O'scugnizzo's

[rpmfla]

Gosh, I just read some reviews on Yelp of O'scugnizzo's in Utica, NY, and the reviews are all over the place. Many absolutely love it and some absolutely hate it...and I mean HATE. One person extended the review to include basically ALL food found in Utica, saying Uticans have banded together to defend the garbage they grew up eating. You know, it never occurred to me that I was eating garbage all my life! The restaurant itself is not attractive to say the least, but to me the food was always awesome.

I enjoy all kinds of pizza...thin, thick, round, rectangular, cooked in a pan, cooked on a stone, etc., but O'scugnizzo's is still my favorite. Nostalgia obviously effects all of our tastes...we usually like what we grew up eating.

When I moved away from upstate NY (first to KY and now to FL) I spent a great deal of time as a pizza lover trying to reproduce O'scugnizzo's Pizza, and I feel I have gotten very close. I'm not sure why, but everyone that has tried my version has loved it...I guess I am spreading this horrible pizza to new regions!

[rpmfla]

Okay, I just wanted to add a new (and very different for me) way to top this medium thick dough. I suppose one could use these toppings on any crust style but I first made it on my usual O'scugnizzo style base.

I came across this recipe which was intended for marinating chicken and have modified it a little to use on a pizza. The original recipe was called "Angry Chicken" due to the ridiculous amount of hot sauce included. The original recipe calls for 3 CUPS of (Frank's) hot sauce!

The sauce:

In a skillet, warm these spices to bloom them.

1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika

add these to a bowl and add:

1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup Frank's Hot Sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 cup plain yogurt

You can use this right away but it does improve a bit if left in the refrigerator overnight.

Ok, now for the other ingredients...

Cook some chicken any way you want and shred it. (I just cooked chicken breasts in simmering stock until the interior temp was 160 degrees). You will need about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of shredded chicken (I used one large breast).

Saute one package of spinach just until wilted.

2 8 oz packages of shredded mozzarella cheese.

Building is just like a normal pizza.

Prepare the dough in your pan as shown above.
Spoon the sauce on the dough.
Top with 8 oz of the cheese.
Top that with however much of the shredded chicken you like.
Distribute the spinach on top of that.
Add the other package of cheese.
Drop teaspoonfuls of ricotta cheese around on top of that. 

Bake as above, 15 minutes at 450.

Remove from pan to a cooling rack and drizzle a little more of the sauce on top.
Let cool for 5 minutes and then enjoy.

I will try to post images when I make it again.