It started with an innocent question, fueled perhaps by a too strong Blue Moon cocktail: “Can you put lemon slices on a pizza?”

I thought immediately of chicken piccata, a dish notable for including whole lemon slices – rind and all, in the sauce. If it works over pasta, it should work on pizza too.

I took a lemon, cut off its end, and sliced it paper-thin on the mandoline, then did the same with a zucchini. After shaping the pizza dough, I drizzled it with olive oil and added the lemon and zucchini slices haphazardly, along with some capers – also inspired by the piccata sauce. For cheese, I happened to have halloumi, which worked well, but I imagine mozzarella or any other melting cheese of mild flavor would work fine. Finishing the cooked pie with red pepper flakes added a touch of heat.

And so the Piccazza was born. Lemon and capers are a great combination and putting them on pizza didn’t diminish it any. Our lemon that night happened to be one with an extra-thick rind which meant more bitter pith. Not really a problem since the slices are so thin, but making it again I might feel for a more thin-skinned lemon, or use a Meyer lemon with its slight rind. But I will make it again.

2 comments | Capers, Lemon, Pizza

This entry was posted by Tom on Monday, March 25th, 2013 at 9:08 pm and is filed under Pizza. You can subscribe to responses to this entry via RSS.