Friday Night Pizza

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Friday Night Pizza has been a tradition in T.W.O.’s family for decades.  It’s one night of the week that everyone partakes in the preparation of dinner by creating his or her own pizza.  It’s all about the dough, the ingredients and the cooking style that makes every week a unique experiment.  We aren’t afraid of trying new recipes and of course making it our own….T.W.O.!

T.W.O.’s first featured Friday Night Pizza was taken place in San Francisco with family.  Around 6pm, everyone was in the kitchen chopping, shredding and dicing their favorite ingredients.

The chefs made a total of 4 pizzas:

1. Peach & Ricotta Pizza with Arugula
2. BBQ Chicken Pizza
3. Deep Dish Pizza
4. Chicken & Pesto Pizza

PHOTOS BELOW:

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T.W.O. will be featuring the Peach & Ricotta Pizza with Arugula

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Ingredients:

1 – pizza dough (T.W.O. suggests using SF’s Molinari’s pizza dough or Whole Food’s brand)
1 – yellow peach, ripe
1 – cup ricotta cheese
2 – tablespoons honey
½ – cup balsamic vinegar
1- tablespoon olive oil
¼ – cup lemon juice
8-10- fresh basil leaves
1 ½- cups arugula
¼ – cup cornmeal
Flour
Pizza Stone

The key to having a perfectly rolled out pizza is to make sure the dough is at room temperature.  Roll out the dough on a floured surface that is lightly sprinkled with cornmeal.  Once rolled out evenly in a circular shape, place the dough on a pizza stone.  T.W.O. decided to bake their pizza on a stone so that the crust would be thinner and the peaches would not be buried inside the dough.

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In a separate bowl, mix the arugula, olive oil, ¼ cup balsamic vinegar and lemon juice.  Place aside for later.

Now it’s ricotta time! First, add the honey to the ricotta and mix well.  Spread the ricotta/ honey mixture evenly on the dough. Make sure your spread it all the way to the edges. Thinly slice the peaches and remove the stems from the basil.  Next, place the peaches and basil on the ricotta.  Once the pizza is “dressed,” start the BBQ.  It is important to make sure the BBQ is pre-heated so that it cooks at the set temperature.  (The temperature should be around 414° – 450° depending on your BBQ)

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BBQ the pizza for about 15 minutes, depending on how you like your crust.  T.W.O. highly suggests that you take your glass of wine out to the BBQ and watch the pizza, so you achieve the perfect crust and not a charbroiled crisp!

Once the pizza is done, drizzle ¼ cup of the remaining balsamic vinegar on the peach, ricotta and basil topping.  To finish, add the arugula salad to the top of the pizza.  Now you are ready to serve! Bon Appetit!

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Wine Pairing Suggestions: Kaz, Winemakers Red Blend (of course, signed by the winemaker himself!)

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The Silk Headband

Many of our favorite designers featured silk, twisted headbands in their summer line this year. T.W.O. was in search of the perfect one for their trip to España.  After a couple shopping trips, T.W.O. decided that there wasn’t a print out there that was worth the money, so T.W.O.’s mom stepped in and offered her sewing services.  Technology these days helped T.W.O. select the material in a matter of minutes since they were unable to accompany their mom to the fabric store. Thank you Apple!

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Great job T.W.O Mom!!!!

We received the headbands the weekend before our trip to España and were able to enjoy them with the entire family!!!

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Here are some photos of T.W.O. enjoying our headbands in San Sebastian, San Diego, San Francisco and Sausalito:

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Peach + Boysenberry Pie

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The ultimate summer dessert – Peach Pie!!!!  It’s a fresh, light and sweet ending to a perfect barbecued meal.  Grab your rolling pins (or wine bottles!) and let’s start baking!

Ingredients:

Flaky Crust:
2 cups flour
¾ cup shortening (T.W.O. uses butter flavor)
2-3 Tablespoons sugar
5-6 Tablespoons cold water

Pie Filling:
5-6 yellow peaches
1 cup boysenberries
1 Tablespoon nutmeg
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 ½ Tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar

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Preheat oven to 350°.

In a bowl mix the flour, shortening, sugar and cold water.   T.W.O. uses a pastry blender to mix the dough together.  Form the dough in a ball and set aside.

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Now for the filling! Make sure the peaches are washed and dried well.  You don’t want extra protein in your pie! There are two ways you can remove the skin from the peaches…either blanch them in water or peel the skins off or you can take a carving knife and remove the skin like a peeler.  T.W.O. removed the skin using a small knife.

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Halve the peaches and remove the pit.  Cut the peaches in thin slices and place in a bowl.  Once all the peaches are sliced, add the nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar and boysenberries.  Mix well, but not too much since you don’t want the fruit to break.

Let’s roll that dough now! Make sure your surface is floured well so that the dough doesn’t stick to your countertop or mat. Take a “hand-full” of dough and put aside.  (This will be for the lattice top) Using your rolling pin/ wine bottle, roll the remaining dough out evenly in a circular shape.  With the assistance of a spatula, move the rolled out dough into the oiled or “PAM’ed” pie dish.  Pinch the crust tops with your fingers to make a stylish pattern.  Once the dough is set, sprinkle the bottom of the pie with cornstarch. This will absorb the juices from the peaches to prevent a soggy crust.

Take your peach filling and place it in the pie dish.  Make sure the ingredients are evenly distributed.

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Almost there! Now it’s time for the lattice.  Roll the remanding dough out thinly with your rolling pin/ wine bottle to form a rectangle.  Take a sharp knife and cut long stripes in the dough.  Use these stripes to create the lattice formation for the topper. Be creative with your placement!

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Place the pie dish on a cookie sheet lined with foil to prevent any excess juice from the pie to drip onto the bottom of the oven. Also, put foil around the pie crush so that it doesn’t burn.  It’s oven time! The pie should take about 45 minutes, but let’s face it, not all ovens are the same, so just keep an eye on it! T.W.O. knows the pie is ready when the juices are bubbling!

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Once the pie is removed from the oven, T.W.O. likes to place it on a wire rack so that the pie can cool down a bit.  Wait 15 minutes, 45 minutes or 4 hours to eat this pie- it’s delicious anytime! T.W.O. suggests adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream to your slice!  Enjoy!!!

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