Pizza On A Wire

In Naples

While Naples is home to an overwhelming number of pizzeria, these local favorites are pictured in “In Pizza Veritas,” from La Cucina Italiana’s March/April 2009 issue.
L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele
Via Cesare Sersale, 1/3, Naples
Tel. 0815.539204
damichele.net

Margherita and Marinara are the only two pizzas served at this popular joint that’s been around since 1870. Located at the threshold of the Forcella neighborhood, Michele Condurro, son of Salvatore and grandson of Michele, the founder of the pizzeria, are faithful to the area’s long pizza-making tradition.

In pizza veritas

Italy's most widespread contribution to world cuisine originally comes from Naples, where making true pizza is a time-honored technique and tradition.

IN CALIFORNIA

A16
2355 Chestnut St.
San Francisco, 94123
Tel. 415.771.2216
a16sf.com
With cuisine focused on Campania and true Neapolitan pizza, plus a stellar wine list heavy in southern Italian labels, A16 quickly has become a neighborhood favorite. The cuisine of Campania and the wood fired pizzas of Naples brought to San Francisco's Marina neighborhood .

TO MAKE THE DOUGH NAPLES STYLE

I borrowed the making of the dough from the la Cucina Italiana magazine revealed by the true craftsman of Naples . The ingredients of Toppings are what I use on my own pizza. Which I lovely call Pizza On A Wire , So here goes.

Ingredients For the dough:
4 cups unbleached ”00” flour or all purpose flour (See Note)
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 package active dry yeast or a ¼ teaspoon
1 ¼ cups warm water
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil plus more for bowl

Ingredients For the topping:
3 ounces ricotta cheese
3 ounces provolone
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, chopped cheese thinly sliced (See Note)
Extra virgin olive oil
¾ pound fresh porcini mushrooms sliced
24 whole black olives cut in half
1 15-ounce can tomato puree

Note: “00” flour, San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala, mozzarello fior di latte can be mail ordered from Teitel Brothers,
Call 1-800-850-7055

Note: Stir fry mushrooms with chopped garlic with one or two table spoons extra virgin olive oil until garlic is a golden color . Let cool and keep mixture together .

Sprinkle yeast over water; let stand until yeast is creamy, 5 to 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour and salt; form a well in center. Add yeast mixture and oil; stir until dough just comes together. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead vigorously, for 10 minutes. Cover with damp towel and let it rest for 10 minutes, then knead vigorously for 10 minutes more. Lightly oil a large bowl. Form dough into ball, transfer to bowl and turn to lightly coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Punch down dough with your fist (dough will be stiff), then fold sides over one another, turn dough, tightly cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours to 24 hours.
Divide dough into 4 pieces; shape pieces into balls and place on a lightly floured work surface, leaving a few inches between balls. Loosely cover with a damp dish towel (not terry cloth) and let rise at warm room temperature until doubled, about 2 hours ( if skin forms on dough while rising, lightly spray surface with water ).

HEAT STONE WHILE DOUGH RISES

Position rack in lower third of oven. Place pizza stone on rack. At least 45 minutes before baking pizza, heat oven to maximum temperature (500 to 550 degrees).

A INSTRUCTIONS TO ASSEMBLE PIZZA

On a lightly floured work surface, press 1 dough ball with fingers to begin to shape into a round. Use your fist and hands to gently stretch dough to a 10 inch round.
( A floured rolling pin can be used to help roll out dough). Transfer dough to a lightly floured peel: gently shake peel to make sure dough does not stick.
Working fairly quickly, spread a 1/3 cup sauce over dough, leaving about a ½ inch border. Sprinkle fresh spinach leafs over sauce Add 3 ounces of each cheese ( Provolone, and Ricotta ). Arrange cheese over spinach. Add sliced olives over pizza .Sprinkle stir fried garlic, mushrooms, salt with the olive oil over entire pizza. Slide pizza on stone . Bake until cheese is melted and bubbling in spots and edge of dough is crisp and golden, about 7 minutes. Remove and serve.

Cheers,
Gary

If Your a Newbie to the Internet . You need to join This Private Club

Hot Chocolate Vienna Style

Aztec statuary of a male figure holding a cacao pod

The ancient Maya grew cacao and made it into a beverage.



 The first people clearly known to have discovered the secret

of cacao were the Classic Period Maya (250-900 C.E. [A.D.]).

The  Maya and their ancestors in Mesoamerica took the tree

from the rain forest and grew it in their own backyards, where

they harvested, fermented, roasted, and ground the seeds into

a paste.



When mixed with water, chile peppers, cornmeal, and other

ingredients, this paste made a frothy, spicy chocolate drink.

The term "Cocoa," a corruption of "Cacao," is almost

universally used in English-speaking countries to designate

the seeds of the small tropical tree known to botanists as

THEOBROMA CACAO, from which a great variety of preparations

under the name of cocoa and chocolate for eating and drinking

are made. The name "Chocolatl" is nearly the same in most

European languages, and is taken from the Mexican name of the

drink, "Chocolate" or "Cacahuatl." The Spaniards found

chocolate in common use among the Mexicans at the time of the

invasion under Cortez in 1519,  and it was introduced into Spain

immediately after. The Mexicans not only used chocolate as a

staple article of food, but they used the seeds of the cacao

tree as a medium of exchange.



Although there was a marked increase in the consumption of tea

and coffee during the same period, the ratio of increase fell

far below that of cocoa. It is evident that the coming American

is going to be less of a tea and coffee drinker, and more of a

cocoa and chocolate drinker. This is the natural result of a

better knowledge of the laws of health, and of the food value

of a beverage which nourishes the body while it also stimulates

the brain. Some of the earliest European cocoa-makers were

apothecaries seeking medicinal uses of the plant.4 Cacao

seeds contain significant amounts of naturally occurring

flavonoids. Which are connected with a reduced risk of

cardiovascular disease and some cancers.

"Before chocolate was known in Europe, good old wine was called

the milk of old men; but this title is now applied with greater

reason to chocolate, since its use has become so common that it

has been perceived that chocolate is, with respect to them, what

milk is to infants. In reality, if one examines the nature of

chocolate a little, with respect to the constitution of aged

persons, it seems as though the one was made on purpose to

remedy the defects of the other, and that it is truly the

panacea of old age."



Baron von Liebig, one of the best-known writers on dietetics,

says:



Chocolate came over the mountains [from Spain to France]with

Anne of Austria,  daughter of Philip III and queen of Louis XIII.

The Spanish monks also spread the knowledge of it by the presents

they made to their brothers in France. It is well known that

Linnaeus called the fruit of the cocoa tree _theobroma_, 'food

for the gods.'



One legend says that a group of English pirates confiscated

chocolate from a Spanish ship and introduced the drink to England.

Another tale says Italian merchants purchased the secret of

chocolate while on a business trip in Spain. A third claims that

a royal princess of Spain who married King Louis XIII of France

was the first to “spill the beans” about chocolate’s marvelous

flavor.



CHOCOLATE, VIENNA STYLE



Use four ounces  Vanilla Chocolate, one quart of

milk, three tablespoonfuls of hot water, and one tablespoonful of

sugar.



Cut the chocolate in fine bits. Put the milk on the stove in the

double-boiler, and when it has been heated to the boiling point,

put the chocolate, sugar and water in a small iron or granite-ware

pan, and stir over a hot fire until smooth and glossy. Stir this

mixture into the hot milk, and beat well with a whisk.(in Mexico the

drink is whipped with a wooden hive-like spoon called a molinillo)

Serve at once, putting a tablespoonful of whipped cream in each cup

and then filling up with the chocolate.



The plain chocolate may be used instead of the vanilla, but in that case

use a teaspoonful of vanilla extract and three generous tablespoonfuls

of sugar instead of one.



Cheers,

     Gary

Chicken in a Shell

When the Gringo Came

To its pioneer days much of San Francisco's Bohemian spirit
is due. When the cry of "Gold" rang around the world
adventurous wanderers of all lands answered the call, and
during the year following Marshall's discovery two thousand
ships sailed into San Francisco Bay, many to be abandoned on
the beach by the gold-mad throng, and it was in some of these
deserted sailing vessels that San Francisco's restaurant life
had its inception. With the immediately succeeding years the
horde of gold hunters was augmented by those who brought
necessities and luxuries to exchange for the yellow metal given
up by the streams flowing from the Mother Lode. With them also
came cooks to prepare delectable dishes for those who had passed
the flap-jack stage, and desired the good things of life to repay
them for the hardships, privations and dearth of woman's
companionship. As the male human was largely dominant in numbers
it was but natural that they should gather together for companionship,
and here began the Bohemian spirit that has marked the city for its
own to the present day.

These men were all individualists, and their individualism has been
transmitted to their offspring together with independence of action.
Hence comes the Bohemianism born of individuality and independence.

It was only natural that the early San Franciscans should foregather
where good cheer was to be found, and the old El Dorado House, at
Portsmouth Square, was really what may be called the first Bohemian
restaurant of the city. So well was this place patronized and so
exorbitant the prices charged that twenty-five thousand dollars a
month was not considered an impossible rental.

Next in importance was the most fashionable restaurant of early days,
the Iron House. It was built of heavy sheet iron that had been brought
around the Horn in a sailing vessel, and catered well, becoming for
several years the most famed restaurant of the city. Here, in
Montgomery street, between Jackson and Pacific, was the rendezvous of
pioneers, and here the Society of California Pioneers had its inception,
receiving impressions felt to the present day in San Francisco and
California history. Here, also, was first served Chicken in the Shell,
the dish from which so many later restaurants gained fame. The recipe
for this as prepared by the Iron House is still extant, and we are
indebted to a lady, who was a little girl when that restaurant was
waning, whose mother secured the recipe. It was prepared as follows:

Chicken in a Shell

Into a kettle containing a quart of water put a young chicken,
one sliced onion, a bay leaf, two cloves, a blade of mace and
six pepper-corns. Simmer in the covered kettle for one hour and
set aside to cool. When cool remove the meat from the bones,
rejecting the skin. Cut the meat into small dice. Mix in a saucepan,
over a fire without browning, a tablespoonful of butter, a tablespoonful
of flour, then add half a pint of cream. Stir this constantly until it
boils, then add a truffle, two dozen mushrooms chopped fine, a dash of
white pepper and then the dice of chicken. Let the whole stand in a
bain marie, or chafing dish, until quite hot. Add the yolks of two eggs
and let cook two minutes. Stir in half a glass of sherry and serve in
cockle shells.

Cheers,
Gary