Buckets of snow are coming to Jersey on Wednesday. Actually wet snowflakes are falling as I write this, a sneak preview to bigger event.
So béchamel your pizza for extra warmth with this Brussels Sprouts Pizza Carbonara recipe by Ina Garten from Modern Comfort Food (Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House- October 2020).
Brussels Sprouts Pizza Carbonara
Makes 4 (9-inch) Individual Pizzas
Ingredients
For the béchamel:
1½ cups whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup whole milk ricotta (9 ounces)
2 extra-large egg yolks
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Good olive oil
8 ounces pancetta, ¹⁄₈-inch diced
To assemble the pizzas:
4 (8-ounce) balls store-bought pizza dough
½ cup freshly grated Italian Parmesan cheese
½ cup freshly grated Italian Pecorino cheese
12 ounces Brussels sprouts, trimmed and thinly sliced (see note)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Arrange two racks evenly spaced in the oven.
For the béchamel, pour the milk into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk the flour into the butter and cook for 2 minutes, whisking almost constantly. Whisk in the hot milk, switch to a wooden spoon, and simmer, stirring constantly, for 2 to 5 minutes, until thick enough to leave a trail when you run your finger down the back of the spoon. Cook for one more minute. Off the heat, stir in the ricotta, egg yolks, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper; set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium (10-inch) sauté pan, add the pancetta, and cook over medium heat for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until half-cooked. Transfer the pancetta to a plate lined with paper towels and set aside.
Flip over two sheet pans and put 12 × 18-inch pieces of parchment paper on each pan. Roll and stretch two of the pizza doughs into a 9 or 10-inch circle (they don’t want to be perfect!) on the parchment papers. Leaving a 1-inch border, spread ½ cup of the béchamel on each pizza and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan, 2 tablespoons of the Pecorino, and a quarter of the pancetta. In a medium bowl, toss the Brussels sprouts with 3 tablespoons olive oil. Sprinkle the two pizzas evenly with half of the Brussels sprouts. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is nicely browned, including the bottom. Cut each pizza in six wedges with a large chef’s knife and serve hot. Repeat for the remaining two pizzas.
Note: To slice the Brussels sprouts, trim them and process through the feed tube of a food processor fitted with the slicing disk.
(* Recipe courtesy of MODERN COMFORT FOOD. Copyright © 2020 by Ina Garten. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Photo by Quentin Bacon)