Our Christmas Cookbook - 12. Snowy Pizza

Snowy Pizza

Jeff looked at the polystyrene box sitting beside him on the passenger seat. Bryan Adams was singing about Christmastime on the radio. At least it wasn’t Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’. His boss had said he could take the pizza home, as he’d already called the customer and canceled the delivery because of the upcoming blizzard.

Only now Jeff felt bad for having the man’s pizza. Even though it was Christmas Eve, he had nothing special to do, so he’d looked up the address. Dave Lawrence didn’t live far outside of town. He could bring the guy his Christmas Eve pizza. The roads looked okay, there was only light snowfall, and he’d invested in new winter tires a few weeks ago. According to the weather forecast, the storm was supposed to hit in a few hours. At that time he would be home, safely ensconced on the couch, watching Netflix and eating cannoli. Decision made, he turned the car around and took the road out of town. When he entered the forest, gentle flurries turned into constant snowfall, which wasn’t a problem. He would still make it to Dave’s house in no time.

“In two hundred meters, turn left.”

Surprised, he looked at the GPS. He’d arrived even faster than he’d thought. “As you wish ma'am.” Jeff pulled into a long driveway and eventually parked in front of a cabin-like house. It looked cozy with its snow-covered roof and welcoming yellow light emitting from the windows. A thin tendril of smoke rising from the chimney promised warmth coming from a crackling fire. He grabbed his messenger bag, climbed out, rounded the car, and lifted the pizza carton out of the box. Then he slammed the door closed with his butt and headed towards the entrance door. A dog was barking in the distance. Just when he was about to knock, the door opened.

“Can I help you?”

Jeff blinked. In front of him stood a man who easily fulfilled every clichéd lumberjack dream he might ever have had--broad shoulders wrapped in a thick red and black chequered shirt. Neatly trimmed salt and pepper beard, full lips, twinkling blue eyes. “Tina!” He held the collar of an enthusiastic black lab trying to wedge itself between its owner’s legs and the doorframe. Nice big hands. Get a grip, Jeff.

“Um—hi, I brought your pizza.”

“Calm down, girl.”

The man looked at the pizza box in Jeff’s hand and raised his eyebrows. “I’m a little surprised. Paolo called some time ago and canceled the delivery.”

Jeff leaned down and let the dog sniff his hand. Suddenly he felt like an idiot. “Um, yeah, but I thought since it’s Christmas Eve and I noticed you ordered the Christmas special pizza and the weather wasn't so bad and I kinda felt bad for eating your pizza,” he stammered.

“Eating my pizza?”

“Paolo gave it to me after he canceled on you. He didn’t want it to go bad.”

“So, if I take it now, I would be eating your pizza.” The man grinned, a teasing smile lifting one corner of his mouth.

“What? No!” Embarrassed, Jeff looked down, only to notice the guy was wearing thick, bright red Santa socks.

“How about we share it? I would invite you in, even offer you a glass of red wine with the pizza, but with a storm threatening—”

As if the blizzard gods wanted to warn them not to get any funny ideas, the wind picked up, tugging at Jeff’s hat. “Oh no, I couldn’t.” He thrust the box into the man’s hand.

Instead of taking it, Dave opened the door wider. “Come on, it won’t take long. I would feel better.”

Jeff had a feeling Dave wouldn’t accept a ‘no’, so he stomped the snow from his boots and followed him inside. Dave immediately went to his kitchen, got a knife out of a drawer, and split the tree-shaped pizza in two. Watching him balance his part on the knife, then slip it on a plate, Jeff remembered the cannoli. “Wait, if we share the pizza, we’ll share dessert too.” That said, he turned and ran to his car, followed by the dog, and grabbed the cannoli.

Back in the house, he put the box on the counter.

“These are, hands down, the best cannoli ever. Paolo’s aunt makes them.”

Curious, Dave lifted the lid. “I never had these before.”

“Really? Blasphemy!”

Humming appreciatively, Dave transferred four pieces of the cream-filled tubes onto another plate. “They look really tasty.” Closing the box again, he smiled. “Okay, done.” Then he looked out the window. “You really have to hurry before the weather gets any worse.”

Reluctantly, Jeff fished his beanie out of his coat pocket, grabbed his two boxes, and ruffled Tina’s ears. After a short wave to Dave and a cheerful “Merry Christmas!”, he opened the door and stepped into the cold.

Jeff squinted his eyes. The snowfall had become decidedly heavier while he’d been inside the house. Wait! Was there someone circling his car? He inhaled to yell at whoever it was when it occurred to him that it wasn’t a person— but a fucking bear! Everything he’d ever learned about bear encounters rushed to mind: Don’t run. The bear is faster than you. It looked like the animal hadn’t noticed him. Walk away slowly. He crept back to the house, eyes on the bear. He looked over his shoulder so he wouldn’t miss the door. Right when his back hit the door, the bear turned, sniffing in his direction. Jeff frantically knocked. Tina barked inside. Seconds later, Dave opened the door. “Did you change your mind?”

Still clutching the two boxes holding his dinner, he pointed in the direction of the dark lumbering figure barely visible in the thickly falling snow. “Bear.”

“What?” Dave looked around Jeff. “Aww, shit. ” He quickly pulled Jeff inside.

At first he stood, feeling a little lost, between the front door and the kitchen island, the melting snow making a puddle around his boots.

Dave gently pried the food cartons from Jeff’s hands. “It looks like you’ll be getting that glass of red wine after all.”

While Dave called animal control, Jeff took off his boots and coat. “Do you have a rag to clean the floor?”

Dinner wasn’t as awkward as Jeff thought it would be. After some tentative questions, they found out they both liked fantasy novels, didn’t watch much TV, but loved role-playing games--RPGs. Over ‘Greed Fall’ and ‘Pathfinder Kingmaker’, they fell into easy conversation. When it was time to go to sleep, Dave collected blankets and pillows and made a bed on his comfy couch for Jeff. Then he gave Jeff some pajama bottoms and a long-sleeved shirt, both of which were only slightly too big, as what Jeff lacked in girth he made up for in height.

A year later, Jeff parked his car beside Dave’s truck in front of the house. He got out, grabbed the paper bag sitting in the backseat, and ran to the entrance.

After opening the door, he inhaled deeply while taking off his coat and boots.

“What’s this heavenly smell?”

From the kitchen, Dave answered, “I made snowy pizza.”

“You made what?”

“Snowy pizza: créme fraiche, mixed with herbs, sautéed onions, crushed feta cheese, and cubed feta cheese on top. A reminder of how we met.”

“That sounds awesome.” Jeff kissed Dave, after wiping flour off his beard.

“Did you bring the cannoli?”

“Of course, without them our anniversary dinner wouldn’t be complete.” Grinning, he pulled a little white bear wearing a Santa hat out of the bag, along with their dessert. “Now we have everything: pizza, cannoli, a bear, you and me.”

'Wuff.'

"And Tina."

~Recipe~

Ingredients dough

2 cups lukewarm water

pinch sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast

2 tablespoons olive oil

5 1/4 cups all purpose flour or bread flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Instructions

In the bowl of your stand up mixer (or a large bowl if you knead by hand) add warm water then add yeast and sugar, let sit for 5 minutes, then stir to combine.

MIXING BY MACHINE

Add the olive oil, flour and salt,with the hook attachment start to combine on low speed, scrape the hook and then raise to medium speed and knead for approximately 5 minutes or until you have a smooth elastic dough (scrape the hook halfway through kneading).

MIXING BY HAND

If you are mixing by hand then with a fork mix until the dough starts to come together. On a lightly floured surface remove dough from the bowl and knead until dough is smooth and elastic approximately 10 minutes (if dough is really sticky add a little extra flour).

Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and a large clean kitchen towel, leave in a warm draft-free place until doubled in bulk, approximately 2 hours.**

Preheat oven to 450° (250° Celsius). Punch dough down a few times and divide into 3 balls, let dough rest for 20 minutes.

Place dough in desired pizza or cookie sheets (lightly oiled) and fit dough into desired shapes (using your clean hands).

Top with the sauteed onions, then feta cream), then cubed feta, bake for approximately 15-20 minutes (until crust is golden) and the feta cheese turns golden brown. Enjoy!

Ingredients Topping

5-6 onions

1 tablespoon butter

4-5 cloves of garlic, minced

400 g Feta cheese

250 g crème fraîche

salt, freshly ground pepper, nutmeg, lemon juice

chives, parseley, basil 100-150 g each

Instructions

Cut the onions into thin rings and saute in butter.

In a bowl crumble half of the feta cheese, mix with the crème fraiche to combine, add salt, pepper, freshly grated nutmeg and lemon juice to taste.

Cube the rest of the Feta.

Chop herbs finely and add them to the cheese cream.

This has been our Christmas Eve dish for many years. There's a picture in the gallery.
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