Get the Big Red Triple Tomato Pizza with Pancetta and Brie Recipe
I have always loved tomatoes and cured pork, the fresh sweet acidity is a great foil to the salty, crisp and oily pancetta. The cream sauce and just enough mozzarella for a good pull lies under the pancetta. The fig leaf and lemon in the tomato honey imparts a bright vanilla and coconut nuance which embraces the brie slice perfectly and the tomato crisps add an exciting finale to each bite. This pizza is all in the prep. Once that is done, it is incredibly fast to make. Just make sure the pizza cools or the brie will melt into butter.
Tomato Skin Crisps:
Big Red Triple Tomato Pizza -- Crisps
Author: Pizza Today
Ingredients
- 12 Small Toy tomatoes, (12 ounces total) 1-1.5 inches wide
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 2 fig leaves
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
Instructions
- Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Cut a shallow “X” into the bottom of each tomato.
- Place a medium bowl with ice water near the boiling water.
- When the water is boiling, drop the tomatoes in the water 5 at a time and boil them for 15 seconds each until pulling them and placing them into the ice bath.
- After a few minutes in the ice bath, take each tomato out and pull the skin down the side and remove. Gently place the skins on a plate side by side by side.
- Place all the tomatoes, the lemon zest, salt, and the fig leaves into a small pot and simmer while breaking up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Simmer on medium until the tomatoes start breaking down even more- 12-15 minutes. Remove fig leaves.
- Turn off heat and grind the tomatoes up with an immersion blender.
- Place a colander filled with a large square of cheesecloth on it.
- Pour the now cooled tomato mixture into it and let the juices flow through.
- Brush with a wooden spoon to clear any blockage. Finally, pull up each corner of the cheese cloth and twist the top to force out the rest of the juice. You should have a final yield of ¾ cup to 1 cup.
- Place the juice in another small sauté pan and add the sugar.
- Reduce the tomato juice on medium-low heat and when the sugar has liquified, add ½ teaspoon of the lemon juice. Taste to see if the lemon juice adds a bit of acidity to the sauce. If you need more, add a spritz more.
- Reduce the sauce by ¾ or until the sauce coats the back of a spoon and has the viscosity of honey. Remember that the sauce will turn thicker as it cools.
For the Tomato Skin Crisps:
Big Red Triple Tomato Pizza -- Tomato Skin Crisps
Author: Pizza Today
Ingredients
- Prepared crisps
Instructions
- Pre-heat an oven to 190 F.
- Using a small tray lined with parchment paper, place the tomato skins gotten from the tomato honey all about the tray.
- Sprinkle a small amount of fennel pollen, salt and fine paprika on the petal shaped skins.
- Dehydrate in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the skin is crisp. Reserve for the pizza.
For the Bacon Tomato Pizza:
Big Red Triple Tomato Pizza with Pancetta and Brie
Author: Pizza Today
Ingredients
- 9 ounces proprietary pizza dough ball
- 2 tablespoons béchamel cream sauce
- 2.5 ounces shredded mozzarella
- 3 ounces Italian style pancetta, (4-5 rounds) or 5 thin slices thin-cut bacon
- 1 Roma tomato, (1.8 ounce), cored with the thick wall diced small, (3/4 cm)
- 5 thin slices of cold Brie cheese (approx. 3.5 -4 ounces)
- 2 tablespoons tomato honey, (see recipe above)
- 15-20 crispy tomato skins
- 1 sprig of basil for garnish
Instructions
- Pre-heat a deck oven to 550 F.
- Place the pancetta or bacon on a small parchment lined tray to partially cook. If not, the bacon will not cook enough on the pizza.
- Cook for 3-4 minutes until it has leeched some fat and is just starting to crisp up.
- Pull the pancetta from the oven and reserve it for the pizza.
- Form a 12-inch pizza round from the dough ball and spread the béchamel across the pizza.
- Spread the shredded mozzarella on top of the cream sauce then place the pancetta around the pizza followed by the diced tomato.
- Bake the pizza in the oven for 5-6 minutes until golden brown and crisp.
- Remove pizza and place on a cooling rack. Wait for 5 minutes then top the Brie in a spoked wheel pattern starting from the center to the crust.
- Drizzle the tomato honey around the pizza and on top of the Brie.
- Place the crispy tomato skins around the pizza like wings then place the basil bud in the center.
