We usually do Friday night pizza night with the family. We’re not pizza snobs by any means, so this usually entails walking down to the pier to Cassano’s, a family-friendly (doesn’t matter how loud the kids are or that our little tornado screams “CHOO CHOO,” anytime the train passes by), pizza-by-the-slice-if-you-like joint that serves up one of the best White Pizzas (add basil!) ever. We had a regular waitress (gonna miss ya, Stephanie) who would set lemonades down for the kids and bring out a pitcher of Stella with two chilled pint glasses as soon as we sat down. So the fact that the landlord had a personal issue with the owner and refused to renew the lease, resulting in a local restaurant taking it over, is quite a disappointment. No recipes are being sold, so that means our favorite White Pizza and our coveted available-only-in-March St. Patrick’s Day Pizza (yup, corned beef, sauerkraut and mustard — don’t knock it ’til you try it because it is [was] absolutely amazing and addicting) are no longer. {super sad face here}
I’m not saying we won’t try the new place out once it’s up and running (it isn’t the new business owner’s fault the landlord crapped on the previous owner), but for now, we’re taking the opportunity to try making our own pizza. The girls can add their own toppings and that makes it more entertaining for them (even if they don’t get to search for sea glass and swing on the sand before dinner). The hubs and I can try all sorts of different ingredients, which is always fun.
Making the dough from scratch is a cinch. Bobby Flay (our hero) has a simple recipe my boss has touted, so of course that’s the dough we went with. You end up with two balls. I cut up the second ball into thirds so that each little one has their own pizza and can add whatever their hearts desire (of course little man gets what we say he gets). The first time we did pizza from scratch at home I also made a tomato sauce from scratch. The hubs thought it was overboard, but it was a really easy recipe and didn’t take long. I’m trying to dig that thing up so I can point you to it, but I will have to come back and update because for some reason I totally spaced pinning it to my board. The second time I used jarred Ragu I had on hand. It worked, but it certainly wasn’t nearly as tasty as the scratch sauce. Anyway, I digress …
Olas & Chanclas 