Pizza Time

Believe it or not, Americans eat 75 acres of pizza a day!

The dinner menu for tonight was home made pizza. We made two different types;

The first pizza was what we call our "traditional" - it's tomato sauce with shredded mozzarella and fontina cheeses with sliced shallots, olives, green bell pepper, mushrooms and turkey pepperoni on top of fresh made pizza dough. (sometimes we add sausage too)

The second pizza was a funky new recipe for us - "pizza with smoked salmon" by Wolfgang Puck. Seriously, the guy's a millionaire, he's doing something right.... most of his recipes are pretty decent.

For this smoked salmon pizza I made the garlic chili oil (see recipe below) the night before by boiling 1 cup olive oil with 1-2 head(s) of garlic for about 15 minutes until they turned golden brown (be careful, don't burn them!), set the pot aside to cool for a while. After the oil has cooled add red pepper flakes to absorb into the oil for a few hours or overnight. Next pour the oil thru a strainer into a bottle. (that's the oil I made pictured to the left)

Our traditional version pizza came out great, the flavors mix together very well, it's no wonder its our favorite classic blend. (click on any photo to see a larger detailed view)

The smoked salmon pizza came out pretty good too but it was rich and a tad on the salty side (from the salmon) I think it would make for a better appetizer cut up into thinner slices, instead of as an entrée in larger slices... but don't get me wrong - it was very tasty.

Here's the recipe for the smoked salmon pizza:

Ingredients
- 6 oz of Pizza Dough (make your own or you can find ready to bake dough at your local grocer - we've found it at Trader Joes and WinCo)
- 1 Tbsp garlic - chili oil (prepare this as described above)
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
- 2 Tbsp dill cream (recipe below)
- 2 1/2 oz of smoked salmon
- 1 Tsp chipped fresh chives

Directions

1. Place a pizza stone on the middle rack of the oven and preheat the oven to 500°F.
2. On a lightly floured surface, stretch or roll out the dough into an 8- inch circle, with the outer edge a little thicker than the inner circle. Brush the dough with the oil and arrange the onions over the pizza. Slide a pizza paddle or rimless baking sheet under the pizza and then slide the pizza onto the pizza stone. Bake until the crust is golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes.
3. With the pizza paddle or a large spatula, carefully remove the pizza from the oven and set it on a cutting board. Use a knife, an icing spatula, or the back of a spoon to spread the Dill Cream over the inner circle. Arrange the slices of salmon so that they cover the entire pizza, slightly overlapping the raised rim. Sprinkle the chopped chives over the salmon. Using a pizza cutter or a large sharp knife, cut the pizza into 4 or 6 slices. Serve immediately

Dill Cream
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream
- 3 Tbsp minced shallots
- 2 Tbsp fresh dill leaves, chopped
- 1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 fresh ground white pepper

mix well in medium bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate until ready to use.