(Family Features) During a season of turkey dinners and festive cocktails, those rich holiday staples may start feeling heavy. When it’s time to reset with a lighter, delicious homemade dinner, try a seasonally appropriate pizza as a simple solution for returning to routine.
In fact, regardless of season, pizza remains one of the most popular food choices in the country. According to Current’s “Pizza Wars” survey, which explored preferences and habits among 6,500 respondents in America’s most populous metropolitan areas, the average respondent ordered nearly five pizzas per month. With New York-style rating as the top preference and pepperoni as the favorite topping, the survey found Americans would have to be paid an average of more than $14 million to give up pizza for life.
Additionally, 45% of respondents identified undercooked pizza dough as the worst “pizza crime.” To help avoid that fate, experienced pizzaioli and everyday home cooks alike are turning more often to electric pizza ovens, which deliver restaurant-quality pies without gas or open flames. Energy efficient with capabilities for both indoor and outdoor use, they’re a versatile solution for apartment dwellers and those crafting homemade pizzas any time of year.
Building on a mission to reimagine cooking with electric technology that’s smarter, cleaner and more sustainable, the Current Model P Smart Oven Pizza reaches 850 F, perfect for Neapolitan-style pizzas ready in just 2 minutes, such as this Truffle Mushroom Pizza that’s an ideal fit for complementing all those heavy holiday meals with a lighter weeknight bite.
Its design combined with a cordierite 12-inch cooking stone ensures uniform heat for authentic, crispy crusts with multiple cooking modes, giving you the versatility to cook any way you like. Controlling through a smartphone app offers digital temperature monitoring along with chef-curated recipes or a “pizza build calculator,” which takes the guesswork out of pizza-making – you can personalize a 12-inch pizza with your chosen amount of sauce, cheese, toppings and even dough thickness, and the app will compute a customized time and temperature for perfect cooking.
A thoughtful gift for foodies and gadget fanatics alike, you can bring the joy of pizza to the holiday season with these topping ideas and celebration inspiration:
- Bring comfort to winter with toppings like sausage, roasted squash, mushrooms, caramelized onions and smoked gouda.
- Take advantage of leftovers from holiday gatherings with a pizza that includes brie, cranberry drizzle, roasted turkey and spiced butternut squash.
- For a sweet treat, top with hazelnut spread and marshmallows – perfect for capping off holiday parties.
- To get loved ones involved, host a pizza party swap where friends and family create pies with favorite seasonal toppings.
- Host a DIY pizza bar allowing guests to personalize their own pizza creations, a delicious way to wind down the festivities.
To find more pizza-infused holiday inspiration, visit CurrentBackyard.com.
Truffle Mushroom Pizza
Recipe courtesy of Chef Trimmell Hawkins, Current
Cream Sauce:
- Oil or butter, for sauteeing
- 1/4 cup onions, small diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 cup mushrooms (such as baby portobello, button or shiitake), minced
- 1 tablespoon picked thyme
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 4 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons truffle oil
- salt, to taste
- pepper, to taste
Pizza:
- 1 pizza dough
- grated or fresh mozzarella cheese
- mushrooms
- spinach (optional)
- cooked sausage (optional)
- To make cream sauce: In saucepan over medium heat, add oil or butter. Saute onions until translucent then add garlic and mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms release moisture and begin to caramelize.
- Stir in picked thyme and cook 1 minute to release oils.
- Add heavy cream and bring to gentle simmer. Let it reduce slightly, 5-7 minutes.
- In small bowl, mix cornstarch and water to make slurry. Slowly whisk into simmering cream sauce until it reaches desired consistency.
- Remove from heat and stir in truffle oil. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
- To prepare pizza: Preheat Current Model P Smart Pizza Oven to 850 F. While oven heats up, roll dough out to 8-12 inches and add desired amount of cream sauce.
- Top with mozzarella, mushrooms, spinach and sausage, as desired. Once oven is hot, cook pizza 2 minutes until bubbly.
