Pizza and Beer

Our first clients came to eat at 10:30 pm last night. Since I arrived at 5:30, we had plenty of time to get the kitchen ready and prepare for the evening. So, what does one do in an Italian kitchen when there is nothing to do? Make Pizza of course!

Nino taught me how to make his famous pizza from scratch. We had it once before when we came in March, it's unbelievable. He begins by using the same dough we use for the dinner bread. He kneaded it out a bit then began to run it through the pasta machine, making it thinner each time. Once the dough was about a 1/2 inch thick, he used a rolling pin to form it into an even rectangle. For consistency purposes he rolled both sides of the dough using lots of flour. Once the dough was ready, he placed it on a sheet.

Next was the sauce. At Il Bottaccio we make fresh tomato sauce almost daily. He ladled it on and spread it out evenly. Then sprinkled some fresh edammer cheese all over. Covering that with drizzles of extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper. Finally we topped it all with slices of smoked cheese. At this stage you can add other toppings, but we chose to stick with the original cheese.

Placed in the oven at 250 degrees Celcius (480 degrees farenheit) for 6-8 minutes or until gold and bubbly on top, and brown on the bottom.

We paired it with an ice cold Guiness, what a perfect way to spend a slow night in the kitchen!