Pizza

In the cooler weather, I’ve been craving homemade bread, but as a lead-in pizza crust did the trick. To give it some extra zing, I thought to grill it in order to avoid heating the house up with a 500˚ oven. We made two: a Margherita, and a zucchini, onion, tomato, olive, and herb. the olives came from elsewhere. We grew the rest, and the flour and cheese were local. Our tomatoes are peaking, so they made their own sauce. The grill imparts such a lovely, smoky flavor; it’s like a BBQ-inflected wood-oven job. It also handsomely contrasts crisp and chewy as the botom gets dark brown and the top stays blond. I used our customary half white-half whole wheat dough to get the best of both worlds.

To drink, a Pleiades XVI- I just learned that he’s done making it- the vineyard is no longer his to work with, due to outbidding or other nefarious development- so this is the last year for it. I just ordered another case, and I have to say that I am more than a little sad to see the passing of America’s best wine under $25. For any of you who see a bottle- especially if you live on the West coast- buy it. It’s the greatest pizza (or anything) wine you’ve ever had. The only thing mitigating my grief at this change is the fact that he’ll be rolling out three or four new wines, including a white.