Little Lady Foods is proud to produce a premium line of gourmet Mexican pizzas for celebrated Chef Rick Bayless. The inspirations for his line of Frontera pizzas come from his vast knowledge of Mexican cuisine. In this segment of Chef Corner, Chef Rick Bayless offers his insights on thin crust pizza.
Pizza
By Rick Bayless
Simply put, pizza is one of my favorite foods in the world. I especially enjoy a thin, crispy-yet-tender crust cooked by the high heat of a wood-fired brick oven. All year long, you’ll find me in the backyard carefully sliding my latest pizza creation into the smoky oven. I stand nearby enjoying the aromas until the crust is blistered—even a bit charred—and the toppings bubbly hot. A long-handled pizza peel helps to retrieve the hot “pie” so it can be quickly set before guests. A shower of fresh herbs or peppery arugula makes the whole thing irresistible.
Whipping up a batch of dough proves trouble-free in the food processor. I like to add roasted garlic and dried herbs for flavor, olive oil and honey for tenderness. A little whole wheat flour or cornmeal adds nutritive value, flavor and texture. If I have the time, I let the dough rise a couple of times to develop flavor.
I must admit, I’m partial to using hearty salsas for the sauce base on my pizzas—they add tremendous flavor and offer a surprising kick. For toppings, fire-roasted peppers, cooked chorizo sausage, grilled cubes of chicken, roasted onions, pickled jalapenos and fresh cilantro have all made their way onto my pizzas. More traditionally, good, fresh mozzarella, plenty of whole-milk mozzarella (nothing beats its melty goodness), thinly sliced ripe tomatoes and fresh basil from the garden never fail to please.
To serve, keep it simple and either top your fresh pizza with a pile of baby lettuces or arugula or serve the salad on the side. Pizza also makes a great party starter—cut it into manageable squares and sprinkle them with fresh herbs and chives. Your guests will keep coming back for more.
Rick Bayless is the award-winning chef of Frontera Grill, Xoco and Topolobampo in Chicago, creator of gourmet Mexican foods from Frontera Foods, and host of the national Public Television show Mexico—One Plate at a Time.
About Rick Bayless
Rick Bayless was born in 1953, into an Oklahoma City family of restaurateurs specializing in the local barbecue. Having begun his culinary training as a youngster, Rick broadened his horizons to include regional Mexican cooking as an undergraduate student of Spanish and Latin American culture.
Rick, and his wife Deann, dedicated more than 6 years to culinary research in Mexico, culminating in 1987 with the publication of their now-classic cookbook
Authentic Mexican (Morrow). They also opened the colorful, vivacious Frontera Grill in Chicago, specializing in regional Mexican cooking, that same year to instant success.
Their elegant Topolobampo, one of America’s only fine-dining Mexican restaurants, opened in 1989. Both restaurants have received multiple awards and distinctions, including the coveted Ivy Award. In 2007, Frontera Grill was named Best Restaurant in the country by the James Beard Foundation. Rick has also won our country’s highest chef honors as the James Beard Foundation’s National Chef of the Year. This summer Rick has been featured on Bravo’s Top Chef Masters competing against 23 of our country’s top chefs.
Rick, along with partners, launched Frontera Foods, makers of authentic Mexican salsas and food products in 1996, to help make high-quality, regional Mexican food available to all. The salsas and food products are all-natural, preservative-free and made in small batches using the same time-honored methods found in Mexico.
In 1996, Rick won the Best Cookbook of the Year at the IACP/Julia Child Cookbook Awards for Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen (Scribner). In 1999, he released
Salsas That Cook (Scribner).
In the summer of 2000, Rick released his new 26-part public television series,
Mexico— One Plate at a Time, along with the companion cookbook of the same name (Scribner). This fall Rick will release the seventh series of the show in Mexico and in his Chicago home kitchen and gardens.
Rick is on the executive board of Chefs Collaborative 2000, in support of environmentally sound agricultural practices, and is active in Share Our Strength, the nation’s largest hunger advocacy organization. Rick is a restaurant consultant, teaches authentic Mexican cooking throughout the United States (he is a visiting staff member at the Culinary Institute of America), and leads cooking and cultural tours to Mexico.
