Zeneli's Pizza Genovese

Plus: Two Salads & A Book Tour

Photo Credit: The Department of Salad.

Pizza Friends: Where to begin? I have three things.

First, the wonderful

emily nunn

shared two salad recipes from Pizza Night in her newsletter last weekend, and in addition to the post making my week, it also sent many of you my way… thank you for coming! I have been a huge fan of the Department of Salad from the very beginning and to not only have salads featured there but also share some of Emily’s readers, well, it’s just a dream.

Head over to the DOS to get the recipe for the above-pictured Spring Wedge Salad with Radishes, Egg, and Greek Yogurt Ranch. In Pizza Night, this salad is paired with a Kale Pizza with Sizzling Scallions and Crème Fraîche.

You’ll also find this recipe for My Mother’s Horiatiki Salad. In Pizza Night, this salad is paired with Bufalina’s Shrimp Pizza with Roasted Lemon Salsa. (Bufalina is a CT pizzeria my family loves.)

Photo Credit: The Department of Salad.

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Second, in less than two weeks, I’m hitting the road, and it would be wonderful to meet you all in real life! Find all of the details with links to the events here: Pizza Night Book Tour. I’m hoping to add some stops, too, so stay tuned!

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Third: Pizza Genovese.

Last Thursday I had dinner with my parents and sister’s family at Zeneli Pizzeria in New Haven, CT. If you are familiar with the New Haven pizza scene, you’ve likely heard of Sally’s and Pepe’s, both located on Wooster Street, as well as Modern, located a few blocks away.

But you may not heard of Zeneli, a Neapolitan-style pizzeria run by four brothers. Quick backstory: In 1991, the brothers moved from Albania to Naples, where they learned how to make pizza and cheese. Twenty-three years later, three of the brothers moved to New York (while one remained in Italy to raise buffalo for dairy), and in 2019, the brothers moved to New Haven to open Zeneli on Wooster Street.

Zeneli’s Neapolitan pizza is everything you want in this style of pie: The crust is thin and delicate with an airy cornicione, lightly leopard spotted all around. The toppings are minimal but excellent. It tastes fresh, and it’s as good as anything I had in Naples several summers ago.

My parents, who live 20 minutes from New Haven and visit Zeneli often, have their order down: one Pizza Genovese, one arugula salad. My mother eats her slices piled high with the arugula salad, a strong move, one that inspired the recipe included here today, which in addition to the Zeneli Genovese ingredients — basil pesto, fresh mozzarella, crushed red pepper flakes, prosciutto, and parmesan — calls for a handful of arugula added post bake, which pushes it nearly into what

emily nunn

has aptly coined the “salizza” category.

If you are a salizza fan — and I suspect many of you are — this one belongs in your pizza night repertoire 🍕🥗🎉

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Video: Pizza Genovese

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The Recipe: Pizza Genovese

For this pizza you’ll need: basil pesto, mozzarella, crushed red pepper flakes, prosciutto, and parmesan:

This pizza is baked with pesto, mozzarella, and crushed red pepper flakes.

You could almost stop here.

But to make the Zeneli-style Genovese, you’ll top it with prosciutto out of the oven and shave parmesan generously over the top:

You could definitely stop here as they do at the restaurant, or you could add a small handful of arugula and drizzle it lightly with olive oil, which I highly recommend.

Crumb shot:

Undercarriage:

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PS: You can get the recipe for the Neapolitan-style pizza dough used in the pizza featured above immediately if you pre-order Pizza Night 🎉🎉 The recipe is included in the bonus recipe packet (along with a recipe for Blistered Sun-Gold Tomato Pizza with Crème Fraîche and Basil and a Mixed Greens Salad with Roasted Red Pepper Dressing and Parmesan). Get your Bonus Recipe Packet Here.

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