Photos: Mats Widén

Here is a brief history of food:

(Earlier): Salt. Check.

(Just the other day): Fats. Check.

The last on the list of stuff-they-plan-to-take-away-from-us is of course sugar. Give them a year or so and it´s bye-bye to apple pie, hot cocoa and your favorite candy bar.

Sure, some of us should be using less salt and unsaturated fats – and sugar. If you´re drinking five bottles of cola a day, you have a problem, though the same applies if your soft drink of choice is called diet or light.

Most of us understand the basic principle that just enough meat, veggies, seafood, fruit, carbs, salt, fats and sugar, are fine and that they make for a healthy and very tasty diet. We understand that salt is the buddy who brings out the best in most of the food we eat. We don´t want a lot of it, just enough. We want to eat our vegetables and our seafood, and there is no need to replace our eggs with kale chips or our bread with seaweed.

We don´t want to eat meat at all three meals, seven days a week. But we do want some meat in our diet. We also want some butter and oil. And OK, some pork fat as well. We also love olive oil and we use it regularly.

What we don´t need is being regulated up to our armpits and beyond. If “they” manage to make all our foods super-light and salt-free, we are screwed. And if we let them do this to our foods, the next public enemy #1 will be alcohol, and we know what that means. But wait, alcohol is converted sugar. No, No, help med lord NO!!!

Today´s post is an homage to one of the Rolls Royce (or better yet the ´57 Chevy) of the food world. Of course I´m talking about pizza. There is simply no better dish that involves salt and fat, but in the most amazing, tasty way ever. And our good friends meat, veggies and even a bit of seafood or something sweet, are also welcome visitors when the mood strikes. This week is Pizza Expo week in Las Vegas, the coolest and craziest meeting place of pizza missionaries found anywhere in the world. Hats (and caps) off to all the great pizzaiaoli out there!

Norgesvenn

A “Norgesvenn” is a non-Norwegian who loves Norway enough that they can be called friend (venn). This pizza is one of the most popular pizzas served at pizzerias in Norway, and eating it will no doubt make you a Norgesvenn. The featured ingredients are bacon, ground beef and onions, so how could you possibly go wrong?

Yield

1 (12-inch) pizza

Dough

1 Our Favorite dough, 9 oz

Temperature

Preheat oven to 350°; with a baking stone 1 hour in advance

Ingredients

2 shallots

4 oz canned cherry tomatoes, drained

4 oz Jarlsberg

5-6 slices bacon

2 oz ground beef

5 – 6 flat leaf parsley leaves

extra virgin olive oil

coarsely-ground black pepper

Preparation

1. Place the shallots, peel on, on a baking sheet. Cover the shallots with a thin layer of olive oil and salt. Bake the shallots in the oven at 350° for about 15 minutes, til they are soft and caramelized. Remove the shallots from the oven, let them cool down and then peel them.

2. Increase the oven temperature to 275° or higher if possible.

3. Stretch the pizza dough to a diameter of 12 inches.

4. Use your hands to lightly crush the cherry tomatoes. Spread them over the pizza, leaving a 1-inch wide border.

5. Cover the pizza with the cheese.

6. Fry the bacon in a pan until crispy.

7.  Top the cheese with small flattened bits of the ground beef.

8. Cut the shallots in two and distribute over the pizza.

9. Bake the pizza until the crust is golden, the cheese is bubbling and the meat is cooked through.

10. Remove the pizza from the oven and place it on a plate.

11. Distribute the bacon slices and parsley leaves over the pizza.

12. Drizzle i little olive oil over the pizza. Add a few pinches of black pepper and serve.

Tips

You can substitute curly leaf parsley for the flat leaf if you wish, and you might want to try other cheeses or combination of cheeses. Mozzarella works great on ths pizza as well.

We like to use Italian sausage instead of the ground meat for an even more flavorful pizza.

Our Favorite Dough

Easy to work with, this is the perfect pizza dough. We are confident this will become your go to pizza dough.

Yield: 2 pounds 12 ounces

Pre-dough

1 dl lukewarm water

5 gram fresh yeast

1 dl all purpose flour

1. Add the yeast to the water in a bowl and stir to dissolve.

2. Add the flour to the yeast mixture and stir together.

3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours, preferable as long as 4-5 hours. You should see that the mixture bubbles on its surface.

The Main Dough

5 dl lukewarm water

10 g fresh yeast

36 ounces all purpose flour

15 g salt

Fordeigen du satte tidligere

1. Add the yeast to the water in a bowl and stir to dissolve.

2. Put the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.

3. Add the yeast and the “Pre-dough” to the flour mixture.

4. Run the mixer on its lowest setting (using a dough hook) until the dough is shiny and smooth (about 15 minutes).

5. Pour the dough over into another bowl.

6. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 24 hours or up to 48 hours.

7. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Punch it down to remove air from the dough.

8.  Divide the dough into the number of crusts you plan to make. A 12-inch pizza uses about 9 ounces of dough. Put the rest of the dough, covered, back in the refrigerator for later use, or freeze. Give the dough enough time to reach room temperature. This can take up to two hours.

9. Place the dough pieces on a tray and cover with a thin layer of flour.

10. Cover the tray with plastic wrap and let the dough rise to double size. They are now ready to use.

Tips

You can make a quicker version of this dough by using 20 grams of fresh yeast instead of 10 grams in the Main Dough. When you reach pt. 5 let the dough rise to double size. Divide the dough into portions and use. The shorter time will result in a less-flavorful crust, but still good.

Norgesvenn

Den mest populære restaurantpizzaen i Norge er toppet med kjøttdeig, bacon og løk. Vi har tatt disse smakene til det nestenivå ved å bruke bakt sjalottløk, tørrsaltet bacon og cherrytomater. Vi liker godt å bruke en italiensk pizzabunn, men andre bunner vil også fungere godt.

Mengde

nok til 1 porsjonspizza

 

Deig

1 “Vår favorittdeig”, 250 g

 Temperatur

Forvarm ovnen på 180°; med bakestein minst 1 time før

Ingredienser

2 stk vanlig sjalottløk

5-6 skiver sprøstekt bacon (gjerne tørrsaltet bacon)

120 g hermetiske cherrytomater, uten saft

100 g revet Jarlsberg

60 g kjøttdeig

5-6 flatbladpersille-blad

extra virgin olivenolje

kvernet sort pepper

Tilberedning:

1. Legg sjalottløkene hele, med skall på, på et stekebrett. Ha på havsalt og bak i ovnen i ca 15 minutter til løken er myk og karamellisert. Avkjøl løken og fjern skallet.

2. Øk temeraturen i ovnen til 275° eller høyere hvis mulig.

3. Lag en pizzabunn på ca. 30 cm i diameter.

4. Bruk hendene og knus lett cherrytomatene. Fordel dem utover pizzabunnen. La det være en ca. 2 cm tomatfri kant rundt pizzaen.

5. Fordel osten over pizzaen.

6. Fordel kjøttdeig i små, litt flate biter, over osten.

7. Del sjalottløkene i to, og fordel over pizzaen.

8. Ha pizzaen i ovnen, og stek til bunnen er gyllen, osten bobler og kjøttdeigen er gjennomstekt.

9. Ta pizzaen ut av ovnen og legg den på kjøkkenbenken.

10. Fordel baconskivene og persille over den ferdig pizzaen.

11. Dryss på litt extra virgin olivenolje og pepper, og server.

Tips

Det går helt fint å bruke kruspersille istedenfor flatblad-typen, og du må gjerne bruke en annen favoritt-ost, eller selvfølgelig mozzarella, hvis du vil.

Vår favorittdeig

Lett å lage, og lett å jobbe med – den perfekte deigen. Vi er helt sikker på at denne deigen blir din “go to” pizzadeig.

Mengde: ca. 1,25 kg

Fordeig

1 dl lunket vann

5 gram fersk gjær

1 dl hvetemel

1. Rør gjæren ut i vannet i liten bolle.
2. Hell melet over gjærblandingen, og rør godt sammen.
3. Dekk over bollen med plastfilm og la stå på romtemperatur i minst 2 timer (gjerne lenger, opptil 4-5 timer). Da skal blandingen boble på overflaten.

Hoveddeig

5 dl lunket vann

10 g fersk gjær

1 kg hvetemel

15 g salt

Fordeigen du satte tidligere

1. Rør gjæren ut i vannet i en liten skål.
2. Ha mel og salt i bollen til en eltemaskin.
3. Hell gjærblandingen og “fordeigen” over i bollen med melet.
4. Kjør eltemaskinen på lav hastighet (med deigkrok) til deigen er blank og smidig (ca. 15 minutter).
5. Hell deigen over i en annen bolle.
6. Dekkover bollen med plastfilm og ha den i kjøleskapet i 24 timer eller lenger (maks 48 timer).
7. Ta deigen ut av kjøleskapet. Slå ned deigen for at luften presses ut av den.
8. Del deigen i det antallet deigballer du skal bruke ((250 g for en vanlig 30 cm pizza), og la dem komme til romtemperatur (minimum 2 timer). Ha resten av deigen tilbake i kjøleskapet til senere bruk.
9. Legg deigballene i en form, og dryss over litt hvetemel.
10. Dekk formen med plastfilm, og la deigballene heve til det dobbelte. Da er de klar til bruk.

Tips

Du kan lage en hurtig-variant på denne deigen ved å bruke 20 g fersk gjær i hoveddeigen istedenfor 10 g. Når du kommer til punkt 5 så kan du la deigen heve til det dobbelte på romtemperatur, og så lag porsjons-deigballer som er klar til bruk. Det sagt, så vil deigen bli enda mer smakfull hvis den får hevet lenger (som i oppskriften).

Recipes from “Passion for Pizza” (Agate, 2015) – Oppskrifter fra Verdens Beste Pizza (Kagge, 2014)