A complete must for me to try out was the new Paesano restaurant on Great Western Road.
Already a big fan of their ‘authentic Napoletana pizza’, I was extremely excited to experience a Paesano pizza the West End way.
Proprietor Paul Stevenson is also the owner and managing director of Glasgow's Italian Kitchen and Italian Caffe.
Following the success of Paesano's debut restaurant on 94 Miller Street, Paul moved the brand into the heart of the West End earlier this year.
Listed as ‘one of the best pizza places in the UK’, they sure have a lot to live up to.
I opted for a glass of Paesano’s own Biano from Veneto, a very light and refreshing white wine which nicely accompanied the pizza.
I choose the no.7 Fresh Tuscan fennel sausage with friarielli (wild broccoli), mozzarella, tomato sugo and evoo (olive oil), spiced up with some extra fresh chillies for 50p.
The pizza came fast and hot straight out from their huge wood fired pizza oven.
The sourdough was soft and light, the sauce tasted tradionally Italian and all the toppings brought out such a great combination of flavours and delivered in every aspect. Salty dough, sweet tomato, juicy mozzarella.
The addition of the Neapolitan wild broccoli brought the pizza to an even higher level and worked so well with the fennel sausage.
The space was busy and lively and there was undeniably a great buzz in the air.
MY OWN TAKE ON HOMEMADE PIZZA
It’s already a given that my own pizza’s won’t exactly resemble the same texture and style that the pizzas from the Napoli ovens (costing around £20,000) are able to create.
Having said that, I was still inspired to get creative and try out different toppings.
* I preheated my oven to 230°C. For efficiency, I bought some ready rolled pizza dough base so all you need to do is flour a surface and get rollin’. I wasn’t too precise with the sizing of each pizza, I liked having different shapes and sizes.
* I used cooking spray on a few trays and cooked the rolled-out pizza doughs for 10 minutes to give the base time to crispen up before adding the tomato sauce and toppings.
* To create the pizza sauce, I heated slowly a tin of chopped tomatoes, 3 diced garlic cloves, squeeze of tomato puree, passata, sprinkle of sugar, oregano and salt + pepper to taste. Of course, you can make your pizza base sauce however rich you like to your own preference.
* I cooked off some Scottish meatballs in olive oil till nice and browned.
* I then sliced them up once cooked and chopped up all my ingredients.
* I opted for red peppers, red onions, fresh red and green chillies, sweet pointed peppers, rocket, and mozzarella, topped with fresh basil leaves and oregano.
* I then took out the bases with the bottom cooked slightly and spread the sauce evenly across and then generously layered on the mozzarella. I find it’s important to make sure the bases cook for a bit first because once you add the sauce the juices can seep through if not.
* Next up I added the chopped ingredients, mixing up the combinations. Cook the pizzas in the oven for up to 15 minutes until crispy and golden.
* I then chucked on a bunch of rocket to add extra colour and texture.
My rustic pizzas turned out really satisfying, packed with lots of flavour.
Overall, they had a good crust and were very tasty with a little bit of a kick.
I guarantee Paesano will successfully meet your pizza cravings.
When eating the succulent pizza in Paesano it is almost as if you’re in a pizzeria on a balmy summer night in the Roman streets.
It seems far fetched? Check it out yourself and see what you make of it.
I don’t think you’ll leave disappointed.
Paesano, West End
471 Great Western Rd
Glasgow G12 8AB
0141 258 5565
email: info@paesanopizza.co.uk
