When Ryan asked me to collaborate on his pizza website I knew this was a great opportunity to share my trials and tribulations on pizza making. It was also a great opportunity to find that passion I once had in “Finding the Perfect Pie!” When Ryan began his pizza quest I hopped on his pizza wheel, on the East Coast, and began my journey of tossing the perfect dough. While I haven’t gotten my recipe 100% perfect it’s pretty darn close. Recently, I had been fighting with a soggy-ish crust, which lead me to post a question on his blog. After answering my question he then asked me to be a co-author. How exciting!
Now that pizza making is second nature to me it’s found it’s way into the weekly rotation of dinners. It’s become a bit hum drum to say the least. When I first started out I experimented constantly with different toppings and tried recreating pizzas we had in restaurants. One in particular is from a restaurant here in NH, Nonni’s (http://www.nonnisitalianeatery.com). Their cheese and herb pizza was unique. Sweet and salty, my two favorite combinations. Once home, I was able to recreate the honey and roasted garlic paste used as the sauce and the rest is history. I have never actually measured any of these ingredients. These amounts are not exact. You made need two heads of roasted garlic to make the sauce depending on how big your pizza is.
Cheese and Herb Pizza a la Aimee
Honey and Tyme Paste-
1 Head Roasted Garlic
1-2 Tbsp Honey
1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme
3-4 Tbsp Olive Oil
Salt to taste
Fresh Mozzarella
Preheat oven to 400. Cut 1/3 off the top of a head of garlic to expose all the cloves. Place on a sheet of foil. Sprinkle with 1 tsp of olive oil and a bit of salt. Wrap the foil to around the garlic to create a pouch. Roast for 45 min. Uncover and roast for 15 min more or until the garlic is a deep golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool. In a small bowl squeeze out all the garlic. Add the honey, thyme and olive oil and mix well. All the flavors should be balanced and you should be able to taste them all. Add enough olive oil to make a spreadable paste. Add salt and pepper to taste.
On your dough spread s substantial amount of paste add your mozz and bake until bubbly and brown.