Maybe a dinner party is not the best time to try a new recipe. I should now better. Last week I hosted a dinner for a few girlfriends and after much debating (Chuck loves good complicated food and I like simple flavourful stuff) chose to make "The Thinnest Crust Pizza with Ricotta and Mushrooms": simple, interesting and full of flavour (it has Asiago and shallots too, yummm).
Chuck was off in the US so that meant I had to get everything ready, play, bathe Sebastian, play more, feed him dinner, read books and have him asleep by 8pm. He was as sweet as always and stuck to his "program" without a complaint,
My friends arrive, I am all set, having pulled out champagne, glasses, made dessert and had all the ingredients for the Thinnest Pizza ready. To ensure that the pizza was a little bigger (the original recipe called for sandwich wrap) I used pre-made thin crust pizza dough, I followed the instructions and put wax paper between the cooking sheet and the dough and then covered the dough with the cheese, mushrooms and shallots.
All is going great, we are having some apetizers, and I pulled out the first pizza out of the oven (I had made 2 just in case we were VERY hungry). It looks and smells delicious ... surely it will be a hit! Until ... I notice that the wax paper has become part of the pizza! You get it, stuck there like a second skin.
[insert your laughter here]
I basically start peeling the thing off the base of the pizza to very little success. That's when I notice the second Thinnest Pizza, which thankfully I had not put in the oven yet , my savior! or so I thought. The soft dough is already stuck to the paper (or the other way around), whatever, they are one. I turned the pizza upside down, really, upside down, although I had the presence of mind to put cling foil under it and proceeded to try "peel" the thing off my pizza. Chunks of soft dough were coming off along with the wax paper. I was sweating (and I don't sweat, ... a joke) and worried for my friends who I am sure were wondering what was going on inside the kitchen?!
Believe it or not, it worked, partly.
The girls were very sweet and did not make a big deal about "The Thinnest PAPER Pizza (Pizza #1). I am sure they all ate their share of fiber for the week. Pizza #2 turned out ok, but by that time I had lost my appetite due to all the worrying.
(update: I had the left overs of Pizza #2 the next day and it was so good I am including the recipe. It's a keeper and a hit with Sebastian! Amor, I can't wait to make one for you.)
