What kind of pizza sauce, cheese, etc. did you use when you owned your business? I’m often asked about the products I served at Big Dave’s Pizza. As you might already have guessed, I often had my own way of doing things. I believe you have to stand out. Here’s a look at some of my favorite recipes:

BIG DAVE’S PIZZA SAUCE

2 cans all-purpose ground tomatoes
2 cans heavy tomato purees
1¼ cans water
.6 ounces leaf basil
.6 ounces leaf oregano
2 ounces black pepper
2 ounces granulated garlic
1 ounce granulated onion
4 ounces salt
4 ounces sugar
8 ounces olive oil
3 ounces Parmesan-Romano cheese

Open the ground tomatoes and pour into a 22-quart container. Scrape tomato puree into container. Fill one can with water. Pour back and forth between all cans until all tomato solids are rinsed with from walls.

Pour water into two clean cans and add ¼ more water into one of them.

Add all dry spices into one of the cans of water and stir.

Let spices rehydrate for 5 minutes. Pour all water into container and stir until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.

Pour in olive oil and stir again. Sprinkle cheese on top and stir again. Date and refrigerate. Good for 7 days.



BIG DAVE’S PAN PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE (IN BAKER’S PERCENT)

2½ pounds vegetable oil
16 ounces sugar
12 ounces salt
8 ounces PZ-44 dough conditioner
25½ pounds water at 70-75 F

Stir all ingredients with a wire whip.

45 pounds white flour 1 pound of whole wheat flour 14 ounces instant dry yeast

Pour water in mixing bowl. Add sugar and salt in bowl. Stir with a wire whip for 10 seconds.

Let rest for 2 minutes. Stir again. Add 2½ pounds vegetable oil, stir again.

Pour in both flours.
Sprinkle yeast and PZ-44 on top.
Start mixer on low speed and raise bowl. Mix for 9 minutes, low speed.

Bench work:
1. Dump the batch on a floured bench.
2. Core temperature should be 85 – 90 F.
3. Slice mass into 5-6 logs.
4. Sprinkle flour on all surfaces.
5. Cut and weigh dough balls. 10 ounces for small and 20 ounces for large size pizza.
6. Roll loose-floured dough balls, flatten and run through the sheeter.
7. Place the flattened dough balls into greased Crisco (butter flavor) pans.
8. Cover and place pans in a warm spot to proof until dough doubles in size.
Refrigerate and use within 24 to 36 hours.

Big Dave Ostrander owned a highly successful independent pizzeria before becoming a consultant, speaker and internationally sought-after trainer. He is a monthly contributor to Pizza Today.

Sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens once said: “What garlic is to food, insanity is to art.” I’m so crazy about garlic that you can’t go three feet in my pizzeria without bumping into it.

Brown bags filled with local organic garlic hang in my walk-in waiting to be infused in bread or garlic pudding (read on — trust me).

I keep garlic scape pesto made from the springtime trimmings of the plants for use in my freezer. Five-pound tubs of raw, skinned garlic from California that costs approximately 12 cents an ounce sit chilling in my walk-in for roasting and eventual topping on pizzas. Our garlic butter is bought in one-gallon tubs for nine cents an ounce and the garlic powder we store at room temperature can be obtained in seven-pound tubs for 32 cents an ounce. This powder is used in almost all of our sauces, sausage, meatballs and even dipping sauces.

Last year I prepped and sold 1,695 pounds of purveyor-bought garlic for my specialty pies, single topping pizzas and calzones. I also used 184 pounds of local, organic garlic for my infused breads and artisan pizzas. But still, my ignorance of garlic reared its ugly head when I recently visited Rich Tomsu at his organic garlic farm in Shade, Ohio. I followed Rich through the woods before we came to a large field overgrown with waist-high weeds. Rich stopped in the tangle of high sharp brambles as the thorn stabbed at me. “So, how far is your garlic field?” I asked impatiently, slapping at a mosquito.

“Are you kidding me, John?” Rich chuckled in reply as he stopped. “We’ve been walking in it since the forest!” He started to guffaw loudly and doubled over in laugh-pain. After a few more minutes, he straightened and asked: “Dude, how long have you been familiar with garlic?”

“Ah, like 36 years.” I said meekly. “But I’ve never seen it grown in weeds.” Rich straightened and said: “John, we farm organically and don’t spray toxic chemicals.” Then he reached down and grasped a three-foot sugarcane-like weed stem from the earth. He pulled with very little effort and shoved it in my face. It was the largest garlic bulb I’d ever seen. “Elephant garlic?” I stated ignorantly. “No, this is called German Hardy,” he said proudly. “You won’t find this in any grocery store. The best garlic in the world only grows without chemicals.” That afternoon was an eye opening experience for me. Now I try to obtain organic garlic locally, but when I cannot, I try to at least buy from American growers.

There are so many ways to prepare garlic and, like the onion, this simple clove can be rendered into many forms, one recipe atop another. This is what I call “the mushroom cloud effect” or a compilation of ever-expanding recipes starting with one item and stepping it up a culinary ladder to Mount Scrumptious!

“Gnudi Patooties”

Yes, this is a real dork of a name but my customers love these at catered events. Don’t get frustrated if you mess the first one up, they get faster to make as you go. (Add one pepperoni for a more complex flavor profile if you want.)

1 9-ounce dough ball
1 cup shredded mozzarella/provolone-mix
½ cup pizza sauce
20 gnudi from recipe on page 38
1 cup egg wash (70 percent whipped eggs with 30 percent water)

Take a full sheet pan and place parchment on it. Roll out the dough ball thinly into as much of a square as possible. Cut 10 to 20 small 2½ x 2½ inch squares with a pizza cutter. Place five strands of cheese in the middle of each square. Dab a small dollop of pizza sauce the size of a dime on the cheese. Place the cooked gnudi on the pizza and top with five more strands of cheese.

Grab two corners from polar opposite sides and fold one atop the other. Repeat with the final two corners and press the dough on top to stick the corners together.

Eggwash the dough and place on the parchment. Cook at 475 F for six or seven minutes to a golden brown.



Roasted Garlic Cloves and Garlic-infused Oil

Let’s start our first date with you, some garlic cloves, oil, an old pizza pan and your oven ... and maybe a Barry White song for ambiance.

2 cups (14 ounces or about 135 cloves) raw, skinned garlic cloves (If they are small, use less time to cook.)
1 cup extra virgin olive oil or canola-olive oil blend

Pour garlic cloves into a pan and toss with half the oil. Cook in your conveyor or deck oven for 7 minutes at 475 degrees. Take out and toss the garlic again. It will start to color but still be hard. Pour the rest of the oil in the pan. Set aside for the garlic to cool.

After 15 minutes, toss again and cook for another 4 to 7 minutes. The garlic will now be golden brown and soft to the touch.

Separate the oil from the garlic using a colander with a bowl below it to catch the oil.

Uses: Reserve the garlic for bread dough, toppings or the garlic pudding, (recipe on page 39). Cool the oil to infuse any liquids, pizzas or breads with that great garlic taste.



The Garligula

This Tuscan gnudi and sausage pizza layers all the garlic recipes in this article together.

Form your own pizza dough and top with a thin sheen of your proprietary pizza sauce. Over the sauce, spread fresh spinach then dollop quartershaped splotches of garlic pudding (recipe on page 39) around the pie.

Place just enough mozzarella/provolone mix to barely cover. Place Italian sausage chunks, roasted red pepper strips and black olives around the pizza then place one gnudi (recipe on page 38) in the middle of what will become each slice in a spokewheel effect.

Before serving, drizzle with a little garlic oil. Enjoy warm but don’t talk to anyone too closely the rest of the day!



Garlic Pudding and Spinach Gnudi



In Tuscany, the love affair with pasta is more sublime than the rest of Italy. That’s probably why they came up with a pasta-less, or nude ravioli- “gnudi” (NU-dee). The classic gnudi is a combination of fresh, wilted spinach, ricotta, egg and breadcrumbs and formed into an egg or small disc shape. This is poached and then sautéed in brown butter with truffles and Parmesan. Our garlic pudding (recipe on page 39) will be the star in our gnudi today and we’ll take an unnoticeable shortcut by using thawed, frozen spinach.



3 cups garlic pudding (from recipe on page 39)
3 cups frozen spinach, thawed and pressed of all moisture
2½ cups grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons flour
½ tablespoon salt
¼ tablespoon pepper
4 whole eggs

Bring a pot of water to a boil. While the water heats, place garlic pudding, spinach, Parmesan, salt, pepper and flour in a large bowl. Add whipped eggs and mix. This should have the consistency of loose dough. Pull a tennis ball-sized dollop out and gently roll in flour into a cigar-shaped log measuring a quarter inch in diameter. Using a dough knife, cut into half-inch long pieces then dust with more flour. Each piece should weigh about one ounce. Form each into a football shape making sure they are firm.

Working in batches, load the gnudi into the boiling water with a slotted spoon and boil for three to four minutes or until they float. Remove and set aside to cool.

Uses: These can be held in your walk-in for up to a week and sautéed in butter with truffles or flavored oil. We’ve used them in two other recipes in this article!

Avalanche Garlic Pudding

2 cups roasted garlic cloves from recipe on page 35
2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
1½ cups grated Parmesan cheese

Put all ingredients into a large, straight sided measuring bucket and blend with an immersion blender or food processor. Blend to make a pudding-like texture. No salt needed.
Uses: Use this pudding with stuffed breads topped with aged white cheddar or in calzones in place of ricotta. Dollop on pizza or as the garlic and spinach gnudi (recipe on page 38).

John Gutekanst owns Avalanche Pizza in Athens, Ohio. He is also a speaker at International Pizza Expo and a member of the World Pizza Champions.

A s one of the basic staples of any Italian menu, a fl avorful meat sauce makes the difference between an okay dish and a top seller. That’s why most operators don’t mind the time and effort it takes to make a savory meat sauce or a richer alternative, Bolognese.

Many recipes for Bolognese call for very little tomato content, focusing instead on beef, pancetta, meat stock, white wine and milk. A bit of tomato paste is added more as an accent than as a base for this sauce — a rich, tender meaty sauce that complements most types of pasta.

However, as with pizza, numerous variations for both meat and Bolognese sauces exist, allowing each pizzeria to come up with its own distinctive dishes.

Rocco Biale, owner of Rocco’s Ristorante Pizzeria in Walnut Creek, California, includes both types of meat sauces on his menu. His meat sauce starts with well-browned ground beef and Italian sausage, and includes highquality canned tomatoes. To prepare the Bolognese, the cooks add heavy cream to the meat sauce at the end of the cooking process.

“I’ve seen a lot of different versions of Bolognese,” says Biale, “but the creambased meat sauce is what we prefer. I like the lighter color, and the cream gives the sauce a little thinner consistency. Although the Bolognese sauce isn’t quite as hearty as the regular meat sauce, the Bolognese has a richer fl avor. It’s my favorite, and it’s what I recommend when a customer can’t decide which sauce to order.

“In general, we haven’t noticed a dramatic change in our customers’ ordering habits recently. We’ve always had family friendly prices for our pasta dishes, ranging from $7 to $9, and customers consider them an economical choice. We also sell sauces by the pint and quart from the hot line. That way, customers can take one home and do what they want with it.”

At Luigi’s Pizzeria Restaurant in Stamford, Connecticut, customers also have a choice between a hearty meat sauce and a creamy Bolognese. Says manager Ryan Reed, “Both sauces have lots of beef, and we make them with a little extra olive oil to carry the fl avor better. We use chopped beef for a heartier texture and appearance. Besides serving it over al denté pasta, we use meat sauce in our lasagna, and serve it over gnocchi. We also offer pasta as a side with our entrées, and we serve it with the meat sauce on request.

“Our Bolognese starts with the same meat sauce. But we make it fresh for every order by adding heavy cream to a serving to fi nish it. Besides being served on pasta, the Bolognese is part of the recipe for some of our specials. Most customers are familiar with our regular meat sauce and the Bolognese, and they’re both pretty popular. But if a customer needs help, our servers are happy to explain the difference between the two sauces.”

At Villa Rosa Pizza, Pasta and More in Chicago, the meat sauce is so well regarded that owners Nancy and Carlos Beidleman have been approached by companies who want to package it and sell it in supermarkets. To the Beidlemans, that just confi rms that their emphasis on quality is the right way to go.



“We make our meat sauce from scratch in 15-quart batches every two or three days,” says Carlos. “Our cook starts it at 10 a.m., but the sauce doesn’t fi nish cooking until 7 or 8 p.m., because it’s slowly simmered to make sure the fl avors blend well. We chill the sauce, then take it out a little at a time to reheat it for orders. Keeping the sauce chilled until the following day or two allows the fl avors to mature, so the sauce tastes better than it would if we served it the night we made it.

“Because our marinara sauce is our most popular, we use it to fl avor the meat sauce. But we always start by cooking the meat and vegetables fi rst, then add the rest of the ingredients that we use in the marinara sauce. We don’t just add meat to the prepared marinara sauce, because we wouldn’t get the same great fl avor.

“We serve a lot of the meat sauce with the eight pastas on our menu. Our generous serving size, about 8 ounces of sauce over pasta, makes people say ‘wow’ when they see it. A lot of them leave with doggy bags and have it for lunch the next day. We sell our sauces separately in 16- and 32-ounce insulated containers, and we also get requests from people to use it on our meatball or the Italian beef sandwiches, even on pizzas once in a while. Although some people could be doing that to get more for their money, I think it’s more a matter of preference because they just like the way our meat sauce tastes.” ❖

Creamy Meat Sauce
Yield: 8 quarts (about 42 servings)

½ cup olive oil
12 ounces minced onions
8 garlic cloves, minced
5 pounds coarsely ground lean chuck
5 pounds ground pork or veal
3 quarts tomato purée
1 quart beef stock
6 ounces tomato paste
¼ cup chopped fresh basil
¼ cup chopped fresh oregano
¼ cup chopped fresh thyme Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste 3 to 4 pints whipping cream

1. Heat olive oil. Add onions and garlic; sauté until onions are translucent.

2. Add ground meats; cook and stir until meat is lightly browned (do not overcook).

3. Stir in tomato purée, beef stock, tomato paste, basil, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low, and simmer gently. Skim occasionally to degrease, if necessary. Continue simmering 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally, until sauce reaches desired consistency.

4. Heat whipping cream before blending into cooked sauce. Cool, cover and refrigerate. Gently reheat and hold on hot line.

Italian Meat Sauce
Yield: 10 quarts (about 60 servings)

2 cups olive oil
1 quart fi nely chopped onions
1 quart fi nely chopped celery
6 cloves garlic, crushed
8 pounds coarsely ground meat (combination of beef, veal, pork)
2¼ quarts beef stock
1 No. 10 can crushed plum tomatoes (or ground Italian tomatoes)
1 No. 10 can tomato purée
1 No. 2½ can tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
4 bay leaves
1 ounce sugar
Salt, to taste Black pepper, to taste

1. Heat olive oil. Add onions, celery and garlic; sauté until onions are translucent.

2. Add ground meat. Braise over low heat until lightly browned (do not overcook).

3. Stir in beef stock, plum tomatoes, tomato purée, tomato paste, basil, thyme, oregano, bay leaves and sugar. Reduce heat to low, and simmer gently. Skim occasionally to degrease, if necessary. Continue simmering 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally, until sauce reaches desired consistency.

4. Taste for seasoning, and add salt and pepper as needed. If necessary, sauce can be thickened with a little cornstarch blended in water.

Cook’s Note: add mushrooms and green peppers to sauce, if desired.

Carol Meres Kroskey is a freelance writer based in Chicago. She has extensive knowledge covering the baking and food service industries for a variety of publications.

Herbs and spices, when used correctly, will give a flavor kick to any style of pizza, pasta dish or salad. When using fresh herbs in a pasta sauce, add them near the end of the cooking time — just long enough for their flavor to “bloom.” Conversely, if you are using dried herbs in the sauce, put them in at the very beginning. Dried herbs need time (and heat) to re-hydrate and round out their flavor. And, please, do not use dried herbs that are over the hill. They have no real flavor left. You might as well throw in dried weeds.

Generally, you will need to add three times as much fresh herbs as dried herbs in a recipe. When using dried herbs, crush or rub them between your thumb and forefinger as you add them to the sauce. This releases the essential, inner flavor of the herb.

Without further adieu, here are the 10 herbs and spices every pizzeria should have on hand at all times for use on pizza or in a variety of pasta dishes: 

Oregano and basil. These are two of the most important herbs used in a tomato-based sauce. Both are aromatics. Oregano adds a piquant flavor, while basil adds a fragrance and sweetness to the sauce. In combination, they are the ideal tomato sauce –– pizza or pasta –– enhancer. 

Marjoram. This is a sweet-scented herb that is quite important in Mediterranean cooking. Sweet marjoram has a decidedly delicate flavor. Often, chefs will use oregano and marjoram interchangeably. 

Garlic. This is another great sauce enhancer. Whether used fresh, sautéed, crushed or chopped, garlic adds its own unique flavor interest. Once again, though, use only garlic that is firm, not soft or going bad (if you see a green shoot in the middle of the clove, it means that the garlic is starting to age, but you can still use it, just remove that sliver of green first.) I rarely use garlic powder; it imparts a bitter, heavy aftertaste to a sauce. 

Bay leaf. This works well with tomatoes but should be used with considerable care because of its intense flavor. Too much bay leaf may overpower the other flavors in the sauce. 

Parsley. This is definitely an unsung herb, but it must be the fl at-leaf or Italian type. Curly parsley is fi ne as a garnish, but that’s about as far as it goes in my flavor book. 

Red pepper flakes (crushed chilies). This is the sauce enhancer to use when a spicy heat effect is desired. Use according to taste to spice up a pizza or pasta sauce (linguine with clam sauce, for example). 

Black pepper. Here again it’s all about freshness. Ground black pepper that has been sitting in a can for months and months is, well, black — but it’s not pepper (a lot of what it did have for flavor went south). Grinding peppercorns into a sauce or on a salad is the right way to go. 

Capers. Capers packed in brine are the best kind to use, but rinse them under cold water before adding them to a sauce or dish of any kind. Capers are practically indispensable to a spicy red sauce. 

Thyme. This is an interesting all purpose herb. It has a strong, pungent flavor, so use with restraint (a little goes a long way). I find that thyme adds a lot of interest to certain pasta dishes like linguine with clam sauce (red or white). Also, if you are doing a clam pizza, try using thyme to round out the flavor profile. 

The Sauce is Boss
I adapted this sauce from the basic flavor toppings used in the making of a classic Margherita sauce. The end result is an eminently flavorful pasta dish that also just happens to sport the colors –– green, white, and red –– of the Italian fl ag. This sauce works great with a shorter cut of pasta — penne, rigatoni, farfalle –– and is enough for about 6 servings.

Margherita Sauce

1 large clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 cups canned plum tomatoes
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup torn fresh basil leaves
1 pound fresh mozzarella, chopped coarse
Enough cooked pasta for 6 servings (figuring 2-3 ounces uncooked per serving)

In a large heavy sauté pan, sauté the garlic in the oil over moderate heat for two minutes. Put the tomatoes and their juices into a mixing bowl and crush them with your hands. Add the tomatoes to the saucepan. Add salt and pepper. Bring the sauce to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook the sauce at a steady simmer, stirring occasionally for 20-25 minutes (keep crushing the tomatoes with a fork or heavy spoon to form pulp) or until the sauce has reduced to about 2½ cups.

Add the basil to the sauce and stir to combine. Divide the pasta among heated pasta serving bowls. Ladle some of the sauce over each serving. Sprinkle an equal amount of fresh mozzarella over the sauce. Serve at once. Pass grated Parmesan cheese separately for additional flavor.

The Secret Weapon

If I have any secret sauce ingredient to speak of, it would be olive oil. I like to swirl a tablespoon or two into a sauce about 10 minutes before the sauce is ready to come off the heat. Extra-virgin is always my fi rst choice, as it adds a fruitiness to the sauce that is very appealing. Ditto for a drizzle of olive oil over a pizza (especially if the pizza is topped with arugula or other greens).

Pat Bruno is Pizza Today’s resident chef and a regular contributor. He is the former owner and operator of a prominent Italian cooking school in Chicago and is a food critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.

No member of pizza’s holy trinity — dough, sauce and cheese — should be overlooked. Without hitting all three out of the park, your pizza easily gets lost in the crowded foodservice landscape. So why do so many operations simply open a can of tomato sauce and roll with it? In my opinion, giving your customers the very best sauce should be a top priority. And one way to do that when working from a canned sauce base is to take matters into your own hands with a little “sauce doctoring.”

With that said, here’s my advice to you: do some research to find out what people like in your area. What I served in Massachusetts helped put me in the top 100 independent pizzerias in the country about a decade ago. But I needed to tweak that recipe a little bit to please the diners here in Georgia, where I now live. Lesson: we must be willing to understand what our customers want if we plan to succeed.



In my years of working in foodservice, I have met more than my fair share of arrogant chefs and operators who insist that their way and their recipe is the best. Regardless of what kind of feedback they receive, they aren’t willing to alter their recipes for anyone. While that approach actually does work for a select few, I can promise you that the demise of many a restaurant has come about as a result of this stubbornness.

That’s why it’s important to learn the most loved flavor profiles in your area. Some regions tend to favor sweeter sauces, while others spring for spicy, chunky, zesty, herbladen, etc. There’s an audience out there for each type … which audience lives in your town?

In my restaurant, I take a centrist approach and go for the middle ground when it comes to the flavor profile of my sauce. My sauce is mildly sweet, but with a rich and fresh tomato flavor that isn’t overpowered with herbs. I find this has an appeal to a wide audience. Those looking for a zestier sauce or something with more herbs can shake on some crushed red pepper and oregano or basil at the table.



Knowing that the quality and flavor of your pizza sauce should be amongst the highest priority in your business, it’s crucial to understand some important principles. Let’s start at the beginning. I can’t stress this enough, so listen up: it is nearly impossible to take an inexpensive, inferior product and make something superior out of it. Let that sink in. Reread the sentence again if you have to. If you are starting with a substandard sauce, you are already losing.

Let me share an anecdote with you. Recently, I went to a pizzeria and was excited to see Veal Parmesan with spaghetti on the menu. Much to my surprise, the sauce that smothered this dish was so horrible that I couldn’t eat it. It had to have taken great effort to make any sauce taste that bad. The operator obviously started with a cheap, inferior sauce and tried to doctor it up. But, like I said, you can’t make a superior end product if you start with inferior beginnings.

If you aren’t pleased with the sauce you’re using for your base, start by getting samples from your vendors so that you can experiment with different brands. Or if you’ve heard of a company or have seen sauce ads that appeal to you in Pizza Today, call that company directly and ask for a sample and who you can purchase their product from.

Once you have a base and are ready to alter it to your specific needs, there are several options. Let’s say, for example, that you are using an extra-heavy pizza sauce, but you want to cut the heaviness a little. You can do this by adding some ground tomatoes and puree, but that will dilute the flavor. So you’ll have to compensate by adding ingredients such as sugar, salt, garlic and Italian seasonings. Treat this process like the Colonel did with his 11 herbs and spices for his secret recipe chicken. You need to first measure precisely. Secondly, make sure your employees understand the importance of following the recipe and do not alter it.

If your sauce is too acidic, add just a little bit of sugar to cut the acidity. If your sauce is too thin, add either some extra heavy pizza sauce or even a little tomato paste to thicken it.

Some people get confused about whether or not to cook pizza sauce like we do when we’re making a marinara. The short answer: don’t do it! It is not necessary to cook pizza sauce during its preparation. In fact, cooking it can be highly detrimental.

Just keep in mind that basic is better when it comes to your pizza sauce. Keeping it simple will result in a better sauce and fewer operational headaches for you. ❖

Jeffrey Freehof owns the Garlic Clove in Evans, Georgia, and is a frequent speaker at the Pizza Expo family of tradeshows.

Whether topping an inventive pizza, used in pasta dishes or on sandwiches, sweet peppers are a fresh, healthy and delicious hit with customers. While bell peppers are widely used in the pizza industry, banana peppers, cherry peppers and other varieties are great options for operators looking to expand their selections.

I love to reminisce about days of old and think it’s funny how certain things we see or old friends we talk to take us back to a different time and place. What amazes me even more is when the taste or smell of food brings me back to my childhood. There’s nothing like the aroma of grilled fresh pepper mixed with onion. Doesn’t that bring you back to every fair or carnival you ever went to?

One of my all-time favorites is fi re-roasted peppers. Roasted red peppers make the top of my list. There are so many different things you can do with them for just about every segment of your menu. In the same way when caramelizing onions, fire-roasting peppers bring out more of their natural sugars giving them a nice sweet characteristic. Peppers are grown in so many different colors now that adding orange, red, yellow, purple and green peppers will make any dish visually stimulating.

Whether you use your peppers raw, sautéed, fire-grilled, on skewers or cut into a mince, chop, chunk or strip, they can really bring your menu to life. Let me give you several successful ways that I have used a variety of sweet peppers on my menus and on catered events:

❖ Cherry peppers are great simply added to salads or even your salad bar, but why not take these delightful small peppers and stuff them? The sky is the limit, but prosciutto with provolone, mozzarella or even feta cheese makes a great start! Cutting cherry peppers in half and stuffing them instead of mushroom caps adds a whole different dimension to hot or cold appetizers.

❖ Banana pepper rings are sweet in comparison to a jalapeño or even a pepperoncini, but still offer a tiny bite to them. Again, on salads and salad bars these delicious peppers are irresistible. Don’t stop there, however. When you take your fried calamari rings out of the hot oil, add a dozen or so banana pepper rings to them and toss them together with shredded Parmesan to really enhance your presentation and munchability. I serve Italian nachos in my restaurant, and besides diced tomatoes and sliced black olives, banana pepper rings proudly sit atop of this amazing appetizer, along with Alfredo, meat sauce and mozzarella cheese.

❖ You can create a beautiful Fra Diavlo sauce by using any blend of your favorite peppers cut into chunks and sautéed with garlic and crushed red pepper, then simmered with a great marinara. This sauce can be used for many different pasta dishes. Penne and sausage Fra Diavlo or a Seafood Fra Diavlo with shrimp, scallops and mussels are just two amazing choices.

I know I shared with you that fire roasted red peppers are my favorite, so let me tell you how to fire roast a pepper. First of all, this should be done in a restaurant under an exhaust hood or outside, but not in a household kitchen. I like to rub my peppers very lightly with a little bit of vegetable oil. This will help them burn easier. You then want to place your peppers over an open fi re. You want to burn the outside of your peppers just until they are black. You’ll need to turn them to achieve this consistently over the whole pepper. Don’t be fooled by its outside appearance. Simply set them aside for about 10 minutes until they cool just enough to handle them. Placing the burnt pepper in a bag will help steam the outside of the skin, which will help it peal easier. I then peel the black skin off of the pepper under cool running water. Next pop the core and seeds out and you’re left with a beautiful roasted red pepper that can probably be used in a hundred different ways. Use them on an Antipasto salad or any other variety of salads.

How about chopping that roasted red pepper up finely and mixing it with a cup of ricotta cheese and 3 ounces of gorgonzola cheese to make a ravioli filling? Wow –– now that would be an awesome appetizer or entrée tossed with your guest’s favorite sauce. I’d suggest a nice Alfredo or perhaps a garlic and sage butter with fresh chives.



Roasted Red Pepper Pesto

1 roasted red pepper
¼ cup olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons pesto
¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend.

To make a roasted red pepper mayo, take ¼ cup of your new red pepper pesto and add it to ½ cup of mayonnaise. One great wrap that I created several years ago using that very spread was called a Tuscan Club wrap. I used a tomato basil wrap with the roasted red pepper pesto, sliced turkey, ham, Genoa salami, provolone cheese, lettuce and tomato. Give it try, because it was a huge hit with my customers.

Don’t forget to be creative with blending an array of sweet pepper throughout your menu. If you want to start with something simple, try a Pepper Palooza Pizza: using your traditional crust, sauce and cheese, add an array of different colored peppers. The look of this pizza alone will invoke others to try this treasure of a pie. So go ahead, pepper things up a bit! ❖

Jeffrey Freehof, owner of The Garlic Clove in Evans, Georgia, is Pizza Today’s resident expert.

From Messina on the Northeast corner of Sicily to Trapani on the west coast, Sicily has, over many centuries, felt the infl uences of Greek, Roman, and Spanish culture. That minestrone of civilizations has had quite an impact on the cuisine of this fabled island. Often the term cucina povera, or the cooking of the poor, is ascribed to Sicilian cuisine, but that in no way downgrades the pleasure and ingenuity that is so much a part of Sicilian cooking. In fact, Sicilian cuisine bursts with color, flavor, fragrance and goodness.

The gist of this article –– Sicilian pasta sauce –– is but a small dot on the culinary canvas that defines Sicilian food. Important to Sicilian cooking are creations like arancini (crunchy rice balls) and ingredients like sardines, anchovies, tomatoes, eggplant, crushed red pepper, olive oil, olives, clams, mussels, squid, capers, garlic, selected cheeses and fruits (like blood oranges and lemons). But, it is the simplicity of Sicilian cooking that makes it so approachable.

I am putting forth a challenge to every operator reading this article. Add some dishes –– pasta, pizza, appetizers –– with a Sicilian subtext and watch how fast those specialties fl y out of the kitchen. The time for Sicilian cooking to get its due has arrived. So let’s get started with some delicious Sicilian pasta sauces and go from there and see what else we can do with them.

Sicilian Pasta Sauce
Sicilians love to use ridged pasta like rigatoni, ziti and penne, so in this recipe I use an imported rigatoni known as “rigatoni gigantica” because I like the way it flattens after it has been cooked.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings (scale up in direct proportion)
1 pound mild Italian sausage with fennel
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ pound lean ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups canned plum tomatoes with juices
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 pound rigatoni
½ cup grated Romano cheese

Remove casing from sausage (discard casing). Warm the olive oil for one minute in a large sauté pan set over medium-high heat. Add the sausage (breaking it up with a fork or spoon) and the ground beef. Cook and stir for 6 to 8 minutes until the meats are no longer pink.

Add the onion, garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, oregano and pepper flakes.

Bring the sauce to a gentle boil. Turn down the heat and simmer the sauce for an hour or more until it has reduced, stirring occasionally.

Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling water (that has been salted) until al dente (about 14 minutes for large rigatoni). Drain well.

Divide the pasta among six heated pasta bowls. Spoon some of the sauce over each portion. Sprinkle a portion of the romano cheese over each serving.

Chef’s notes: sauce can be made ahead. Cool slightly before covering and refrigeration. Cooled sauce can then be used on pizza. Spread a small amount of the sauce over a pizza shell. Top with grated romano or a blend of mozzarella and provolone. Bake as you would any other pizza.

Pasta alla Norma
This classic Sicilian pasta dish dates back to the late 1800s and was named after Bellini’s opera “Norma.” Eggplant is used frequently in Sicilian cooking. This is a very versatile sauce, so check out the extended possibilities under my Chef’s Notes.

Yield: six servings (scale up in direct proportion)
½ cup olive oil
2 small, firm eggplants (about 2 pounds), trimmed (but not peeled), cut into ½-inch cubes
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced or pushed through a garlic press
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste) 6 cups canned plum tomatoes with juices
1 cup torn basil leaves
1 pound ridged ziti or rigatoni
1 cup crumbled ricotta salata (a salted, dry ricotta cheese)

Warm the olive oil for 1 minute in a large sauté pan set over medium high heat. Add the eggplant and cook and stir until the eggplant softens a bit. Add the onion, garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook and stir until the onion softens.

Crush the tomatoes by hand or use a hand-held blender. Add the tomatoes to the sauté pan with the eggplant and onion. Add the basil leaves. Simmer the sauce for an hour or more to reduce.

While the sauce is simmering, cook the pasta in boiling salted water until it is al dente. Drain well. Divide the pasta among heated pasta bowls. Spoon some of the sauce over the pasta. Sprinkle some of the ricotta salata over each portion.

Chef’s notes 
If ricotta salata is not available, top each pasta portion with dollops of regular ricotta. 
Also, this sauce and method can be used as a pizza topping. Cool the sauce before spreading it on a pizza crust. Bake the pizza. After baking and just before sending it out, top with ricotta salata or dollops of regular ricotta. 
Batches of this sauce can be made ahead and stored, covered, in the cooler. Use with pasta or pizza as suggested. 
Small, firm eggplant (also known as Asian eggplant) does not need to be salted. Eggplant with a lot of seeds can be bitter unless it is salted and pressed to get rid of the bitterness. 
Once this sauce has been made and cooled, it can be used for an appetizer of eggplant bruschetta. Simply spoon a small amount of the cooled eggplant sauce over toasted or grilled ovals of bread. Top each portion with some grated Parmesan or Romano cheese and/or a chiffonade of fresh basil. 

Pat Bruno is Pizza Today’s resident chef and a regular contributor. He is the former owner and operator of a prominent Italian cooking school in Chicago and is a food critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise are the holy trinity of condiments. In fact, they are so widely used we often take them for granted. Squirt some mustard on a hot dog, slather ketchup or mayonnaise on a burger and the job is done. But how about giving that burger or sandwich an extra kick? And then there is that whole arena of spreads and dips. Add some zip to your dips or some sizzle to your spreads and you’ve opened a Pandora’s box of interesting dimensions in flavor.

How simple is this –– add a drop or three of hot sauce to ketchup to fire up some interest in a burger. One of the trendiest condiments right now is sriracha, a hot chili sauce conveniently sold in a bottle. One easy way to ramp up chicken wings to another level of interest is to add a squirt (to taste) of sriracha to your wing sauce and watch what happens.

Mayonnaise is one of those condiments that offers a spectrum of flavor possibilities. For example, many basic recipes for an aioli suggest making your own mayonnaise. Forget it. Mayonnaise straight out of the jar is all you need to get a delicious aioli up and running. Simply add a drop or two of fresh lemon juice and some crushed garlic to mayonnaise and you have a terrific tasting aioli that can be used on a chicken sandwich or spread over a piece of fish.

Here is a very tasty dipping sauce for French fries:

1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons mayonnaise

In a small mixing bowl, combine the ingredients and mix well. Chill covered.

And here is a very special dipping sauce to use with cooked or raw vegetables, fried zucchini sticks, fried calamari or cooked shrimp. In other words a versatile sauce that knows no bounds:

2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoons Dijon or honey mustard
Hot sauce or sriracha, to taste

In a mixing bowl, combine and whisk together all of the ingredients. Cover and chill.

Add a dash or two of prepared horseradish to ketchup straight out of the jar and you have a fine-tasting cocktail sauce to serve with shrimp or fried calamari.


Cajun dipping sauce
for fried onion rings or French fries

½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
1 teaspoon ketchup u

Pat Bruno is Pizza Today’s resident chef and a regular contributor. He is the former owner and operator of a prominent Italian cooking school in Chicago and is a food critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.

In 2002, my menu consisted of cheap deals, 23 toppings, one sauce, one crust type, no specialty pizzas, no calzones and no wings. I advertised how good my product was but got tired of tell­ing customers, “That’s all we have, take it or leave it.”Then one day I changed my menu mix in a big way with the help of Porsche and BMW.
That day, the radio declared that the two companies were making cars for yuppies who earned from $50,000 to $70,000 a year. This technique of sales was called “tiered pricing” and offered cars that were smaller and cheaper but sold like hotcakes, ensuring extra revenue for the makers. I decided to try this in inverse and immediately introduced 10 specialty pizzas with four toppings apiece. I priced them higher than if they were ordered by topping only. The food cost was 27 percent but I didn’t have to discount them and sold them in large, small and calzone versions.

Now, ten years later, I have 53 toppings in my menu mix. all of these toppings in my 30-plus spe­cialty pizzas appeal to the following customers:

• Those who watch televised culinary shows (such as “Iron Chef” and “Top Chef”) and have sophisticated palates.

• Those who love ethnic foods such as Chinese, Indian, Italian, French, Japanese, Greek

• Vegetarians and vegans

• Gluten intolerant customers

• Older adults with dietary restrictions

• Risk takers

One of the best decisions I’ve ever made was to introduce a béchamel. It’s easy to make this savory sauce alternative either from scratch, a powder or frozen. a case of frozen béchamel at $50 can yield 240 two-ounce portions at .21 cents each pizza. here are some of the best combinations paired with béchamel for an explosive base on any pie:

• Cheeses. They melt to perfection, stretch­ing their savory flavors more economically than if you had strewn a two-dollar handful of expensive cheese on the pie. feta, asiago, Gorgonzola, cheddar and Gruyere are favorites in my store. Just a few ounces can produce a flavor explosion.

• Pestos/sauces. Basil, sun-dried, chipotle, Indian masala, Jamaican jerk and teriyaki are now available. Pestos are frozen for under $55 for six-30 ounce containers and can be cut with a 70/20 mix of water depending upon the intensity, or you can make it yourself. Just squeeze atop the béchamel and top with cheese.

• Powders and onions. Super fab combo! Con­sider cumin, curry, chipotle and paprika shaken on onions and drizzled with oil. run it through your oven until they are soft. Mix with béchamel or grind up to a sauce then mix.

All this may sound expensive to employ, but I’ve done it for 10 years now. I watch my food cost like a hawk but I also have a better roI (return on investment) from new and exciting pizzas than from expensive ads telling customers how great my products are. Besides –– beating the chains with cu­linary innovation is more fun than mimicking their moves. It’s just a matter of show rather than tell.

The classic béchamel sauce is more than 300 years old, and it can be the base for many other sauces (including alfredo). Check out the recipe at right. once you’ve got it down, it can be custom­ized to include bay leaves, fresh nutmeg, cheeses, egg yolks, onion and other ingredients. u

John Gutekanst owns avalanche Pizza in athens, ohio. he is also a speaker at International Pizza expo and a member of the World Pizza Champions.


BAKED SPAGHETTI WITH BECHAMEL SAUCE


1 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup Parmesan cheese (or Parmesan Reggiano), divided
Marinara sauce
12 ounces spaghetti, cooked tender
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup béchamel sauce

In a bowl, stir ricotta cheese, egg and ¾ cup Parmesan cheese. In a baking dish, layer cooked spaghetti, half of the ricotta cheese mixture and 1/3 cup moz­zarella cheese. Repeat with one more layer. Drizzle with bécha­mel sauce and top casserole with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Bake at 450 for 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Cook’s notes: You can use a Bo­lognese sauce with this recipe, or advertise it as vegetarian. Watch baking times, since your pizza oven is likely to bake at different temperatures.


BRUNO'S BRUNCH PIZZA


1 cup béchamel sauce
1 teaspoon unsalted butter
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 12-inch pizza shell
4 3-inch-diameter slices Canadian bacon
1/2 pound mild cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1 cup)

Make the béchamel sauce following the steps in the base recipe. Set aside. In a small non-stick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat until it just starts to foam. Stir in the eggs and scramble just until the eggs are set. Set aside. Spread the béchamel sauce evenly over the pizza shell up to the border (leave about 1/4 inch of border). Arrange the Canadian bacon slices evenly over the pizza. Spread the eggs evenly over the bacon. Sprinkle on the cheese. Bake.

More recipes from Chef Bruno

PAT BRUNO'S
BECHAMEL SAUCE

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
Combine until all ingredients are well mixed. (Thickness depends on your ratio of flour to milk and butter.)
Once you’ve got the basic sauce down, you can customize your pizza and pasta dishes.


Looking to upgrade your menu? Pizza Today’s resident chef has the recipes you’re looking for at pizzatoday.com/bruno

Two years ago, my general manager, Joel, and I visited the Yellowtail Restaurant in the Bellagio Hotel for a relaxing beer and sushi after a full day at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. We sat next to three women when I heard one of them say: “It’s the sauce, I swear…”

I looked over on the women’s table to what looked like a small red Frisbee with micro greens sitting on a plate in between them. I smiled and asked: “What’s that?”

“The Bigeye Tuna Pizza,” one replied, smiling, “I was just telling my friends that this is so good because of the white truffle oil but they don’t agr…”

“No way, it’s the sauce underneath, the yuzu mayonnaise…mmm, to die for,” a second lady said. She then gobbled up her slice as the third lady spoke up: “Yup, it’s the sauce.”

I immediately ordered two Bigeye Tuna Pizzas, which were served cold on a tortilla wafer crust with yuzu mayo, red onion, thinly sliced tuna and topped with micro cilantro and bulls blood greens. As much as I hate to admit that a sushi chef made this spectacular pie, it was one of the best pizzas I’ve ever eaten and some of the greatest sauce to topping combinations ever.

Since then, we’ve always made the trek to the Bellagio to visit Yellowtail. In fact, Owner/Chef Akira Back and his chefs are now friends we see at every Pizza Expo. This accidental pizza run-in was also a wake-up call to me that behind every great pizza is an even better sauce, and you should take advantage of these outstanding flavor combinations.

Sauces are an easy way for you to sell some great pies to customers who are increasingly more savvy, smart and educated about world foods and cuisine. On the other end of this spectrum is our duty as business owners to deal with rising food costs and find sauces that can both make a profit and make my customers raving fans.

These are the variables I think about when starting a new sauce hunt:

Will the public buy a pizza with this sauce on it?
How much will this sauce cost me by the pizza?
How many ways can I use or modify this sauce in my menu mix?

Here are some cool ideas that can be used as a pizza or dipping sauce:

Basil Pesto. This traditional combination of basil, garlic, oil, Parmesan cheese and pine nut is spectacular paired with your tomato sauce and mozzarella. It can be made in a food processor or by mortar and pestle. There are some great frozen products on the market that do or do not include nuts and can be made into dipping sauces as well as squirt-bottle ready for your make line. This is the best sauce I’ve ever introduced on my menu.

Chipotle Blueberry. Take four cups of sliced white onions from your make line, add three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and hand-grind one 7-ounce can of chipotle peppers in adobo found at any store. Mix and pass through or bake in your oven, stirring frequently until the onions become soft and caramelized. Add two cups of dried or with an immersion blender till saucy. This makes a great BBQ or spicy-sweet dipping sauce. I use this whole onion blueberry mix and fold ciabatta dough around it, cutting vents for steam and then bake it with spectacular results!

Curried Onion and Raisin. Use the same procedure as above except pour some powdered curry on the oiled onions and add a little water to mix well and pass through or bake in the oven. When hot and caramelized, add raisins, which will re-hydrate and plump. Try this curry mix with fresh spinach and chicken topped with melting aged Provolone. It will blow you away!

Jalepeno and Roasted Garlic. We use canned jalepeños with the juice and add roasted garlic, mayonnaise, sour cream, pepper and salt for a very popular dipping sauce.

Spicy Marinara. This can be created by combining your pizza sauce and red pepper flakes. Pour into two-ounce dipping sauce cups and serve. Add onion, green pepper, cumin, taco seasoning and add steak or chicken for some great Southwest Fajita flavors.

Ghost Chili Sauce. All I do is blend five cups of my pizza sauce with four dried ghost chilies, some jalapeño and roasted garlic. Let this sit and macerate for three days for devastating results. I call it the “Beelzebub,” and it has a big customer following. My staff calls it “Haters-Gonna-Hate” sauce or “Sauce of the Damned.”

Tuscan Crema Paradiso

Don’t freak out with the use of raw bacon in this sauce. In Sienna, they’ve been eating this on toasted bread with Chianti for thousands of years. When my sous chef Patty first made this, my initial wariness turned to bovine love at the first creamy bite. This sauce is perfect to dollop on a pizza or cheese bread before the oven for a melting pork paradise!

½ pound of lean back bacon or Italian pancetta
1 teaspoon salt
5 turns cracked black pepper
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
3 to 4 garlic cloves, chopped and crushed
1 sprig of fresh rosemary stripped and chopped fine

First, chop the bacon and add to a food processor or in a container with an immersion blender with all the other ingredients. After integration, smash this putty-like mass out between a sanitized stainless steel table and the flat side of a knife, ensuring smoothness. Scrape up with a dough knife and knead like dough for a few minutes. The fat from the bacon will melt but the mass will soon become creamy. Put this in the refrigerator for one day to amalgamate flavors.

John Gutekanst owns Avalanche Pizza in Athens, Ohio. He is also a speaker at International Pizza Expo and a member of the World Pizza Champions.

Béchamel and mornay sauces fall into the white sauce category. Mastering both of these sauces opens up a wide and wonderful world of flavors that you can use to enhance pasta and pizza creations. But first some background information is in order.

Food historians are pretty much in agreement that the original white sauce, known as balsamella, originated in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. In fact, the classic lasagna from Bologna demands that a balsamella sauce be part of the recipe.

Here are the bases recipe for a béchamel (balsamella) sauce, a Mornay sauce, and several variations on each of those. You will soon find out the many creative possibilities that come from these two sauces. 

Important tips: The secret to a good béchamel sauce is the roux, or the cooking and blending of the flour and butter. Also, the thickness or thinness of the sauce is determined by the amount of milk used, and the amount of cooking time.

Béchamel Sauce

(Makes about 2 1/2 cups)

1 tablespoon finely chopped onion

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. In a heavy saucepan set over medium-high heat, cook the onion with the butter just until the onions are softened. Stir in the flour. Cook and stir the roux for about 3 minutes.

2. Add the milk in a steady stream, whisking steadily until the sauce smooths out. Add the salt. Simmer the sauce for about 10 minutes, or until it is thickened to the consistency you desire.

Sauce can be kept for several days, refrigerated. Cover the surface with a buttered round of parchment paper to prevent a skim from forming.

Mornay Sauce

Generally speaking, a Mornay sauce is made by simply adding some type of cheese to a béchamel sauce. In a more luxurious and richer interpretation, the following recipe will serve you well.

1 cup béchamel sauce

1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Heavy cream

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. Heat the béchamel until it simmers. Turn the heat to low. Stir in the Gruyere and then the Parmesan.

2. Thin the sauce to the consistency desired by using the heavy cream. Off the heat and swirl in the butter.

Now for some ideas on how to use these two sauces. Macaroni and cheese is a hot food trend, so jump on the trend train with this delicious recipe.

Maccheroni al Forno (Baked Macaroni & Cheese)

Makes 6 to 8 servings

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

4 cups milk

1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 pound cavatappi or rotini pasta

1/4 pound shredded provolone cheese (about 1 cup)

1/4 pound grated Asiago cheese (about 1 cup)

1/4 pound shredded mozzarella (about 1 cup)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

1 tablespoon dried oregano


1. Make the bechamel sauce. In a heavy saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and cook, whisking, for 3 minutes. Add the milk in a steady stream, whisking steadily, and bring the sauce to a boil. Add the mustard, cayenne, and salt and whisk to combine. Whisking the sauce, simmer until it thickens, about 2 minutes. Set aside.

2. Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water. When it is al dente, drain it well. Set aside. Butter a 4-quart baking pan.

3. In a large mixing bowl, stir and combine the béchamel sauce, the pasta, provolone, asiago, and mozzarella. Transfer the mixture to the buttered baking pan. Smooth off the top.

4. In a small mixing bowl, combine the Parmesan, bread crumbs, and oregano. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the pasta. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.

Note: The recipe can be made ahead up to the point of baking. Cover and refigerate. Bake as needed.

Bruno’s Brunch Pizza

Makes one 12-inch pizza

This is a great-tasting breakfast or brunch pizza. The béchamel sauce can be made ahead, or simply use about 1 cup of the béchamel or mornay sauce from the base recipe.

Béchamel Sauce

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup milk

1/8 teaspoon salt


The Rest

1 teaspoon unsalted butter

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 12-inch pizza shell

4 3-inch-diameter slices Canadian bacon

1/2 pound mild cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1 cup)

1. Make the béchamel sauce following the steps in the base recipe. Set aside.

2. In a small non-stick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat until it just starts to foam. Stir in the eggs and scramble just until the eggs are set. Set aside.

3. Spread the béchamel sauce evenly over the pizza shell up to the border (leave about 1/4 inch of border). Arrange the Canadian bacon slices evenly over the pizza.

Spread the eggs evenly over the bacon. Sprinkle on the cheese. Bake.

OTHER IDEAS

• Use either the béchamel sauce or the mornay sauce to make a white pizza. Spread either sauce over a pizza shell. Top the sauce with grilled vegetables and bake. 

• Also, fresh spinach that has been sautéed in garlic and olive oil (that would be the prep) work well on a pie featuring béchamel sauce. Make sure that the spinach is not too oily, though. Chop the spinach, then sprinkle it over the sauce. Finish the pizza off with a shower of grated Parmesan before sending it through the oven.

• Seafood, such as grilled or cooked shrimp, works fine with a béchamel sauce, since one of the offshoots of a béchamel is a sauce Nantua. By thinning out the basic béchamel sauce with clam juice, for example, you have a version of sauce Nantua. This approach gives the sauce and the overall goodness of the pizza a good kick in the flavor. 

• The flavor profile of the béchamel sauce can be increased by simmering chopped onion in lightly salted water for about 8 minutes. Drain. Saute the onion in butter. Now puree the onion/butter mixture. Then incorporate it into the béchamel sauce. This is a modified sauce soubise, and would work particularly well with a veggie pizza.

Question: Should I cook or not cook my pizza sauce?

Answer: Okay, this doesn’t address dough, but it is a common question nevertheless. I can’t tell you not to cook your sauce, but I can give you some reasons why I personally wouldn’t want to cook my sauce.

1) Cooking the sauce does release flavors, but those flavors are released before the pizza is even made, and those flavors are lost to the air (sure makes the kitchen smell good though).

2) Once you heat the sauce to cook it, you’ve got to cool it back down to 40 F or lower for storage. Your local health department will apply the four-hour rule, so clock will begin ticking once the temperature of the cooked sauce drops below 160 F and it won’t stop until it reaches 40 F. This can be problematic with large batches of sauce, and it also puts an additional strain on the cooling capacity of your cooler.


3) Anytime you cook a sauce, you run the possibility of scorching it and ruining the flavor of the whole batch. Once this happens you don’t have many options except to toss it out and make another batch.

The repertoire of Italian sauces is loaded with classics like Alfredo, Bolognese, arrabbiata, marinara, and oil and garlic. The one sauce that stands just as tall and is just as versatile is pesto. I was always of a mind that pesto sauce never got the respect it truly deserves, even when it is used to sauce pasta (which is where it most often shows up). Lately, however, I have seen pesto coming to the fore in dishes like bruschetta, swirled into minestrone, in panini and as part of a stuffed chicken breast.

The one place I would love to see a pesto sauce used with more frequency, though, is on pizza. In fact, in one of my cookbooks, “The Ultimate Pizza,” I promoted the idea of a pesto pizza for which I make a fresh pesto sauce and employ for toppings some of the ingredients that go into a classic Pesto alla Genovese.

In Genoa, in the Ligurian region of Italy, the smell of fresh basil hangs fragrant in the air. Basil grows merrily in window boxes, clay pots, coffee cans — you name it. The people of Genoa love their basil and use it in every way imaginable. Pesto, that sublime combination of fresh basil, garlic, olive oil, pine nuts and grated cheeses, is the most popular Genovese contribution to the culinary world.

The recipe for pesto sauce that follows is a classic in every way, and I encourage you to at least try it, so that you get the feel, the texture and taste of a well-made pesto sauce. However, I know full well that fresh basil can be expensive at times and in some cases difficult to procure on a regular basis. Also, the actual making of the sauce requires a bit of labor.

The alternative is, of course, to buy a pesto sauce that is ready to go. I have used several ready-made pesto sauces over the years and have hardly ever been disappointed in them. Generally they will come to you frozen, so the shelf life is quite long. Also, the sauce is concentrated, so a little bit goes a long way. In other words, along with ease of use, there is value, so it will be a simple matter to start offering a pesto pizza as a special to get customers into it. I would also suggest you add pesto sauce to your usual “additional toppings of your choice” selection.

This pizza is a variation of the famous pasta dish pesto alla Genovese, in which trenette pasta mingles deliciously with pesto sauce, potatoes, and string beans. Here I use sun-dried tomatoes instead of string beans and mozzarella to tune up and balance the flavors

Pizza alla Pesto
Yield: One 14-inch pizza

Pesto Sauce
(Yield: 1½ -2 cups)

2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons grated Romano cheese
¼ (one-quarter) cup pine nuts
½ (one-half) cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Place the basil (reserve about 8 leaves for garnish), garlic, cheeses, and pine nuts in a food processor. Pulse the machine 10-12 times or until the ingredients are combined thoroughly. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil. Process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Should you wish to thin the sauce a bit, add hot water to bring it to a creamy consistency. The sauce can be made ahead and kept in the cooler, well covered, for several days.

1 14-inch pizza shell, ready to top
1½ (one and one-half) pounds new potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
½ (one-half) cup pesto sauce
½ (one-half) cup chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, patted dry
8 ounces shredded mozzarella
Reserved basil leaves

Place the potatoes in a saucepan of boiling salted water. Cook until barely tender, 8-9 minutes. Drain well.
Spread the pesto sauce evenly over the pizza crust up to the border. Sprinkle on the sun-dried tomatoes. Arrange the potatoes evenly over the pesto sauce. Sprinkle on the mozzarella. Bake. Just before sending the pizza out, sprinkle the fresh basil leaves on top of the cheese.

Now that you have the basic idea of how to construct a pesto pizza, let’s take a look at some options, and by adding various ingredients, build some delicious pesto pizzas.
One very popular sandwich making the rounds these days is chicken pesto (grilled chicken breast, pesto sauce), so let’s capitalize on that popular sandwich and put together a pesto pizza with chicken. For one 14-inch pizza, spread ½ (one-half) cup pesto sauce over the crust. Over the pesto sauce sprinkle 2 cups cooked chicken strips or cubes. Sprinkle 8 ounces Fontina cheese over the chicken. Bake.
Now we can take the pesto pizza with chicken and add one more ingredient — artichoke hearts — to make it even more interesting. To the pesto pizza with chicken add 6 ounces of sliced artichoke hearts.


Finally, here’s yet another idea. This one employs some of the ideas above. This pizza I like to call:

Four Seasons (Quattro Stagione) Pesto Pizza
Yield: One 14-inch pizza

One 14-inch pizza shell (you will be creating four sections in the shell by rolling a small pieces of pizza dough into two ropes, about the size of a pencil, to cover the shell from one end to another) 

½ (one-half) cup pesto sauce, spread over the pizza crust

Lay the dough ropes over the pizza crust crosswise, so that you have four quarters.
In one quarter put some cooked chicken. In another quarter put some sun-dried tomatoes and spinach. In another quarter put some artichoke hearts. In another quarter put mushrooms and olives. Sprinkle cheese (your choice—mozzarella, fontina, provolone, asiago) lightly over each of the quarters (lightly, so that when the cheese melts, all of the toppings are visible).
And, as you have figured out by now, this makes a very tasty vegetarian pizza. Buon Appetito!

Ask ten French chefs to make a Béarnaise sauce and each of the sauces will taste the same. Ask ten Italian chefs to make a Bolognese sauce and none of the sauces will taste the same. No reflection on the expertise of either group of chefs, but there is something about sauces that pique the creative drive of restaurant kitchens around the world.

When it comes to our business, especially as it pertains to pasta and pizza, there are so many ways to twiddle with a sauce, to give it an extra element of flavor, a depth of interest, and to stamp a particular sauce with a signature that is yours alone.

If your sauce is looking a little peaked, or just needs a good boost, worry not. The Sauce Doctor is in. Let's see what kind of remedies he can come up with to improve the health and well being of your sauces. And, as the "Doctor" makes his recommendations, keep in mind that what applies to a pizza sauce could easily work for a pasta sauce. Interpretation and end use is left to your own design and needs. Nevertheless, I guarantee that your sauce will show an improvement.

THE HERB FAMILY

When using fresh herbs in a sauce, add them near the end of the cooking time. Putting them in too early will alter the taste, since fresh herbs do not hold up as well in heat as dried herbs.

Conversely, if you are using dried herbs in a sauce, put them in at the very beginning. Dried herbs need time (and heat) to rehydrate and round out their flavor.

Generally, you will need to add three times as much fresh herbs as dried herb in a recipe. For example, 3 tablespoons of fresh basil, or 1 tablespoon of dried basil.

Oregano and basil. Two of the most important herbs in a tomato-based sauce. Both are aromatics. Oregano adds a piquant flavor, while basil adds a fragrant sweetness to the sauce.

Bay leaf. This works well with tomatoes, but should be used with considerable care because of its intense flavor. Too much bay leaf may overpower the other flavors in the sauce.

Sage. This is not commonly used in a pasta or pizza sauce because the flavor is too pronounced. However, fresh sage used in conjunction with butter to dress, say, ravioli, is elegant and interesting.

Parsley. Definitely an unsung herb, but for it to be effective you need to use the flat-leaf or Italian type. Curly parsley is fine for a garnish, but that's about as far as it goes.

Red pepper flakes (crushed, chilies). This is the sauce enhancer to use when a spicy heat effect is desired -in an arrabbiata sauce, for example.

More Sauce Pizzazz
Garlic. The ultimate sauce enhancer. Whether used fresh, sautéed, crushed, or chopped, garlic adds its own unique flavor interest. On the other hand, try to avoid garlic powder; it will add a bitter, heavy aftertaste to a sauce.

Some white sauces (Alfredo, for example) benefit from a hint of garlic.

Dried Mushrooms. There are a great many types of dried mushrooms available that can impart an intense, woodsy flavor to sauce. The mushrooms I most often use are dried porcini. Reconstitute them in warm water and strain the water through a fine-mesh cheesecloth. Save the water, which has a lot of flavor, and add it to the sauce along with the softened mushrooms.

A white sauce for pasta using heavy cream, rehydrated mushrooms and grated Parmesan cheese is one of my favorites.

Onion. An onion can add either sweetness or bitterness to a sauce, so proceed with caution. Fresh onions that have been chopped and sautéed with a pinch of sugar until very soft will add sweetness to a tomato-based sauce. Onions that are put in a sauce raw will cause a sauce to taste bitter.

A small amount of onion flavor helps to add zip to a white sauce, too.

Carrots. Carrots have a built-in natural sugar, so they are excellent for sweetening a sauce. Wash and skin a large carrot and cook it with sauce. Discard the carrot after the sauce is cooked.

Sun-dried tomatoes. For greater flexibility and lower cost, I suggest that you buy dried sun-dried tomatoes (as opposed to those packed in oil) and rehydrate them in boiling water. The flavor is very intense, so don't go overboard.

Taking Stock
Chicken stock or chicken broth. This gives a tomato sauce a quick flavor fix. Add about 1/4 cup of chicken stock or broth for each cup of tomato sauce. Use a little less than 1/4 cup if using stock to enhance a white sauce.

Beef stock. This is another excellent way to increase the flavor intensity of a red sauce. Again, about 1/4 cup of beef broth to 1 cup of tomato sauce.

Cream of the Crop
Heavy cream. A terrific sauce enhancer. Swirl some heavy cream into a tomato sauce a few minutes before taking it off the heat. The cream will add a softness and richness to the sauce and will cut some of the tomato acidity as well.

Sugar. You can use sugar to cut the acidity of tomato sauce, but use it sparingly. Too much sugar will give a sauce a bottled taste. Keep in mind that some of the best flavor in a tomato sauce comes from the natural acidity of the tomatoes, so don't blot it all out.

Olive oil. If I have any secret sauce ingredient at all it would have to be olive oil. I like to swirl a tablespoon or two (relative to batch size) into a sauce about 10 minutes before the sauce is ready to come off the heat. Extra-virgin olive oil is always my first choice, as it adds fruitiness to the sauce, which is most appealing.

Capers. Capers packed in brine are the best kind to use, but rinse them under cold water before adding them to a sauce (to get rid of the brine). A little bit of capers goes a long way, so use them with care. Capers are indispensable to a spicy red sauce, like a puttanesca sauce.

If we look at a pizza crust as a canvas on which the pizzaiola can create his art, then it follows that the sauce becomes the foundation for the work. Pizza sauce has come a long way. Not too many years ago (less than 40, in fact) it was tomato, and nothing but the tomato, that graced this "canvas." 

The question of when the tomato first appeared on pizza stirs hot debate among food historians. Everyone agrees (more or less) that the tomato (seeds actually) traveled from Peru to Spain in the 16th Century. (The seeds from Peru bore small yellow tomatoes; hence the name pomo d'oro or golden apple.) Shortly thereafter, circa 1522, the tomato showed up in Naples. However, the tomato did not really come into favor as a food until the middle of the 18th century, when it found its way onto flat breads of varying sizes and shapes — the forerunner to pizza. The idea at that time was that fresh tomatoes were crushed by hand then spread across the flat bread and seasoned with herbs and olive oil.

Today, pizza sauce presents an entirely different picture. True, tomato-based sauces still dominate, but each year I see sauces that are bolder, more pronounced, and, yes, even more elaborate when it comes to texture, color, and variety. 

Think Outside the Red!

Here are some interesting sauce variations to give a whirl:

Extra-Spicy Tomato Sauce

This is a cooked and prepared sauce. I make it in big batches. It can be held in the cooler, covered, for 4-5 days. The sauce has an interesting smoky flavor from the peppers. Adjust the spiciness by adjusting the amount of the chipotles used.


Makes about 1 1/2 quarts of sauce (may be scaled up in direct proportion)


2 large cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 quarts plum tomatoes

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons dried oregano, crumbled

2 tablespoons chopped chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

Salt to taste

§ Sauté the garlic in the oil for about 2 minutes over low heat. Add the tomatoes, their juices, and the remaining ingredients. Crush the tomatoes to a puree.

§ Simmer the sauce over medium-high heat for 20-25 minutes until the sauce has thickened and reduced. Cool slightly before storing in the cooler.


Barbecue Sauce

There are a lot of excellent barbecue sauces on the market, so doing a barbecue pizza can be as easy as opening a can or a jar. However, here is a recipe for a barbecue sauce that you can call your own. Because it has vinegar in it, this is known as a Carolina style sauce.

Makes about 3 cups (can be scaled up in direct proportion)


3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 cups tomato puree

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water

2 teaspoons dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons paprika

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup ketchup


§ Combine all of the ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Simmer for 15 minutes to blend the ingredients. Cool for 20 minutes. Cover and refrigerate.

§ The sauce needs an overnight in the cooler to develop the flavors.


Dessert Pizza Sauce

It is very simple to get into dessert pizzas. If you are working with a basic thin-crust pizza dough, you don't have to change a thing. All you need to do is heat and liquefy a flavor of jam — strawberry, raspberry, apricot, etc.

Using a pastry brush, brush the entire crust with the jam, a little heavier along the edge of the crust (as the pizza bakes the jam caramelizes and adds a nice sugary coating). This will add just enough sweetness to the crust and prepare it for the other toppings — apples, peaches, bananas — and other add-ins such as streusel, nuts, or, my favorite, apple pie pizza with grated cheddar cheese as a topping.

WHITE SAUCE

The concept of a white sauce for pizza (as opposed to a white pizza) starts with a basic white (béchamel) sauce. That sauce can be taken to several taste levels by adding other ingredients, such as cheeses and herbs.

The secret to working with a white sauce is to use a light hand. A white sauce is literally painted on the pizza crust. You would use about half the amount of white sauce as you would a tomato sauce. For example, if you’re using 8 ounces of tomato sauce for a 14-inch pizza, you would use 4-5 ounces of white sauce. The key to doing it right is to get the proper balance between the sauce and the other toppings. 

Basic White Sauce (balsamella)

Makes about 4 cups (recipe can be scaled up in direct proportion)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 cups milk

White pepper

§ Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Do not brown. Add the flour and salt. Stir and blend well.

§ Add the milk slowly in a steady stream. Stir with whisk. Cook and stir over medium heat until the sauce boils and thickens. Add white pepper to taste.

§ Remove from heat and cool slightly before smearing it on the pizza crust.


Variations


# Fold grated Parmesan or Romano cheese into the sauce while it is hot, and blend. 

# Fold Asiago or Fontina cheese into the sauce while it is hot, and blend.

# Make a basil-white sauce by adding a chiffonade of fresh basil to the sauce (let the sauce cool a bit before you add the basil).

# Turn the basic white sauce into a carbonara sauce. After smearing the white sauce on the pizza, sprinkle chips of cooked prosciutto or pancetta over the sauce, followed by a liberal sprinkling of grated Parmesan, and plenty of ground black pepper.

To keep you ahead of the curve, here is the way I see the sauce ladle being used in the year ahead for both pasta and pizza. However, as the song goes, you can’t have one without the other. For example, if the trend in pizza is toward a thinner, lighter crust (and it is headed that way), then the sauce going on that pizza needs to be lighter as well.

If the trend in pasta is toward smaller portions (and it is headed that way) then the sauce has to be in harmony with the amount of pasta. What’s the point of loading a small portion of pasta with an enormous amount of sauce (which is what some of the chain restaurants do to the point of absurdity).

So as I look into my crystal ball, I see . . . I see. . . .

When it comes to pizza sauce these days, Less is better. That’s what I see as a big trend in pizza sauces. Far too long we have been drowning that pizza crust with too much sauce. Here’s the deal: use better tomatoes and you don’t have to use as much.

My approach is to use only as much sauce as it takes to get the flavor balance needed for that perfect pizza. For example, a classic Neapolitan-style pizza requires but a light smear of sauce (the reference I am using here as it pertains to sauce is, more than likely, tomatoes–all purpose ground, plum, chopped, puree — right out of the can without any advance cooking or preparation, other than, possibly, some seasonings).

Having said that, tomatoes out of the can is no sauce at all (or at least sauce as we broadly define it). For example, I was looking at a menu from a new Italian restaurant in Chicago. The menu is complete from antipasti to dolci, but there are as many pizze listed on the menu as there are pasta dishes. One pizza that caught my eye and ultimately my taste buds was the “Quattro Formaggi e Polo.” This pizza — thin crust — sported four cheeses, chunks of grilled chicken and thinly cut cherry tomatoes. No tomato sauce at all. Excellent pizza.

Don’t get me wrong. The Queen, as in Margherita, still prevails. Margherita pizza is still one of the most popular pizzas out there, and it will continue to reign in the year ahead (but, please, use good tomatoes, don’t sully the Queen with bad tomatoes).

Light. Think light — but at the same time, think flavor, think texture as you address the sauce issue for pizza. Another example that comes to mind is a white pizza. A white pizza might be a clam pizza, which means that the crust gets nothing more than a brush of garlic-infused olive oil. That’s the “sauce.”

On the other hand, a white pizza in the true sense of the word would start with a bechamel or white sauce. The sauce is brushed or ladled on the crust (lightly) and then any number of topping possibilities can be used: A cheese or two (grated Parmesan, mozzarella), red bell peppers (grilled or not), shrimp, chicken, prosciutto . . . the possibilities are endless.

To recap, the sauce trends for pizza: less is more. Quality over quantity.
Focus on: Spicy tomato sauce, a true white sauce, pesto sauce (especially in conjunction with chicken), a Latin influence (Mexican pizza that uses salsa as the sauce).

When it comes to pasta, the sauce possibilities are off the chart. I repeat, less is more. Make a sauce that explodes with flavor and you can use less and still wow the customer. One thing to be aware of: creamy-rich sauces will not be as popular as they once were. The implication is heavy and rich, so don’t go overboard on offering cream sauces.

What do I see in the year ahead? Zippy, as in spicy, will be a major trend, whether it has to do with a basic arrabbiata sauce or a spicy Italian sausage added to the dish.

Meatballs will be big in the year ahead, but veal meatballs will be generate even more interest. So pair those veal meatballs with spaghetti and a light marinara sauce (see recipe below) and watch what happens.

Sauces with depth of flavor will be important. Add that depth of flavor in any number of ways. For example, swirling some heavy cream into a marinara sauce will give the sauce a luxurious flavor profile. If you really want to push the taste of luxury to another level altogether, swirl in some mascarpone.

Slow, long-cooked sauces will be another trend that has to do with depth of flavor, especially a meat sauce that starts off with braised pork ribs.

Vegetable sauces (as in meatless) will be important as lifestyles demand a healthier approach to sauces. Customers will continue to indulge in pasta dishes, but you need to offer lighter, healthier alternatives. For example, cooked pasta with an oil and garlic sauce along with sauteed zucchini and broccoli or red bell pepper and some crushed red pepper . . . Ecco! A fine pasta dish.

Veal Meatballs in Marinara Sauce

Once you have cooked these meatballs, keep them warm in some marinara sauce.

Yield: about 18 meatballs, each about 2 inches in diameter (scale up in direct proportion)

1 cup cubed day-old Italian or French bread
½ cup milk
1 ½ pounds ground veal
1 teaspoon each dried oregano and basil
1/8 teaspoon each salt and pepper
1/4 cup minced flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten

In a small bowl soak the bread in the milk until saturated. Squeeze the bread to drain the excess milk. Break the bread into small pieces.

In a large mixing bowl combine the bread with the veal, oregano, basil, salt, pepper, parsley, Romano cheese and egg. Mix thoroughly. Form the meatballs by rolling a portion between your palms.

Arrange the meatballs on a broiling pan or sheet pan. Bake the meatballs in the oven, turning them once, until they are cooked through and brown on all sides (about 15-18 minutes at 425 F.). Can be held in the cooler or put in marinara or any other red sauce.

The idea of sweet pizzas, which involve a sweet sauce in some fashion, is a relatively new direction on the culinary highway. I devoted a chapter to "Dessert Pizzas" in my cookbook, The Ultimate Pizza Cookbook, which came out in 1995. In that book I provided recipes for six different dessert pizzas.

The standard technique I have developed for making a dessert pizza does not involve making any special types of dough. In fact, I use my basic dough recipe (flour, yeast, salt, water) to make all types of dessert pizza. The trick (and it is part of the dessert pizza recipes that follow) is to brush some type of fruit jam or preserve over the entire crust. Presto! Sweet pizza dough.

In some respects, I suppose we need to inject the idea of the Hawaiian pizza into this mix, because it happens to be quite popular. The popularity of Hawaiian pizza has to do with the simple idea of the sweetness of the pineapple playing off the smokiness of the ham (or Canadian bacon). The deal here, however, is that a typical Hawaiian pizza uses a basic pizza sauce, so there is nothing going on as it pertains to a sweet sauce. Nevertheless, I am providing a recipe for this popular pizza.

Now, though, the pendulum of pizza has swung in yet another direction and that is the focus of this article: How to fashion a few pizzas using a sweet sauce that takes the idea of pizza to another level of flavor. Let’s face it –– if your customer has just finished off an extra-large sausage and pepperoni pizza, the idea of a dessert pizza just might be one pizza too far.

What I am going for here is a way to straddle that line between a pizza with a sweet sauce, as in, say, a sweet and sour pizza, and still find a place for a tasty dessert pizza, so I am also including a recipe for a very tasty peanut butter and banana pizza.
Without further ado, then, here are three recipes to get you going on the idea of taking your pizza menu to yet another level.
Hint: when making this style of pizza I like to raise the edge of the crust by pinching and pulling it up to form a border. This gives this style of pizza a unique and pleasing look.

Hawaiian Pizza

There are many versions of Hawaiian pizza. Generally, though, it’s the idea of pineapple and ham. In this version, I like to lay down the sauce then half of the cheese, next the pineapple, then the remaining cheese. This way the cheese insulates the tomatoes from any excess moisture coming off the pineapple.
Should you wish to move a Hawaiian pizza to a more luxurious level, replace the ham with thin slivers of prosciutto.

Yield: one 14-inch pizza (scale up in direct proportion)

1 14-inch pizza shell. Press and form a 1/2-inch border around the crust
6 ounces pizza sauce or all-purpose ground tomatoes
10 ounces low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella
8 ounces pineapple tidbits (drained)
4 ounces coarsely chopped ham or Canadian bacon

Spread the pizza sauce evenly over the crust up to the formed border. Spread half of the mozzarella over the sauce. Spread the pineapple evenly over the mozzarella. Spread the ham evenly over the pineapple. Add the remaining mozzarella. Bake and serve.

Sweet and Sour Pizza

If you have ever had sweet and sour chicken in an Asian restaurant you will understand the idea behind this pizza. I sometimes replace the chicken with small chunks of cooked pork, so in that regard you could actually use the Italian sausage you have in house with this recipe.

Yield: one 14-inch pizza (scale up in direct proportion)

For the sweet and sour sauce combine the following:
6 ounces all-purpose ground tomatoes or tomato puree
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
2 tablespoons white vinegar

Toppings:
8 ounces cooked chicken chunks or tidbits
1/2 cup chopped scallions (white part only)
6 ounces low-moisture, part-skim shredded mozzarella
Spread the sauce over the crust up to the formed border. Sprinkle the chicken over the sauce. Sprinkle on the mozzarella. Bake and serve.

Banana and PB Pizza

This sweet pizza that’s a big hit with children (and adults, as well). The caramel sauce adds a luxurious touch of flavor. Another luxury option is to sprinkle chopped walnuts or pecans on the pizza after it comes out of the oven.

Yield: one 14-inch pizza (scale up in direct proportion

1 14-inch pizza crust
3 tablespoons strawberry jam, heated or microwaved to a spreadable consistency
3 rounded tablespoons creamy peanut butter, heated or microwaved to a spreadable consistency

3 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced Crosswise ½-inch thick
1/4 cup caramel sauce, made in house (recipe follows) or store-bought

With your fingers, press and form (or braid) a 1-inch border around the crust.
Brush the crust including the border with the jam. Spread the peanut butter evenly over the crust up to the border. Arrange the bananas evenly over the peanut butter. Drizzle the caramel sauce over the bananas. Bake. Let cool for several minutes before cutting and serving. Can be made ahead and served at room temperature.

CARAMEL SAUCE
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup whipping cream or half-and-half
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and cook over low heat until the mixture boils. Let simmer gently for three minutes. Use at once or refrigerate for up to 20 minutes before using. The sauce will keep in the cooler, covered, for several weeks. It thickens when chilled, so you may need to keep it on the steam table, heat it or leave it at room temperature for about one hour before using.

Let’s take a look at a few sauces that are unique yet useful. Sauces that will catch the eye of your customer and, just possibly, leave your competition in the dust. I am not suggesting that you go through a complete sauce makeover, because that would be foolish (customers will only accept subtle changes). What I am suggesting, though, is that you look at sauces in a whole new light. And I promise you it’s not going to hurt a bit.

For example, you can change the flavor profile of a basic red sauce simply by adding some heat. So a marinara sauce turns into a spicy, taste-tingling arrabbiata sauce just by adding one ingredient — crushed red pepper flakes. And this arrabbiata sauce can be used on either pasta or pizza.

Similarly, we can take a simple garlic and oil sauce (aglio e olio), a sauce that is a classic for just about any cut of pasta, and then by adding, say, some chicken broth and sauteed escarole, we create an entirely different and interesting sauce that is large with added texture and flavor. And now, to take it one step further, adding lightly sautéed scallops to the pasta and escarole sauce, we create yet another delicious dish.

In other words, what I am suggesting here is what I like to call “sauce layering.” Take the basics and add one, two, three additional ingredients to build a series of sauces that you can draw from, a portfolio that can be used as needed, especially as it relates to a range of ongoing daily specials.

Here are several unique and interesting sauces, for pizza and pasta, to pique your interest.

Luis’s Special Pizza

The popularity of salsa prompted the idea of adding salsa to the tomatoes for an extra kick. It works in a delicious way with this pizza, one that is deep with flavor and requires just a few toppings. There are many bottled salsas to choose from, so pick the one with the heat that you want to work with.

Makes one 14-inch pizza. (Scale up in direct proportion)

3/4 pound chorizo
3/4 cup crushed tomatoes
½ cup thick and chunky medium salsa
1 14-inch pizza shell
10 ounces Monterey Jack cheese (about 2 ½ cups)
1/4 cup loosely packed chopped cilantro

In a sauté pan over medium-heat, crumble the chorizo and cook through while breaking up the larger pieces (about 4 minutes). Drain the grease from the pan. Transfer to a bowl or plate (can be prepped ahead up to this point and held).

Combine the crushed tomatoes and the salsa and blend thoroughly. Sprinkle half the cheese over the crust. Spoon the sauce over the cheese in several globs. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the sauce. Sprinkle the cooked chorizo over the cheese, pushing it into the cheese with your fingers. Sprinkle on the cilantro. Bake.

Clam Pizza with Red Sauce

One of the most popular pasta dishes in Italian restaurants is linguine with clam sauce. Now take this idea and use it on pizza and watch the smiles from your customers.

Makes one 14-inch pizza. (Scale up in direct proportion)

1 14-inch pizza shell
Olive oil
3/4 cup all-purpose crushed tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons clam juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
6 ounces chopped clams, drained
3 ounces grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Brush the pizza shell with olive oil. Combine the tomatoes, red pepper flakes, clam juice and crushed garlic. Spread the clam sauce over the pizza shell. Sprinkle on the chopped clams, the Parmesan cheese, oregano and the parsley. Bake.

Fusilli alla Siciliana

The dominant flavor of olives and olive oil always signifies a dish peculiar to southern Italy. Serve this delicious pasta dish hot or cold (as in a cold pasta salad). The sauce should be of coarse texture, so do not process it too much.

Makes 4 servings as a pasta course (scale up in direct proportion)

1/4 cup green olives, pitted
½ cup oil-cured black olives, pitted
3/4 cup roasted red bell peppers (jarred peppers are fine)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
3/4 pound fusilli or similar short pasta
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a food processor, blend the olives, peppers and olive oil into a coarse puree. Season with salt and pepper.


Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain well and put the pasta in a large bowl. Add the sauce and toss to combine. Add the Parmesan and toss again. Portion and serve.


Rigatoni with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

Use this luscious sauce on any cut of pasta (though I prefer to use a short hollow pasta like rigatoni or ziti for this creamy sauce, because the holes in the pasta grab the sauce).

Makes enough sauce for 12 ounces of cooked pasta

3/4 pound rigatoni or ziti
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ½ cups whipping cream
2 ounces (½ cup) Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta until al dente, drain well, keep warm. In a large sauté pan set over medium heat, melt the butter (do not brown). Add the whipping cream and raise the heat to medium-high. Add the Gorgonzola and bring the sauce to a steady simmer to reduce slightly (about 3 minutes) while creaming the small crumbles of Gorgonzola into the sauce with the back of a spoon. Lower the heat. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce. Toss to coat. Add the Parmesan and toss again. Serve at once.

If you serve pasta-based dishes that feature chicken or fish, a velouté may be a sauce worth exploring. Veloutés are cheap to make, tasty and perfect matches for pasta. Start with a basic chicken stock — canned, concentrated or fresh — and simmer with a coarse-chopped mirepoix (equal portions of celery, carrots and onion, one pound total per gallon of stock). Let that reduce until a hearty flavor develops, and then thicken lightly with cornstarch mixed with a little cool water. Serve over pasta and fish, chicken and/or vegetables.