Michael Leddy, at Orange Crate Art, posted about food supplies for waiting out snow storms, this time including anchovies. His post reminded me of anchovy pizza, which I first had while stationed at Great Lakes Naval Hospital while attending hospital Corps school. The enlisted hang-out was called the Rathskeller. They served great pizza and passable beer.
I'd never heard of anchovy pizza but I was game to try anything once in those days. The anchovies looked a little like tiny strips of bacon, were as salty as the salt pork we used to put in a pot of beans back home and stunk to the high heavens.
Michael's post triggered a good food memory and prompted me to try making the anchovy pizza from long ago. That gave me an excuse to use all the favorite toppings I like, the ones that made my grandson gag when I told him about it.
"You can have it all, Nanny," he said. (Good!)
I started by putting some garlic cloves to roast in the oven. Garlic is another thing Donovan can't stand. (Excellent!)
While they were roasting, I sliced the veggies, grated the cheese and chopped the rest of the toppings. Toppings included parsley, broccoli rabe, mushrooms, red bell pepper and julienne strips of oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes. Capers, chopped artichoke hearts, anchovies and sliced olives rounded out the tangy flavors. Finely grated Asiago cheese and a home-style pizza sauce finished the list of ingredients.
Mixed up a crust made of white whole wheat flour, organic pasty flour, yeast, salt and a so-called Tuscan herb blend, to which was added olive oil and warm water. Stirred and kneaded well then gathered the dough into a smooth ball. Poured a little olive oil into the bottom of the bowl, rolled the dough-ball in it before setting the bowl in a warm spot to let the dough double in size - took about an hour.
I sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese on the crust before adding the sauce. Layered on the toppings, reserving the anchovies and the rest of the cheese until last. One half of the pizza was anchovy, the other half was artichoke and sun-dried tomatoes.
Put the pizza into a hot oven and set the timer for twenty minutes. Answered a phone call from my sister in Louisiana, from whom I hadn't heard for several weeks. Aroma from the kitchen told me the pizza was done.
Overdone, as it turned out. Also had forgotten to slice the roasted garlic to add to the toppings, but tossed them on the artichoke end anyway. The anchovies broke apart, sort of dissolved onto the crust. The pizza was not at all like I remembered, had way too many toppings and the crust was dry. The flavors were pretty good, but over all, I was disappointed with the results.
Nevertheless, I ate most of it. Next morning, my face was puffed up like a dead toad because of all the salt. Some things are better left as good memories and this pizza was one of them.
