Taste of Manchester: Mike's Pizzeria

As part of the Taste of Manchester 2016 Marketing Committee, Amy has volunteered to write short features on the participating restaurants and share them via our blog here.This year's Taste of Manchester will be held on Tuesday, May 10th from 5:30 to 9 p.m. See the TOM webpage, Facebook page, or Twitter @TastyTownCT (#TOMCT2016) for more information. 

Mike's Pizzeria

New to town, and to the Taste of Manchester this year, is Mike's Pizzeria, which is located at 267 East Center Street. Owner Matt Barry opened the pizzeria last July as a tribute to his late grandfather, Mike Massaro, who owned a pizza place in Manchester for decades.

A Tribute to Mike Massaro

Barry remembers growing up helping his grandfather at his shop, folding boxes and learning how to make the dough. He says his mother always knew one day he'd own his own pizza shop. When the space opened up, he knew it was his turn to make the pizza. 

One friendly staff member at Mike's counter

Mike's is known for its wide variety (over 30 different types, not including build-your-own) of pan pizzas. The pizzas are cooked in a special rotating oven that can fit up to 40 pizzas at a time on stones that are heated to 480 degrees. The house pizza is a customer favorite, as it pleases both meat and veggie lovers with toppings of mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, peppers, sausage and hamburger. Another popular choice is the "Big Mike," Mike's version of a Big Mac, which is covered with thousand island dressing (special sauce), grilled hamburger (for that flame-grilled flavor), pickles, onions, mozzarella cheese and then topped with lettuce after being cooked. You barely miss that sesame seed bun. 

The secret to Mike's pies? This oven!

Mike's serves pizza by the slice, and these slices are huge, cut to equal one quarter of their 16-inch pie. Daily choices (cheese, pepperoni) are available as is a daily special slice, which is usually something concocted that day on the whim of the chefs. 

Pizza topped with extra mozzarella, pepperoni and hamburger

Besides pizza, Mike's serves a variety of grinders, in 8-inch and, for the super-hungry, 16-inch sizes. Their meatballs are made in-house, and sausage-and-peppers can be made with a choice of hot or sweet sausage. Calzones are stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella and the customer's choice of toppings. Stuffed breads like sausage and spinach or eggplant are also available and are served with marinara sauce on the side. A variety of appetizers (like 9 flavors of wings, fried ravioli and potato skins), salads and wraps rounds out the diverse menu, making it sure to please every palate.

Sweet Chili Wings

Barry is happy to be continuing his grandfather's tradition and serving delicious hot pizzas and more to the folks of Manchester. He makes sure the business supports local groups, like Manchester High sports teams, and is pleased to be involved in local events such as the Taste of Manchester. This year, Taste of Manchester participants can enjoy a taste of Mike's pizza and stuffed breads. 

Mike's Pizzeria is located at 267 East Center Street. They are open daily for takeout and delivery, with a couple of tables for eating in. Their phone number is 860.432.0002. You can find their hours, menu, and more at their website or Facebook page.

It's not too late to buy tickets to this year's Taste of Manchester! Click here for info.

Best of 2013: Best Cooking Class: Pizza and Foccaccia

The best, and most useful, cooking class we took in 2013 (well, it was the end of 2012, but we didn't post about it until January, so it counts, right?) was Chris French's "Pizza and Foccaccia" class at Manchester Community College. With so many helpful tips and recipes, we no longer look at these two delicious foods the same way.

Chef French runs 1-2 credit-free classes each semester - just check the online catalog under "Continuing Education." We'll probably see you there!

Meatless Monday: White Pizza with Arugula

Tonight we used the last of the dough we made (we had frozen it) in a recent cooking class we took to make a pizza for Meatless Monday. We infused garlic and red pepper flakes into olive oil and brushed the dough with that, topped the pizza with a blend of mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, and baked it in a super-hot oven. While it was cooking, we tossed arugula (we got a bagful at a local farmers' market for $1!) with lemon juice and more olive oil, and when we took the pizza out, we placed the arugula right on top. Delightful!!!

White Pizza with Arugula

Ingredients:

1 premade pizza dough

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 cloves garlic, sliced

pinch red pepper flakes

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 cup fresh arugula

2 tablespoons lemon juice

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat pizza stone in 500-degree oven for at least 45 minutes. In a small sauce pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes for 5-7 minutes over low heat, taking care not to burn the garlic. Stretch the dough and place it on a brown rice flour-dusted pizza peel. Brush the infused oil onto the dough. Top the dough with the cheese mixture and bake until crust is done to your liking and cheese is melted. In the meantime, whisk together the remaining olive oil with the lemon juice, salt and pepper, and toss the arugula in the mixture. Lay the arugula over the cheese when pizza comes out of the oven. 

Cooking Class: Pizza and Focaccia (with recipes for pizza dough and sauce)

Mid-December, the two of us took a one-day cooking class at our local community college. The class was titled "Pizza and Focaccia" and it was taught by the adjunct instructor of baking and pasty at the college, Chris French. Of course, the two of us have made pizza before, but we are ashamed to say that we usually buy the dough from our grocery store or local market and then simply grill or bake it with our toppings. No more! In this class, we learned the ins and outs of making deliciously fresh pizza dough and focaccia, and enjoyed it so much Chris bought Amy a pizza peel for Christmas! So of course, we are excited to share what we've learned, with permission from the instructor.

Speaking of instructors, Chef Chris was an amazing one in that he was well-prepared with a packet that included all the information we would need, including several recipes and resources for ingredients. He walked us through each and every step of pizza and focaccia making, including the dough, the sauce, the cheese, the toppings and the various ways to cook it all. He explained the "what are the different kinds" and "why you'd use one or the other" of each ingredient, demonstrated to us exactly how to make and shape the dough and then paired us up and allowed us to make it ourselves under his guidance. Amy made a plain cheese pizza and Chris made pizza margherita. Best of all, we went home with enough dough for 4-6 pizzas (depending on the size of the pizza) as well as more focaccia than we knew what to do with!

Here's what we learned about pizza making: First of all, the type of flour does matter. Chef Chris suggested using either King Arthur Bread Flour, or Caputo "00" flour, and had us make a batch of dough with each. We found both resulted in a flavorful dough that was crisp and blistery on the outside, and perfectly chewy on the inside. Since we can readily find King Arthur at the grocery store, that has become our go-to flour. Secondly, San Marzano tomatoes, even in a can, make a fantastic no-cook pizza sauce. Just a few additional ingredients from the spice rack is all you need to transform a can of tomatoes into an easy, zesty sauce. Thirdly, brown rice flour is an excellent choice for dusting your surface/pizza peel as it doesn't burn. And finally, a really hot pizza stone inside a really hot oven will give you the best results. Heat the stone at 500 degrees for about 45 minutes before putting your pizza on it, then bake your pizza on it, also at 500 degrees.

Something we already knew, but it was nice to be reminded about: Creativity is key to pizza topping. Savory? Sure - cheese, meats, spices, vegetables, herbs - anything can top a pizza! A touch of fennel powder recreated the flavor of sausage without the meat. We even made a peach pizza with a marscapone cheese that would make for a crowd-pleasing dessert.

Admittedly, the pizza making took up most of the time allotted to the course, but Chris had made the focaccia dough ahead of time (giving us the recipe in our packets) and we simply spread the dough on large baking sheets and allowed it to rise before we topped it with truffle oil, chopped rosemary, caramelized onions, grated parmesan cheese, and a little salt and pepper. Watching sheet upon sheet of golden brown tastiness cook in the industrial oven was almost as fun as using the pizza peel!

Chris French's Pizza Dough

(cold fermented means it must be made at least one day ahead; makes 3 pizzas)

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups (462 grams) King Arthur Bread Flour or Caputo "00"
1 1/4 cups (296 grams) water at room temp
1 teaspoon (3 grams) instant or active yeast
1 1/4 teaspoon (10 grams) salt
olive oil

Place the following ingredients in the order listed to the bowl of a Kitchenaid-type mixer: water, yeast, flour and salt. Install the bowl into the machine and mix using a dough hook (the spiral hook works better than the "C"-type hook) on speed 1 or 2. Mix until all ingredients are "picked up" and the bowl is nearly clean. Shut off and unplug the machine; scrape down the bowl if necessary. Plug the machine back in and resume mixing for another 2-3 minutes. Stop the machine and rest the dough for 10-20 minutes. Mix the dough again on speed 2 for another minute. Remove the dough from the bowl and round into a ball. Place the dough ball into a lightly oiled bowl large enough to hold 3 times its size. Roll the dough ball so it's coated with a light film of oil. cover the bowl tightly with clear wrap and place on counter for 1 hour. After the dough has rested on the counter for 1 hour, remove from bowl and divide into 3 equal sized pieces. Roll the individual small dough pieces into rounds. Place the rounds in a shallow, lightly oiled tray and cover tightly with clear wrap or a lid. Place the tray immediately in the refrigerator for 24-96 hours until ready to use. Remove the tray from the refrigerator 1-2 hours before baking pizza (it's recommended to preheat pizza stone/oven around the same time).

Chris French's Pizza Sauce

(using dry herbs avoids the extra water in fresh herbs which may make the sauce watery)

Ingredients:

1 28-ounce can San Marzano tomatoes (Chef prefers Cento brand)
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons either red wine vinegar or lemon juice
1/2 - 1 teaspoon salt (to taste)

Lightly blend or process the tomatoes into a coarse texture. Remove the tomatoes from the blender and combine with all of the remaining ingredients, adjusting the salt to taste. Allow the sauce to stand overnight in the refrigerator so that it can tighten up slightly. If sauce is too watery it can be strained and dried out by using a doubled cheese cloth and colander. 

Special thanks to Chef Chris French for the amazing class and permission to use his recipes here.

Domenica, New Orleans

As we are about to leave for one last huzzah (a week on the beach in Maine sans computer!!!) before we teachers have to go back to The Place That Must Not Be Named, we'll leave you with a few tidbits from our recent trip to New Orleans. We had eaten dinner the previous night at Restaurant R'evolution and should have still been full from that, but when we're in the Big Easy, we seem to have hollow legs, so the next afternoon, we went to Domenica, a John Besh restaurant at the gorgeous Roosevelt Hotel. 

The hotel is one block off Canal Street and is an impressive sight to behold. The Art Deco style permeates the building that opened as the luxurious Grunewald Hotel in 1893 and stretches an entire city block still. An ambitious renovation project post-Katrina has restored it gloriously, and the addition of a top chef's restaurant adds to its allure.

But Domenica (which means "Sunday" in Italian) is casually elegant rather than snobbishly so. Sparkling chandeliers hover over espresso-colored wooden tables where each placemat also serves as the menu. The menu highlights homey Italian specialties (pizze, salumi, antipasti, pasta, panini, dolci) with a contemporary chic touch, all the while focusing on the bounty and traditions of the American South. In other words, it's John Besh doing Italian and doing it well.

The chef's selection of salumi, cheese, olives and vegetables featured meats that were sliced so thinly you could see through them. We adored those pillowy fried doughs that came with it!

The roasted cauliflower, served with a whipped goat feta cheese dip, was exquisite in its simplicity. We are totally going to attempt to duplicate this one at our next dinner party!

The contrasting colors and flavors of the squid ink tagliolini (black ink pasta tossed with opaque white crabmeat) made for a dish that was both beautiful to look at and to taste. The local crabmeat was so very fresh!

Pizzas were thin and crispy and topped with the freshest of ingredients - of the sort that would be well at home in a Roman pizzeria, except for the local Abita brew that J washed it down with, of course.

One bite of the tagliatelle with rabbit and porcini mushrooms took us back a decade to our trip to Tuscany. The rabbit was moist, the mushrooms earthy, and the dish well-composed. Delicioso!

The desserts were also quite inspiring, particularly the oven-roasted peach cake, with Nebbiolo-poached figs and fiore di latte gelato. The crema cotta and pistachio crostata, with its many layers of differing tastes and textures, formed individually delightful bites. And the gelati were creamy, cold, refreshing and flavorful. Very traditionally Italian!

It was quite the lunch (yes, lunch!) and we very much enjoyed the incredible food, the beautiful setting, and being treated to it all by the best of friends. Thank you again, J and K! Love and miss you!

Meatless Monday: Green Grape and Gorgonzola Pizza

Yes, you are reading that correctly. Inspired by one of the pies we saw on Cooking Channel's recent special, "Pizza Outside the Box," we made a Green Grape and Gorgonzola Pizza, a perfect meal for Meatless Monday.

Does it sound strange? Sure. But it's very much like nibbling on a cheese board: three different cheeses, grapes, and bread. A virtual picnic in Paris, no airline ticket needed. We urge you to try it. You won't be disappointed. It's a party on your tastebuds - sweet, salty, crispy, chewy, cheesy, crunchy, tangy, herby and, in a word, fabulous.

Green Grape and Gorgonzola Pizza

Ingredients:

3/4-1 lb. pizza dough

corn meal

olive oil

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup shredded provolone cheese

1-1 1/2 cups halved grapes

1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese

2 tablespoons chopped rosemary

Place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 450°F for at least 30 minutes. Take the pizza dough and flatten it with your hands on a slightly floured work surface.

Starting at the center and working outwards, use your fingertips to press the dough to 1/2-inch thick. Gently stretch the dough until it reaches the desired diameter - 10 to 12 inches. Use your palm to flatten the edge of the dough where it is thicker. Lightly sprinkle a baking sheet with corn meal and transfer the dough to the baking sheet. Brush the top of the dough with olive oil to prevent it from getting soggy from the toppings. Sprinkle the outer edge of the crust with the kosher salt.

Mix together the mozzarella and provolone cheeses; spread this cheese mixture in a thin layer over the dough. Cover the cheese with the halved grapes. Sprinkle the pizza with the gorgonzola cheese crumbles and chopped rosemary.

Carefully slide the pizza onto the hot pizza stone and bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes, until crust is browned and cheese is melted and golden. Enjoy!