For those interested in more about the history of the zampogna, click this link...  Who knew the history goes back as far as the Babylonians, Greeks and Romans?

--Jerry Finzi

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UPDATE: December 3, 2015 - I came upon the following video which I thought would add to the history of the zampogna. The rustic charm of this old zampognaro in his humble home is like looking back in time....  Enjoy.

Fantastic scene from the classic film Saturday, Sunday & Monday where Sophia Loren goes to a butcher shop to buy special meats to make her ragu sauce, only to get into an argument with the other women about whose method is best. Although this video is a bit dark, there is a wonderful translation--almost good enough to write down and make a recipe from. Enjoy...

Evangelista Torricelli was born Oct. 15, 1608 in Faenza, Romagna. He was an Italian physicist and mathematician who invented the barometer. The catalyst for inventing the barometer was spurred on my a suggestion by Galileo that Torricelli use mercury in place of water for his vacuum experiments. 

After reading his papers in 1641, Galileo invited Torricelli to Florence, where he became the aging astronomer's secretary and assistant during the last three months of Galileo’s life. After Galileo's death, Torricelli was appointed as his successor as professor of mathematics at the Florentine Academy.
 
Two years later, pursuing the suggestion by Galileo, he filled a glass tube 4 feet (1.2 m) long with mercury and inverted the tube into a dish. He observed that some of the mercury did not flow out and that the space above the mercury in the tube was a vacuum. Torricelli became the first man to create a sustained vacuum. His observations proved that the variation of the height of the mercury from day to day was caused by changes in atmospheric pressure. He never published his findings, however, because he was too deeply involved in the study of pure mathematics. Since atmospheric pressure also changes with altitude, Torricelli's barometer also could be used as an altimeter.

Torricelli died Oct. 25, 1647 in Florence at a mere 39 years old.

For the last five or six years I've been making something special with the leftovers from our Thanksgiving meals... I call it Thanksgiving Day Pizza. Basically, I  make a pan pizza dough recipe and instead of using my tomato pizza sauce, mozzarella and other Italian toppings, I use just about all the fixings from our Turkey Day dinner. I make this as a large pan pizza where I do a second rise of the dough in an olive oil coated round rimmed pan. The second rise in the pan helps make the crust thicker to help support the heavy toppings.

In place of a pizza sauce, I spread our home-made turkey gravy (and this time, gravy means the brown stuff, not Sunday Gravy) on top of the dough. The rest is easy... place dollops of my cheese potato casserole, stuffing and cranberries on top of the gravy, then spread shredded fontina cheese all across the top. The sliced bits of turkey get spread over the top of the cheese, along with a drizzle of olive oil. Sprinkle some of your favorite spice on top and bake. (I used dried oregano).  In my oven on top  of a pizza steel, I baked this pizza for 22 minutes at 425F.

Ingredients for a robust, basic, deep dish pizza dough

Yeast mixture: (mix together until foamy, about 10 minutes)
1-3/4 cups water at 115F
1 heaping tablespoon dry active yeast
1 tablespoon honey

3 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt

• Start with one cup of bread four in a stand mixer with a dough hook. Add sugar and salt to the dry flour and mix briefly.
• Add the proofed (foamy) yeast mixture to the flour and mix on low speed, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed until well blended.
• Add the 1 cup of wheat flour and continue to mix and scrape down.
• Add one cup of bread flour and mix.
• Continue to mix while adding flour little by little until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and climb your dough hook. Stop the mixer and scrape the hook and sides of the bowl down. Mix briefly and check the texture. The dough should form a moist ball, but not be too wet. If there is still too much moisture, add flour little by little until you form a ball that can be removed easily from the bowl.
• Turn out onto a floured work surface, dust-flour the top of the dough ball and knead for several minutes by hand, using a heel (of your hand) to push the dough away from you, then fold back toward you, quarter turn, then repeat.
  
• The dough should form a smooth ball that springs back when poked gently with your thumb. It should NOT be too dry or firm. Don't let it get this way or your dough will be tough.
  
• Place into an oiled bowl to rise for 1 hour at room temperature. This is a good time to preheat the oven to 425F. I really recommend using either a pizza stone or pizza steel in the center rack of your oven--place the stone or steel in the oven to preheat. Metal pans are placed on the stone when baking.
  
• Punch down the dough gently, turn out onto a well floured surface and form into a round a bit smaller than your 14" round, 1" high rimmed pan. (I used a silver one, but you can use a dark pan--just reduce baking time to adjust for quicker browning.)
  
• Place your dough round into your oiled pan and complete the shaping to fill the pan, while also forming a thicker crust around the edges.
  
• Top with turkey gravy, then cheese (fontina or smoked Gruyere works well for this), then your toppings and pieces of turkey.
  
• Bake for 20-25 minutes at 425 degrees or until the bottom of the crust is browned and crusty. If you prefer the toppings more well done, finish with another 3 minutes with your oven turned to broil (watch carefully so you don't burn it!)

I'd recommend having either a Beaujolais Nouveau, a Stella Artois beer or some sparkling apple cider with this pizza.

--Jerry Finzi

If you have some Thanksgiving leftovers, try this pizza and leave a COMMENT to tell us how it came out. Ciao!

A simple recipe... a frittata (potatoes and eggs). Start by browning up some diced potatoes. (I use canned, but you can boil up some until tender, and then dice). Slice some cherry tomatoes and saute with the potatoes. Salt, pepper, some oregano. Pour some beaten eggs on top and let cook on the stovetop 'til the bottom browns. Place slices of a "panino roll" of mozzarella-salami across the top. Place in an oven under the broiler for a few minutes to finish cooking the top side of the eggs and melt the panino roll slices. Slice and serve with a marinara of your choice with some grated cheese on top.  Finito!

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Last week we made a simple pizza: Pizza Margherita with Speck. I should explain what speck is. It's not the same as the German speck found in German speaking areas of Northern Italy. (Actually, in German, speck literally means bacon.)  Their speck is more like what Italians call lardo, which is a very fatty bacon cured with loads of spices. Speck as we discovered it in Italy (as far south as Puglia) is basically a smoke-cured prosciutto. It's much less fatty and perhaps a bit saltier tasting, but not overly so.

The pizzas we had in Italy with either prosciutto or speck placed the meat on the pizza after it came out of the oven. As you can see in the photo, the speck is crispy because I put it on before the pizza went into the oven. It is absolutely delicious crispy like this. It's also great when used in pasta dishes like carbonara. You can find speck in Italian specialty markets and online--even on Amazon.  But, unless you have a deli slicer, I wouldn't recommend getting a large one online. Like prosciutto, speck needs to be sliced paper thin. I really recommend finding an Italian deli that carries it and have it cut to order.

--Jerry Finzi

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