Pizza: 20 Recipe Cards by Pizza Pilgrims
By Thom Elliot & James Elliot
(Quadrille)
In the palm of my outstretched hand I am holding one of the smallest pizza deliveries I have ever received. The 13cm squared box flips open to reveal a stack of round pizza recipe cards. The front shows the picture of the “ready to eat” pizza and the back of the card features the recipe ingredients, method and a tiny description of what makes each pizza unique.
Brothers Thom and James Elliot, the creators of Pizza Pilgrims — a British pizza restaurant chain known for serving authentic Neapolitan pizzas — are the brains behind this little box of fun.
At the top of the stack is how to make the perfect Neapolitan dough, this is followed with a card on how to stretch your own pizza base and then one on “The Tomato Sauce” followed by some different pizza combinations. These include the classics like Margherita, Marinara, and Bufala — aptly named as it features buffalo mozzarella.
There’s even a recipe for a dessert pizza featuring — you guessed it — Nutella, and one on how to make your own chilli oil and even some dipper recipes for those who love their crusts.
The pictures of the various pizzas will quickly have you salivating. Then there’s the sharp wit and humour piquing your interest from the brothers to spice things up like — “We challenge you to add a few thin slices of prosciutto crudo to any pizza and not make it more delicious.”
“If pizza was a hug, this would be it,” the duo confesses about Pizza Fiocco which features potatoes. If you haven’t tried it, you sure are missing out.
For a porchetta and poponcini peppers pizza they say adding roast pork “the Rolls Royce” of Italian meats and the simplicity of pairing it with a little heat from the peppers makes for a “perfectly balanced” pizza.
And that’s the part most don’t always understand about a good pizza — keep it simple. Less ingredients mean the flavours aren’t competing against each other. So if you want inspiration for how it should be done then this cute and practical recipe card box is sure to come in handy. I know the Italians will approve. — Available from Jonathan Ball Publishers
