Purple Potato and Speck Pizza
So, here’s the scoop, I had turned on my tv when I came across an episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives that happened to be a special episode filmed in Sicily, the episode featured three great restaurants in the area, as does any DDD episode, but one restaurant in particular was the first stop, an oasis of a pizzeria that spun out both traditional and modern pizzas that both locals and tourists go nuts for.
Out of the three types of pizzas made on the show, the one that stood out to me was a pie topped with gorgonzola, speck, cherry tomatoes, and a very unique sauce made from blended up purple potatoes!
It was truly one of the most unique and inspiring pizzas I’ve ever seen, so I’ve decided to try to re-create this purple sauced jewel to see how good it truly is.
I have not done a lot of pizzas on this blog, but they are fun to make and I think this one will be very interesting. Andiamo!
Serves 4
4 small purple potatoes
Salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 batch of pizza dough. (store bought or homemade, see below for homemade dough recipe)
1 ball (8oz) fresh mozzarella, torn. (Even better if you can find buffalo mozzarella)
4 oz gorgonzola cheese, thinly sliced
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
4oz speck or prosciutto, torn into large pieces
1/4 cup walnut pieces
Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. (If you have a baking stone or pizza stone, you’ll want to put that in the oven now)
To make the sauce, put the purple potatoes into a small pot of cold water whole. Bring the water to a boil, add some salt, and let that boil for 10-15 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender. Remove from the water and let them cool a bit and reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water.
When cool enough to handle remove the skin and place into a food processor with half of the reserved cooking water and a pinch of salt, then pulse until it forms a smooth puree, adding more cooking water if necessary. With the processor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil and continue blending until combined. Taste and season with salt if needed.
(Be careful with how much potato water you add, too much could ruin the pizza crust)
Use your hands to stretch and roll out the pizza dough until it’s about 1/4 inch thick, this will give you a thin crust but if you like it thicker then make it thicker. Transfer to a floured pizza peel or pizza pan.
Spread the blended purple potato mixture onto the dough into a thin, even layer, leaving about 1/2 inch of the crust bare. From there, lay on even layers of the mozzarella, gorgonzola, cherry tomatoes, and speck.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges of the crust are puffed up and just starting to char. Allow the pizza to cool for a minute before topping with the walnuts, slicing, and serving.
Easy Pizza Dough Recipe:
(If you really want to make the pizza dough from scratch, and your family would love you if you did so, then here’s how to do it)
2 cups warm water (between 110 and 112 degrees F, or just above body temperature)
1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
3 1/2 cups flour, plus more if needed
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
Pour 1/4 cup of the warm water into a small bowl, sprinkle on the yeast and sugar and stir to dissolve, or until the water looks murky and bubbly. Set aside for 10 minutes to let the yeast do it’s job.
If this mixture has not doubled in size after 10 minutes, throw it out and start again.
Meanwhile, combine the flour, salt, and olive oil in a large bowl. When the yeast mixture has doubled in size, add that to the flour along with the remaining 1 3/4 cups of water, then use a wooden spoon to stir it all together to form a shaggy dough, adding more flour if needed.
Dump the dough onto a floured surface and use your hands to knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.
(The way to tell if your dough is kneaded enough is with what’s called the window pane test. Rip off a small piece of dough, hold it up against light and stretch it as thin as you can. If the dough stretches to the point where you can see the light without it ripping or tearing, it’s good to go.)
Once kneaded, transfer the dough to a large, clean, oiled bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel, and leave it in a warm place for about an hour and a half to two hours, or until the dough has doubled in volume.
