Pep²

Whole Milk & Fresh Mozzarella, large pepperoni under our Vodka Sauce and pepperoni cups on top

When I made the pies at Lombardi’s, I got a lot of recognition for my fresh clam pie.  It was listed in the top 5 on some national list of the best 100 pizzas in America.  My pepperoni pie was list number 48 and this made me even happier.  Everyone does a pepperoni pie – they say that one out of every three pizzas sold in the US has pepperoni on it. 

For Bellucci Pizza, I wanted to create an extra special pepperoni pie.  I’m using two types:  a wide gauge pepperoni from the wonderful Salumeria Biellese that gets sandwiched in between the mozzarella and tomatoes and then Hormel rosa grande which we cut in house so it has the perfect thickness and cups in our oven. 

For a little twist, I’m using Vodka sauce instead of tomatoes.  Rubirosa is famously celebrated for their superb vodka sauce.  I was lucky enough to be the Chef there for a bit and every day I started with a slice of vodka sauce pizza with pepperoni (Rubirosa also favors Hormel). My vodka sauce recipe is similar to Rubirosa’s ingredient-wise, but I cook it down quite a bit longer and in a Dutch oven as opposed to gas.  Which is a good thing because we have no gas at Bellucci Pizza.