On a recent Saturday morning, I found myself at the wonderful Trenton Farmer’s Market. (Web Site Here) It is the only true Farmer’s Market in the region – one where multiple farmers have stalls to sell their produce, which is always better than supermarket fare and generally cheaper. All over Chester County (PA) there are self-titled “Farm Markets” but which are one-day-a-week Boutique Veggie Markets selling lovely produce at shockingly high prices.
Although the produce is the primary draw of the Trenton Farmer’s Market, there is one wing dedicated to prepared foods and a few sundry vendors of breads and meats. I stopped by Franca Bakery there for a wonderful loaf of Italian bread. If you know to ask, they also have balls of pizza dough – fresh or frozen – in the back. I usually buy the frozen ones and I took two home.
The dough needs to warm and rise, so I covered it in plastic wrap and put it outside on a steamy July day. While that was taking place, I surveyed my ingredients and decided it was time for Pizza Carbonara – pizza with egg, cheese, and bacon. From what I had seen before about such pizzas, timing matters! You put some ingredients into the oven at the beginning, add some midway, and more after the cooking. Here’s what I did.
I decided to make a square Sicilian pie; I used olive oil to grease a square nonstick baking pan. I’m not skilled at handling/stretching the dough, and after five minutes of wrestling with it, I gave up on the rolling pin method. I picked it up to stretch it by hand. I had no confidence to toss it , but I did manage to get it pretty uniformly stretched over my square pan without ripping holes in it.
Once the crust was in the pan, I added the cheese. As usual, I “made do” with what I had on hand and used a 50/50 mix of Bel Gioso aged sharp provolone and white American cheese. Scoff at the American cheese if you must, but I felt it was the right thing to do on a pie that contained eggs. I’m not a “white pie” kinda guy so I diced one large summer tomato and added that to the pie. Enough for color and flavor, not enough to change the character or make the pie wet.
I then baked it at 385 degrees. Next time I make the same pie, I will try it at 450 degrees so that I can get a darker and crisper crust. After 7-8 minutes, I removed the pie and cracked three eggs on it. On one, I deliberately broke the yolk; on the other two, I left them “sunny side” so that when finished, the white would be cooked and I could use a knife to break the liquid yolk over the cooked pie.
I baked it about 3 minutes and it did not look “done” to my tastes, so I switched to broiler for 2-3 minutes to get some very nice top browning to the cheese. The eggs looked terrific!
When the pie came out, I added three more ingredients – chopped scallion, fresh basil from my garden, and freshly cooked bacon (as prep work, I had fried and drained five slices of bacon). If looks were the sole measure of a pizza, this was a 10. But how did it taste?
The crust was a tad pale, but it had terrific flavor (thanks, Franca!) and a sturdy texture. VACK (vegetable-avoiding college kid) noted that it was “doughy” and it did have a chewy element to it; next time I will cook it at higher heat OR perhaps on a pizza stone. The eggs? Overcooked. They looked perfect, but the yolks had solidified. I’m not sure I regret that, but I will try to make some adjustment next time. For certain, whether my eggs are on a pizza on served on a plate at a diner, I’d rather have firm yolks than runny whites.
The other flavors worked together especially well. The salty/savory bacon and cheese worked with the egg and bread just as they do on a great bagel-egg sandwich or, hate to say it, Egg McMuffin. The sharp provolone added a piquancy that was mellowed by the salty creaminess of the American cheese. The scallion, tomato, and basil contributed a fresh garden flavor without overpowering the pie the way that, say, peppers or onions would.
The crust gets a 7; it could easily climb to 8 or 9 with a different cooking technique. The toppings get a 9.5 – only DiFara and DeLorenzo are making more magic on the north side of any crust. The execution gets a 5 – rookie mistake to overcook the eggs. Overall, this pie gets an 8.25; it really was wonderful – and quickly devoured in toto by me, VACK, and EPBAC (eats pizza but avoids cheese).
