Making Pizza with Cathy

I was the youngest child in my family -- the baby.  My brother and sister had already left our family home by the time I reached high school, so for those last three years prior to my own college mecca, I felt like an only child.

Friday night was date night for my parents.  Little stood in the way of their going out to any one of the hundreds of fabulous restaurants in Miami, Miami Beach and Ft. Lauderdale on date night.  That left me home alone, where I was allowed to use their credit card to order in pizza delivery from Marcella's, the neighborhood Italian restaurant and pizzeria.  I had a standing order: small pizza, half pepperoni, half cheese.





In those days, there was no option on the type of crust -- Marcella, the diva restauranteur, hired only exotic olive skinned, dark haired, male family members from Italy, many who didn't speak a word of English.  They stood behind a glass wall hand tossing and stretching pizza dough, while whistling at every female who walked by on the way to a booth or table.  If a female had any doubts about her looks or attractiveness, all she need do to boost her self esteem, was eat at Marcella's.  The dark-eyed dough-tossers whistled at anyone and everyone in a skirt.

All 98 pounds of me leaving for college.

When I left home for college in Valdosta, Georgia, and later Gainesville, Florida, the first understanding I established with each roommate was I didn't care what we ate during the week, but Friday night was pizza night.  No one ever gave me an argument.  Clever that I was in Gainesville, I managed to get a job answering the phones at Shelly's Pizza -- happy to take the Friday night shift that nobody else wanted.  When I arrived back at the dorm smelling like pepperoni, I had free pizzas in hand -- usually topping-mistakes made by Grace, the old Southern black woman in the kitchen who against all cultural odds, was a world-class pizza maker.  I didn't care if they were mistakes.  Pizza was pizza.

Getting married on Siesta Beach at sunset.

The years flew by and by the time J and I married on the Gulf coast, standing barefoot at sunset in exactly the spot where we'd met -- on the white sandy beach in front of the lifeguard station on Siesta Beach -- I was firmly planted in my Friday night pizza tradition. J didn't mind and even became an enabler to my obsession.  He came into the marriage with a love of pizza only surpassed by my own.

Caragiulos on Palm Avenue in Sarasota, Flor

We made the rounds on Friday nights in Sarasota and on the four Keys: Siesta -- where we lived -- as well as Lido, St. Armands, and Longboat, much like my parents had all those years before in Miami.  J had his favorites and I had mine, but harmoniously, we both dubbed Caragiulos, located in a storefront on Palm Avenue in the art district of Sarasota, our hands-down mutual favorite. The seafood pizza, complete with squid with their tentacles standing straight up as the pizza baked, often elicited applause from diners as a waiter walked by with the not-for-the-faint-hearted pie.  In spite of it's unusual bearing and ingredients, Seafood Pizza was a best seller at Caragiulos, and along with half the population of Sarasota, we both loved it.


J and I eventually went our separate ways, but neither the pain of separation nor the loss of divorce, dampened my need for a Friday night fix.  There would be hundreds of Friday nights alone over the next many years, prompting me to develop the blueprint for my own homemade pizza -- Stoned Tortizza, as I humorously call it, baked to perfection on my well-blackened pizza stone.

I often add a tray of Antipasto salad to pizza night

Cathy Jarrett -- a gem of a friend

My dear friend, Cathy Jarrett, came over last Friday to share pizza night with me and get a lesson in homemade Stoned Tortizza.  She walked in carrying a fresh posey of basil, which I cut into a chiffonade for both pizzas.

We talked for hours, catching up on every subject under the sun and had a grand time.  Cathy deemed the conversation "lively!"  Any time spent with a friend, especially one as astute and insightful as Cathy, over a delightful meal and a glass of wine, is a celebration!  So want to make your own tortizza Friday night?  Here we go.....



 

Jo's Friday Night Stoned Tortizza 

RED VERSION

• Extra large burrito tortilla
• Non-chunky red sauce -- bottled or homemade
• bottled chopped garlic
• Thin-sliced Sargento smoked provolone 
• mozzarella
• extra sharp cheddar 
• low-fat turkey pepperoni
• hunk of parmesan
• fresh herbs or Italian seasoning

Preheat pizza stone on center rack in 450 oven.

Place one extra large tortilla on a flat plate or pizza pan (you will be sliding it directly onto the stone to cook.)  Dip basting brush into jar of garlic, and brush the garlic juice all over the tortilla.  This provides the flavor of garlic without the bitterness of biting into it. 

Place a few tablespoons of red sauce in the center of tortilla, then with a spoon, spread in a circular motion out to about 1/2" from the edge. 

Top with 3 or 4 thin slices smoked provolone.  Cut several thin slices of mozzarella (I use one of those little tools you scrape across the surface of the cheese to get irregular slices as seen in photo) and evenly distribute over the provolone. From a hunk of cheddar, hand grate as much as you like all over the mozzarella.  Hand grate as much parmesan as you like over this.  Top with pepperoni and herbs or seasonings.  

Ready for baking on the hot pizza stone.

Using metal spatula or pizza peel, carefully slide tortizza onto preheated stone.  Bake until it's bubbly and the cheese starts to brown in spots, about 5 - 7 minutes. Ovens and stone-heat vary, so just bake until it looks good to you.

Using spatula or pizza peel, lift from stone as you slide back onto pizza pan.  Cut into 8 slices with pizza wheel.  Allow to cool a minute or two so you don't burn the top of your mouth -- haven't we all been there?

WHITE VERSION 

•  Substitute bottled Alfredo sauce for the red sauce.  I make my own simple bechamel (white sauce), adding bottled Parmesan and bottled garlic powder to taste.

• Substitute pepper jack for the cheddar.

• Substitute chopped, canned artichokes for the pepperoni, or distribute a few fresh spinach leaves.

• Grate or sprinkle a pinch of nutmeg over top.

• Bake as above.  Share with a loved one.

Cathy Jarrett, a glass of wine and a couple of Stoned Tortizzas.  A great Friday night indeed.  Notice my wine glass is empty and Cathy's is well, not.

 We killed those two pizzas in no time flat.  You will, too....

  

Bon Apetit!