Pronto Pollo

Who’d have thought a book on pizza would start a culinary discussion that could lead to a verbal battle between pizza lovers of two major American cities, Chicago and New York?

Well, “Pizza, A Slice of Heaven” by New York Times culinary journalist, Ed Levine did just that. Ed Levine’s placing Chicago’s deep-dish pizza among casseroles raised the hairs on many Midwesterners. To be on the safe side and not to get on the nerves of my Midwestern friends, I’ll admit to eating my best pizza in Montreal, and no, I am not a Canadian but a New Yorker displaced in Florida.

I’ll have to say, in the universe of the pizzas, the more the merrier, and there is nothing wrong with any deep-dish pizza. Call it a pizza or casserole, a deep-dish pizza is another mouth-watering choice. Even though the author says the very best American Pizza is made in Phoenix, Arizona, at Pizzeria Bianco by Chris Bianco, New York Pizza–so far–is the one with the fame and the one ahead of the game.

The book “Pizza: A Slice of Heaven : The Ultimate Pizza Guide and Companion” by Ed Levine (ASIN: 0789312050) has a list price of $24.95 and it sells in Amazon for $15.72.

Ed Levine is a radio and television personality. He has regularly contributed to the New York Times’ Dining section. His other books are: New York Eats, New York Eats More, Tom’s big Dinners. He also keeps a blogspot in edlevineeats.com.

“Pizza: A Slice of Heaven” is not a poetry book, but to a pizza lover like me it reads like poetry. It’s a book good for entertainment, light reading, and salivating, since it contains delightful personal anecdotes and pizza trivia from the history of pizza to the pizza makers in Naples. In addition, there are a few recipes, photos, and a pizza glossary at the end of the book. The author says he ate pizza for twelve months for research.

The book is divided into seventeen chapters, each chapter truly enchanting and with contributions by celebrities. The chapters are: The Perfect Pizza, Pizza in Italy, Old Pizza, New York Pizza, Long Island Pizza (my favorite), New Jersey Pizza, Connecticut Pizza, Philadelphia Boston D.C. and Baltimore Pizza, Pizza in the South and Southwest, Pizza in the Midwest, California and West Coast Pizza, Bar Pizza, Chain Frozen and Internet Pizza, Chefs and Pizza, Planet Pizza, The Pizza Police, and The Keepers of the Flame.

Everything about the book is enjoyable, but from my biased point of view, the chapter on the Long Island pizza, and also, Nora Ephron’s piece on eating pizza on a first date during 1950’s are spectacular pieces in culinary literature.

The book is in soft cover, 8½ ” by 8½ ” in dimensions. The print and the bone color of the pages are easy on the eyes, although some pages are green. This book would be even more fantastic, if it had contained more colored photos.

Pizza is a cultural force and Ed Levine’s book would make a wonderful gift to any pizza lover. “Pizza: A Slice of Heaven” is a book to enjoy anytime, anywhere.

Pronto Pollo Scone Fillings

Excellent!

I’m sure by now you’ve bought a batch of baby chickens from your local pet store or expo center and brought them into your home with joy and excitement. Everyday you’ve fed them and played with them and enjoyed just watching them chirp and make a mess of themselves. For weeks you’ve sat there and watched them grow, but now you’ve realized that they are just too big to have inside your house in those empty milk cartons or fish aquariums that you were using to keep them in. You’ve figured it is time to build a chicken coop and I couldn’t agree more.

The problem is…

You have a mesmerizingly, fully landscaped backyard in which you’ve poured in every last drop of sweat to grow and maintain and the last thing you want to do now is destroy your lawn by permanently building a chicken coop that will tarnish the aesthetics of your home and garden. At the same time, your small flock of chickens are growing and becoming way too large to keep indoors and since you’ve become quite attached to the little chicks by now, it would be much too painful to give them away. Well, the answer to your problems is quite simple…what you need is a Moveable Chicken Coop.

The Moveable Chicken Coop

Moveable chicken coops are like chicken coops on wheels. Literally. Though not so popular amongst the hardcore chicken breeders of the world which tend to build chicken coops of a large scale for hundreds of poultry and heavy egg layers, the moveable chicken coop was an invention my father created after a major storm, with hurricane like winds, hit our small town. After the storm knocked down some of our coconut trees and demolished most of our plants and livestock, my father needed to move the chicken coop to other parts of the yard in order to clean up the mess. Since it was an almost impossible task to actually lift up the coop with all its weight and relocate it elsewhere, my father came up with the genius idea of installing wheels to the bottom of the chicken coop so that it would be easily rolled to any destination in our yard. This idea was such a success in our everyday chicken raising lifestyle that from that moment on, every chicken coop we ever built was a moveable chicken coop.

Moveable Chicken Coop Perks

With moveable chicken coops, you will never have to worry about having a permanent structure in your backyard ever again. If you wish to keep your moveable chicken coop closer to your porch during the winter for easy access for feeding and cleaning, you can do so. If during the spring you would rather show off your beautiful sprouting garden to your friends and family without having your chicken coop in the way, tarnishing the beauty of your garden…no problem. Just simply roll your moveable chicken coop to another location in the yard where it’s most fitting. Even if a major hurricane threatens your area, with a moveable chicken coop, you will easily be able to roll it to a safer position such as your garage if you have the space, or even inside your barn if you live in a farm house.

Pronto Pollo Scone Sandwiches

Sandwiches enjoy a well deserved popularity in many parts of the world. The western hemisphere ranks it amongst other international foods like pizzas fries and burgers. Sandwiches are well known for their property of being able to produce good results with any variety of recipes.

The recipe is just a guideline for people who want to make a good sandwich as they will need to adjust portions to taste and there are ingredients not everyone likes. This is just the same with a roast beef sandwich, so if you think you don’t like one or two ingredients, feel free to skip them.

Sandwiches are often made in the matter of minutes and it is one of their best properties. Just a few key parts and the good sandwich is ready in five minutes, a more complicated recipe is about fifteen minutes to make, but you can come across ones that are much more than that.

Meat based sandwiches that contain any sort of cooked or simmered meat are amongst those recipes. A roast beef sandwich will take about 3-4 hours to make if you want to make it all perfect, and you should, as the result really makes up for all your effort.

For this recipe to have optimal result a not so fine cut of beef is recommended. For sake of simplicity I’d suggest using rump beef. This is part is not really tender so a long cooking time is due. Take the piece of beef out the fridge and let it reach room temperature.

It will take about an hour so plan in advance. When the meat has defrosted, use a sharp knife to cut a it a few times parallel to each other. Put a pinch of garlic in these cuts and pour a few tablespoons of olive oil on top.

Use a cooking grid in the oven and put the dripping pan in under it so that so that it doesn’t touch directly. This way you won’t have to turn the meat and it will cook evenly.

Start the oven at 375 F and cook the meat for half an hour. It should brown a little by then. Turn the heat down to 235 F and roast it for another 2-3 hours before serving.

When it’s done allow it to cool and slice thin slices. Use the gravy you collected in the dripping pan. Thin slices of rye bread are fine for this recipe, but white bread is just as fine as long as it is good quality.

Spread mayonnaise on the bottom slice and put the roast slice on it. Cut horse radish thinly on top and put a leaf of salad. If you like tomatoes, you can use those as well, and red onion is also advised. You can use extra garlic but it should be unnecessary because the preparation of the meat.

Top it off with the other slice of bread and cut diagonally for easy consume.

Using thin slices of the ingredients is recommended because there are many of them and thus will make the sandwich slip apart when cut thick.

The roast beef sandwich is not the easiest sandwich recipe, but if you have had them all then this is something you don’t want to skip.

Pronto Pollo Scone Pizza Toppings

To your taste. And if you’re going to indulge yourself, why not do it properly? But if you found it hard to select a pizza from the menu, choosing the right combination of all available ingredients might seem a mission impossible You’re hungry and you want to eat now! So here’s an easy taste guide to help you combine your favourite toppings.

Step 1: The first topping that comes to mind
Everyone has a favourite topping. When it comes to eating, your intuition is always right, so don’t make any compromises here. Whether your feel like pepperoni, pineapple, pesto or prawns, there is a unique combination out there that will exceed your expectations.

Step 2: Counting calories?
If you don’t have a second topping in mind that has to be on your pizza, this is the moment to ask yourself whether you want to keep an eye on the calories or want to indulge yourself. This will help you decide whether you should consider deep pan and cheese stuffed crust pizza’s, or stick to a thin crust bases or calzone. If you want to stay on the healthy side, you might also want to turn a blind eye on greasy toppings such as extra cheese, pepperoni, meatballs, sausage and bacon. For healthy varieties, think along the lines of sour cream, olives, pineapple and reduced fat cheese.

Step 3: Choose a good support act
To help you find the perfect combination, here’s a list of tastes that go well together. Use your creativity to pick and mix a special treat for yourself. For the best results, combine four or five ingredients.
Anchovies – capers; chilli; mozzarella; mushrooms; olives; pepperoni.
Barbeque Sauce – bacon; chicken; extra cheese; mushrooms; pineapple.
Chicken – chilli; feta; pesto; pineapple; spinach; sundried tomato.
Goat’s cheese – roasted vegetables; pesto; pineapple; seafood; spinach.
Pepperoni – asparagus; chilli; extra cheese; roasted peppers; salami; pesto; pineapple.
Pineapple – chilli; ham; ground beef; jalapeno peppers; pepperoni; salami; other fruit.
Prawns – anchovies; avocado; black olives; chilli; garlic; mushrooms; pineapple; red onion; spinach and feta; other seafood.
Spinach – egg; feta; goat’s cheese; onion; roasted pepper; sundried tomato.