Notes about Recipes in this book

• Naples-style pizza sauce (Salsa di pomodoro fresco)

  • Rutabaga on March 30, 2014

    My favorite thing about this recipe is how simple it is - no cooking required! Because it is so basic, containing only canned tomatoes and salt, good tomatoes are a must. I usually use Cento.

• Naples-style pizza dough (Pasta da pizza)

  • Rutabaga on March 30, 2014

    This is probably my favorite pizza crust recipe that I've tried so far. I've used bread flour when our of tipo "00", and it still turns out well. It is very sticky, which is what allows you to stretch and shape it by hand. Ideally, use a "super peel" (a pizza peel with a rotating cloth cover that allows you to slide the pizza smoothly from peel to baking surface), otherwise it really sticks to the peel, even with a lot of cornmeal. I cook my pizzas on a preheated baking steel in a 550 F oven.

• Ham and cheese calzone (Calzone di prosciutto e ricotta)

  • twoyolks on August 22, 2015

    This did not cook in anywhere near the time listed in the recipe. I cooked it for 6 minutes and it was still not completely cooked. Also, the salami overpowered the ham completely.

• Walnut pesto and zucchini pizza (Noci e zucchini)

  • Rutabaga on August 24, 2014

    The creamy walnut pesto makes for an unusual sauce, but I like he rich nutty flavor and the fact that it brings some protein to a vegetarian pizza. My husband, however, felt he would prefer a different sauce, and a garlic cream sauce would probably be a great alternative. If you make the sauce and fry the zucchini ahead of time, this comes together very quickly. It's a fun way to use zucchini and do something different for pizza night. I wish, however, that the ingredients were more specific than "two small zucchini". I used five very small zucchini, but after seeing how much they shrank down feel I really should have doubled that amount. Include the squash blossoms whenever possible.

• Chickpea-flour dumplings in spiced tomato sauce (Dharan ji kadhi)

  • Rutabaga on December 21, 2019

    This is a tasty vegan curry and actually not too difficult to make. The chickpea balls are rather delicate before cooked, so be careful when boiling them. I found they needed a couple more minutes time to cook through. While my children aren't big curry fans, my older son did enjoy eating the plain dumplings after they were fried, but not so much when they were mixed with the sauce. In future, I'd make extra dumplings and set them aside to eat as is.