Prosciutto Pizza & Zin Bliss

I decided to go a little over the edge this week and try to do a food pairing. The initial blog welcoming the interns left out a tiny detail about my cooking ability. That is, I cannot cook. And by I cannot cook I mean the most ambitious food I’ve tried to make is Teriyaki marinated chicken. Coming from an Italian family my inability to cook is a sin in and of itself. This blog has pushed me to break out of my comfort zone and to attempt to dare I say, cook?  So I grabbed a bottle of our Stryker Sonoma 2007 Old Vine Estate Zinfandel; asked for a couple of food pairing suggestions from everyone in the back office and headed straight to Trader Joe's.

I picked up sliced mushrooms, pizza dough, mozzarella cheese, marinara sauce & prosciutto. I know this seems easy to pretty much everyone, but when you consider the college student budget along with minimal cooking skills; it can be quite a challenge. Once I got home I opened the dough and let it rest for 20-30 minutes, this is a great time to pour the first glass of Zinfandel, letting it open up as you prepare your meal. After a couple sips of wine I rolled out the dough and put a generous amount of marinara sauce over it, then covered the dough in mozzarella, mushrooms and tomatoes. Pre-heated the oven to 450˚ put the pie in and was all set to go! 10-15 minutes later once the pizza was almost all the way cooked I put on a nice helping of prosciutto, and placed the pizza back in to the oven for another minute or two to heat the prosciutto. When finished, I took out the pizza, sliced it and poured a hearty glass of Estate Zinfandel! I had invited over a friend of mine to share the pizza and Zin. Much to my surprise not only was the pizza edible, but it was really good!!!

Rule #1 in food pairing is that heavy wines go with heavy foods and vice-versa. Zinfandel tends to be medium bodied wines that come across soft and earthy. For this reason our Zinfandel tends to compliment almost any pizza or pasta dish. Both the Estate Old Vine Zinfandel and the prosciutto pizza have their own robust flavors. The prosciutto is salty and fatty; which softens the Zinfandel and makes the prosciutto melt in your mouth. The Estate Old Vine Zinfandel has mild tannins with a nice long velvety finish and when combined with the rich earthy flavor of the prosciutto and mozzarella pizza; you have a match made in savory wine pairing heaven.



Lessons learned & notes to self:
1. Make sure to flour hands before attempting to work with pizza dough. Huge mistake!
2. Borrow neighbors oven next time to ensure even cooking!
3. Purchase cutting board!
4. Purchase sharper knife or a pizza cutter

Overall, I would say mission accomplished! The pizza was a hit and the Zin was perfect compliment!!!

Review of Dinner:
Gary the Critic: "I was a little nervous at first about Lucy cooking because I know cooking isn't her strong suite, but the pizza tasted great! Amazing flavor and cooked to perfection. The Stryker Sonoma Zin was bomb and a new personal favorite of mine."

Buon Appetito & Cheers!! ~ Lucy

Editors Note: Do you have a favorite pizza and wine pairing? We would love to hear about it!