Bianco: Pizza, Pasta and Other Food I Like

1½ ounces thinly sliced soppressata (about 10 slices)

8 to 10 Kalamata, Gaeta, or your favorite olives, split and pitted

A pinch of dried oregano, preferably wild

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven (remove the rack above it) and place a pizza stone on it. Turn up your oven to its maximum setting and let that baby preheat for a solid hour.

Grab a pizza peel and give it a nice, light dusting of flour. Shape the dough (#ulink_682689d9-beac-5c7a-a2e6-ee6a4ca7faa1) as directed and set the dough on the floured peel. Jerk the peel to make sure it’s not sticking. If it is, lift the dough and dust the underside with extra flour (or, if no one is looking, blow under it very gently). Tuck and shape it until it’s a happy circle.

Spoon the tomato sauce evenly over the pizza, using the back of the spoon to help spread it, starting from the center and stopping about ¾ inch—a fat thumb’s width—from the edges. (With a hand-crushed tomato sauce, the consistency of the sauce over the pizza’s surface will be uneven. It’s inevitable.) Sprinkle the Parmigiano, if using, over the sauce. Let the spots where the tomato sauce is thinner guide you as to the placement of the mozzarella—hit those drier spots with a bit more mozzarella. Add the soppressata, spacing it evenly, followed by the olives. Then crumble the oregano over the pizza, pinching it firmly to activate its flavor and aroma.

Open the oven and, tilting the peel just slightly, give it a quick shimmy-shake to slide the pizza onto the pizza stone. Bake the pizza for 10 to 15 minutes, until the crust is crisp and golden brown.

Remove the pizza with the peel. Enjoy immediately!

WISEGUY PIZZA (#ulink_490387f2-bdee-5afd-a29d-ef8109523e0e)

Yes, sometimes less is still too much. But other times, well … sometimes more is still not enough, and that’s the spirit of the Wiseguy. The Wiseguy is a bit over the top on purpose and tips the scales of balance to the max. It’s got a sense of humor. At the time this pizza came into being, the movie Goodfellas was immensely popular, and I found myself thinking, What would I make if a guy like Paulie rolled up to my shop? I’d want it to be pretty special but not take itself too seriously. So here we are: smoked mozzarella, onions roasted in our wood-burning oven, and fennel sausage. A reimagined sausage pizza. The mozzarella is almost nutty from the pecan wood we use to smoke it, the onions are a little leathery and toothsome, and the sausage tastes almost piney. Each ingredient brings a specific flavor profile that balances the others: You’ve got elements of sweet, salty, fatty, campfire, woodsiness. And each ingredient has its own distinct texture. I wanted a pie I could pick at, and pull things off of with my fingers: I love the snap of a good sausage, and here we cut the sausage on the diagonal so it will curl slightly as it cooks and so you can see the interior. The roasted onions, redolent of char from that hot oven, are in thick slices, so you have to bite into them. The mozzarella has the chew you expect but surprises with its smokiness. I’ve always loved smoked mozzarella—when I was a kid, it was probably the most exotic thing I ate. If you can’t find it, substitute smoked Gouda or a smoked young cheddar. At our restaurants, we do a really quick hot smoke on the cheese because I don’t want it to be too acrid, or it would overpower the pizza. Of course, you could just use fresh mozzarella, if smoke is not your thing.

If you want a great little antipasto, cook some onions as in this recipe, then dress them with balsamic vinegar, some toasted or fried coarse bread crumbs, and a little grated pecorino.

Makes one 10-inch pizza

1 large white or yellow onion, sliced into thick rings

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

One ball Pizza Dough (#ulink_3433f2de-175e-5a31-a2f7-2cf44c21ab42), rested and ready to shape

2 ounces smoked mozzarella, smoked Gouda, or smoked cheddar, sliced or cut into cubes

½ pound sweet Italian sausages, or your favorite sausages, cooked (grilled, panfried, or roasted, as you like) and thinly sliced on the diagonal

Coarse sea salt

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven (remove the rack above it) and preheat the oven to 400°F.

Arrange the onion slices on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with the 1 tablespoon olive oil, then carefully turn them so they’re evenly coated with oil. Season with fine sea salt and pepper and pop them into the oven for 10 minutes. Carefully turn the onion slices and cook for 10 more minutes. Toss them well and cook for about 10 minutes longer; you want them to get a beautiful color, a good golden brown, and to cook down significantly but still have integrity. Scrape them into a bowl and toss them with the parsley. Set aside.

Place a pizza stone on the oven rack and increase the oven temperature to its maximum setting. Since the oven is already hot, another 20 minutes or so of preheating should do it.

Grab a pizza peel and give it a nice, light dusting of flour. Shape the dough (#ulink_682689d9-beac-5c7a-a2e6-ee6a4ca7faa1) as directed and set the dough on the floured peel. Jerk the peel to make sure it’s not sticking. If it is, lift the dough and dust the underside with extra flour (or, if no one is looking, blow under it very gently). Tuck and shape it until it’s a happy circle.

Hit the dough with the mozzarella, scattering it evenly and stopping about ¾ inch—a fat thumb’s width—from the edges. Add the caramelized onion slices, draping them over the spots where there’s less cheese. Finally, add the sausage, arranging it to balance the cheese and onion.

Open the oven and, tilting the peel just slightly, give it a quick shimmy-shake to slide the pizza onto the pizza stone. Bake the pizza for 10 to 15 minutes, until the crust is crisp and golden brown.

Remove the pizza with the peel, sprinkle with a pinch of coarse salt, and drizzle with olive oil. Enjoy immediately!

FOCACCIA (#ulink_2d830a7d-980d-57ab-81f4-d9063258d70a)

You could also call this Sicilian pizza or pizza al taglio or grandma pie—it can be any of those. Even the name “grandma pie” makes me happy, because it makes me think of a grandma in Topeka or Chicago, someone who doesn’t have a wood-burning oven and makes pizza in a pan because she’s busy. But here I wanted to evoke a version of the Sicilian pizza I loved growing up in New York. Sicilian pie wasn’t an everyday thing. It was bigger than life. It was rare to see it available as slices. I loved the crust, the crispy oiliness of it, the crunchy bottom that gave way to an airy, springy center and a tender, yielding top. Sicilian pizza always felt celebratory.

This is the same dough we use to make pizza, but it is given a slightly longer proofing time after the first rise. We also use this focaccia, without any topping other than coarse salt and maybe some rosemary leaves, for our sandwiches.

Makes 9 large pieces for sandwiches or 12 smaller pieces

Pizza Dough (#ulink_3433f2de-175e-5a31-a2f7-2cf44c21ab42), taken through the 3-hour rise

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Coarse sea salt (optional)

Chopped fresh rosemary or another topping of your choice (optional; recipes follow)

After the dough has proofed for a minimum of 3 hours, put it on a large rimmed baking sheet and drizzle the oil over it, turning to coat. Then flatten and press the dough out into a rectangle (it won’t fill the pan entirely at this point). Cover with plastic wrap and let proof for 1½ hours in a warm place. When the dough has fully proofed, it will have absorbed some of the oil, will have stretched to fit the pan snugly, and will look alive, almost bubbling.

Meanwhile, about an hour before the dough has finished proofing, preheat the oven to its highest setting.

Using two fingers, make even indentations in rows up and down the surface of the dough, leaving a 1-inch border all around. At this point, you can just sprinkle it with some sea salt and, if you like, fresh rosemary leaves and bake it as directed (that is the version we use for our sandwiches) or you can use one of the toppings that follow. The choice is yours.

TOMATO, PARMESAN, AND HERB TOPPING (#ulink_0cd3d2d9-11bb-5c74-ac1e-3f7c87f2293d)

Makes enough for 1 focaccia

1 cup Crushed Tomato Sauce (#ulink_b5865456-7e91-5474-be97-c3f47109b61a)

¾ pound Parmigiano-Reggiano, coarsely grated

A pinch of dried oregano, preferably wild, or a few fresh basil leaves

Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Spoon the tomato sauce onto the dough, using the back of the spoon to spread it evenly and leaving a 1-inch border all around. Scatter the grated Parmigiano evenly over the tomato sauce and then sprinkle on the oregano, pinching it with your fingers to release all that heady scent. Finish with a few good lashes of olive oil.

Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the pan front to back and bake for about 15 minutes more, until the focaccia is golden brown. Remove it from the pan, transfer to a wire rack, and cool for at least 10 minutes. Cut into squares and serve warm.

FIG, RED ONION, PECORINO, AND THYME TOPPING (#ulink_df5b6027-cf33-5e39-8e1b-b14a29d53606)

Makes enough for 1 focaccia

1 cup fig jam

About 2 tablespoons water