Double Pepperoni Pizza; Pizza Margherita; Beachcomber

      My husband comes from a large family (by my standards).  He has three sisters and a brother.  Between all of his siblings, he has eight nieces and nephews, ranging in ages from an infant to a seventeen-year-old.  They all  live in Nebraska, and we have been somewhat negligent in getting together with them.  He and I had decided a while ago that we would not be having any children, as they really aren't my forte and he hasn't grown up yet.  So when he told me that two sisters, a brother-in-law, a sister's boyfriend, his mother, and five nieces and nephews were all coming to visit together for a week over fourth of July, I was taken aback.      "All at once?" I inquired, panicking.  "We don't even have one guest bedroom, let alone enough space to house ten extra people!"
     "Calm down," he said.  "They are going to stay at a hotel."

     Still, I worried.  How would we entertain all of them?  What would happen when they came to my house and encountered my devil-kitten, who has a greater aversion to children than I do, and is prone to growling, hissing, and sometimes biting??  Where do you start when planning meals for

     Jeff said he had it all planned out and would take care of all of the details.  And, for the most part, he really did.  Breakfast was included in their hotel stays, and he planned all of the rest of the meals (except for Thursday night), took care of all of the shopping, and planned activities for all of the time together.  He did ask me, however, to still go ahead with pizza night and just make sure that I made enough for everyone.

     That turned out to be easier than I would have expected.  Jennifer volunteered to bring two kid-friendly pizzas (thank goodness!), and the originally scheduled recipes turned out to be fairly kid-friendly anyway.  The original double pepperoni recipe made two pizzas, and I just doubled the recipe for the Margherita.  I had decided I was going to cut a few corners, because I wasn't sure how much time I would be able to spend on preparing my ingredients.  I bought four pre-made crusts and I bought pizza sauce.  I know that Jeff would have preferred that I made those items myself, so he could show off my kitchen prowess to his family.  I argued that I wanted to spend more time with the family than with the dough and tomatoes.

     The originally scheduled event for Thursday was unanimously cancelled.  We were all going to go to Como Zoo.  This had been an item on the agenda, because their grandfather had a hand in the building of the conservatory almost over a hundred years ago.  He was a brick-layer.  It would have been a neat day trip for everyone that they would be able to connect to on some level, and the kids would probably really enjoy the animals (or so I would suspect - not having much experience with children (other than my darling husband), I wasn't sure what they would like).  However, it was hot - Africa HOT! The thermometer reached 104º in the shade,  and no one relished the idea of walking around outside all day in the heat.  His sister Jennifer, her boyfriend David, and daughter Taylor, and nephew James had come a couple days later than the rest of the clan and missed the trip to the MALL OF AMERICA.  Jeff's Mom, Mary, had also missed it, but didn't care to go.  The rest of them wanted to go back and possibly take the train to Minneapolis to explore.  We sent them on their way and spent some quality time with Jeff's mother.

     We took her grocery shopping, boring her to death along the way with all of our talk of shockers, temporary price reductions, and all of our extreme couponing activities.  We ended up with a cartful of groceries, but we had no luck finding sharp provolone and fontina.  Jeff wanted me to go ahead and buy the regular provolone and find a substitute for the fontina.  I didn't budge.  I feel even more strongly about sharp provolone than I feel about sharp cheddar.  Regular provolone has NO flavor, in my opinion, so why waste the money.  There is no substitute for fontina, and since I was going to have to go out in search of that anyway, I may as well get the right (only) kind of provolone.

     When we got home, it was nearly six o'clock, and our guests said that they were going to be back between seven and eight.  Jeff volunteered to take his mother and show her what a yuppie-turd-head grocery store (Lund's) looks like - something I am guessing they don't have in Grand Island, NE.  That way, I could start in on the preparations.  He called me a few minutes later and said he found the sharp provolone, but they didn't have fontina.  After a few expletives and some grumbling about what kind of grocery store did they think they were if they didn't carry fontina, I told him I would try to think of an alternative (not a substitution) to the fontina and call him back.  I had finally settled on Ementhaler when he called back and said that he found some and would be home soon.  Whew!

     Once I unwrapped the par-baked crusts, I realized how small they really were.  I started to panic that we wouldn't have enough food.  And, what if my sister didn't get home from the cabin in time to bring two pizzas, or what if the pizzas she brought were small??  I decided a guacamole was in order.  I had all the ingredients for it, and I had made it earlier in the week and received high praise for it.

GUACAMOLE

5 Haas avocados

6 Roma tomatoes

1 red onion

2 large jalapenos

1 tablespoon fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons lime juice

salt and pepper to taste

     Insert a sharp knife into the side of the avocado near the stem or "belly button" of the avocado.  When the knife hits the hard pit, rotate the knife around the avocado until the cut connects with the original insertion of the knife at the stem end (making a cut all the way around the long circumference of the fruit).  Twist the two halves away from each other.  Squeeze the half with the pit in the center until the pit falls out of the flesh of the fruit.  Make diagonal cuts inside the avocado about a centimeter apart, starting at one end and continuing to the other end.  Make diagonal cuts the other direction, resulting in a cross-hatch pattern.  Squeeze the peel over a large bowl, letting the pieces of flesh drop into the bowl.  Continue squeezing until the peel is flat, and all of the meat is in the bowl.  Repeat with the other half.  Repeat everything for the other 4 avocados.

     Dice the tomatoes in roughly the same size as the avocado pieces and add to the bowl.  Dice the onion in the same size, too, and toss into the bowl.  Finely mince the jalapeno (with the seeds for a spicy dip, without for a cooler dip) and add it to the bowl.  Add the minced cilantro leaves, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Stir to mix well.  Serve immediately.

     Store any leftover guacamole in an airtight container with a sheet of saran wrap over the top in complete contact with the dip, squeezing out as many air pockets as possible.  Any avocado pieces exposed to air will turn an unappetizing brown after a little while.

     Jennifer, Roger, Jonah, and Gracie showed up just as I was stirring the guacamole.  Jennifer asked what she could do to help, and I handed her the bowl to take to the table.  She generously volunteered her services as a taster while she performed this task.

     When she returned, I handed her my can of sauce and told her to spread half a can (or less if she thought it was too much) over each of two crusts.  While she did this, I chopped the pepperoni.  I had gotten the thick sliced kind (at Jeff's request).  I stacked it and quartered it.  Jennifer added half of it to each sauced crust.  I handed her the cheese and she distributed that as well.  The finale was the slices of pepperoni over the top.  It was easy and quick.

     I had just sliced the tomatoes and handed them to her to place over the other two crusts that I had brushed olive oil over.  She placed them in a beautiful pattern over the olive oil, then asked what was next.  I read the instructions.  "Ooops! The cheese was supposed to go on first."  I quickly shredded the fontina and the provolone.  She took the tomatoes off of the crust and sprinkled the cheeses over the crust.

     She replaced the tomatoes, and I told her to go ahead and put one of them in the oven, and I would put one of the pepperoni pizzas in the preheated oven.

      Just as I was closing the oven on the two masterpieces, I realized that I had an extra package of mozzarella sitting on the counter.  Why was that?  Oh yeah, there was supposed to be mozzarella on the Margherita pizza as well.  I pulled the pizza back out of the oven, and Jennifer removed the tomatoes once again.  Mary commented on the number of times that the tomatoes had been removed from the pizza prior to baking.  I told her that the extra handling would make the pizza taste that much better.

    We also put in the cheese pizza and the sausage pizza that she had brought from the deli at Cub Foods.

DOUBLE PEPPERONI PIZZA

(makes one 12" pizza)

1 par-baked pizza crust, such as Freschetta Artisan Style

7 ounces prepared pizza sauce (or more, if a thicker style)
8 ounces of thick cut pepperoni, divided
8 ounces shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 450º.  Spread pizza sauce over the pre-made crust.  Quarter or chop 4 ounces of pepperoni and distribute over the sauce.  Sprinkle the mozzarella over the chopped pepperoni and top with the remaining slices of pepperoni.  Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese is starting to brown and bubble.

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PIZZA MARGHERITA

(makes one 12" pizza)

       Historical Note: Pizza Margherita was "invented" in the late 1800's, when a baker made three different pizzas for the king and queen of Italy.  The baker, Raffaele Esposito, had crafted this pizza to incorporate the colors of the Italian flag.  The Queen Margherita declared it her favorite of the three, and it was thereafter named for her.

1 par-baked pizza crust, such as Freschetta Artisan Style

2 tablespoons olive oil

1½ ounces finely shredded fontina cheese

1½ ounces finely shredded sharp provolone cheese

2 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

2 ripe Roma tomatoes (about 1/3 pound), thinly sliced

1 tablespoon finely shredded Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons finely shredded fresh basil

Preheat oven to 450º.  Brush the crust with olive oil.  Sprinkle the fontina, provolone, and mozzarella evenly over the crust.  Arrange the tomato slices over the cheese.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until cheese starts to brown.  Sprinkle the Parmesan and basil over the top and serve.



     The half of the crew that opted not to go to Minneapolis showed up just as I was pulling the first two pizzas out of the oven.  I laid them out on the counter to rest, while Jennifer made our cocktail.  I chose this drink, because it sounds like something you would get on a hot day in the tropics, and since it was at least 105º (even still at 8 o'clock!), it seemed fitting.

BEACHCOMBER

(makes one cocktail)

2 measures light rum (we used Bacardi light)
1/2 measure Cintronge (or any orange liqueur, preferably brandy based)
3/4 measure freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 measure maraschino liqueur
3/4 measure club soda
lime wedge

Pour first four ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice.  Shake and strain into a well-chilled cocktail glass.  Top with the club soda and hang a lime wedge on the rim of the glass.

     This drink was perfect.  It was citrusy and refreshing with just a hint of cherry that came forward just after swallowing.  It lingered on the tongue in perfect balance of sweet and sour.  I will definitely bring this one into my regular summer repertoire.
     Jennifer and I sprinkled the margherita pizzas with the Parmesan and the basil (we actually remembered!).  A quick slice job on all the pizzas and a juggling of serving platters and pizza peels, and we were headed into the dining room with the food.  Last, but certainly not least significant, we grabbed our cocktails and headed into the chaos.  The adults were talking over each other, and the kids were trying to find the best places to sit and the best person to sit next to.  Requests for water, Kool Aide, glasses, ice, plates were being bandied through the din.

There were some oohs and ahs over the delivery of the pizzas.  The pepperoni pizzas had been mounded so high with meat and cheese that the top layer of pepperoni had started to slide off the edges of the pie.  There was quite a bit of oil released in the cooking process, so the crust had a deep-fried texture and taste to it.  There certainly was no shortage of cheese.  Once the plates had been filled, the noise calmed down a little.  There was less talking and more eating.  

          The take-and-bake pizzas were good, too.  They had cooked to just the right brownness, in my opinion.  They were also very cheesy - at least the sausage one was.  I refrained from sampling the cheese only pizza, because I didn't think I was going to have room to try it all if I did, and that one was the least appealing to me (just cheese?). Cheese is wonderful and all, but why eat that when there are so many other delicious alternatives?

    The pizza margherita was the clear winner among the adults (and, surprisingly, with a few of the children).  The fontina left a lingering wisp of nuttiness at the end, the Parmesan imparted a wonderful saltiness, and the provolone gave it a nice tang that was matched by the sweet juiciness of the tomatoes.  The basil was just enough to freshen up the flavors and give it a barely perceptible tinge of licorice.  It was a masterpiece, really.  Sometimes, you just can't go wrong with the classics.

      The evening went very well.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, each other, and all of the pizzas.  We didn't have enough chairs for everyone to sit around the table at once, but since they showed up in shifts, it worked out.  We ate, we laughed, we drank (some of us), and had a great time.  We all promised each other we would do this again in another 16 years.