Yummy Pizza

Surprise... more Basil! Also, more prosciutto. Nick has decided he really likes it. Prosciutto, not basil. Although he likes Basil too, thank goodness.

Anyway, this pizza was primarily intended as a vehicle for the aforementioned basil and prosciutto, as well as the remaining mozzarella in my fridge. All three are incredible: the basil is from my fire escape, and the prosciutto and mozzarella are from Italy by way of Agata & Valentina, an absolutely amazing gourmet food store on 79th and 1st. They have at least 4 kinds of prosciutto, exotic cheese offerings and make their own pasta. Needless to say, I love it there.

The pleasant surprise of the evening was how great the pizza itself was. I bought the dough from a pizza place down the street and was a bit shocked to pay $5 for it. Admittedly, it was a HUGE piece of dough, but still. Pizza dough is a dollar in Salem - you could get a whole pizza for $5! But it wouldn't be as good as this pizza.

Because the dough was so big, it was a kind of thick-crust pizza. And although I usually prefer thin-crust, it was really good. Soft and chewy but not gooey - I don't know how I did it. All I know is I used some chunky tomato sauce I made last week, tore the mozzarella over that, grated a bunch of Parmesan on top and stuck it in a 500º oven for about 18 minutes.

Then I tore the prosciutto and basil over after it came out of the oven, and it was great!