Sweet & Savory

Pizza à la Antica

Sunday night, we had dinner with some friends (Joy & Mike) at Pizza Antica over at Santana Row. They had apparently become regulars there on weeknights when they'd had to work late. This thin-crust pizzeria, which prides themselves on using artisan ingredients, had also made its way into our own favorites list.

On this particular visit, J, being the fervent fig fanatic that she is, was on a mission to try one specific pizza on their menu — one whose season was almost over — the Proscuitto de Parma, Black Mission Fig, Gorgonzola and Fontina pizza. And, even though I am allergic to figs (unfortunate, I know), I was sure I'd find one of their other pizzas more than adequate to satisfy me.

We were definitely not disappointed. The four of us shared an equal number of small pizzas, so that we could enjoy a variety of flavors. The fig/proscuitto pizza (we got it with fresh mozzarella in place of the gorgonzola) was a big hit with the other three diners, as expected, and we all agreed that the Spicy Fennel Sausage, Portobello Mushroom and Roasted Onion pizza might just be our all-time favorite. It was news to me, but they apparently make fresh mozzarella in-house and use it on their classic Tomato Sauce, Housemade Mozzarella and Fresh Basil pizza. (I just realized that it says so in the name, but I guess I never noticed that before.. but it does make sense, since I always felt the cheese on this pizza tasted very pure, characteristic of fresh mozzarella.)

Dining at Pizza Antica seems always to inspire me to try my hand at making my own thin-crust pizzas at home. In fact, when we first discovered the restaurant in early summer, J and I had tried to reproduce the flavors in our own oven. I even took pictures and started an entry, but never finished it. Well, here it is now..

We tried to mimic a variety of the ingredients that Pizza Antica used: various meats (Italian sausage, grilled chicken, thinly-sliced soppressata), yukon gold potato and caramelized onion, and tomato and fresh mozzarella.

It was really a time of experimentation, so we ended up with four pizzas with different combinations of toppings:

First, our Potato Onion Pizza got good reviews. It turned out to be quite close to the original Heirloom Potato, Caramelized Onion and White Truffle Oil we had at the restaurant. The only thing we were missing was the truffle oil, but the potato and onion were intense enough to hold their own. This one was definitely a thumbs-up for me. I think J said she was neutral on this one.

Next, our Margherita Pizza disappointed us. It was a bit soggy in comparison with the restaurant's version. This was probably due to the difference in our furnace temperatures. Whereas the restaurant had a wood-fired furnace, which is easily capable of producing that nearly-blackened crisp crust we were after, we had to rely on a pizza stone heated in a home oven. Although the flavors were well blended, the lacking texture got this pizza two thumbs down.

Then, our Meat Lovers' Pizza wowwed us. It was not exactly like the restaurant's Spicy Fennel Sausage, Portobello Mushroom and Roasted Onion pizza, but it had similar flavors. The Italian sausage I'd used was a premade mix, but we could taste a strong fennel seed presence in addition to the pepper that we could visibly see. This got a thumbs-up from both of us.

Finally, we combined the remaining toppings to make a Chicken Potato Onion Pizza, which surprised us. The potato/onion combination was mild, and while J gave this pairing a neutral review before, the addition of smoky-flavored grilled chicken bumped her opinion up to a thumbs-up. I originally thought the addition of grilled chicken would bring down the flavor of the potato/onion original that I already liked, but it was actually not unpleasant. This pizza got two thumbs up as well.

Some other toppings I'd like to try next time include olives/chevre/walnuts, fig/proscuitto (for J), and pesto or garlic with grilled chicken. I think in the to experience great flavor combinations, then perfect the crust, and eventually host a gourmet pizza party to share our it all with our friends.

IMBB 20 - Raspberry Soufflé with Crème Anglaise

Wow! Two cooking events in one month.. in one weekend no less!

Kitchen Chick hosts this month's IMBB 20 — Soufflés, and here is our last-minute entry — raspberry soufflé with crème anglaise (recipe courtesy CIA's Baking & Pastry). The soufflés rose about an inch up out of the 4-ounce ramekins, displaying their pretty pink color, topped with a lightly-browned "cap".

We dusted them with cacao nib powder (leftovers from our SHF 13 nib tuiles) and spooned on some crème anglaise before we ate them.

I felt that the soufflé was way too sweet, so I will probably cut back on the sugar next time, maybe by as much as half. But, otherwise, the raspberry flavor was intense and the texture of the soufflé itself was like that of meringue — light and airy.

SHF 13 - Valrhona "Mi-Cuit", Cacao Nib Tuile, Strawberry Sauce, and Yogurt Sorbet

The Valrhona "Mi-Cuit", Cacao Nib Tuile, Strawberry Sauce, and Yogurt Sorbet is our contribution to Lovescool's SHF 13, whose theme is dark chocolate!

The inspiration came from a lovely chocolate mi-cuit we had at Marinus a couple months ago. Not having been so bold as to ask their pastry chef for their guarded recipe, we instead made these molten chocolate cakes, from Jean-George Vongerichten. Despite being accustomed to the darker Scharffen Berger baking chocolates (70% bittersweet and 80% extra dark varieties), we decided to stay true to the recipe and use 61% Valrhona chocolate.

After sitting for a mere minute out of the oven, each molten chocolate cake is inverted and topped with a chocolate cacao nib tuile. As a finishing touch, we added a few drops of strawberry sauce and a scoop of yogurt sorbet, made from Straus' whole milk vanilla yogurt (recipe courtesy of Claudia Fleming's The Last Course).

We could hardly wait for the photos to be taken to dig into this delicious looking and smelling dessert. The molten cakes were cooked slightly more than intended, probably because we didn't have 6 ounce ramekins but had instead used 4 ounce ramekins, but yet forgot to reduce the baking time to account for this change. So, some of the centers were set like the mi-cuit we had hoped to duplicate, much to our delight. We had been a little afraid that the tuiles would turn out to be too thick or inconsistent buttery messes, but were relieved in the end. They were delicate yet crisp, adding a little texture to the otherwise smooth combination of cake and sorbet.

Two things we might do differently when we make this again — to use raspberries instead of strawberries for a more intense and contrasting flavor; and to use our 80% Scharffen Berger chocolate for an extra dark decadence!

Craving....

Pastrami is not really a West Coast thing. We have great organic fruits and vegetables, excellent weather all year around, and coconutless palm trees, but no good pastrami. Our sole prior experience with pastrami has been from Togo's, which I have to say is nothing compared to the pastrami from Katz's Deli. Unfortunately, there is a distance of two thousand nine hundred and fifty-two miles between my craving and my object of desire (according to Yahoo's driving directions).

A and I went off to NYC in March. Prior to our arrival, we had done some research on places to eat and found Katz's Deli to come highly recommended so it was placed on our list of places to be sure to eat at. The beginning of our search for Katz's Deli was inauspicious as we got off the wrong Metro stop and ended up walking 16 block, of which 4 were in the wrong direction on Houston. Fortunately, the long and laborous meandering trek through the southeastern section of Manhattan was fruitful in the end.

We ordered one pastrami sandwich, not two, to share between the two of us, which turned out to be the right choice as each of those sandwish was HUGE. Don't let the picture fool you. What you see in the picture is only half of the sandwich. Two slices of rye bread with a big stack of thinly sliced pastrami. Yum!! So delicious, juicy, and a good melding of flavor. And that is why I am currently craving a Katz's Deli pastrami sandwich. *sigh*

We also ordered matzo ball soup. This was the first matzo ball soup I've ever had. It was ok though I'm not loving it as much as the pastrami sandwich.

Potato knish ... interesting.

All we were left with were the empty plates, these pictures, and the memories.

I do recall picking up a flier about Katz shipping their pastramis and other assortments of products through the mail for those not fortunate enough to live close by but I've gone and lost that flier! Lucky for me, A let me know that we can still order through their website. :)

A Momentus Feast!

A and I have been really bad about posting. *sheepish* Trying to stay on a healthy well-balanced diet and exercising every day can make maintaining a food blog a wee bit difficult. :( I mean, who wants to see or hear about all the turkey and cucumber whole wheat sandwiches we ate?!

However....

We did have one particularly exciting dinner, about a week ago, that is worth posting. Our friend Joy invited us over for an eight-course extravagant meal that she had prepared. Nope, this wasn't take-out or from a caterer. I am in awe of what she accomplished considering how much prep goes into a meal like this! Look at how many plates we went through!

spicy gazpacho shooter
watermelon-tomato skewer "ferran adria"

blistered corn soup
corn foam, roasted corn, white corn ice

fig, prosciutto, and arugula salad
manchego cheese, marcona almonds, balsamic reduction

seared sea scallop with edamame puree

trio of duck
pan-seared duck breast with quince-onion-potato puree and quince jus
duck confit with caramelized quince
duck hash with yukon gold potatoes, onion, and sauteed quince

pomegranate sorbet

confit of peach with petit suisse

warm chocolate ganache cake
bruléed bananas, yogurt sorbet, chocolate dentelle

And that concludes the end of our fabulous meal. Now who is going to do the dishes? :)