Week #9: Florida – Citrus and Mango Seafood Pizza

State: Florida

Blog:

So I moved down to Florida from Maryland almost 11 years ago this month.  I feel like I have a solid understanding behind the various types of Florida cuisine.  Florida has a lot of Spanish, Native American, Greek, Mexican and Italian influence in cooking, so I was hoping to incorporate this in my pizza.  I wanted to use Grouper, as it is a Tampa favorite for fish and I wanted to focus on a tropical or Key West style theme.  Florida is well known for produce and great Seafood.  This was the first time that I ever ate Stone Crab claws before.  They were really good and I thought the flavor of them enhanced the pizza.  I hope you will try to make this at home and I hope it inspires you to challenge your Pizza Night creativity!!

Ingredients Needed: Serving Size 2

2 Stone Crab claws

½ lb of Key West Pink Gulf Shrimp

1/4 lb of Grouper

Cilantro according to taste

1/4 Tbsp of Butter

Salt & Pepper to taste

Citrus and Mango Compote

¼ cup of Florida sugar

1 tbsp of distilled white vinegar

1 mango

½ Florida Orange – seeds removed

½ lime

¼ tsp of minced garlic

¼ green pepper

1 strand of scallion

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tbsp of fresh basil

Base: For the pizza base, I made a citrus and mango compote (please see recipe).  I altered what the real recipe called for and went with my taste buds, so my recipe above is a ballpark idea.  I put the basil, mango, orange, and scallion in the processor.  I processed enough to ensure everything was a smaller size.  I then put the mixture into a small sauce pan and cooked on medium until the mixture softens.  I then added the remainder ingredients, cooking for another 3 minutes or so.  Let cool and add to pizza crust later.

Seafood: 

Grouper:  For the protein, I seared the grouper in butter with a little salt and pepper. After searing both sides, I sliced the fish into small-to-medium slices.

Shrimp:  When cooking the shrimp, I seared on both sides in olive oil.  I then tossed in some cilantro, lime juice, and left over processed mango and green peppers mixture.

Stone Crab Claws:  For the claws, since they are already cooked, I did a quick reheat in the oven at 350 degrees for 3-5 minutes.  I left these untouched, as I wanted the crab to taste like crab.

Cooking the Pizza:

I preset the oven for 415 degrees (varies depending on your oven).   First, I covered the pizza crust with the citrus and mango compote.  I then baked the pizza crust for 5 minutes.  Next, I added the shrimp, grouper, scallions, jalapenos, and a handful of mozzarella cheese to the pizza.  I baked for another 5 minutes.  Finally, I added a little cilantro and scattered the stone crab meat around the pizza.  Please see photo for how to position the toppings.  The goal is to make sure every slice has equal amount of toppings.

Pairing:

If you are looking for a great beer to pair with this pizza, look no further than Cigar City Brewing Company, which is located here in Tampa. Cigar City makes strong, slap you in the face type beers that would pair beautifully with this pizza. For this pizza, I would recommend Cigar City’s Jai Ali, Invasion Pale Ale, or the Florida Cracker. For a wine pairing, a Pinot Noir would work out really well with the flavor contrasts and textures of this pizza. Cheers!

Learning Moments:

This pizza challenged me and took me about 2 hours to make, as there was a lot of prepping and intricate details when cooking the seafood toppings.  I learned that I really like Grouper and Stone Crab Claws.  The compote was amazingly delicious as well and you can put that on anything and eat it.  I feel like I am growing as a cook by taking on this challenge.  This challenge was one of the best decisions I have made in the kitchen so far!