Marc Vetri’s mortadella pizza with pistachio pesto.

If Massimo Bottura convinced me to try mortadella via including it as part of the meat mixture in his famous tortellini, then Marc Vetri got me to appreciate mortadella in its own right. Michael will occasionally refer to it as “Italian bologna” and that’s not entirely fair. Bologna is smoked while mortadella is not, and good mortadella tastes like pork, while bologna is just, well, there. (The exception to this is Lebanon bologna, which is a PA Dutch thing and very, very different to traditional bologna.)  More importantly, mortadella is made with pistachios, which should give it an automatic boost over bologna anyway. It should be said that Marc Vetri really, really likes mortadella; as I mentioned previously when singing the praises of his pizza dough recipe, he caught my eye when perusing one of his restaurant’s menus and seeing a rotolo that had ricotta, mortadella, and pistachio pesto. In his first cookbook Rustic Italian Cooking he has a whole section devoted to homemade charcuterie and he includes a recipe for lamb mortadella. This pizza actually comes from that book, as he encourages you to either use the aforementioned lamb mortadella or buy the pork version, and I’ll say that the latter is still a really great option because this pizza is excellent.   What makes it work is that the mortadella is paired with both mozzarella and Parmigiano-Reggiano, and instead of a red sauce, Vetri has you make a pistachio pesto. The version that’s in Rustic Italian Cooking is even simpler than what is in Mastering Pasta, as it doesn’t even have any orange zest. (Personally, I think the orange zest adds some brightness, but I was willing to try it as-prescribed for comparison’s sake.) That said, if you’re in the mood to zest some citrus into the sauce you certainly can since it goes on after the pizza bakes and therefore won’t get blasted in the super-hot oven. If you’re in the mood for something different, give this pizza a try; if you’ve never tried mortadella you’ll be surprised by how much you like it, especially when enhanced with more of that wonderful pistachio via this pesto. Mortadella pizza with pistachio pesto Lightly adapted from Rustic Italian Cooking by Marc Vetri 1 ball pizza dough (recipe here), plus extra bread flour for dusting ¼ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano ½ cup cubed fresh mozzarella 2 ounces thinly sliced mortadella ½ cup shelled, roasted pistachios ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil Sea salt, fo finish (optional) Preheat the oven, ideally with a pizza stone on the bottom rack or a baking steel on the top rack, to 500 degrees.  Flour a pizza peel and gently stretch the dough out to about 10-12 inches. Arrange the mortadella slices over the dough, and then scatter both kinds of cheese over the pizza. Check to make sure you pizza hasn’t stuck to the peel by gently shaking it (add a little more flour if necessary) and carefully transfer it to the pizza stone or baking steel. Cook for five minutes, and to get more browning on the top of the pizza, turn on the broiler for an additional 2-3 minutes. While the pizza cooks, process the nuts and oil in a food processor or immersion blender until the nuts are chopped but before it becomes a paste. Remove the pizza from the oven, and while it rests spoon the pesto onto the pizza. Cut into wedges and serve, finishing with a lightly sprinkling of sea salt if desired. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Like this:Like Loading... Related