Sunday Evening in Glenside & Mt. Airy

Clearing out the memory stick on the camera I forgot to post about an outing we had into the 'burbs to grab a beer & a bite before the David Sedaris show at the Keswick.



If you're not familiar with Sedaris, he's a regular guest on public radio's This American Life and his books are a mix of snarky romps from his diary and quirky recollections from his childhood...Check out Holidays on Ice for a sneak peek at what life is like working as one of Santa's elves at Macy's in New York.



He's got a famous funny sister, Amy, who did a hillarious satirical cookbook ala Martha Stewart syndrome titled I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence

Back to the topic.

Before the show, we stopped for dinner at the Earth + Bread Brewery in Mt. Airy. We had visited before on a mid-day Saturday before they were offering lunches and while the beer was decent ( I want to say that I had a beer made with gruet which was not half-bad) we missed out on the main attraction, the thin-crust 'pizza'.



I enjoyed a light Berliner Weisse, while Elizabeth chose an Italian red - it's not just beer...they have decent by the glass selections of wine too...several affordable reds...Italian, Spanish & some New World from S. America.



Here's a shot of the upstairs, which I didn't realize existed - not only do they have plenty of overflow seating in the light-filled and airy second floor, but there's a second bar as well. The restaurant hosted a smattering of young families enjoying a Sunday night meal.



While these may resemble pizza, they're careful to point out that these are flatbreads...to me, the thin crust and crispy dough was so close to the latest wave of thin-crust pizza offerings around Philly that it was really splitting hairs.

Here's a shot of the special that night , a blend of arugula pesto, fresh tomatoes (last of the season) and shitake mushrooms...a great veg option and the mushroom flavors really stood out.



Check out the menu here.

This is the sausage pizza w/mushrooms & mozz. The interesting element of this pizza was that the sauce was not a red sauce but rather a pesto made from banana peppers...much tangier and acidic than tomato sauce with a spicy kick in each bite. After the third slice it was a little overwhelming but shared, the pepper pesto makes for a wonderfully weird alternative to red sauce.

Riffin on Tiffin - Homemade Keema Mattar

Now that the summer of the burger is over, it seems like pizza will be the new food proving grounds in Philly kitchens. Cruising by Starr's new Stella tonight and seeing the packed crowds of happy diners munching down on thin-crust pizza got me in the mood to recall one of our pizza experiments at home.

Recent favorites of ours are Tiffin's pizza offerings. The Indian twist on thin crust was right up our alley...and considering our near addiction to lamb, the Keema Mattar pizza, a minced lamb and pesto pizza pictured above, seemed like the perfect redux for home.

SuperFresh had a leg of lamb on sale last week for under $15, so I portioned it out into a shank, a roast and then minced the scraps up for the Keema Mattar topping.

The minced meat was simply seasoned and seared...I added a little dry mint to the meat as it finished, just to make sure that the flavor came through.

The pesto was a blend of mint and parsley, with a clove of garlic.

I didn't have time to pound out some pizza dough and then let it rise, so I used two pieces of lavash bread for the crust, brushed in olive oil and slathered in a greek yogurt and ricotta mix. These went into a 500 degree oven for a quick crisp.

Once the crust had firmed up, I just sprinkled on some peas and minced lamb to coat.

The end result wasn't even close to Tiffin's (the pesto was too minty and when it mixed with the ricotta it tasted "like toothpaste" quipped Elizabeth) . Next time, I'll probably not cheap out on the dough by going pre-made, use less topping and spread it around a bit more and most definitely go easier on the mint, maybe blending in some spinach with the pesto instead of parsley.

Fresh Peach, Thyme & Goat Cheese Pizza

We were visiting my family last weekend and my dad happened to bring up a crate of fresh peaches from South Carolina. We grabbed a dozen to take back to Philly. These guys were perfectly ripened - during the car ride we kept smelling those fresh peaches waft from the back seat.



After the success of the last seasonal fruit pizza, Strawberry, Cashew & Goat Cheese Pizza, we were itching to do something with these peaches that involved grilling the delicious ripe & juicy flesh.

A quick Google popped up this recipe for Grilled Peach Pizza, but the pizza was actually thrown on the grill whole as opposed to grilling the peaches...we were after that charred peach flavor, so I kinda made this up as I went along.



Trader Joe's always has a good deal on goat cheese logs, so used some of that, along with some thyme from the garden. Normally I would make a dough, but lately I've been using lavash brushed in olive oil for a good thin crust.

With the crust brushed in olive oil & sprinkled with thmye & goat cheese crumbles, it goes into a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes to firm up.



Meanwhile the thinly sliced peaches go onto a grooved grill pan to get marked and get a little softened up. These peaches were so ripe that I had to be gentle with these to keep them from tearing apart.



The end result was a simple flatbread pizza spiked with tart goat cheese with rich, gooey slices of grilled peach. The grill brings out the meaty-character of peach flesh while removing the syrupy sweetness. The crispy thin crust was a great counter to the peaches...I couldn't see this working too well with a softer crust.

SliCE Pizza - Thin Crust Classic

What else can be said about SliCE? This place is pretty much the gold-standard of thin-crust pizza around South Philly.

Great thin-crust pizza. I had the pepperoni & goat cheese toppings. Pepperoni was spicy and plump...no weak little grease discs here.

The cheese & sauce meld into a perfect blend...the goat cheese, while flavorful, really didn't bring much more to the party...next time I'll try the sausage."