When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie that’s amore….

An overused song, I know, but when you are walking through the streets of Rome and you hear an accordion playing the tune, it seems so apropos and so romantic..it just seems to go with the scenery…  and  for Valentine’s Day- an acceptable excuse to quote the song..The easiest main course to do for a Valentine’s Day dinner is Pizza. Amateur cooks and expert cooks alike can master a pizza. As my grandmother once told me when I asked her for her recipe “it’s just a little flour, some yeast and water”..she knew how to master the dough by the touch,the weight, the feel. But for those who are just learning, never fear,   and topping ideas are endless..choose whatever suits you..but for Valentine’s  Day you may want to avoid  garlic and onions.

Bake in a heart shaped pan. If you are using a silicone pan, cover the pan first with alluminum foil and oil that foil. Leave enough foil on the sides so that you can cover the pizza while baking. If you use regular pizza pan, you can eliminate the aluminum foil. This recipe can be considered more of a focaccia type pizza or in the US we call it a deep dish pizza. I have  included these interesting pastes, Amore Pastes, that are available in the US,  just as they are in Italy. If you have never cooked with tomato paste in a tube, try it ,it is so…. Italian!   And once you have used the tube, you won’t want to go back to the canned stuff.

Amore Pizza

Pizza Dough

from The Basic Art of Pizza: copyright 2011 art of living, PrimaMedia,Inc/Maria Liberati)

6 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1 cake of active yeast

2 1/4 cups tepid water

1 tsp sugar

For topping
1 tblsp olive oil

2 teaspoons of Amore Garlic Paste

1/3 tsp oregano

2 medium tomatoes

6 ozs. thinly sliced provolone cheese

Optional-3 ounces of cooked and drained Italian suasage crumbled or use a vegetarian substitute

5 tablespoons Amore Tomato Paste

2 teaspoons Amore Pesto Paste

12 ounces shredded mozzarella

Place yeast cube in tall glass, place in  1/2 cupwater and tsp sugar, stir.  Yeast mixture will become bubbly. In bowl place in flour and yeast mixture and blend by hand, as needed add in more water until dough is not sticky. Place flour on wooden board. Place dough here and continue mixing in until dough is soft yet not sticky, and a little  firm. Then cover and leave in warm place to rise.

When double in size, place into a pan and shape to fit. Oil your hands with olive oil, this will make it easier to lay the dough into pan shape. Press dough against sides and just over rim of pan,

Filet the tomatoes by cutting out the liquid part and slicing meat of tomatoes. In small bowl, add in tomato paste, garlic paste, oregano,olive oil. Place half the provolone on dough and spread tomato pase mixture on top. Layer sausage with provolone, dot wiht pesto paste. Place tomato slices on top and then top wiht mozzarella. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 35 monutes in a  preheasted oven at 425 degrees. Open foil to expose top of pizza and bake this way 5 more minutes or until top is golden brown. Wait 10 minutes before cutting.

Serve with a dry red wine.

For more pizza  recipes get your copy of The Basic Art of Pizza, also available as a downloadable ebook

For more great recipes get your copy of the Award Winning book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: Holidays & Special Occasions-2nd edition

copyright 2010 Maria Liberati

After a colazione of a buon cappuccino and a cornetto, a walk surrounded by the  sea air, the sun, and a fresh August breeze is the perfect wake up for me. But preparing lunch takes up most of my morning and keeps me entertained in the morning..from a trip to the ‘forno’ (baker) for fresh focaccia and just baked biscotti for dessert….a trip to the cheese store  for locally produced Pecorino and lastly a trip to the local fruit and vegetable vendor for locally grown fresh veggies, locally grown tomatoes from Francavilla al Mare, fresh zucchini and eggplant and ‘odori’ (aromas) –basil, parsley, celery.

My bags were overflowing with so many aromas I couldn’t concentrate on my walk home with all the scents practically dancing around my head..a 20 minute walk home turned into a 60 minute one..but that was fine I had my the fresh scents to keep me company.

Today’s lunch was a mix of the fresh flavors I brought home..a ratatouille of fresh eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes with shaved pecorino cheese on top of focaccia bread..

Ratatouille

1 fresh eggplant

1 fresh zucchini

3 cloves garlic

1 slice fresh onion

3 red, ripe ,plum tomatoes

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

pinch of salt to taste

Clean eggplant and cut into cubes,clean zucchini and slice. Clean tomatoes, and filet. Place olive oil in saute pan, place in whole garlic, onion slice, saute for 30 seconds. Place in zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, freshly chopped parsley. Cover, stir with wooden spoon every 5minutes. Cook for 30 minutes. Cut focaccia bread into serving sizes top with ratatouille and shave pecorino cheese or parmigiana-reggiano cheese on top.Serve with a chilled white wine.

For more recipes and stories of travels in Italy get your copy of The Basic Art of Holidays & Special Occasions-2nd edition (winner of the Best Italian Cuisine Book in the USA

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copyright 2010 Maria Liberati

Evenings here always include a walk in the piazza to chat with old friends, make new ones, catch up on town gossip, and share recipes. The best excuse to take a walk after dinner….going to the piazza. Last night, besides some fluff type conversation of ‘how are you doing?” and “how is the family?” we also caught up with an old friend of ours that runs a local trattoria and also has a small farm that produces many of the vegetables served there. He bragged about his  eggplant (melanzane) this year  and he shared a recipe for a specialty dish they are serving at the trattoria in honor of his successful crop of eggplants.

But even better yet, since I had such a ‘voglio’ to make this dish  for today’s lunch….this morning I was gifted with 3 fresh eggplants from Mario’s small farm…and am feverishly working on the recipe now….serve with a glass of Montepulciano D’Abruzzo and eat al fresco (if possible).

(So glad we went to the piazza last night!)  Please write and let me know if you get to try this easy recipe!

Pennette Alla Melanzane (Small Penne Pasta with Eggplant)

1 lb of pennette (small penne pasta)

1 lb of fresh eggplant-washed and cut into cubes

1 lb fresh plum tomatoes

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion-finely chopped

‘1 tsp of capers

1/4 cup black olives ,pitted and chopped

handful fresh basil

salt and pepper to taste

Place pennete in a pot of boiling water and cook for time indicated on package-till al dente.

Place olive oil in saute pan, place in chopped onion, saute till just before golden, place in cubed eggplant, diced tomatoes, add in pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper. Saute for 5 minutes ,add in chopped black olives and capers. Saute for 15 minutes over low heat ,covered.  Uncover and stir with wooden spoon every 2 or 3 minutes. Remove from heat, place in drained pasta toss. Serve hot ,cold or warm with a sprinkling of chopped fresh basil leaves.

For more great recipes get your copy of the Award winning book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking : Holidays & Special Occasions-2nd edition

Looking for Guest writers to Share the Joy. Do you have a favorite food memory of a Holiday you would like to share with our readers? Stories are being selected now  for publication

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Sept 9-12 –see you at  Hudson Valley Wine Festival in Rhinebeck, NY.  Join me for onstage demos of recipes from The Basic Art of Italian Cooking series.  For more info or for sponsorship info email: info@marialiberati.com

As  I was reading my emails I couldn’t help but get distracted by the news of an impending special tax in specific States in the USA on Pizza calling it a Junk food.. I didn’t know whether to cry or feel offended or hurt or just disbelief…. How could this food, with such history..and  with healthy ingredients be insulted and called a junk food!

Since when are tomatoes, olive oil, mozzarella cheese, flour- a junk food. It is a healthy food and is a staple in the Italian, Italian-American and now American diet. Junk foods are foods made up of mostly chemicals or saturated fats..not pizza. Pizza is a healhty food and if they need proof,we can show it to them. If you would like to join me in the Pizza is a Health Food   Movement..please write your congressmen and congress women and governors and tell them that Pizza is a Health Food and you are offended that they would  even considering discouraging people from eating this healthy food by putting a special tax on it. If you would like a letter to email to your congressman,please email me at info@marialiberati.com and we will send you a pre made letter to educate your congressmen and  congress women and legislators on the health benefits of this Slow Food!

copyright 2009, Maria Liberati

A  passion for pizza..what’s all this talk about great pizza! David Letterman decided to take Madonna to the restaurant next door to his studio for some NY pizza while a guest on the show.Rob Lowe selected pizza as his favorite food on the Jimmy Kimmel show..but his favorite was a pizza place in Boston..mine is a place in the  Trastevere neighborhood in Rome.. when you enter Trastevere just follow your nose  for the aroma of pizza baking and you will see a line waiting outside..

But homemade pizza is the best..here’s a recipe and a healthy one to make you go ‘pazzo per pizza’ (crazy for pizza)

This pizza serves 4 and has aprox 500 calories a portion.

Pizza  alle Verdure (Pizza with vegetables)

Dough

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 package of dry yeast powder

pinch of sugar

3 tblsps olive oil

Put yeast in a glass, add in  1/3 cup  warm water, a pinch of sugar ,pinch of salt. Stir in a bowl place all ingredients and add in yeast mixture, and olive oil. Work the dough. Blend well till a smooth ball. Place ball in bowl and cover with a clean dish towel. Leave in a warm place and let rise for approx 2 hours.

Topping

1 fresh eggplant

2 tomatoes

1 pepper

3 cipolotti onions, chopped finely

2 tablespoons grated parmigiana-reggiano cheese

Slice and grill all vegetables separately.

Line pizza pan with baking paper. Cover with pizza dough. Top with grilled veggies and drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkle of parmigiana-reggiano cheese. Bake in oven preheated to 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, serve hot or cold.

Get your copy of The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: Holidays & Special Occasions for the hOlidays with over 140+ recipes ,wine pairing tips ,short stories of Holidays spent in Italy.

Book signings/Appearances-email: events@marialiberati.com for reservaitons or info

Oct 2-Collingswood Book Festival, Collingswood, NJ

Oct 5-Horsham Twp Library

Oct 16-18-Philadelphia Food & Wine Festival

Oct 21-Lower Southampton Twp Library

Nov5-7-Christmas in Italy weekend, Lancaster, Pa

 Mangia Bene,Vivi Bene

http://twitter.com/Marialiberati

http://mariaandco.blogspot.com

copyright 2009, art of living, PrimaMedia,Inc

Someone once said that ‘poetry is made up of memories and the act of recalling a special moment and without remembering or the act of  recalling experiences  there is no poetry’

A pizza is a pizza or why all pizzas are not the same…or   where have all the great pizzas gone… Last night I had dinner with friends in a local pizzeria. As is typical to have before a pizza ..an appetizer known as a a ‘suppli’ which is sort of a fried rice ball with mozzarella cheese in the center and sometimes a sauce inside. As I don’t like a meat sauce in my suppli I asked if they are made with meat sauce ..I knew we were in trouble when the waitress told me that she must look on the box they were packaged in to see if they have a meat sauce inside. (Pre-packaged ‘suppli’) not a good sign…not freshly made…

The local pizzerias that were run by families always made everything from scratch..nothing prepackaged.. the pizza I must say was a disappointment..my stomach this morning reminds me of the acidy flavor left over from a wood burning oven that may have not been properly cleaned and the ashes left over leaving a bitter taste to the pizza…no olive oil on the pizza..no flavor..just the flavor of flour, water ,mozzarella cheese…

Unfortunately this is the way things are going here..many restaurants are opting for cheaper ingredients and compromising flavors..with most restaurants and eating places not using extra virgin olive oil because of the price of olive oil today, the flavors of the foods have been really compromised..or should I say not many flavors seem to be present..except in a few restaurants that are ‘die hards’ and insist on not compromising quality for cost.

I fear I have become my grandparents..preferring to eat mainly at home..knowing that all the ingredients I use will be ingredients I choose…and so returns another ‘old fashioned’ but so timely habit of preferring to eat at home.. now where did that come from? And how boring and old fashioned I used to think of that when my grandparents used to profess to the advantages of preparing things fresh at home..’so slow’ I would think..my grandmother spending all day to make a great tomato sugo to sit atop our pasta or the dough for a ‘tomato pie’ as they would translate ‘pizza’ in Engllish.

Never understanding why they couldn’t just go out and ‘grab a bite to eat’ like the rest of the families I knew.

 So this situation brought to me many memories of full mornings of preparing a meal by a team of people (aunts, parents, grandparents) then sitting down to eat the highly anticipated meal..stomachs growling in anticipation from the odors coming from the kitchen and then remaining there at the table for hours with courses almost never stoppping..of course this was Sunday or Holiday meal.

“Memoires are like poetry and without memories there is no poetry”

Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene,

Maria

http://twitter.com/Marialiberati

Get your copy of The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: Holidays & Special Occasions with over 140+ recipes, menus and short Holiday stories

Copyright 2009, Maria Liberati 

Aug/Sept 2009 issue of The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati ezine now ready at http://tinyurl.com/pfo8xb

Here is a recipe being prepared..as we speak… in the test kitchens of The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati tm…. it will be today’s lunch accompanied by a chilled  Trebbiano D’Abbruzzo wine.

(read about the tomatoes in last week’s blog at

http://marialiberati.com/2009/08/22/a-house-is-a-home-with-lots-of-food-of-course/

 Linguine with Fresh Tomatoes 

 A light pasta dish, perfect for the end of summer. Topped off with cheese this dish becomes a dining alfresco experience…  You can also make this dish in the morning, refrigerate and  have dinner ready and waiting when you come home.. Or pack in containers for a picnic lunch or a lunch for the office.

• 1 lb linguine pasta

• 6-8 red ripe tomatoes (plum tomatoes or tomatoes grown on the vine)

• 1 lb fresh mozzarella cut into cubes

• a pinch of black pepper

• a pinch of salt

• a handful fresh basil

sea salt for cooking  the pasta

Bring to a boil a pot of water for pasta. Place in sea salt. When boiling, place in-  already washed-tomatoes for 2-3 seconds, remove tomatoes with a slotted spoon. Lower heat under pot and cover. Peel tomatoes, remove seeds and cut into strips. Transfer tomatoes to a food processor and blend with a pinch of salt. Add in 2 tblsps olive oil. Blend at moderate speed. When sauce is blended, set aside.

Raise heat under pot and bring pot to a boil again. Place in linguine and cook for 8 minutes or as directed on package. When cooked to al dente drain in a colander and let cold water run on top of pasta for a few seconds.

Place a white kitchen towel on a table and place separate pasta strands to dry.. When dry,place in bowl. Top with the cold pasta sauce. Cut fresh mozzarella into cubes and mix in. Top with some freshly grated pepper, fresh chopped, basil leaves, Place in container and cover, put in refrigerator.

When ready to serve, wash cherry tomatoes, cut in half and dry with paper towels. Toss into pasta with more fresh basil leaves and serve. You can also drizzle each serving with some extra virgin olive oil.

For more recipes ,travel stories, interviews ,menus , recipe contest,check out the  the Aug/Sept 2009 issue of The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati tm at http://tinyurl.com/pfo8xb

Get your copy of The Basic Art of Italian Cooking-Holidays & Special Occasions  just in time for the Holidays and filled with over 140 recipes, menus and short stories about Holidays spent in the mountains of Italy.

Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene,

Maria

http://twitter.com/Marialiberati

Copyright 2009, Maria Liberati

Sundays in Rome always turn into special days..and this weekend was no exception. A  trip there  for an event on Saturday  for my latest book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking-Holidays & Special Occasions turned into more than just that ..Sunday was  filled with finding  favorite foods in Rome and seeing old friends-Moses &  Michelangelo..

 It  became a  trip to revisit those old friends..a stop to see Michelangelo’s Moses, the Trevi Fountain and canlt forget Santa Maria sopra Minerva… I have seen them many times and can sit in front of them for hours upon end and take in their beauty..almost embarassingly so..my eyes become wide open in amazement.. thinking of Michelangelo toiling in front of his Moses…

But enough about the art..let’s get into the food.. From cornetto & cappuccino near Santa Maria Maggiore to Pizza in Trastevere..coffee at St.Eustachio and EUR and gelato near Montecitorio…what a weekend program..  attempting to fit in all the local food stops one could fit in..It seemed like so many foods but  so little time to get them all in..

Pizza in Rome is at its best when it is thin ,made with fresh mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil and most places display a sign to tell you the ingredients uses as do the places that make their own gelato. The sign is usually somewhere on the glass case that displays the pizza and/or gelato..

In 100 degree weather the  gelato creations, looking as something that may have been created by one of the masters, melt so quickly one has but a split second to  admire the aesthetic beauty. Enjoying a dish of gelato outside in Rome under the summer sun is an experience in contrast..the heatof the August sun beating down,the cool,creamy liquid refreshing your senses..the intense flavors hypnotizing…almost diverting your attention away from the uncomfortable temperatures at least for a few minutes.

A linguine with cold pasta sauce coming later today  for lunch..

Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene,

Maria

http://twitter.com/Marialiberati

copyright 2009, Maria Liberati

Summer should be filled with delicious, uncomplicated foods…….

Although food always evokes some kind of memory, the warm beautiful summer sun that shone briefly today, took me away (if only for a brief moment ) to  my thoughts of  hiking in the mountains of Abruzzo, the warm summer sun beating down on you, the fresh summer air..the only thing missing is the view from the top….you know I can stand there when I get to the top and look down. Serene and quiet and peaceful where I am at the top but yet I can look down on the busy traffic and the town below me.. and still enjoy the peaceful quiet at the top where I am..

Once at the most serene spot, we take a break for lunch and eat our fresh pannini sandwiches made with fresh mozzarella ,fresh tomatoes and a drizzle of olive oil…

Wherever you are spending your summer..make sure you get to enjoy it ..if even for a weekend..a week or whatever you can spare..get to the top of  a mountain the beach..even your backyard and don’t forget to take along something special to eat..a piece of fresh summer fruit..a freshly made pannini..delicious..not complicated..

After all, it is easy to make delicious and uncomplicatd things with the fresh produce Mother Nature gives us in the summer.

One of my favorite things to make in the summer is simple Pizza Margherita using fresh tomatoes and fresh basil and it’s  great hot, warm or even cold for a picnic lunch..or bring it to the office and pretend you are on a picnic.

Pizza Margherita

Ingredients:

2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil

1/2 lb. tomatoes, crushed

1/2 tsp. salt

Enough dough to make a pizza pie about 12″ around and roughly 1/8 – ¼ inches thick (most bread machines have a pizza dough setting).

6 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese, shredded

6 fresh basil leaves cut into julienne strips

extra virgin olive oil

1. Let olive oil, tomatoes, and salt marinate in bowl while making the dough.

2. Flatten dough out with hands and lightly rub with some olive oil. Remember to flatten the dough evenly and thinly to ensure it will rise appropriately

3. Turn the edges of the dough up slightly and top with tomatoes and mozzarella, then sprinkle some olive oil on top.

4. Preheat oven to 450F and bake on pizza stone (clay stone) for about 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbly.

5. Top pizza with basil leaves after removing it from the oven.

6. Allow pizza to cool, then cut into slices and enjoy.

Join me on July 9th at WHole foods Market, Jenkintown, Pa for the Outdoor Kitchen.  Recipes from The Basic Art of Italian Cooking for the  beach or a picnic. Samples and recipes provided. Call store at 215-481-0800 or email events@marialiberati.com

July 11th- Book signing of The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at the Chestnut  Hill Book Festival in Chestnut Hill, Pa.

July 16th, Whole Foods Market, Annapolis ,Maryland, Picnic in Tuscany cooking Demo. Email events@marialiberati.com for more info

July 18th- Whole FoodsMarket, Fairfax, Virginia, Picnic in Tuscany and wine pairing. Call store or email events@marialiberati.com

Mangia bene, Vivi Bene

http://twitter.com/Marialiberati

copyright, 2009, Maria Liberati, The Basic Art of Italian Cooking 

My weekend was filled with pizza making in The Basic Art of Italian Cooking kitchen here in Italy, or should I say inside the kitchen and outside..as you can see, yours truly getting our new outside brick oven ready.. Nothing like the flavor of pizza cooked in a brick oven..

  Pizza makes great food for a lazy Sunday afternoon dish..But it also provided us with a great way to work with the locally produced ingredients here in Abruzzo-the locally produced Pecorino D’Abruzzo to the fresh mozzarella produced in the little (nearby) village of Rocca Di Mezzo. And a radicchio produced at this time of  the year in Treviso, Italy..a little far from Abruzzo but many local produce stores get theirs fresh from Treviso..makesa great topping for a pizza..

Italy rejoices in the pizza and has made pizza making an art as well..championships in pizza and many competitions in pizza making..to the World Championship pizza making team.. who would have thought that a food made by the poor  people in Naples to make us of inexpensive ingredients-flour, yeast, tomatoes and make something substantive would become such a world renowned food…

So many toppings, so difficult to choose from,,we chose to do an arugula with shaved parmigiano-reggiano cheese, then one with a tomato topping wiht the Vesuviana tomatoes from the Mt Vesuvio region (they are an interesting tomato and one of the few varieties that grow without water. As a matter of fact the lesser amount of water they have the better they grow) with grated pecorino cheese.

The Vesuviana tomatoes led me to the story told to me by my friend, Velia, who works with us at The Basic Art of Italian Cooking Culinary School in Orvieto..she told me that her grandmother used to use the Vesuviana tomatoes as an example of life ..they grow sweeter and better with the more hardship the soil around them experiences since they grow better with drought. These are a tomato that grow without any water, And she went on to explain how hardships in life grow your character, just like they grow the Vesuviana tomatoes..that with perfect soil conditions the Vesuviana do not grow successfully and are not as sweet and plump as they are when they suffer a drought or the hardship of not having enough water…a life lesson to learn from this delicacy and they are a superior tomato as well..not just your average tasting tomato..

Then there was Pizza Margherita for those that want the traditional tomato (using the Vesuviana tomatoes) basil and mozzarella tomato..and since truffles are also found in many parts of Italy this time of year-a scamorza and shaved truffle pizza… and lastly we had to make a potato with fresh rosemary pizza since we have an over abundance of fresh, organic rosemary here in the garden..

Pizza is best made  fresh and is worth the extra time it takes…If you put your mind to it you can make a ball of dough in the morning before you head out to work, cover carefully with a towel and place in a warm place to let it rise..when you come home it will be ready to place in a pizza pan or pizza stone stone and add  topping. 10-15 minutes in the oven (can be your own indoor oven) and you have a quick, healthy meal..

Pizza….can be used to teach healthy eating and a philosophy for life…a wondrous thing that pizza……

Find more pizza tips here: http://tinyurl.com/djd29w