il Lazzarone KC

 

Well, Kansas City … we’re coming for you!

As I’ve said before, Erik originally looked at putting a pizzeria in Kansas City but when we moved to St Joe, it made sense to start here! And we’re very excited to announce that il Lazzarone will be expanding to Kansas City Spring 2015!

We will be located in the River Market at 412 Delaware right next to our favorite coffee shop and friends, Quay Coffee.

Please visit our Facebook page for updates or follow us on Twitter and Instagram!

We look forward to joining the neighborhood and sharing some awesome pizza!

Long time no blog

 

Long time no blog! I probably have about 0 readers at this point but that’s okay.  Life has been full and is always busy with a 1 year old.  I’m not sure why but they don’t appreciate when mom sits on her computer instead of playing ; ) I find most of my “updating” happens via Instagram because it’s nice and quick.

So … what’s new?

• Our restaurant, il Lazzarone, has been open now about 7 months and Emersyn and I are enjoying our fill of pizza just about every day! Erik is working hard in his role as owner/pizzaioli and things are going well! We’ve been featured in many news outlets the most recent of which being The Pitch (Article can be found riiiiiight here)

Follow us on Facebook for updates!

 

• Emersyn has been growing like a weed! She’s 15 months old now and getting smarter and smarter each day! We were able to go on a family vacation to New York City a few months ago and we’re excited to spend our second Christmas holiday as a family of three!

   

May this be the beginning of a blog renaissance, ha.

Lesley

Emersyn's first birthday

Well, I'm practically not a blogger anymore, ha.  But one of these days perhaps I'll start up again on a more consistent basis.  For now ... a little recap of our sweet little girl's first birthday.  It's hard to believe how fast time has gone by and how big she has gotten.

 

I wanted to keep things simple while using up some of my garden bounty so I made a few appetizers inspired from Pinterest.

First up, caprese kabobs featuring cherry tomatoes sliced and topped with basil and mozzarella cheese sitting in some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Next, toast bites which consisted of petite toasts topped with spreadable cream cheese, arugala, chives, salt, pepper and drizzle of olive oil.

Next up, I utilized some of my many zucchini by slicing it up and topping it with sun dried tomatoes, green onion, feta cheese, salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.  Along with that, I had some hummus and pita chips, chocolate chip cookies and of course … cake!

 

All were very tasty!





Next up ... the infamous smash cake! She didn't love solids for awhile so I wasn't sure how she would take to her "smash cake" but it turns out it was a big hit! I used a recipe inspired from here which had no added sugar sweetened with bananas and apple sauce.  The frosting simple consisted of cream cheese and apple juice concentrate.

Like I said ... Emy loved it, lol.

It was a very blessed day for sure! Happy 1st birthday, Emy!!

Chocolate chip zucchini bread

It's the time of year for garden bounty!! So far in surplus I have zucchini. Lots and lots of zucchini. Giant zucchini and small zucchini. Straight zucchini and crooked zucchini. And what do you do with zucchini that's gotten huge in the garden? Make bread, of course!!

With chocolate chips thrown in. You know, for good measure.

Chocolate chip zucchini bread

Ingredients
- 3 cups shredded zucchini

- 1 1/2 cups cane sugar

- 2/3 cup melted coconut oil

- 2 teaspoons vanilla

- 4 eggs

- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

- 1/2 cup cocoa powder

- 2 teaspoons baking soda

- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

- 1 teaspoon sea salt

- 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

1. Heat oven at 350 degrees

2. In large mixing bowl stir together wet ingredients: zucchini, sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs

3. Add dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon

4. Divide batter between two 8 inch loaf pans

5. Bake for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean 

6. Let cool completely before digging in

Eaten best with a large glass of milk. Yum yum!

Happy zucchini'ing!

Easter 2014

Easter 2014

Raw blueberry pie (with video)

 

This past Monday was National Blueberry Pie Day and I got invited onto Kansas City Live to help celebrate with my raw blueberry pie.  I hadn’t made this or blogged about it in over a year so I thought it was time for an updated post about it with better pictures! So here we are. Recipe complete with the Kansas City Live video.  Enjoy!

 

Video

As I said in the segment, this is a great spring and summer pie because it’s no bake, refreshing and so simple to whip up.Thanks for having me, Kansas City Live, it was a lot of fun!

Raw Blueberry Pie

Ingredients:
Crust:
- 1 cup natural almonds
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup dates, pitted
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil (may need to add a little more depending on the wetness of your dates)
- Pinch of salt

Filling:
- 2 cups frozen blueberries (helps if they’re slightly thawed)
- 1/2 cup agave nectar or honey (honey tends to be sweeter so use less)
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
- Pinch of salt

Instructions:
Crust:
- Blend (or finely chop) almonds, coconut and dates one by one then mix together along with coconut oil and salt. Flatten into 9 inch pie pan.

Filling:
-Place all ingredients into high powered blender or food processor and blend until creamy. Pour over crust and refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.

il Lazzarone: What to expect

 

Now that the restaurant announcement has been made, here’s some things you can expect from an authentic Neapolitan pizzeria and more specifically, what to expect from il Lazzarone!

Oven
At il Lazzarone, our wood fired oven is an Acunto Mario, made on the main street of Naples, Italy by a fifth generation oven builder. Why this oven? For true Neapolitan pizza you must have a wood fired oven capable of achieving over 800 degrees constant temperatures. The mouth of the oven and the oven dome height must all be constructed within specific ratios to achieve a true pizza Napoletana. Our oven is constructed of all hand laid brick made from the soils of the Campania region of Italy. In our opinion, there is absolutely no oven in the world capable of producing a better product. We are very lucky to have received the first one imported into America.

Size
Neapolitan pies are traditionally 11 inches round. For an average appetite, you'll likely want one pie per person.

Cook Time
Due to the extreme temperatures and the craftsmanship of the oven, the pizza will cook between 50-90 seconds.

Ingredients
Less is more. A good Neapolitan pie is minimally topped with the freshest natural ingredients to strike the perfect ratio of flavor.

• Dough: the dough is made simply of water, flour, yeast and salt with no added preservatives or additives
• Sauce: San Marzano tomatoes are a very rare tomato native to Italy. At il Lazzarone, we use only DOP certified San Marzano tomatoes which insures the tomatoes have been grown in a specific historical region outside of Naples. The magic of the San Marzano comes from the soil which they are grown in. These specific tomatoes are considered the richest and sweetest in the world and are grown around the base of Mt. Vesuvius in a soil extremely rich in minerals. This very soil is where the material for the oven is harvested and made into bricks for our oven’s hearth and dome, creating a symbiotic relationship between ingredient and oven.
• Flour: Our flour is a 00 flour which holds an 11.2% protein ratio. This 00 flour refers to the size of the mill. 00 is the finest mill on earth and creates a soft silky crust. 00 grade flour is also a requirement for true Neapolitan pizza.
• Cheese: For our cheese, we hold true to Neapolitan standards as well using only fior de late (fresh mozzarella) or mozzarella de bufala. All of or cheese hold true to the artisan roots of old and are completely hormone free.

 

Charring
Also due to the high temperature cook time, the crust has a slight charring on bottom and edges characteristic to Neapolitan pizza giving it another depth of flavor and texture.

  

Wet or Soupy
Unlike typical American pizza, a delicious pool of flavor forms in the middle of a Neapolitan pie during its short time in the oven making it  what one might call wet or "soupy".

Knife and Fork
As to not disrupt the "soupy" middle (thereby making the crust soggy on the way to the table) these pies are meant to be served whole, uncut, and eaten with a knife and fork.

Organic/All Natural
At il Lazzarone, we're passionate about authentic real food therefore our ingredients are organic and all natural incorporating both local ingredients with special authentic Italian imported items. Our cheese is always rBgh free and our meats are antibiotic and hormone free.

Moist carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

Til the Easter season!

I haven’t found my way to The Purple Carrot in far too long and after making this carrot cake a few days ago, I knew it was the perfect thing to share. We found it to be extremely moist and delicious! I’ve been doing a lot of juicing lately as well and I never know what to do with all that pulp. 

Enter: a great way to use up pulp from juicing carrots!

Moist carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (makes one 9x13 inch pan or two 9 inch cake pans)
*adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:

• Carrot cake
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups melted coconut oil
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 cups cane sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspooons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 cups grated carrots (I used the pulp from juicing carrots, works great!)
  
• Cream Cheese frosting
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 8 ounce cream cheese softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond extract (or vanilla – I ended up using almond because I was out of vanilla and ended up loving the flavor with this cake)

Instructions:

Cake

1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees and grease two 9 inch cake pans or one 9x13 inch pan
2. In large mixing bowl, beat together eggs, coconut oil, sugar, vanilla and milk
3. Mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon
4. Stir in carrots
5. Bake for about 45 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean

Frosting

1. Combine all ingredients and beat until mixture is smooth and creamy.

Nom, nom, nom!

Happy Easter, all

il Lazzarone

If you keep up with The Purple Carrot on Facebook or Instagram, the following is not new to you but if not, guess what?



Yep, this is happening! For years now Erik has been toying with opening a pizza place and even almost bought a building in Kansas City a little over a year ago when we lived there but it just never quite worked out. Fast forward through our move back to St Joe, our house remodel (which is still in the works even though we live there now), a new precious baby aaaand here we are!

What?
This niche restaurant will be an authentic Neapolitan pizzeria called il Lazzarone. (I know, I'm sure the concept is shocking after how little we talk about pizza around here ;) It's not like we road tripped around the US just to eat pizza or anything).

Il Lazzarone: What is the meaning of il Lazzarone, you ask?

There is a lot in our name. The name represents not only a class of people but a way of life. Pizza started out as a peasant food. The il lazzarone or lazzaroni was seen to be this peasant class of people in Naples originating around 1770. Though the lazzarone were poor, they were known for living completely free, content, satisfied. The lazzarone avoided the rat race. They worked but they laughed. They worked but they rested. They worked but they stopped and ate… frequently. The only thing a lazzarone would eat was pizza and melon (accompanied of course by wine). They loved life, they lived freely, and most of all, they seized the moment.

That is what we wish to offer and convey. Come seize the moment, put your day on hold if just for 30 minutes, and come. Come to the table were you can experience both art and authenticity through food, wine and atmosphere.

Where?
il Lazzarone will be opening at 1628 Frederick Avenue in Saint Joseph, Missouri.

When?
We’re currently making progress on the work that needs to be completed on the inside and our Acunto oven is on its way here from Naples. Tentatively, we’ll be opening Spring 2014.

Follow along
Follow along with our building progress and updates via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

Coming up
Coming up soon is a post on what you can expect to find at il Lazzarone!