Sorry to all of those who wrote me upset that I included no recipes for passover, truth I have no set recipes – I play around a lot in hopes that things turn out OK – sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. I finally wrote down several things that worked out well and will include it in the book, so you’re just gonna have to buy it – LOL. Seriously though, I will add them next year as they are no longer relevant.

Anyway, I will get back to the recipes and food stories in a bit, I just wanted to share this, which is somewhat related to food. I was reading the paper and saw this ad for a contest run by the Hyatt called The Big Welcome, in which you can win 365 nights worth of hotel stays in any Hyatt around the world plus 1 million air miles. To enter you need to write an essay about what you would do with your prize if you won the contest. I like my idea so I thought I would share it with you – please let me know what you think via email.

Question: What would you do if you won 365 stays in a hotel with 1 million airline miles?

Answer: Feed the world – literally.

Growing up in New York City I was exposed to many people who did not have a place to live, who relied on trash bins next to fast food restaurants for their daily meals, who could not afford the “comfort” or the “food” that I had. Not to say that I had it all – far from it in fact. But I had a roof over my head and I had a refrigerator and pantry that had the necessary ingredients to create a good meal – or a bad one for that matter. And if the meal was indeed not palatable enough, I had the luxury of choice that would enable me to ingest something more desirable.

As many of us “fortunate” ones do, I took the homeless for granted, as if they were a lamp post or a garbage heap on the corner, an obstacle blocking my route or a wretched eye sore from which unpleasant fumes emanated. I paid little attention to them and, am ashamed to admit this, even used them as the butt of jokes at times without sensitivity to their plight or sympathy for their struggles.

As a kid, we all fantasize what we would do if we were rich: Traveling the world, having a selection of cars we can choose to drive each day like underwear, buying a baseball team and so on. Yet all things are relative, and situations change. As you get older life hits you and your old dreams and hopes die and evolve to meet the needs of your reality. That kid who once dreamed of being a rock star may one day find him or herself on the streets, dreaming a new dream – a pair of shoes with no hole, a warm coat in the winter or a hot, tasty meal.

When I first became a chef years ago, I had the privilege to work in some of New York’s finest restaurants serving some of the world’s most creative and tasteful foods to the elite who could afford it. The life of a real chef is not as glamorous as those that you see on television. Hourly wages, long hours, small confining spaces highlight the job – but we do it because we love it. And through my work my awareness of the less fortunate grew, mostly on cigarette breaks in the back alley where I would regularly see those who were homeless sifting through the discarded appetizers and entrées – eating leftover garnishes, bone meat and whatever else the patron could not finish.

After opening my own restaurant in Manhattan, I made it my business to make sure I fed at least one needy person a day – and for the most part I was true to that. My dreams evolved too. Working sixteen hours a day, six days (sometimes seven) a week for years just to be able to support my family removed the fancy cars and partnership with George Steinbrenner from my fantasies. For four years I have had the same dream and I hope one day to be fortunate enough to realize it. It is my belief that everyone should know what it is like to eat well, my dream if I were rich enough, would be to open a soup kitchen that serves amazing food to those that have nothing.

So, as a catalyst to this dream and in preparation for it, if I were to win the Hyatt’s “The Big Welcome” contest, I would make it my mission to travel the world and cook for the homeless. In each country, in each city, there is a soup kitchen, or the equivalent in which the homeless can go and eat a hot meal. If I were to win, I would coordinate with local organizations to come in for a day and using the same ingredients they use each day, primarily from donated sources, and using my knowledge, skills and creativity, prepare a fine meal for their constituents. It might not be fillet mignon, but it will be unique, tasty, prepared well and served artistically with a touch of love. I am certain that based on the publicity this venture might get, it will be possible to have better ingredients donated by local restaurants and food distributors so as to truly make the meal special.

I would work hard to set a proper schedule that would enable me to control the frequent flier miles by using bus or train to get from one place to the next. I would work hard to garner public interest for the campaign through local media so as to maximize the exposure the venture will be given in hopes the donations to these facilities will be the most they can be. I will do this over a period of three years, cooking in about 120 soup kitchens a year. And after I have prepared food in 360 places, serving a gourmet meal to hundreds of thousands of people, I will take my wife away for a much deserved five day vacation to wherever she wants to go.

This is my dream – this is how I would use the Hyatt’s prize if I won.

The most prominent ingredient in a pizza is the cheese – not the most important, but certainly vital to executing a pizza well. For some reason the cheese companies that mass produce the cheeses in the US do not do such a good job of ensuring that the quality of their product is tops. To prove my point, I have a test for those of you in the states. Go to a kosher pizza place, order a slice of pizza – make sure it is hot - then, take a napkin and place it gently on top of your pizza. Now you know what those cleaning up the Exxon Valdese spill went through. What happens here is the oil that is inside the cheese separates and finds it way to the top of the pizza – which is a reason why many kosher pizza places in the US sport orange colored pizza – the oil is tinged orange by the tomato sauce. If the cheese was pure, there would be a little bit of fat on top – milk-fat, but it would not appear as a slick on top of the pizza, you would find it nestled between the grooves in the cheese – and the pizza would not leave a fatty slick on the roof of your mouth as it went down.

I live in Israel now – and if you have read my blogs before, I am both a fan and a critic of Israeli cheeses – but one thing I can say with certainty, the cheeses are made with milk. The variety is limited in the supermarkets, but the cheeses most certainly qualify as dairy products. There is a brand of cheese here, called Gad, which makes one the best mass produced Mozzarella cheeses I have ever tasted – I am not talking about the fresh mozzarella, although theirs is superb as well, I am talking about the regular, in the package, deli sliced stuff that we Americans call processed cheese. And it makes an awesome topping to a great sauce and crust. The good pizza places here, like Big Apple Pizza and Pizza Domino (not to be mistaken for Domino’s Pizza which is typically not kosher and is also pretty oily from crust up) use the Gad product – you can tell by the bright white color and the way the cheese stretches off the pizza like a rubber band when it is hot – (FYI – this is the sign of a good cheese, the “stringiness” as it is called). When making a pizza, it is this type of cheese that you want to use. If you cannot find it, use the fresh mozzarella, it is certainly a better way to go – you might actually use it regularly.

The kuntz of a pizza comes from the crust – thin, crisp and with a slightly chewy bite to it. This is what you want to look for in a dough – and it is sad that many pizza joints do not know this. I have been to places where the dough is thick, light and airy – a result of too much yeast, or Thin, dense and too chewy – a product of too much water in the mix and not enough oil. Gluten is the key in a good dough – and in most part of the US, you can get a high gluten flour in any supermarket (Hecker’s Bread Flour) – in Israel, the gluten content is low, even in the bread flours. After trial and error, I found a good combination that works to enrich the standard Israeli flour with gluten. My friend Giora runs the About.com kosher food area – last year he posted my method for this on his site, so as not to be redundant (and to give him a plug) – you can click here to see it.

The sauce on a pizza is best done simply. The more you add, the more you take away from the integrity of the pizza. In my restaurant, I literally just took crushed tomatoes, added a bit of salt, fresh basil and oregano and olive oil. Don’t even cook it – just use it as it – minimali as we say in the New Country. I will get more into different sauces eventually – but the recipe and process that everyone has been asking me more is for the dough – so here goes. Let me just let you know that I prefer to cook the pizza on a stone – not all people have a spare one to keep in their oven, but if you can get your hands on a pizza stone (Bed Bath and Beyond sells them and so does Crate and Barrel – mine is of the Jerusalem variety) you can surely use a leftover ceramic tile. It is ok to get these things hot, and I guarantee you that you will like the taste of the dough much better if it is cooked directly on a hot stone.

Pizza Dough – makes 2-16 inch pies (or 4-8” mini pies)

4 cups high gluten flour (see above)
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup warm water

Take the dough out and divide it into 2 or 4 portions (I use a scale as it is more precise – if you don’t have one, just eyeball it). Roll each portion into a ball, cover and let sit in a dark place for an hour. Then, push the ball down, cover tightly and place the dough in the fridge. Now here is the kicker, I like to let the dough ferment in the fridge for a day – in theory it is ready to use now – but I promise you, if you let it just rest in the fridge, you will get a much deeper and defined flavor out of the crust.

Preheat oven to the highest setting if using a stone – for pan pizza, make it 420 degrees

OK, now you can take the dough, using your fingers push the dough down and out, and rotate 90 degrees and repeat – the object is to spread the dough out until it is thin – please try not to use a rolling pin, a dough has no character when rolled out – you can even pick the dough up and hand stretch it from the center out. I like my crust really thin, you can stop when you get to your desired thickness (or thinness as I like).

Now if you are using a stone, put either cornmeal or flour on a thin, flat sheet like a cookie sheet or wooden cutting board. Place your dough on top and give it a shake to make sure it moves. IF it does not, make sure the surface underneath is coated well. Put your sauce on – spread gently and remember a little goes a long way – now add the chesses and whatever else you want on top. Open oven and gently shake pizza off onto the stone. Cook for 5-8 minutes depending on how hot your oven really is and remove. Let the pizza rest for three minutes before you cut it.

If you are using a pan, grease well, spread the dough into the pan – add your sauce, cheese and toppings and put in the oven for 12-15 minutes. Turn the pan 90 degrees every 4 minutes.

That is all. Please let me know how it went. Let me know if you have any questions.

BatayAvon!