Throughout his acclaimed career, chef Michael Schwartz has been celebrated for his skilled use of quality ingredients, and with his pizzas, this talent is on full display. Genuine Pizza is Schwartz’s vibrantly illustrated guidebook for creating unforgettable pies at home. His cookbook makes the pizza process approachable and fun, giving the reader the tools they need to make better pizza and then run with them. First providing a clear and simple view of the fundamentals—with detailed step-by-step methods for making the best pizza doughs—Schwartz then empowers home cooks to mix and match ingredients, playing with different sauces, cheeses, meats, vegetables, and more, to build pies both classic and innovative. Pizza is just the beginning—it’s a jumping off point to colorful, delicious meals.

Review

This is the last cookbook I have to review from the great folks at Abrams Books.  I was blessed to be chosen for the Abrams Dinner Party and able to try new and exciting recipes covering a wide variety of foods.

I think of all of the cookbooks this one is my favorite because it is so versatile.  It may seem like the focus is on pizza, but there is so much more to this cookbook.  There are salads, beverages, desserts, all sorts of dishes to round out your meal.

While I haven’t made a pizza yet (I’m a little nervous about making the dough but a fellow dinner party blogger said her kids made the dough so surely I can too!), my husband and I have made several of the recipes that are definitely keepers.

My husband actually made the first recipe from this cookbook, a Rosemary Crema.  This is such a versatile sauce as you can use it on chicken wings (which is what he did) or dip your pizza crusts or many other uses I haven’t thought of yet.

Another recipe I made was the Strawberry Basil Syrup.  This was great to make martinis or even just add it to some lemon (or flavor of choice) seltzer water.  To make the martini, I took 1.5 oz of the simple syrup, 2 oz of fresh lemon juice (lime juice works too), and 2 oz of Lemon Vodka (or flavor of choice).  Put all of the ingredients in a shaker with some ice and then pour in a martini glass rimmed with sugar if you so choose.  This makes a little more than 1 martini but I like to keep refilling my glass.

The last thing I made from the cookbook was Chocolate Chunk Cookies.  I think this was the recipe that many of the bloggers made and I think we all had the same comments – this makes way more than 12 cookies (unless they are as big as your plate) and we all stuffed them with something different.  I was shopping at Aldi and saw these Dark Chocolate and Chocolate & Caramel squares and thought these would be perfect in the center.  I will admit I am more of a dark chocolate fan so those were my favorite plus the caramel seemed to ooze out of the cookie.  I made these for a church gathering and they were quite a hit especially when they reached the surprise center!  I think next time I would make the cookies a little bit smaller so whatever is in the middle is more pronounced.

We definitely give this cookbook 5 paws up and this one will be staying in my collection.