Onward to Victory

On Monday night, we had pizza for dinner.

These personalized, prosciutto topped portions were actually supposed to be the finale of a celebratory brew and bake day in honor of Notre Dame's historic 12-0 season on Sunday. However, there was a delay of game.

About three quarters of the way into brewing Peter's Irish Stout, I checked on my blanketed dough. I had kneaded, divided it, shaped it into little balls, and covered them about four hours ago, so by now, they should have been pretty puffy. But they hadn't moved - not even an inch. Each of the little balls looked lazy, lethargic, and stubborn. I got mad at them, opened up the garbage, and threatened to end their existence. But Peter stopped me. He told me to give them a chance - maybe they just needed more time to grow. So I tucked in the little balls of dough for a good night sleep, hoping they would work their magic by morning.    
 
In the meantime, we called in reinforcements from Baldinelli's Pizza in Hinsdale. Pizza was on my mind - pizza was for dinner. It just wasn't as good as the homemade kind, especially at their Hinsdalian price point. 

The next morning, I woke up to the pleasant surprise of expanding dough. And when I got home from work, those little balls had reached a perfect consistency. I had never seen this happen before. Perhaps it had something to do with the aging packet that I drew a 1/4 teaspoon of yeast from, but in the end, against all the odds, those little strains worked. The spotlight was now on me to toss and top the dough, shaping each ball into an edible masterpiece. I went with an unlikely combination of prosciutto, frisee, spicy tomato sauce, jardiniere and mozzarella. The results were back to back wins. And a very happy crowd.

In a way, the delayed satisfaction of this pizza dinner on Monday night was a more fitting way to celebrate the Fighting Irish. All season long, it took a certain formula for them to win - the same kind of formula that Peter and I used to design a winning pizza play. It took outstanding coaching and decision making at critical moments. It took teamwork - even the unlikely kind. It took a will and a determination to get it done. And it took a very patient fan base, who after 23 years can tout their team as not only relevant, but dominant and on their way to the National Championship Game in Miami.

Our Irish household is so proud of this amazing team and their amazing season.
Go Irish, beat the SEC.

Lo. 

Prosciutto Pizza
(Makes four personal pizzas) 

Ingredients:
Pizza Dough
28 ounce can whole tomatoes, crushed with your hands
1/4 cup yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt
Crushed red pepper
16 slices prosciutto
Several bundles of frisee
3 big balls of fresh mozzarella, sliced 
1/4 cup jardiniere in olive oil  

Directions:
In a medium sauce pan, saute onions and garlic until tender, about three minutes. Add tomatoes in their sauce and seasoning. Let simmer on low heat for 45 minutes or until most of the juice has steamed off. Puree into a smooth sauce using a food processor. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place a pizza stone in the oven and heat through.

Spread out a ball of dough and assemble your pizza. Sauce first, then about four prosciutto slices, then frisee, then mozzarella, and top with jardiniere. Use some of the olive oil in the jar and brush the edges of the crust.

Place pizza on stone and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Repeat this process with the remaining balls of dough.