New York Style White Pizza

White pizza is one of my favorite things...of all time. Basically. Growing up we used to go to Anthony's Pizza (http://nyanthonyspizza.com/) every Wednesday before Thanksgiving and buy the largest pizza bianca you have ever seen. 

And it was a sight to be seen, let me tell you. A layer of perfectly browned cheese, little circles of ricotta dotted evenly across the pizza, with the occasional puddle of olive oil and fresh garlic. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Well, now that I live in Tucson we don't get to eat it. So it inspired me to attempt to make my own pizza bianca. 

White Pizza:

Ingredients:

One store bought pizza dough (you can find the fresh dough in the refrigerated section)

1 cup of part-skim mozzarella

1/3 cup of part-skim ricotta

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tbs. of olive oil

dried oregano

Directions:

Let your store bought pizza dough rest on the counter for 30 minutes. While it's resting, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Saute your garlic in the olive oil over VERY low heat while your dough rests as well. You do not want it to brown or it will overcook in the oven. 

Once your dough has rested, slowly stretch or roll it out to your desired thickness and place on a pizza stone or baking sheet. Then brush liberally with your garlic-infused olive oil. 

Evenly sprinkle the shredded mozzarella over the pizza, leaving a border for your crust and dollop the ricotta evenly on the pizza. Then sprinkle with dried oregano to taste.

Bake it for 12 to 15 minutes, rotating once. And then enjoy!

It's not exactly like Anthony's, but it's still delicious. I hope you enjoy this recipe, one of my all time favorites, and stay tuned...I see homemade pizza dough in our future!

Buon appetito!

Shrimp Scampi

So it's been quite some time since I posted a new entry on here...

.:lowers head in shame:.

And I'm sorry! But I'm back with a recipe I hope you'll love as much as I do. 

Shrimp Scampi!! Or, well, at least what my family calls scampi. I'm not sure if this really is a true shrimp scampi, but it's delish. I'll tell you that. 

What I love about shrimp is how fast they cook and how quickly you can throw this meal together. You can cook this entire meal in the time it takes you to cook the pasta. For serious.

Also, this sauce is a great for any fish dish. Sometimes I like to season some tilapia with salt and pepper, lightly dredge it in flour and then pan fry it and top it with this sauce. Yum. 

Shrimp Scampi: (serves two)

Ingredients:

2 tbs. of olive oil

10-12 large shrimp

the juice of one lemon

the zest of half a lemon

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

a splash of white wine, we used Trader Joe's chardonnay

dried parsley to taste

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 lb. of pasta (we used linguine)

Directions:

First you want to heat up the water for your pasta and a couple heavy pinches of salt to the water. 

Turn a saute pan to medium heat and add two tbs. of olive oil. Once shimmering add your shrimp and cook for a couple of minutes, flipping over once. Remove the shrimp when they are no longer translucent. 

Add your garlic cloves and crushed red pepper and saute for a couple of minutes. Once the garlic begins to brown slightly add the lemon juice and half of your lemon zest. At this point, if you have not started to cook your pasta you may want to...

Then you want to find a dashing young man to open your chardonnay for you. Luckily, I keep a husband around just for this reason ;) Add a splash of the chardonnay to your garlic/lemon/deliciousness sauce and reduce. 

I also like to reserve a 1/4 to 1/2 of the pasta water at this point. This starchy/salty water helps to bring the sauce together at the end. It varies how much you'll need, you only need enough of it to help moisten all the pasta after you've added your delicious scampi sauce. 

Once the wine has reduced down a bit, add the shrimp back to the pan to warm through. Remember, they don't take long to cook. Overcooked shrimp are the worst too, so be careful not to cook these little babies to death!

Add your perfectly al dente pasta to the pan and stir. If the pasta seems a little dry, add some pasta water. And if your sauce seems a little dull add a pad of butter! Trust me. I mean, when is butter ever bad? Oh, that's right, never. NEVER. 

Divide up your pasta and shrimpies, and sprinkle it with the remaining half of your lemon zest. In my family we do not put cheese on our fish dishes, so this zest is like my cheese garnish. That, and it's just yummy. You can also sprinkle some fresh or dried parsley on the top, too. We didn't have fresh so I used dried. Delish. You don't have to add much salt to the sauce if you added any of the salted pasta water to it. If you didn't, taste and double check. 

And then shove it in your face...what are you waiting for?