Both were spot on. In my opinion they're as traditional a Neapolitan pizza as you can get in London. It's the base which stands out, thin and yielding to the weight of the toppings in the centre but still speckled from the blistering heat of the oven. Cooking times are around the one minute mark, 50 seconds typically, just long enough to melt the delicate fior di latte, cow's milk mozzarella without it becoming too liquid. Perfezione!

... the blurring and refusal to wait for the photo before picking up the cutlery suggests we were still hungrier than I thought at this stage

We rounded off the meal with some gelati, a tiramisu and a coffee. They stock Oddono's gelato which is always incredible, go for the nut flavours with the hidden gems of whole nuts. The home made tiramisu was my only complaint, it lacked the coffee hit to live up to it's translation as 'pick-me-up', but was rich, creamy and satisfying enough that I could have licked the bowl so I'll put that down as a minor quibble. The table next to us were bantered for ordering a macchiato; here a 'coffee' is an espresso and if you were to order a latte I'm pretty sure you'd get a glass of milk. These guys are traditional to the core and you've got to love them for it.

 It's a bargain too.

Homeslice Review

There’s something deeply satisfying about ordering the whole menu. No faff, no compromise. Simple. We’ll just have it all. I've only managed this on a couple of occasions, normally it’s practically, financially and gastric…ly unfeasible. It’s also rare, even for a practiced glutton such as myself, that I’d want to try all the dishes. But that’s what we did at Homeslice.

In their own words “wood fired pizza from the streets, Homeslice began with a home built mobile wood fired oven in the court yard of London Fields Brewery. The aim was to create pizzas that we wanted to eat. After two nomadic years we've now found a home. PIZZA, BEER, WINE, PROSECCO.” Welcome home. I’ve been a fan of Homeslice for ages, part of the first wave on the London street food scene and a consistent performer serving up slice after slice of novel topping combinations. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t novelty for the sake of it, we’re not talking Fire and Stone, these guys know what they’re doing and know what flavour combinations work.

Their Covent Garden home is a partnership between original founder Ry Jessup and Mark Wogan, TV chef, restaurateur and son of Terry so I’m led to believe. It’s a great space, stripped back with around 50 covers spaced on chunky wooden tables, tiling my girlfriend approved of, a prominent, beast of an oven which I approved of, and large handwritten chalkboard with the day’s pizzas. Further backing to my theory that handwritten chalkboard menus are a hallmark of good restaurants.

They had 7 pizzas on for our visit, 3 available by the slice with the remaining coming as whole 20” pizzas but with the option to split two toppings ‘half and half’. There were 7 of us, so we split the first 6 toppings across 3 pizzas with a 4^th pizza devoted to the final topping, pork belly, chimichurri & smoked onion – it’d have been rude not to. Highlights for me included the latter (obviously), the acidity of the chimichurri, added after baking regained its freshness and cut through the richness of the pork. Several of the vegetarian options also stood out, the courgette & artichoke on a garlic base was first out the oven with the ribbons of courgette retaining their bite and the Caprese pizza, groaning under the weight of the fresh tomato and mozzarella salad showcased the quality of the ingredients. For an encore, we ordered a 5^th pizza, half Caprese, half Sopressata (Italian salami) & Rocket, the salami worked well with their chilli oil although their ‘super hot’ oil, stored in a glass skull is still restrained on the scoville scale.

Margherita / Courgete & Artichoke

The not so hot, 'super hot' chilli oil

Sopressata & Rocket / Caprese

Duck & Szechuan Pineapple / Smoked Trout, Baby Beets & Goats Curd

Pork Belly, Chimichurri & Smoked Onion

ENCORE!

Drinks were straight forward too, beer, wine or prosecco. I spied Kernel beers in the fridge but opted for wine on this occasion, served by the magnum you take as much as you like and pay by the glass as they measure what’s left (or not) in the bottle. I like the idea, I suspect it works well for them too, especially if your friends are anything like mine, refuse to leave any alcohol on the table, and revel in the challenge of polishing off a couple of magnums on a school night. Error.

Front of house were friendly, knowledgeable and on form with their banter, Mark giving the table a pizza cutting master class and claiming he'd absolve my friend of responsibility and repercussions if he took on the challenge of a magnum to himself. A swift boot from his other half put him back in check.

Prices are reasonable, £4 a slice, £20 for the whole 20" pizza, which servers 2 normal people and £4 a glass of wine too.

PIZZA, BEER, WINE, PROSECCO – what’s not to love