Sergio's Napoletan Pizza

All Together !!

Last week, we organized not a pizza workshop, but a Neapolitan pizza workshop. If you don't know, the secret of a good pizza , try to remember, is the simplicity of a well leavened dough, well prepared and well cooked: whatever you put above is sparing quantity and good quality.

The ingredients for a good mix are as follows:

- 1 l. water
- 2 kg of flour
- 20 g of fresh yeast (7 of the dry)
- 50 g of salt

The quantities may be increased or decreased according to need, as well as the yeast is reduced if the ambient temperature is above 23-25C( like in summer).

A mixture obtained according to the recipe would produce 3.070 kg of pasta ready enough to prepare 4 pans from oven to a suitable home.

To make the dough, either carry two containers in which in each one you pour half of the flour . Divide as well the water in two containers where you will dissolve in one the salt and the yeast in the other. Pour the saline solution in a container of flour and the yeast solution in the other one. Stir separately until the two mixtures are substantial, then combine the two mixtures and continue to stir until the dough will be smooth, velvety and moist correctly.

Pizza with Pistacchio Pesto

At this point the dough can be cut to form little portion with the weight desired depending on the thickness of pizza that you want to have after cooking. Before the leavening, you can put the dough in the fridge at 2-6C to proceed to the maturation of the dough, according to the fridge temperature, there are respectively 24 to 6-8 hours. For the leavening, it is important to make the little portion of dough rest for about 3 hours at constant temperature (23 ° C). If the dough has been in the fridge to mature for a quick rise, after removing from refrigerator, stir it a bit before to start the leavening phase.

Pizza with Fresh Egg

Now start the artistic part, which is stretching the pizza and coat it with your favorites ingredients.... Here, the leavened dough must be stretched out with finger pressure to obtain a homogeneous layer that reaches the sides of the container, which of course, should be lightly oiled before laying the dough.

Sweet Pizza (Nutella - Raspberries marmelade)

The last operation (baking) is the most important as it allows, if properly executed, enhances the entire products quality.

In the home oven, the baking temperature will be around 250 ° C for a period ranging between 12-15 minutes.

Moreover, it is important that the cooking should happen in two different times:

- Bake for about 8-10 minutes just the dough with tomato over, if red, or just coated with oil, if white.

- Remove the pan from the oven, make the stuffing according to the recipe you want to achieve, then put the pan in the oven to finish cooking the pasta and ingredients with the remaining time.

If you want to taste the perfume and fragrance in all its intensity, the pizza must be consumed fresh from the oven.

Now enjoy the results.... the lucky persons to enjoy this event were Awen, Melanie, Alex, Giuliana, Antonello (our nearly neapolitan advisor), Kike and Demetrio (which did a wonderful sicilian pistacchio pesto... which is the base for a pizza typical from Catania).

David's Gnocchi with Salsa Alla Norma

Homemade gnocchi takes a long time to prepare, but just a little bit can feed anybody very hungry. We were four people at David's place for dinner last night, and it's amazing at how full we felt after a few spoonfuls of gnocchi with this delicious sauce.

Ingredients:
~4 well-boiled potatoes
1/2 kg of wheat flour (but try to have more around, just in case)
Salt
1 egg (optional)


1. Peel potatoes with your fingers (it'll be easy if they're well cooked and cooled under running water).

2. Cut them in thick slices, and then mash well with a fork. Lay the mash on a bowl with some flour.

3. Add more flour on top, and then mix with hands until homogenic. Cover your hands on flour, so that the mix doesn't stick to your fingers so much.

4. If you wish, you may add a stirred egg. David says it makes the gnocchi taste better, but it also makes it more difficult to make homogenic and to succeed on the boiling part.

If you add the egg, mix again (always with hands), until homogenic.



5. Spread flour over a clean table, cover your hands in flour again, and roll the potato dough into "fingers".


6. With a fork, chop the fingers in pieces of more of less 1,5cm.


7. we've reached the artistic part.: to give the shape of a real gnocco, press each piece with the back of a fork...


8. ... and roll it up with your thumb to separate from fork, making a cilinder-like figure.


9. Boil the gnocchi on some water with oil.


10. When a gnocco floats up, remove it from boiling water and let it sit on a dish. Continue, one by one.


11. Serve warm with sauce, spices, freshly-grated Parmiggiano cheese and candlelight. ;)





Salsa Alla Norma: Traditional Sicilian vegan sauce. David explained to me the two meanings of the sauce's name. First, normal Sicilian food is comprised mostly of cultivated vegetables and fish; second, it's "to the norm" because when you prepare this sauce, you can never fail.




Ingredients:
1 eggplant, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic (but I'd have added two, myself), chopped
4 carrots
1 small can of peas
0,5 kg of thick tomato juice
Olive Oil
Salt, black pepper, assorted spices to taste.

Stir-fry vegetables (except for the peas, which came already cooked in the can) on olive oil, until all is tender. If you want a strong onion flavour, you can let the onion turn golden-brown, if not, stir-fry it only until tender and translucid. Add spices and tomato juice when veggies are soft and well-cooked. Cover, and let cook on low fire for some twenty or thirty minutes.




Side dish: Bruschette



Ingredients:
1 chopped tomato
Chopped Mozzarella
Oregano
Basil
Flavoured toasts (we had garlic with parsley flavour)
Olive Oil

Mix tomato, mozzarella and the spices. Spread the mix over the toasts, then pour some olive oil just before serving. You may add salt, too (to taste).

David's Tiramisù

David told us that this popular Italian dessert was invented in Veneto by a whorehouse owner. The name derives from the Italian words for "throw yourself on top", and was marketed as an aphrodisiac, and considered an energetic meal due to the addition of coffee, cocoa, sugar and dairy among the main ingredients.



Ingredients:
4 eggs
500g (2x 250g) cream cheese without salt. David used a traditional Italian brand.
Some sobaos (traditional Spanish cake)
Some bizcocho soletilla (traditional Spanish cookies)
~4 tablespoons Sugar
~3 cups of coffee
~1 cup of milk
Rum
Cocoa or chocolate powder


1. Stir eggs and mix cream cheese in until homogenic.


2. Lay the sobaos on the bottom of the pan to cover it.


3. Pour rum over the sobaos.


4. Pour warm coffee, too.


5. Mash and spread the wet sobaos to cover bottom of pan entirely.


6. Pour half of the cheese/egg mix over the sobaos to form the 1st layer.


7. Spread to cover.


8. Soak the bizcocho soletilla one by one in cofee and milk.


9. Lay them on the pan as another layer.


10. Pour the remaining coffee/milk mix on top of the bizcocho.


11. Pour and spread the second half of the egg/cheese mix.


12. Fridge for 24 hours, then sprinkle cocoa powder or chocolate powder on top of it just before serving.