Yesterday, Lazy Person (LP), my short-order cookin’ alter ego, went shopping for some freshly-made pasta (more on that in a future post), but came home instead with a small, round mozzarella di buffala affumicata (smoked buffalo milk mozzarella) tucked inside the grocery tote.
Okay, he didn’t follow the shopping “script,” but what the hey. He brought home a RARE find.
DOP labeled (Denominazione Origine e Controllato – Controlled Origin of Denomination), guaranteeing the highest quality, this little suntanned roly-poly came straight from the Mecca of Italian mozzarella di bufala — the Campania region around Naples, Italy — and smoked to boot.
Tan-‘n’-white, oval and semi-soft, this mozzarella turned out to be the perfect foil for one of my homemade pesto-based flatbread pizzas.
Cooked inside a gas oven, the pie leaped up a full notch on the “goodness” meter as the smokey flavor of that gooey ball of buffalo milk-turned-cheese just enhanced everything else on the pie: pesto Genovese, bell peppers and toasted black olives.
Sorry. The plate was wiped clean. All that’s left are these photos, sans a good whiff of that smokin’ pie.
©The Palladian Traveler | ©Tom Palladio Images
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I was ready to cut a slice and realized it wasn’t real. Damn your good photos. 🙂
Pat — I just point and shoot, the food does all the work. 🙂
You have a bit more talent than that, my friend. Keep up the good work. You know your way around the back end of a camera.
Now if I can just maneuver my way around the cooktop…
I ca see why you got sidetracked. Looks as good as I remember my Vicenzia pizza to be all those years ago. 🙂
BTW, the link that came in my email notification of this post doesn’t go to the post, but to the dreaded “404” Not Found.
janet
Thanks Janet. The 404 you encountered was for a later post: A Tree Stump for Foodies. It should be corrected and available for viewing/reading. Ciao for now.
Amazing photos and man, does that look tasty.
Melanee — It sure was! 🙂
I’m going to have to try a Kansas version of that even thought it won’t taste the same in an electric oven. I wonder if it would work in an outdoor smoker. Love your cooking posts.
Jill — You can give it a try in the smoker, just cover the grill with reynolds wrap before you lay down the pie. Good luck and let me know. If you get in trouble, just click your ruby-red slippers. 🙂
I’m afraid I’ve worn them out. 🙂
Buffalo mozzarella, yummmm! I can’t wait to get back to Italy for the real stuff.
Not just any mozzarella di bufala, but the smoked kind. Mmmm. Hurry over before it’s al gone! 🙂
Oh man, I’m slobbering as I try to this. That looks fantastic. I don’t know if I can ever find smoked buffalo mozzarella, but I’ll look for it. I’ve got to try it!
EA — Where do you live? I’ll help in the search, if I can, for an illusive mozzarella di bufala affumicata.
I live in Austin, Texas. There’s a couple interesting markets around here that might have it. I’m crossing my fingers.
That recipe looks delicious!
It is, or at least WAS!