Best Pizza thread!

Well, not lately anyway.

I'd say Nancy Silverton (and others') pizzeria Mozza, but I have had the pleasure of going there to test that out.

I remember wandering the streets of Firenze in the late 60's looking for pizza.

There weren't any.

Late sixties, you missed the flood.. (some friends were there for it).

I remember my first ital pizza was in a bowling alley cafe in Sesto Fiorentino, just west of Firenze... mushrooms that skittered across the pizza as you lifted it to eat.

Trying to remember if I've ever had another pizza north of Rome..

Edit - that earlier post was that I never have been to Mozza.

Mozza -

quoting - Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich meld their prodigious talents to bring Pizzeria Mozza and Osteria Mozza to the heart of Los Angeles. With the devout commitment to product, environment and hospitality, the two unique but equally engaging concepts provide dynamic templates for displaying the group's profound passions.

I practically faint reading the menu -
http://www.mozza-la.com/pizzeria/menu.cfm
Part of the success is Silverton's fabulous dough (I've heard).

I say that's a worthy reason alone to make the cross country trip to visit Los Angeles. Heck, I'd move to LA simply to be near that pizza shop!

Ah, tsar, I make the homemade kind. Awesome on top: eggplant I've put under the broiler for a while (until soft), then salted (kosher salt only, not too much). Plus da homemade sauce I make in the slow cooker.

Have you ever shared your homemade sauce recipe, Jespah? I'm experimenting right now and have reached an impasse. It's the last hurdle to making my dream pizza.

The list includes a pizza with brussels sprouts topping and doesn't include any Chicago pizza. It is therefore invalid.

The lack of deep dish and/or Chicago pizza is disturbing indeed.

I like pretty much every pizza. The only way to ruin it for me is if they add too much sauce. It's fine by me if they just brush sauce on -- any more overpowers all the other flavors.

Pizzeria Uno in Chicago is my favorite pizza place but I'll pretty much pass on deep dish anywhere but there.

I like crispy, thin crust the best and will order my slice "overbaked" in most by-the-slice places since they usually have that fold-over crust.

Have you the displeasure of trying so called healthy pizza with whole wheat crust and skim milk or even vegan pizza with faux-cheese? It's blasphemous I tell ya!

Now why would I go and do something that crazy?

Everyone else is welcome to my share of soy-based Martian food.

I believe real food is health food.

I've learned a heck of a lot about pizza making from this site:

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php

It can be a little overwhelming.

Here ya go. I'm not Italian so God knows it's not authentic. Plus I watch salt so I took that into account when making it:

Low Salt, Low Fat Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce

Ingredients
8 oz Portabella Mushrooms
2/3 oz Fresh Oregano
2/3 oz Fresh Basil
10 oz Fresh White Mushroom pieces or slices
1 large Vidalia or other sweet onion
2 cloves of Garlic
8 cups chopped or sliced Plum Tomatoes (about 14 or 15)
16 oz raw Baby Carrots

Directions
Finely chop all ingredients and place in slow cooker. If you are using dried herbs rather than fresh, halve the amounts.

Cook for 8 hours in the slow cooker. If not all of the ingredients fit, fit whatever you can in and let it go for an hour. By that time, the ingredients will have cooked down and you should be able to add the remainder.

Once the cooking process is done, turn off the cooker and let it sit with the lid open for about 4 hours in order to let off some liquid. If you don't want to wait, just pour off the liquid, which can be used in a soup.

Puree ingredients (I use a stick blender) until a little chunky.

Makes 48 oz. Serving size is 2 oz.

Number of Servings: 24

never thought I would live long enough to contemplate carrot pizza...



(pet bunnies prolly go crazy for it, though)

Have a little olive oil. It's good for you. No make you fat - Scouts honor.

Calories!

I have plenty of olive oil (salad dressing). Don't need it here, thanks.

I am a huge fan of Giordano's pizza here in Chicago. By far my current favorite.

From that list, I've only eaten the Rosa from Pizzeria Bianco and I have to agree that it's some damn good pizza. I'll have to remember to check out some others.

Thanks a lot Jespah. I'm going to try this for New Year's Day.