Melon Basil Pizza

MELON BASIL PIZZA
How do you combine the greatest tastes of Summer in one dish?  Use whats ready in the garden and fire away!  I love making an easy Pizza combination of Summer flavors with what's in my garden at the time.  I use fresh diced melon for a fantastic sweet and salty pizza, as featured on The Rusty Potts Show 92.1FM WLNG.
Follow my basic pizza recipe: (any summer stone fruit works as well)
Pizza dough
Garlic, minced fine
Olive Oil
salt and pepper
Fresh basil cut in thin strips
Fresh grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese
Diced fresh Musk melon!
Thin strips of ham
Fresh slices of Mozzarella (balls purchased in water (better) they can be sliced to one quarter inch pieces)

Heat up your Big Green Egg to 550 degrees with the plate setter in and pizza stone on top before heating up.  In the meantime oil your hands and get the dough (which can be store bought) ready to room temperature.  Sprinkle your pizza peel with CORN MEAL (the best kept secret to great Pizza Crust) and then stretch out your dough with oiled hands and place on the peel.  Put a tablespoon of oil on the pizza with the chopped garlic and basil and then cheese.

Cook at 550 for 12 minutes then open and spread with fresh slices of mozzarella.  Close lid for two minutes and open again sprinkling with ham and melon bits.  Take out in two minutes and enjoy!

Get Creative with sweet and salty combos.  Check this out from the Big Green Egg:

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound homemade or store bought pizza dough, room temperature
Cornmeal for sprinkling
2 peaches, pitted and sliced into thin wedges
6 very thin slices prosciutto, torn into pieces
3 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
small handful fresh basil leaves
olive oil to drizzle

Set EGG for indirect cooking at 450°F/232°C. Divide dough in half and stretch
pizza dough into two thin rounds.

Sprinkle Pizza/Baking Stone lightly with cornmeal and preheat in the EGG for 5
minutes. Place first dough round on the stone and bake for 5 minutes. Remove
dough from stone, top with prosciutto and peaches. Crumble cheese over pizza,
leaving a ½-inch border around edges.

Return pizza to the stone and bake until crust is browned, about 10 minutes.
Drizzle with olive oil and top with basil leaves. Slice pizza into wedges and serve.

Recipe reprinted with permission from Gena Knox.
To learn more about cooking with fresh peaches, visit GenaKnox.com.

Makes 8 servings

Pizza Secrets

To make a really great pizza start with plenty of olive oil on your hands before you pick up the dough.  Next wait until your dough is ROOM TEMPERATURE, or it will stretch unevenly and break.  Then, make sure you coat your pizza peel with corn meal, this will make a crispy crust!  Those are the best secrets for great pizza.

Recipes

Go to http://oceansprayhottubsandsaunas.wordpress.com for all of my Big Green Egg Recipes. Hope to see you this weekend at The Maples!

Barbeque for a great cause!

My friend Phil Rizzardi is the organizer of an awesome event to benefit children and barbeque lovers alike. Every August he hosts a barbeque competition in Manorville at The Maples Restaurant grounds which is an amazing time and I invite you all to see what it is about! Go to www.bbq-brethren and go to the event this weekend. I will be there cooking on The Big Green Egg August 4th and 5th. Listen to WLNG-92.1FM every weekday at 4:10 for my recipes. Next post I will share them!

news from the homefront

Hi. I am starting a new venture in cooking on request. I have been working as a chef for the representation of The Big Green Egg for Ocean Spray Pools and Spas and have also been working as a private chef and show host. Listen to WLNG at 4:10 pm weekdays for my Hampton's food news "What's Cooking in the Hamptons" on the Rusty Potts show and visit me at hamptonshomecooking.com to get more information on contacting me to cook for you or get the word out about your next Hampton's food event.

I have had soooo much fun working with great people this season. Here are a few peaks inside the blast we had at Hamptons landscaping and Nursery in Hampton Bays this summer.

People said the roast chicken was the best they ever tasted. I am cooking on The Big Green Egg. Find out more at Oceanspraypoolsandspas.com.

How much lobster can you eat?

I was at Bay Burger in Sag Harbor on Labor Day for their first annual lobster roll eating contest and not only is their food awesome, their owner Joe is hysterical! He hosted the eating event with the most upbeat "boxing ring" style of announcing-- everyone was laughing throughout the five minutes it took the contestants to wolf down the lobster rolls! You should visit Bay Burger to see how that easy-going nature the owner carries translates to the style and quality of their food. Old-school good eating! The Fish Burger is filled with fish, not fillers and dressed with a light lemony mayo and fresh local greens. The burgers are fresh ground on premises which makes the juices stay intact and the burger quality tender. The owners insist on freshly made buns for all their burgers and for the Lobster Roll which was FABULOUS! That seasonal roll is only available for a few more short days/weeks, so HURRY DOWN! Now for the finale, a home made ice cream float! I had root beer with the creamiest vanilla ice cream that swam into the soda and didn't leave that cheap fizzle on top of the glass you may see with less quality cream. It foamed but thickened the soda with cream in a swirl of flavor the way it should! Bay Burger is located in Sag Harbor. 1742 Sag Harbor Turnpike 631-899-3915. Congratulations to the sweetest guy and winner of the contest, Matt "The Mega Toad" Stonie who was in town visiting his grandmother who is just as sweet. He ate 11 Lobster Rolls!!! He is all of 18 years old and has participated in a few eating contests with a very professional attitude about the whole thing---also a wonderful person. See him soon on our site!

Tomatoes and Pies!

The Fairview Farm on 19 Horsemill Lane is a little stop that has BIG flavor! You have to make it a point to visit. You may have heard Walker Vreeland and I going crazy over the sweetness and juiciness of the corn grown there on the WBAZ Morning Show this week. It was no joke how GREAT this corn is! The difference is the quality that surpasses the importance of quantity in the owner of the farm, Harry's vision. Every product at this farm is carefully tended and cared for and it shows! The over twenty varieties of grape, cherry and heirloom tomatoes are so full of juice and flavor you cannot stop at eating just one kind--you will want to pop every crunchy skinned jewel into your mouth and you will not believe you have ever had anything like it before! The farm is family run and Harry's wife Barbara make a Key Lime Pie that will dreamily spin out your taste buds with it's silky, velvet texture and tart lime that hides somewhere at the sides of your tongue, will find you oohing and ordering one every week! Find Their products at the Sag Harbor Farmers Market on Saturdays, 9-1pm. Fairview Farm at Mecox LLC 19 Horsemill Lane, Bridgehampton, NY 537-1445

Farmer's Market News

I had a fantastic learning experience when I visited Art Ludlow of Mecox Bay Dairy in Bridgehampton, NY. This Dairy is the only South Fork Long Island Dairy that produces artisanal cheeses that I know of. What a gorgeous product given from his Jersey Cows that he carefully works into art! His cheeses are heavenly, creamy and very mild. The Farmhouse Cheddar is the kind you want to eat like butter on a baguette. I had the pleasure of tasting his very special Ricotta, and let me tell you I have never tasted anything like it! It was light and fluffy with the most delicate tanginess. I tried it fresh and warm! It's great with fresh fruit or honey and if you really want to get interesting try it with cocoa powder! Ricotta from Mecox Bay Dairy is to be enjoyed within 5 days because it is so fresh and delicate. The cheeses Art creates along with the help of his family and apprentice, Marc are beyond words and MUST be sampled. Mecox Bay Dairy is available at all Hamptons Farmers Markets and local retailers. I also loved the Sigit which is his Gruyere style cheese that is the tangiest and most full bodied, a really fantastic experience with local wine! Mexcox Bay dairy 855 Mecox Road Bridgehampton, NY. 537-0335.

Run, Don't walk!

Go to Oso in Southampton for dinner. Make a reservation now! I had a beyond mouthwatering, beyond luscious experience. The intro--Creamy Lobster "Cafe Au Lait" served in an espresso cup with a swizzle stick of tender lobster tail which I plummetted into the bisque and then dunked the heavenly combo into my mouth. Next, a quartet of "starters"; Wok Fried Calamari that was glazed in a sweet sauce sprinkled with sesame seeds (it was ridiculously delicious...the kind of orgasmic experience where your eyes roll somewhere into the back of your head to find the right words good), Crispy Yellow Fin Tuna perfectly seared with the most fantastic mild cucumber wasabi aioli(this just melted in my mouth--I am not sure if I even had to chew the tuna, but I did munch on the micro wasabi greens)and then Beef Fondue of roasted Filet Mignon floating in a mild blue cheese fondue topped by thin crisps of onion. The last of the quartet was a Lime Marinated Lobster Taco beautifully presented and lovingly filled with Sriracha pepper and avocado served with a dicing of Heirloom tomatoes. The creamy avacado, crunchy light as air taco and flavorful lobster were satisfying on the palette and gorgeous on the eyes. I will write more tomorrow, but certainly a MUST for your dinner plans this weekend. See FoodHampton.com for Oso hours and information.