On synonyms and fussy pizzas

pizza

I typed the word froo froo into an online thesaurus the other day, thinking it certainly would not come up, but you have to at least try. Especially when you’re bored and the only programs on tv are all in German. The Gilmore Girls talk fast enough without it also being dubbed in a foreign language. It’s enough to make my head spin.
But I digress. Cut back to me typing froo froo on my laptop and hitting enter. This is what came up:
Did you mean frou-frou? The nice little thesaurus gremlins asked me.
Yes! that’s exactly what I meant. I clicked on it, feeling excited at the world of synomyns that I was about to discover. And I couldn’t have been more satisfied.
It started out rather predictably: adorned, baroque, decorative.
But then: chichi, gaudy, gingerbread...
I almost stopped at gingerbread, somehow it didn’t seem to fit. Yet it was out of place in that sort of way that keeps you thinking. You’re not angry, you’re not disagreeing, but your mind is definitely struggling to grasp this new concept and work it into your reality somehow. I couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps there was more to this word than I had ever realized. But I was quickly distracted by the next word.
Rococo.
Ahhh. Rococo.. Now that I liked.

So, my froo froo pizza recipe, which is it’s far less educated title, has now been renamed Rococo Za… Say it fast.. RococoZa. It sounds like when you twist the cap off a bottle of .. Mountain Dew let's say. Or Fanta, if that’s your pleasure. The first twist “RO” then that first piece of plastic breaks “CO”, then the second piece breaks “CO” and we have lift off, “ZAAAAAA”.. Either way, it’s a good sound. Perhaps the new title would be better suited to naming a drink, but it’s too late, Ive already claimed it for my pizza and there’s no going back. And please note, RococoZa, (formerly known as froo froo pizza) can only be consumed when accompanied with a bottle of wine. It’s food science, plain and simple. And if you want to go all the way, eat the pizza with a knife and fork.

So here are the official rules for frou frou pizza. (RococoZa)

1. frou frou comes in small packages. Take that pizza dough meant for one pizza and divide it into 4. It just looks so charming and leaves room for further experimentation.
2. frou frou requires a visible sprinkling of freshly cracked black pepper. The taller your pepper mill the better.
3. frou frou pizza requires ingredients that might cause the raising of an eyebrow and make your boyfriend/spouse/partner wonder where the pepperoni is.
4. frou frou pizza, above all, requires a gratuitous sprinkling of fresh herbs. As you can see by the photo I held back. But I had my reasons. My basil was down to its last leaf and alas I was out of italian parsley.
5. frou frou pizza requires a sauce base with a long name like Roasted Orange Pepper puree with Crème Fraiche.

The sauce for all the pizzas pictured was, in fact, a roasted orange pepper puree mixed with crème fraiche and a bit of salt to get that very appealing orange colour you see there. I know, crème fraiche, who would have thought in a pizza sauce? But it was better than I even expected. ( I did experiment with one of the four and put no sauce on it. Bad idea.)
The cheese used on all the pizzas pictured was fresh mozzarella.

Top left. Roasted orange pepper sauce, sauteed radicchio and kalamata olives. Amazing.
Top right. Roasted orange pepper sauce with sauteed fennel. My favourite.
Bottom left. No sauce pizza with crisp prosciutto, kalamata olives and fresh basil. Great ingredients but adding sauce would have made it that much better.
Bottom right. Roasted orange red pepper sauce, and crisp prosciutto. Excellent.

And, of course, I always judge which one is my favourite by the one I’m saving for last. A fennel pizza gets me every time. You may not believe it but just try it. And I actually don’t much like fennel when it’s raw. But sauteed, the flavour really mellows, and I seriously think it has some mood elevating properties. If that’s possible. Try it with a regular tomato sauce if you prefer, which is how I usually make fennel pizza. I first came across the idea in my copy of Annie Sommerville’s Fields of Greens, which is tucked away in a box, in a storage locker in Washington D.C, with the rest of my cookbooks, much to my chagrin. But even without remembering her fine touches to the recipe, I still repeatedly add sauteed fennel to my pizza and love it more and more each time.

I do fear that this entry will go on and on, so I will get down to business.
I use a variation of Martha's pizza crust recipe. I leave out the olive oil and it works fine. For some reason I never like my pizza crusts when I put olive oil in them.
And I always pre-bake the crust for about 5 minutes and then add my sauce and toppings. When I return it to the oven it goes directly on the rack this time.
Saute radicchio or fennel in a pan with a little bit of olive oil. Radicchio should only be left in for a short time otherwise it will discolour. By short I mean a minute or so, if that. Fennel can be sauteed until softened or less if you want some crunch.
I crisped the prosciutto by just putting it on my grill pan. You could also fry it if you wanted in a bit of oil.
I roasted the orange peppers under the broiler, turning them regularly so they were blackened all over. I put them in a bowl and covered it with foil (or saran wrap) and let sit. I peeled the peppers and reserved all the juices that collected. The juice and the peeled peppers went into the blender and it was pureed until smooth. You will need to add a pinch of salt to cut through the tanginess of the pepper. Keep tasting it as you add a bit of salt at a time. You will be able to taste immediately how the salt affects the flavour. For about 4 tablespoons of puree I used about 3 tablespoons of creme fraiche. But you can adjust this to taste and to get whatever thickness of sauce you want. The creme fraiche adds a nice creamy element to the pizza.

The fun part is, you can take a slice of each of your RococoZas and dig in..