Just this past week, Nick suggested we use his gift card to Ninety nine. We tried the shrimp flatbread appetizer. It turned out to be very gooey with 3 classic cheeses, mozzarella, Parmesan and extra sharp cheddar. I didn’t like the sharp cheddar in this case, since it made the overall dish slightly more salty than desirable. The crust was very crunchy. I swear the next table heard me bite into it. The oil factor was heavy enough to blot, but not enough to dribble. Minus the cheddar cheese, this reminded me of when I used to cook for an Italian pizzeria in Potsdam, NY called “Mama Lucia’s”. I was a pizza cook there for about a year, and one of the pizzas that we would make was called the Umbria. It was a hit with my friends, who would often come in and specifically order the pizza. This seemed like ages ago though – so much life has happened since then that I felt it was time to resurrect this dish.
According to Wikipedia, pesto (or as it is sometimes referred to as Pesto Alla Genovese) derives its name from the Genoese word pestâ which means to pound or to crush. It consists of garlic, pine nuts, salt, basil leaves, olive oil, and (of course) parmigiano-reggiano (you gotta add cheese to it). This serves as the base for the pizza. The golden brown toasted pine nuts are essential to pesto sauce having the right subtle undertones, though, according to this post from StackExchange, you can add a variety of nuts to the sauce.
Sorry to tree-nut allergy sufferers like my best friend from middle school, Matt. You can substitute with sunflower seeds. This is one case where simply omitting an ingredient would lead to disaster, in this case mushy basil. Simply grind your leaves together with your pine nuts/sunflower seeds, (Or both if you want to do some kind of half and half) Parmesan and a trio of Garlic, Pepper, and Salt. That’s how you use a GPS in the kitchen. Most important is the drizzle of olive oil, otherwise it would all be a grainy mess. We want to have pesto SAUCE. This is only my second time making it.
Did you know, Marie Osmond’s first name is actually Olive! They called her by her middle name as their mother was an “Olive” too. For all you Italians out there, it’s superstitiously bad luck to spill olive oil because the good stuff didn’t always come at a cheap price back in the day. Just dab a drop behind the ears if you have an accident.
I took care of the shrimp all by my very own self! I used Mediterranean Sea salt with lemon pepper and a roasting clove of garlic. I pulled them off of the flame early because we would be finishing the cook off in the oven. Don’t be fooled cooking them just right in the pan only to have them turn to rubber in the oven. Are you having trouble with your timing? Check out our shrimp salad for reference.
We used a simple flat bread recipe found at Hilah Cooking. This was a relatively simple way of preparing dough compared to what it normally takes to make pizza dough. We accidentally started cooking really late, so we wanted something simple. The baking powder normally helps with the rising process in bread, however with so much of it as the recipe calls for, it tasted like biscuits. If you’re like my uncle and are sensitive to gluten, you might want to try this recipe from http://keepinitkind.com/easy-homemade-yeast-free-vegan-gluten-free-flatbread/ instead. It’s also vegan! Once the dough was all set and rolled out, I threw it onto the skillet to brown on both sides. They only needed a minute or so on each side before they were ready.
Now for the fun part! We spread the pesto sauce out and then dolloped huge amounts of ricotta cheese. Lauren swears that it had the look of Jell-o. I thought it looked more like panna cotta. (hmmmm….. maybe later) With that we also topped out pizza with the sauteed shrimp and some mozzarella cheese. The restaurant I worked at had a wood fire oven. It was really nice to cook with, when it worked. It adds more flavor and crunch to your pizza. Boy, let me tell you, when it fails it fails. It’s a real pain to keep the temp just right. Sticky things are hopeless. Wood chips are a hazard too. Nevertheless, wood fire pizza is simply amazing to eat. I found the best substitute for lack of luxury was to broil it for 5-10 minutes until the mozzarella is all melted.
Once it came out of the oven, it was piping hot and still gooey in the cheese. This is where we threw on our sun-dried tomatoes. To me, they looked like big red raisins.
The sun-dried tomatoes help to contrast the savory notes with some sweetness. Everything in general came out okay, the pesto could have stood out a little more – maybe some more basil (nice and fresh from the garden) and more garlic. Also (and I am astounded that I am saying this) but there was a little too much ricotta. This was one of those late night comfort foods so we decided to eat on the floor. We even made a little fort like when we were kids and watched some videos with one of our “kids” Prince Daniel. Good night!