Mushroom-Prosciutto Pizza

Mushroom-Prosciutto Pizza

makes 2 10 or 12-inch pizzas

(Italy)

Ingredients

dough:

1 cup warm (105 ° F) water

1 envelope active dry yeast  (about 1 1/8 teaspoons)

¼ cup honey

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 1/2 cups bread flour, plus additional for work surface

4 teaspoon salt

topping:

18 ounces sliced cremini mushrooms, sliced

2 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup finely chopped shallots

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme

¼ cup Marsala wine

4 ounces prosciutto, cut into thin strips

1 cup shredded fontina cheese

Preparation

dough:

1.  In a 2 cup measuring cup, combine the water and honey stir to combine and sprinkle the yeast over it. Let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 10 minutes.  If the yeast doesn't "proof" (get "foamy") pour it out and start again it is important to have a live yeast mixture.

2.  Meanwhile place the flour and the salt into a sifter and sift it into the medium bowl  of a stand mixer.  Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the olive oil and the "proofed" yeast mixture.  Turn the mixer, fitted with dough hooks,  to high (labeled  knead on my mixer) and turn on.  Continue kneading (mixing) until the dough comes cleanly away from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball around the dough hooks (scrap the sides of the bowl to move flour into the path of the hooks as needed).

3.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth but still slightly tacky (add flour gradually as needed to reach the slightly tacky state), 3 to 5 minutes.

4.  Lightly oil a large mixing bowl with about 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl and turn to oil the ball on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap cloth and set in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

5.  After the dough  has doubled in size, remove the dough from the bowl and form it into a 12-inch log.  Divide the log in half and form each half into equally sized dough balls.  Lightly oil a 2 large mixing bowl with about 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Place each dough ball into its own bowl and turn to oil the ball on all sides. Cover each bowl with plastic and set in a warm, draft-free place until the nearly double in size again, about1 to 1 1/2 hours.

topping:

1.  Melt butter in a 12-inch, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sauté mushrooms and shallots until the shallots are translucent and the mushrooms are tender; about 7 minutes.  Add garlic and thyme; sauté 1 minute. Stir in the Marsala.  Correct seasoning to taste; remove from heat. 

construction and baking:

1.  Place an appropriately sized pizza stone on the middle shelf of your oven and pre-heat the oven to 450° F.

2.  On work surface, place one of the dough balls and flatten into a disk, with your fingertips and palms, press it into a thinner disk of dough approximately 10 to 12 - inches round and about 1/8-inch thick (if necessary use a rolling pin to achieve the 1/8-inch thickness [don’t worry if the pizza isn’t perfectly round . . . that’s called “rustica” and it’s the way “real” Italian pizza looks in Italy]).  Sprinkle flour over the surface of this thin disk (this will become the bottom of the pie when you place the disk on the peel  in the next instruction).

3.  Distribute some corn meal over the surface of a pizza peel (this will act as “ball bearings” and allow the dough rounds to move easily over the surface of the peel) and transfer the formed pizza base onto the peel, lightly spread about ½ of the mushroom mixture evenly over crust; sprinkle evenly with ½ of the prosciutto and ½ of the fontina cheese (leaving about ½ inch of uncoated dough around the edge to form the crust). 

4.  Finally  sprinkle a little extra-virgin olive oil over the surface.

5.  Gently shake the peel to insure the pizza moves freely (if it doesn’t gently lift the edges of the pizza and distribute additional corn meal until it does), using the peel slide the pizza onto the stone and bake the pizza until the cheese is melted and bubbly, about 12 minute in a 450°F oven. Remove from the oven, slice into 8 wedge shaped slices and serve.

6.  Repeat with the remaining dough and remaining  ½ toppings and cheese.

Pork Cordon Bleu

Pork Cordon Bleu

(America)

serves 4

This is an adaption of the traditional Chicken Cordon Bleu developed to use pork scallopini in place of the chicken.  The rolling technique may take a while to master but once you have it can be applied in a number of situations calling for "jelly rolls" of meat.  Use the best prosciutto and most flavourful Gruyere cheese as you can find, skimping on these key ingredients will produce less than satisfactory results using the best ingredients will produce a meal to remember!

Ingredients

4 thin cut boneless pork chops, pounded into 1/8" thick scallopini

4 thin slices prosciutto di Parma

1/2 pound Gruyere, grated

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup panko bread crumbs

4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and micro-planed

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 eggs

2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

Preparation

1.  Trim all fat from the edges of the boneless pork chops.  One at a time, place the trimmed pork chops in a 1 gallon zip closure plastic bag or between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and using the flat side of a meat mallet, gently pound the pork into 1/8-inch thick scallopini. Continue until all the pork chops have been turn into scallopini.

2.  Working with one scallopini at a time and working on a clean, flat work surface lay out a sheet of plastic wrap large enough to accommodate the scallopini you are working with.  Place the scallopini on top of the sheet of plastic and lay 2 slices of the prosciutto neatly over the top to cover the scallopini and sprinkle 1/4 of the grated cheese over the prosciutto. Tuck in the sides of the scallopini as well as possible (this will keep the cheese from "oozing out" as you fry) and, using the plastic wrap as an aid, roll the scallopini tightly in a jellyroll manner inside the plastic wrap as to create a "sausage" whose skin becomes the plastic wrap. Squeeze the "sausage" gently to seal and twist both ends of the wrap tightly. Repeat with until all the scallopini, prosciutto, and cheese have been used.

3.  Place the scallopini "sausages" in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to all the form to "set".

4.  In the meanwhile, create a breading station by seasoning the flour with the  salt and pepper on a dish, mixing the bread crumbs with thyme, garlic and kosher salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of melted butter (the butter will help the crust brown) on another plate, and beat together the eggs in a bowl.

5.  Working with one scallopini "sausage" at a time, remove the plastic wrap, lightly dust the unwrapped "sausage" with flour, dip it into the egg mixture and gently coat in the bread crumbs and place the breaded "sausage" on the prepared cookie sheet; continue until all the "sausages" have been breaded.

6.  Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat, when the foam subsided, fry each the sausages until they are golden browned on all sides and cooked through; 5 minutes.  As the "sausages" finish, remove them to a paper towel lined plate to drain. 

7.  Working with one "sausage" at a time, remove the drained "sausage" to a clean cutting board and cut the "sausage" into 1-inch thick pinwheels and arrange the pinwheels on a serving platter.  Serve immediately accompanied by Marsala Sauce, Madeira Sauce, or Peach Chutney and an appropriate vegetable.