Pizza at the Thai-Italy Restaurant in Patong

I do like a bit of pizza now and then. Yes, I know this is Thailand, and I assure you that Thai food is my main diet, but this is Phuket, a great gathering place for tourists and expats from all over the world, and you can find just about any food you want here. I am not an Italian food expert, but have been a couple of times to Italy, where a friend used to live on a small farm in Tuscany, and food was always fresh and plentiful, much of it being grown or made at the farm - breads, cheeses, vegetables, local wine, olive oil on everything, and they had a pizza oven too where we could cook our own pizza. Thin, crispy and fresh from the forno. Perfecto.

Although not an Italian food guru, I would say I am a pizza snob :) I am sorry, but "Chicago Style" with half a loaf of bread as the base? Oh dear. No, I'm a thin and crispy guy. Got to be fresh, got to be made in a proper pizza oven. Phuket has quite a lot of Italian restaurants, quite a lot of Italian expats, and friends tell me of favourite places for pizza, so we might try some others sometime, only my wife does not eat pizza, and (for our pocket) dining out at a more touristy restaurant can be a bit expensive.

The "Thai-Italy" restaurant is one of the few restaurants I would visit in Patong, being that Patong is not our kind of place. Thai-Italy is on Nanai Road (the back road) - coming from Karon Beach, turn onto Nanai road, over the slight hill, past the right turn that heads uphill (Hasip Pee Road), and another 250m, you'll see it on the right. Coming the other way along Nanai, it's about 250m after the Mae Ubon Market, and of course it will be on the left... See location on Google Earth.



It's not a big place, my friend Diego says it's really like a little local restaurant just like you'd find in a small Italian town. It's well known among expats, and most of the customers tend to be Italian, which is a good sign if you are looking for a good pizza or proper just-like-mama-makes-it pasta. The restaurant is normally only open in the evenings. We (the family) met Diego and family and a few more friends for dinner last Friday. Pizza was the top choice, but the menu has something like 4 pages of pasta options too. Prices very reasonable for this kind of food - my pizza diavola was 170 Baht. First to be served was Diego's Mama. If Mama likes the food, I can assure you, it's got to be good.



The pizza is of course properly cooked - thin and crispy - those are the keywords. The Thai/Italian chef team prepare and cook all night...





And then the pizzas started coming in thick and fast. Does not take long to cook in a proper wood fired forno. Excuse me while I post some photos of pizza! You can see that these are for people with a healthy appetite. The calzone is about a foot long. The pizzas about the same. One pizza could serve 2 people, were those people smaller than myself...







All washed down with a few cold beers of course! And then coffee - I remember one time being in this restaurant, and an American customer ordered coffee. So, they brought him an Italian coffee, just like the one below that we had after our meal. American guy not impressed by tiny cup. He was all, hey what's this? It's coffee sir, real coffee. No, he wanted a cup of coffee, a big ol' cup of Americano.. Sorry, wrong place, this is little Italy, to order a Nescafe would be an insult!



And the coffee was followed by a Sambuca, and then a Limoncello.. I turned down the Grappa (my belly does not like really strong alcohol). Ah, perfecto, full of pizza, a little buzz in the head from the sambuca, I do indeed like a bit of Italian. The Thai-Italy is busy every evening thanks to "word of mouth" advertising. No webpage, no mentions in guidebooks, but good food! Oh, just a note - it's closed on Mondays.

Charcutepalooza: Fresh Bacon and Pizza

I have never taken part in a blogging challenge or event before, but when I heard aboutCharcutepalooza, I new I had to participate. Charcutepalooza is the brainchild of two  food bloggers, Mrs. Wheelbarrow and The Yummy Mummy. Each month for a year they pick a recipe from Michael Ruhlman’s excellent book, Charcuterie

, and the participating bloggers, try that recipe and blog about their experiences. Charcuterie is one of my favorite cookbooks of all time so this was a no-brainer for me.

The first topic was Duck Prosciutto in January, but I found out about this challenge too late for that. However, I hope to circle back some time during the year and try the duck prosciutto.

For February the topic is the salt cure. You can choose from one of two challenges: The Apprentice which is fresh bacon, or the Charcuterie Challenge, pancetta or guanciale. I choose bacon, and to be honest it felt like a bit of a copout for me at first. I have been curing and smoking my own bacon for years now, since i first bought Ruhlman’s book. I have even posted about it on his blog,here and here. Ideally, I would take this opportunity to expand my horizons and try the pancetta or guanciale. However, logistical reasons and time constraints prevented me from going that route for now (I know… excuses, excuses).

So I started this out a little disappointed in myself since not only was I going with the bacon, but I was not even smoking it, because my smoker is buried under 173 inches of snow right now! My disappointment quickly faded because, you know, I was making fresh bacon at home dammit! And I was going to use it to make Bacon and Onion Pizza, which would be awesome.

Curing bacon is actually pretty easy. The hardest part is probably procuring the pork belly itself. Once you do have the belly, you just dredge it in the salt cure ( kosher salt, pink salt and sugar), put it in a large ziploc bag and refrigerate for 7 days, turning it ever other day to redistribute the cure. After a week you rinse it off, pat dry and roast it low and slow at 200 degrees in the oven for a few hours until the internal temperature is 150, and you have the most delicious fresh bacon.

Years ago, my wife, Sandy, turned me on to Pizza with Bacon and Onions. Not being your traditional Italian pizza topping, it never would have occurred to me, but once I had it it became part of my regular rotation. I was really excited about taking nice thick slabs of homemade bacon, cutting it up into lardons and topping my pizza with it and some thinly sliced sweet onion. I was definitely no longer disappointed, the crispy chunks of bacon with their rich pork flavor really do make a perfect pizza topping.

Bacon and Onion Pizza Recipe

Makes 2 pizzas

4 slices of thick cut bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4 inch strips
1 28 oz can of imported Italian plum tomatoes
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/4 pound shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
extra virgin olive oil
2 balls of Neo-Neopolitan Pizza Dough

1. 1 hour before baking, place a baking stone on the bottom shelf of the oven and preheat the oven to as high as it will go.
2. In a medium skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels to drain.
3. Place the tomatoes in a bowl and crush with your hands. Stir in the salt and pepper.
4. Take one ball of dough and flatten it out to 10-12 inches in diameter, for detailed instructions click here.
5. Spoon on the the crushed tomatoes, sprinkle on grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and mozzarella cheese, place onions and cooked bacon on top, drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and transfer to oven on top of stone.
6. Cook for 10-12 minutes, until crust is deep golden brown. Remove from oven and repeat process with second ball of dough.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Spaghetti alla Carbonara is a classic Roman pasta dish, that has become a standard on menus in Italian restaurants around the world. As with any dish that becomes this ubiquitous, many variations tend to crop up, with people adding different ingredients along the way. One addition that pops up frequently is cream. While I am not typically a staunch traditionalist, and our recipe even demonstrates this with ingredients that some may argue with, I do believe strongly, as all Romans would agree, that cream has no place in a real carbonara sauce.

The ingredients that most agree are contained in a traditional carbonara sauce are guanciale(cured pork jowel), eggs, Pecorino Romano cheese, and freshly ground black pepper. Since, guanciale is an ingredient that is not that easy to get your hands on, pancetta is often substituted. This recipe is how my father served carbonara in his restaurant for years, and it includes shallots, white wine and chicken broth. Those ingredients may not be considered traditional, but they really do work in this dish because they enhance the dish by subtly complementing rather than taking away from the main ingredients.

Serves 4-6

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 shallots, chopped fine
8 ounces pancetta, chopped coarsely
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 pound spaghetti
4 large egg yolks
1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Heat olive oil and butter in a large sautè pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and pancetta and cook until the shallots are softened and translucent and the pancetta is lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Add the wine, bring to a boil and cook until reduced by half, 1-2 minutes. Add the chicken broth, bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat while you cook the pasta
3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the spaghetti. Cook uncovered over high heat until al dente. Drain and add the pasta to the sautè pan and place it back over medium-high heat.
4. Add the egg yolks, Pecorino Romano cheese, and black pepper, and cook, stirring vigorously until pasta is well coated and creamy. Transfer to individual pasta dishes and serve with extra Pecorino Romano cheese on the side.