Panizza, But Not Quite

Panizza Pizza was a love a first sight taste experience.

The very first time I encountered panizza was at C Italian Dining, Angeles City, Pampangga, where we held a film shoot for an AVP project. Panizza pizza is apparently the pride of the house. I'm not a pizza person, and so I didn't know what it was or how it's eaten.

Do I eat it with fork and knife? Do I eat it with my hands? But it's cut in a strip. How can I eat it with glamour like that? What's alfalfa sprouts and arugula doing on the table?

It would be awkward to eat it wrong while you are being filmed, so we asked the kind chef, who prepared all our great food that day, Chef Chris Locher, to tell us how we should execute the eating part :P. So he said, sprinkle the alfalfa sprouts on a strip. Lay the crunchy arugula on top. Roll it. And serve it to your lady like a gentleman.

So we started filming. Mark and I felt awkward at first to be filmed while eating and hearing directions on the sides of what we should do. It was the first time we had an "acting" gig haha! My cheeks where trembling and my hands were tensed. But as soon as I took a bite off that panizza - everything went real and natural. It was so good, I didn't have to act like I like it - because I love it! I think that's the best experience in that entire day of filming. From that moment on, it never left my taste.

This recipe is inspired by Chef Chris Locher's panizza. It's not very close to what he served to us, but this will work for us, for now - until I learn to make my own dough :).

Ingredients:
- a ready made pizza crust (preferrably thin), but if you can make your own dough, do it.
- Del Monte Italian pizza sauce
- slices of ripe tomatoes
- alfalfa sprouts
- baby arugula leaves
- olive oil
- mozarella cheese
- salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Brush the pizza crust with olive oil.
3. Spread the pizza sauce.
4. Spread the tomatoes
5. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.
6. Top it with grated mozarella cheese and put it in the oven.
7. When it's ready, slice it in strips, about 1 1/2 inches wide.

To serve:

Step 1: Sprinkle alfalfa sprouts on one strip.


Step 2: Lay some crunchy baby arugula on top.


Step 3: Roll it. (In this case, my pizza crust is too thick to roll so we folded it like a sandwich :P).


Step 4: Munch munch!