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davis_squarenow that it has been gone for half a year, and is probably not ever coming back, which makes me a very sad panda...
are there any former employees who might like to, you know... slip me the recipe for the butternut squash sauce that was used on the Blue October?
My own attempts have been edible, but they feel like they are missing something.
I promise to only use the recipe for good.
(people who have successfully reproduced the flavour feel free to chime in. I have mostly worked with plain roasted squash with a little salt, but when I asked at Zing! once they told me it had something else in it, and it also seemed to get thinned out slightly so it was more akin to tomato sauce than squash puree)
are there any former employees who might like to, you know... slip me the recipe for the butternut squash sauce that was used on the Blue October?
My own attempts have been edible, but they feel like they are missing something.
I promise to only use the recipe for good.
(people who have successfully reproduced the flavour feel free to chime in. I have mostly worked with plain roasted squash with a little salt, but when I asked at Zing! once they told me it had something else in it, and it also seemed to get thinned out slightly so it was more akin to tomato sauce than squash puree)
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Date: 2012-01-20 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 01:24 pm (UTC)I miss the Blue October immensely, too. One of my favorite pizzas in Boston, easily.
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Date: 2012-01-21 12:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 05:10 am (UTC)maybe.
#
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Date: 2012-01-20 05:16 am (UTC)(the other main ingredients on the Blue October were caramelized onions, spinach and bleu cheese)
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Date: 2012-01-20 05:22 am (UTC)however, it was an attempt at humor, because in russia, joke always has cinnamon.
and i've found that several recipes threw cinnamon in there at just a level that it's hard to notice. also goes well with squash ;>
i've found when trying to figure this stuff out, to go through the mental spice rack, and often *BAM* there it is. clove. or allspice. or something :)
#
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Date: 2012-01-20 05:57 am (UTC)Also since the squash was already slightly sweet from roasting, there would be a good chance you would wind up with the problem with sweet potatoes when cinnamon is added, where it instantly becomes a dessertish tasting thing, which would indeed be a little nasty on pizza with caramelized onions.
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Date: 2012-01-20 11:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 05:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 06:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-31 03:33 pm (UTC)If I want to identify as a panda-denier, that's my right!
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Date: 2012-01-20 06:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 12:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 02:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 12:20 pm (UTC)It enhances the essential... squashiness of the squash. It also freezes pretty well, so you could make a big batch and freeze it in single-'za-sized portions.
Now, it sounds like you need some roasted flavor notes in there, too. Maybe half steamed squash and half roasted squash? Or use the caramelized onions both for the broth and the topping. You can also add some nice notes in by varying your fat -- browned butter will bring a nice nutty touch, olive oil a more savory flavor, pumpkin seed oil (if you're splurging, available at Dave's Fresh) would add even MORE squashiness, and, of course, you could use bacon fat. Because, you know... bacon fat. Or duck fat.
Finally, try seasoning it with smoked salt.
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Date: 2012-01-20 06:59 pm (UTC)*takes notes*
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Date: 2012-01-21 02:50 am (UTC)I roasted a squash and mixed it with greek yogurt, roasted garlic and tahini (with salt and pepper) til it had a consistency I liked. I love the flavor. :)
I serve it with caramelized onions and goat cheese.
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Date: 2012-01-20 02:18 pm (UTC)You could also try different ingredients from the bazillion or so recipes that come up when you google "butternut squash pizza sauce".
I'm putting my money on nutmeg, though.
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Date: 2012-01-20 02:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 02:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 03:55 pm (UTC)Zing! made the only really high-quality pizza with a gluten-free crust around here. I am very sad they are gone. :-(
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Date: 2012-01-21 06:14 pm (UTC)As a former manager of Zing Pizza hopefully I can shed some light on this subject for you all.The Blue October pizza was the brainchild of my friend Keri (minus the blue cheese which was Evie's idea) and was the result of her having a whole lot of squash from the farm she worked at that needed to be used up quickly. She roasted the squash and then blended it with butter and salt. That's all. At Zing, we didn't want to use butter because we wanted the sauce to be vegan friendly so we used olive oil instead. I don't remember exact measurements for each of these three ingredients, but a lot of it was by taste and consistency so just add the oil (or butter) a bit at a time while you are blending until it seems like the right consistency. Then add salt to taste. The sauce never needed anything else added because between the caramelized onions, the spinach, and the blue cheese there were already a lot of strong flavors on the pizza. No need to complicate things. Happy pizza-making!
-Jericho
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Date: 2012-01-22 06:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-22 11:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-22 10:51 pm (UTC)I don't know the above former manager, (which is to say there was a lot of turnover) and I can answer some of your questions.
And NO ONE at the cafe can tell you how to make jack because they had no employee crossover and for the last year that the shop was open there were only about 3 people that made most of the food.
Last incarnation of Butternut squash sauce:
peel squash, trash the innards. chop/cut into 2-3" slices/chunks. Throw some foil over so it doesn't all burn. We roasted in the pizza oven so it was effin hot (you can do minimum 400 degrees). (other secret, at the end of the show, we were cooking almost everything in the oven, hence the sometimes burnt caramelized onion pieces)
Roast until soft (squishes with the back of a spoon).
In a food processor: blend squash with (grape seed oil in our case) Veg. OIL, VEG STOCK (to cut down on oil content and add flavor. Before our last prep cook/chef we were pureeing with mostly oil so I loved the earlier comment about that being the secret.), REAL MAPLE SYRUP, GARLIC (minced or clove-- either way raw, it will cook in the oven),fresh LEMON JUICE, and SALT TO TASTE.
Basically, you want to use the oil and stock to give you the sauce texture (so a larger quantity of oil), the garlic and maple should play off each other so neither is particularly overwhelming/noticeable (we used about a 1/4 cup maple and 3 gloves garlic per 4 cups squash), and the lemon juice and salt are about brightening the flavors of everything else (so don't go nuts, except if you like salt).
for real kids. no joke.
Dracula's dilemma had different reincarnations. The original was a thin layer of raw garlic minced in the food processor with a spoon of lemon juice for preservation. the later, and foodie recommended, version was a thicker layer of roasted garlic (raw garlic cloves, olive oil and salt (pepper sometimes) cover with foil, roast til you are worried you over roasted). The roasted garlic was pureed with a bunch of olive oil til it is sauce-y and salt to taste.
then quartered cherry tomatoes, mozz, bake, add fresh cilantro and pomegranate syrup.
also easy. that had to be my favorite pizza to prep (besides the reg cheese pizza) because it was easy and slicing tomatoes was a nice way to zone out :)
and that comment was too personal! haha
The owner is much less involved in the cafe and the cafe is far more established than the shop was and the cafe has a lot less detail to it.
I highly doubt he will ever be involved if the shop re-opens because... he is asking way too much which people have conjectured from the Craigslist ads. I don't want to go much more into detail because I have personal feelings about it that makes my response to this uncomfortabley emotional/biased.
I have little faith that the shop we knew will ever open again.
And, no, He will absolutely never say that, at least not in public, which is why the window says otherwise!
I think that covers it! Now I'm off to look at my profile and see if it has my full name! lol
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Date: 2012-01-22 11:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-24 01:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-24 02:14 pm (UTC)