Written and Photographed by Tom DiGangi, Jr.
My grandmother lived with my family when I was a boy. And, I learned a lot about food because of it. She was born and raised in the small hill town of St Anna on the southern coast of Sicily before she settled in Philadelphia after an eventful emigration from the old country. As I have been told, the journey involved a gun, a stowaway, and oddly enough, a donkey. But, that is a story for another day.
Grandma used to make a pan pizza that I still dream about. It bore no resemblance to the uber-cheesy, topping heavy, beasts that Pizza Hut, Pizzeria Uno, or any of the other unfortunately Italianesque chains perpetrate on diners in shopping centers and food courts around the US and the globe.
No. Bernadina Abruzzo’s pizza was sublime. A medium crust - not to thin, not to thick, crispy to bite, yet airy to chew - was the foundation for it all. The rest was incredibly simple. A base-coat of fine olive oil. A sparing amount of homemade tomato sauce, lightly flavored with garlic and basil, topped the crust. An even more sparing dusting of parmigano, or more often then not, pecorino, cheese finished the pie. After all, she was from Sicily, where sheep milk and its resulting pecorino cheese still reigns supreme.
Simple as it was, I cannot imitate it and have given up. Instead, I have taken to improvising on her theme of simple, high-quality ingredients used in shockingly small proportions. The following recipe is one of those attempts. It elicited a “this is absolutely delicious” response from Laura who rarely expresses praise above “good.” What can I say? She is part German, so as long as the food is on time, it’s usually o.k. by her. With that context, “delicious” is high praise.
Pan Pizza with fennel sausage, mushrooms and arugula
Ingredients
4 Cups Pizza Dough – see recipe
4 Oz. Sweet Pork Sausage with Fennel
1 1/2 Cups Tomato Sauce, homemade – see recipe
4 Sun-dried Tomatoes, finely diced
2 T Dry Vermouth
2 Cups Hen of the Woods Mushrooms (A.K.A. Maitake), roughly chopped
(substitute with crimini or button mushrooms)
2 Cups Arugula, roughly chopped
1 Cup grated Caciocavalo Cheese
1 Cup grated Parmigano Reggiano Cheese
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper to taste
Procedure
To make the pizza dough…
Laura makes great (and easy) bread dough every week that we leave in the fridge. Check out Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for the recipe and procedure. When we want to make bread, we pull out a handful of the dough, form it into the desired shape and let it rise for an hour while the oven is heating-up. To convert this bread dough into pizza dough, we add a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and kneed it in. Then, let it rise in an oiled bowl on the countertop for a couple of hours, but it could sit there all day and would only get better. The longer the dough is left to rise, the lighter the pizza crust. You could always use store-bought dough, but you wouldn’t, would you?
To make the tomato sauce…
Sauté a few cloves of crushed garlic in a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil until lightly browned. As you may infer, precise measurements are not critical here. Add a small can (about 20 oz) of high-quality whole plum tomatoes that you crush with you hands or a masher. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Season with salt, add about a dozen leaves of whole basil and simmer for 10 minutes. Done!
To assemble the pizza…
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
In a sauté pan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil and add the sausage, crumbling it into small pieces. Cook over medium heat until brown. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, tomato sauce and two tablespoons of dry vermouth. Scrap the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release any good stuff stuck to the pan. Simmer for a few minutes and set aside.
Coat a half sheet pan with a liberal amount of extra-virgin olive oil. It should be thick enough so that you can write your name in the oil in the pan with your finger. Stretch the dough with your hands to roughly the size of the pan without breaking the dough. Do not use a rolling pin, as this will break the edges and release the air from the dough. Your goal is to keep as much of the developed air (or rise) from escaping from the dough. Press the dough into the pan, leaving at least a half-inch edge to develop the perfect crust handle. If the dough is too elastic and pulls away from the sides, let it rest a few minutes, then finish the job.
Remember, it is all about the dough, so add the toppings sparingly! Start with the tomato sauce and sausage, then the mushrooms and cheeses. Reserve the arugula.
Place the pizza-in-a-pan on the center rack in a 400-degree oven for 10 minutes. Then rotate the pan and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the arugula and return to the oven for three to five minutes. Total cooking time is approximately 25 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let rest for at least five minutes before serving.
Accompaniment
I dreamed-up and indulged in a cocktail while making this dish, and named it the British Virgin Islander, because it incorporates the English favorite, gin, with the Caribbean staple, rum. But, there is nothing virgin about it. If someone else has already created this drink or used this name, please accept my apologies. I am aware of neither.
In a shaker, mix plenty of ice with 1 part gin, 1 part white rum, ¼ part dry vermouth, juice of ½ of a lemon, and juice of ½ an orange. Mix and strain into a chilled martini glass. Finish with a rim garnish of a wedge of orange and a wedge of lemon.
I can’t promise you’ll love it, or that it goes best with the pizza, but it felt right to me. Enjoy!
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