Ines Glaser: Salad Pizza Detox, Anchovy Lover, and So Much More
Plus: A salad pizza recipe you will love.
Hello Pizza Friends,
In early February, the Instagram algorithm read my mind, feeding me a Reel featuring pink chicories tossed with Caesar dressing heaped atop a bubbly pizza crust spread with meltingly soft cloves of roasted garlic all cooked in an outdoor oven.
The caption read SALAD PIZZA DETOX, and I needed to know more. The account, I learned, @lupacotta, was run by a woman named Ines Glaser, and this mini campaign promised to deliver “a strict diet of indulgence and healthy eating,” with the goal of easing our way back into “balance, socialization, silliness” and so much more.
As I scrolled through Ines’s feed, I felt overwhelmed by the deliciousness, beauty, and inspiration before me, particularly the many salad-topped pizzas, featuring anything from watermelon radishes and nettles to fish cakes and kimchi.
Friends, for this year’s Women’s Pizza Month, an Instagram celebration created by my friend Christy Alia, I’m honoring Ines, who I spoke to earlier this week and whose story is so interesting.
The daughter of American Diplomats, Ines spent her early life moving to a new country — Norway, Madagascar, Japan, France, Nicaragua — every three years. After finishing college in Colorado, she worked in the film industry before following her heart to Naples, where she enrolled in the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana and learned how to make true Neapolitan-style pizza. Upon graduating, she worked in restaurants both here (Sotto in Los Angeles) and abroad (Baest in Copenhagen) before founding Lupa Cotta, a Los Angeles-based pizza company, specializing in mobile catering and pizza experiences.
I could write so much more! Here’s what you need to know:
Favorite pizza?
Marinara with anchovy and Calabrian chili.
Favorite pizza memory?
I was 9 years old and living in Hokkaido, Japan. There was this Italian restaurant that served a crispy Margherita pizza and cacio e pepe pasta. That's when I first learned that the Japanese master both simplicity and Italian food.
Where can people find you? What are you working on?
Lupa Cotta: Building Pizza Party Concierge / Boutique Catering / Private Chef Experience (More details in the attached document:)
Pizza Consulting & Teaching
Instagram: @lupacotta
Idea of a perfect day off?
Morning beach walk or Malibu hike with my husband & dog
Coffee @ Hooked in Venice
Sushi lunch
Grab some wine from Vin on Rose
Dinner at home with close friends
In honor of Ines, I made a salad pizza, which, if you read last week’s post, will feel very familiar. Please share any salad-pizza combos you love!
Video: Lupa Cotta-Inspired Salad Pizza Detox
Friends, this week I fired up my Gozney Dome for the first time in months. You, of course, can make this pizza in your home oven if you don’t have an outdoor oven.
The Recipe: Salad Pizza with Crème Fraîche, Brie & Bitter Greens
For the base of this pizza, you’ll need crème fraîche, brie (or other rich, creamy cheese), extra-virgin olive oil and flaky sea salt:
And for the salad portion, you’ll need exactly what we used last week: arugula, endive, radicchio, extra-virgin olive oil, aged balsamic vinegar, and Parmigiano Reggiano:
As noted in the video, I made this pizza using 100% Cairnspring Mills stonemilled flour. I used a mix of their Glacier Peak Bread Flour and Sequoia All Purpose flour. I will share the recipe when it’s ready.
Any topic you’d like covered? Please let me know. See you next Friday 🍕🍕
One of my first jobs was making pizza at a tiny little market/restaurant in Maine. We had a salad pizza (with a blueberry vinaigrette, because Maine) that I still drool about to this day, 20+ years later! This one looks divine!!
Curses! You would have to incite my quest for even better flour by alerting me to Cairnspring Mills flours. It's a couple hours drive from me, but if I'm up that way, I may have to drop by.... meanwhile I have ordered a couple different flours from them. sigh, they will probably be wonderful and then I can never go back. Curses.