A Majestic Thin Crust Pizza Recipe

🍕 An Interview with Chef Francisco Migoya/Modernist Pizza Cookbook, A Lemon Vinaigrette, and More

Even though my full-time job is recipe development and cookbook writing, you’d think I’d be better organized. I’m exceptionally organized at work but a little less efficient regarding at home. It becomes even more chaotic when I’m working on my cookbooks. I start my day writing recipes and cooking them for testing (and cook them a few more times until I get it right). If the recipe passes the testing stage, the recipe then moves on to the photography stage - another round of cooking, styling the dish until I’m more than satisfied with the look, followed by the photography and editing. As you might suspect, I get wrapped up in cooking for work that I slack on cooking for the home. If I’m testing six cakes in a day, the last thing I want to do is make dinner (or eat cake).

After working on three cookbooks, I think I finally have it down. The trick is to get a flexible plan in place. The plan has to be flexible because I don’t like to eat the same thing daily; I prefer alternating or using the same thing in several different ways. Take the recipe for the lemon vinaigrette I’m sharing with you today; I make a big batch and store it in my refrigerator, then I use it with whatever salad stuff I’ve got on hand or craving during the week. Maybe it’s crispy lettuce leaves on Monday, tender baby spinach leaves on Tuesday, or peppery arugula leaves on a Wednesday. The vinaigrette needs to work with whatever I have on hand.

Tools are beneficial and one that I’ve fallen in love with, especially while working on my book, VEG-TABLE, is Zwilling’s Fresh & Save vacuum food storage system. Whatever veggies I couldn’t use up during shoot days went straight into the containers and were stored and saved by vacuum. I’ve partnered with the lovely folks at Zwilling in a special giveaway this year (runs until Dec 31, 2023, on the Zwilling US site). Pick one of the codes below to use per order.

Fresh & Save: By using code “NIKSHARMA”, you can get a free small lunch box with a purchase of the Fresh & Save 7 PC Starter Set (either in glass or plastic)

OR

Enfinigy: By using code “NIKBLENDER”, you can get a free personal blender Jar by purchasing the Enfinigy Personal Blender (either in silver or black).

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I’ve been on the hunt for a good, solid, thin-crust pizza recipe, and after a few months, I think I’ve found the ONE.

Last summer, I got a copy of the massive Modernist Pizza, a hefty three-volume encyclopedic cookbook devoted to pizza. This book is geared towards chefs, pizza enthusiasts, and anyone who wants to learn how to make pizza and take their pizza making to the next level. The book’s three volumes cover, History and Fundamentals, Techniques and Ingredients, and Recipes. Also included is a lighter kitchen manual containing all the recipes; it’s easier to haul around while cooking. The book exhaustively covers every aspect of pizza making and the different varieties. It thoroughly discusses types of pizza ovens and tools, and the accompanying photography gives you a clear picture of what to expect with the recipes.

I recently spoke with Francisco Migoya, the James Beard nominated and IACP-winning chef behind the Modernist Pizza book. I own some of his previous books on desserts - Frozen Desserts and The Elements of Desserts- fantastic textbooks used by the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) that helped improve my pastry game. The Modernist Pizza book is no different and reflects Francisco Migoya’s mastery as an instructor, and I’ve loved learning from it. This week, I share the Modernist Direct Thin Crust Pizza recipe and my conversations with Francisco Migoya about this marvelous book.