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Sunday, January 9, 2011

Buffalo Chicken Wing Pizza

A popular meal for Buffalonians and Western New Yorkers consists of pizza and wings, two favorite regional foods. Sunday football games and Super Bowl Sunday find local pizzerias flooded with take-out orders for this popular combination. Several years ago, some savvy individual came up with the concept of combining the two into a single masterpiece – the Buffalo wing pizza. Since that time, nearly as many variations have been created as there are aficionados of the dish. Although it’s not your mama’s pizza, it’s a delicious, rich treat and delivers a unique combination of flavors.


Chef Rob’s Buffalo Chicken Wing Pizza

1 16-inch pizza crust (see Basic Pizza Dough recipe below)

Chicken:
3 large chicken thighs with skin and bones intact
Salt & pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup chicken stock or broth
1 large garlic clove, smashed
4 whole black peppercorns

Sauce:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 large garlic cloves, chopped fine
2 tablespoons Frank’s Louisiana Red Hot Sauce
¼ teaspoon salt

Topping:
Extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon dried celery seed
¼ cup peeled celery, finely chopped
4 ounces Bleu cheese, crumbled
12 ounces whole milk Mozzarella cheese, grated

Garnish:
Leaves from 1 stalk of celery, chopped
Additional Frank’s Louisiana Red Hot Sauce


Chicken: Pat dry and generously season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. In a medium skillet, heat the canola oil. Add the thighs and brown well on both sides over medium-high heat. Add the chicken stock or broth, the smashed garlic clove, and the whole black peppercorns. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and braise the thighs, partially covered, for about 30 minutes or until golden brown, tender, and cooked throughout. Remove the thighs to a platter and set them aside until cool enough to handle. Skin, de-bone, and shred the chicken.

Sauce: In a small saucepan, melt the butter and add the chopped garlic. Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes to infuse the garlic into the butter. Remove from heat and stir in the Frank’s Louisiana Red Hot Sauce and the salt.

Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.

Assembly: Brush the outside edges of the pizza crust with extra virgin olive oil. Evenly spread the sauce over the pizza and sprinkle with the celery seed. Top with shredded chicken, chopped celery, crumbled bleu cheese, and the grated Mozzarella cheese.

Bake the pizza until bubbly and golden, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let set for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with the chopped celery leaves. Slice as desired into 6 or 8 pieces and serve immediately. Diners with a yen for heat may sprinkle the slices with additional Louisiana Red Hot Sauce if desired. Yield: 1 pizza.


Basic Pizza Dough

2/3 cup warm water
1 package dry yeast
½ teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tablespoon olive oil plus additional olive oil for greasing the bowl and pizza pan

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water and set the mixture in a warm place to proof. Mix the salt and flour together in a food processor and, with the processor running, add 1 tablespoon olive oil, then slowly pour the yeast mixture down the feed tube. Process the dough until it is thoroughly mixed. Knead the dough in the processor for 30 seconds. The dough should feel smooth and not sticky; some hand kneading may be necessary.  Place the dough in a large bowl that has been lightly oiled with live oil and cover with a clean towel. Place the bowl in a warm place and allow dough to rise until doubled in bulk.

When fully risen, punch the dough down and knead it slightly. Allow the dough to rest for ten minutes before rolling out for a pizza. Roll the dough out to fit a 16-inch perforated pizza pan and transfer it to the lightly oiled pizza pan. Allow the crust to rise in a warm place, about 30 minutes or until puffy. Yield: 1 pizza crust.

Chef’s Note: After the first rising, the pizza dough can be placed, still covered with a towel, in the refrigerator for a few hours before continuing with preparation.



Folks in Buffalo and the Western New York region are no strangers to corned beef sandwiches. Although we like our Reubens as much as the next guy, a more modest version of the corned beef sandwich frequently makes its appearance on local pub menus. On St. Patrick’s Day, especially, when the beer flows and kitchens are struggling to keep up with food orders, one often encounters a stripped down version of hot corned beef on excellent Al Cohen’s seeded New York rye bread (the bakery was established in Buffalo in 1888) served up with nice brown German mustard. For sure, it’s an excellent sandwich, but we also really like the gentrified version of the corned beef sandwich below, which comes replete with the delicious nutty and buttery flavor of melted Fontina, a semi-soft cheese made from cow’s milk. Fontina originated in the Valle d’Aosta in Italy in the 12th Century, and it’s now also made in Denmark, Sweden, and the United States. We buy Swedish Fontina at Sam’s Club where, at the time of this writing, it’s reasonably priced at $6.87 per pound.

This sandwich is especially good when prepared with corned beef baked in accordance with the recipe below. It’s one that has been popular with Western New York locals for many years and produces a sandwich darned near as good as the hot corned beef cut to order in the great delicatessens of Manhattan.

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