Pizza Catarina Sorrentina

Quite of the social media age is this Avanti pizza creation in fast paced real time.  Scanning a feed, an East Coast focused charmer of a post popped up.  One click brought me to Rozanne Gold’s Sorrento Lemon Pizza post.

 Lemon Pizza a la Huff Post Rozanne Gold

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rozanne-gold/lemon-pizza-keste_b_1966686.html

Glance of interest lead to implementation thoughts.  Let’s see, Ms. Catherine is plying us w/ the bounty of her small but profoundly prolific sour green lemon tree, I’m chock full of African purple basil leaves and blossoms, smoking organic mozzarella cheese in Bourbon soaked oak & chamomile is perpetually on my production list.  Pizza crusts, well, Avanti is known all over Orange County for our artisan organic whole grain Roman style pizzas so…..

The stage is set w/ the freshest ingredients.  We added a touch of our newest creation, fermented sea salt grapefruit reduction.

Topped w/ some roasted extra HOT chilies from South Coast Farms in San Juan Capistrano

Interestingly enough our Ingardia Produce rep Jon turned up w/ some terrific samples of fennel pollen and caviar limes just as we focused in on lemons and pizza.  Well, infusing an extra virgin olive oil w/ these flavors was a natural progression

These babies are as gorgeous as they are exotic.  Citrus flavor Pop Pops

How amazingly the caviar limes pop out & dance w/ flavor.  In they go w/ the fennel pollen to infuse fragrance and flavor into extra virgin olive oil.  

And there we have it, the Catarina Sorrentina Pizza inspired by the culinary creativity of our buddies on the East Coast & from our California garden fresh tool box.  Come taste our Avanti Cafe flavors in real time.

Eating Healthy & Delicious is a Win Win Win Situation!

Eat Live & Party Well 

As we say, eat w/ us several times a week and it’s likely you’ll become healthier than you already are!  And your taste buds will love every minute of it too. How many restaurants can legitimately make that claim !?!

Blog Post by Chef Mark Cleveland

Chef / Owner Avanti Cafe

Avanti Café  is a vegetarian & vegan friendly restaurant with many gluten free options [including our famous gluten free pizzas] in East Side Costa Mesa California [bordering Newport Beach].  Everything is custom made in house using the freshest ingredients.  We support local organic farms such as South Coast Farms in San Juan Capistrano using their fine produce in our dishes and hosting a Community Supported Agriculture site every Thursday.  We serve highest quality artisan beers in bottle and on tap, organic, biodynamic & sustainable wines, by the bottle and glass.  All of our desserts are made in house using organic whole grains, flours and sweeteners.  Always organic eggs & milk.  We make our own organic ricotta & feta cheeses in house and smoke organic mozzarella w/ bourbon soaked oak and chamomile.  Avanti is the longstanding leader in organic, sustainable, local, flavorful cuisine in Orange County.

www.avantinatural.com 

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Smoking Organic Beets

Beets, like fennel, eggplant, mushrooms and yams are in that category the Japanese refer to as ‘suki/kirai’. You either love them or a big NOT. Personally, I’m out of that loop as I’ve never met a vegetable I didn’t like. And when beet season is in full swing I cannot get enough of their red radiant gently gelatinous texture and sweet Mother Earth flavors. We decided to smoke a batch of organic red and pink beets freshly picked from the South Coast Farms organic fields in San Juan Capistrano using our preferred simply designed, Camerons smokers.

 Our wood chip of choice these days is the bourbon soaked oak.

We like to add herbs as well, this time tarragon

& the ever favorite chamomile – one of the best smoky fragrances to our nostrils & taste buds.

Ahead of time, the beets were boiled in their skins, in a mixture of coffee and water w/ a pinch each of Sicilian sea salt and organic sugar. Cooled in that liquid, they were removed of their jackets in a process that turns the fingers a glorious pink, and has been known to reduce men in the kitchen to real tears of vanity if forced to pinken their digits w/out the protection of gloves. Side note: Real Men cook w/out gloves & sometimes end up w/ pink cuticles, but that is another blog topic all together. Next the newly and beautifully nude beets in all their glory were cut into sumptuous wedges and marinated in extra virgin olive oil. They were loaded into baking dishes, placed a top the smoking chips and herbs and slowly smoked over a low flame for just a short time. Next the red beets were tossed w/ a bit of warmed Avanti house made Berbere spice and allowed to marinate overnight. For service the red beets were warmed in the oven until just hot through. They were plated w/ organic pink smoked beets, organic citrus miso dressed romaine, slow roasted shishito peppers and garden herb blend of Spanish tarragon, lemon balm & basil.

Banish your fear of beets / be fearless and order new foods & unorthodox preparations / Don’t let words like vegan / vegetarian / organic / healthy frighten you. At Avanti we are always Healthy & Delicious! The year is 2012 & we are valiant citizens of the newest foodie centric location in CA, Orange County. Whether your reside in Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, Irvine or beyond, make the short trek to 17th St, here in Costa Mesa and taste our Avanti flavors again and again.

As we say, eat w/ us several times a week and it’s likely you’ll become healthier than you already are! And your taste buds will love every minute of it too. How many restaurants can legitimately make that claim !?! mc