Calamari Pizza @ Coppa

This is the Sicilian Fisherman's Wood-Fired Pizza from Coppa.

It will be the best fried-cephalopod pizza you've ever had. 

We went to go check out Coppa this week.  I'm glad we did.  It's a beautiful, simple, elegant hole in the wall with great music and a yummy, creative menu.  We sat at the bar, had a couple of beers and ordered the broccoli raabe antipasti with Meyer lemon and garlic.  It was one of the best dressed greens plate I've ever  had.  Next we got the above photographed pie.  This was special not only because it was frikkin' fried calamari on a pizza, but because I've been pondering grilled squid on pizza for a while.  I thought it might be too chewy, so this was a way to experience a similar version and test my theory out.

The Squid came piled high- tubes, tentacles and all, along with cherry peppers, parmesan and tomato. Each slice was decked out, and the first bite was slightly awkward as calamari toppled over onto the plate, but overall it was an unbelievably delicious combination of flavors and textures.  And you know what?  The squid that falls to the plate, you just pick up with your hands and eat.  No biggie.  I didn't find the squid to be too chewy for the application, either.  The key here may be the quantity of the squid on the pizza - enough so that you get at least one whole tube with every bite.  The tentacles required a little more sophisticated maneuvering, but totally worth it.

Big fan of Coppa.  Can't wait to try out Toro, with another menu by Chef Jamie Bissonnette.

One pie served two of us with leftovers to spare.  Made an excellent late night snack AND breakfast.

Pizza Eggs

                    

So I'm a huge fan of the Showtime series Weeds.  Somewhere in the 1st season there is mention of Pizza Eggs, with no further explanation.  It is a reoccurring meal mentioned on the show.  Ever since I heard those two words put together, my mind has raced with many interpretations of the actual dish.  This will be one of several Pizza Egg recipes that will be posted in this blog, both to pay homage to the fine writers at Weeds and because this first experiment was DELICIOUS!

  Lucky for me and this recipe, my boyfriend works at a pizza restaurant, and I received a beautiful gift of leftover slice-pie pizzas and bread loaves the other night.  Although this pizza was just plain cheese, ANY pizza topping combos that you fancy would be excellent in this dish.  I chose to simply add some capers to my pizza...my new favorite pizza topping.  After trying to explain where capers came from to a friend and consulting this killer book:  Food Plants of the World , I discovered that not only are capers flowers, but they are one of the most popular pizza toppings in the world!?!?  I tried it and fell in love.  Of course, you can order or make whatever kind of pizza you want. 

Leftovers on Huevos, Part II

Ingredients

1 slice leftover pizza (any and all toppings optional)

2 eggs

1 tbsp goat cheese or cream cheese

1/2 tbsp butter

Parmesan

Red Pepper flakes

Oregano

Hot sauce

Salt and Pepper

Directions

Reheat leftover pizza slice in oven.  Remove and let cool for 5 minutes.  Cut off the bone (crust) with a knife, and nibble on it while you cook-like an appetizer.  Cut the cool, but still warm pizza into 1-2" chunks and set aside.  Heat butter in a frying pan on Medium-High heat.  When the butter has melted, begin making the scrambled eggs.  I personally like to crack the eggs in the pan and then take a wooden spoon and start scrambling.  I add a little goat cheese (if it's not already on the pizza) straight into the pan instead of milk to add some cream and fluff to the eggs.  You may also find it helpful to occasionally lift the frying pan off of the eye while scrambling to prevent overcooking the eggs.  About halfway through cooking the eggs (~3 minutes), add the pizza chunks in.  Continue to scramble another 3-5 minutes until eggs are cooked and the pizza has assimilated.  Garnish like you would pizza and/or eggs:  add any combination of parmesan, red pepper flakes, oregano, salt, pepper, hot sauce or whatever else you throw on your Pizza Eggs, and feast on this stoner breakfast of champs!