Hello and welcome to Pizza and a Movie! Last week, Alex and I spent a few days in Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston is a beautiful city with such a rich history. We mostly walked around the historical neighborhoods around Broad Street; wandering around the French Quarter, immersed in the 18th century. We enjoyed a nice breakfast at our hotel, and its signature brunch dish, The Palmetto Omelet, is the inspiration for today’s pizza. Their omelet had lump crab and lobster with mozzarella cheese and spring onions, wrapped in fluffy egg. I am translating that to a pizza with lump crab meat, scallions and mozzarella cheese. Let’s do it – The Palmetto Pizza.
The Prep
Begin by preheating the oven to 450 degrees F, with a pizza stone or steel. Then, trim and slice 1 bunch of scallions into roughly 1-inch pieces. We have 8-ounces of jumbo lump crab meat.
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a cast iron or other heavy bottom skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, transfer the cut scallions to the skillet. Season with a pinch of kosher salt. Adjust the heat to keep the scallions from burning, but we are looking for softened, lightly caramelized scallion pieces. This will take maybe 5-7 minutes. Stir them occasionally to ensure even browning.
While the onions are cooking, we can grate about 10-ounces of low-moisture mozzarella – its about 1.5 cups.
The Palmetto Pizza Assembly
Roll, stretch or spin your dough out to about 12-inches. Use about half of the mozzarella as the first layer on the dough.
Top the mozzarella with the lightly caramelized scallions. Save the oil left in the pan from the scallions; we will use it to brush on the crust of the baked pizza.
Evenly spread the crab meat over the scallions, then top with the remaining mozzarella cheese. Ready to bake!
Bake the pizza for 10-15 minutes, until the crust is golden and the cheese is melted and begins to get brown in spots. While the pizza is baking, thinly slice two scallions for garnish.
When the pizza comes out of the oven, use a silicone brush to brush the scallion cooking oil over the crust of the pizza.
Sprinkle the sliced scallions over the pizza and it’s ready to slice!
I really enjoyed this pizza with a splash of vinegary hot sauce, it cuts through the richness of the mozzarella and the crab, accentuating both flavors beautifully. The mix of fresh peppery scallions with the sweeter, caramelized scallions is really wonderful and fresh.
Movie Night: Licorice Pizza
We have The Palmetto Pizza ready, so let’s get to the movie! Licorice Pizza is the recent movie by Paul Thomas Anderson. I am a fan of most of his films, so I was excited to see this one. Licorice Pizza follows the budding romance between 15-year old Gary (Cooper Hoffman) and 25-year old Alana (Alana Haim). A heartfelt coming of age story, Licorice Pizza takes place in Los Angeles, in 1973. Like many of PTA’s films, Licorice Pizza is a time capsule – a masterful combination of direction, set design and decoration, costumes, music and acting, that transports the viewer to another place and time. Anderson’s talent for this is what makes his films so delicious, they’re like a vacation – immersive and entertaining. Licorice Pizza is available to rent on Apple TV, Vudu, Google Play, Amazon Prime and YouTube.
Thank you for joining me today for Pizza and a Movie! We are looking forward to getting the wood oven fired up in the next few weeks to take Pizza and a Movie back outside. So stay tuned for more great pizza and recipes this Spring! Take care and be well, friends. xo Kelly
Kitchen Tools Used in This Recipe
Click on the image to be directed to the recommended product.
Lodge 12-inch Cast Iron Skillet
The Original Baking Steel
OXO Box Grater
Williams Sonoma Wooden Pizza Peel
Metal Pizza Peel
Bialetti Pizza Chopper Blade
The Palmetto Pizza
Jumbo lump crab with caramelized scallions and mozzarella; topped with fresh scallions and a splash of hot sauce - It's The Palmetto Pizza!
Ingredients
- 1 bunch Scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces (reserve two of the onions to slice into thin rounds for garnish)
- Kosher Salt
- 1 Prepared Pizza Dough
- 8 oz. Jumbo Lump Crab Meat
- 1.5 cups Grated Mozzarella
- Vinegar-based Hot Sauce, optional
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F with a pizza stone or steel.
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a cast iron or other heavy bottom skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, transfer the cut scallions to the skillet. Season with a pinch of kosher salt. Adjust the heat to keep the scallions from burning. We are looking for softened, lightly caramelized scallion pieces. This will take maybe 5-7 minutes. Stir them occasionally to ensure even browning.
Roll, stretch or spin your dough out to about 12-inches. Use about half of the mozzarella as the first layer on the dough.
Top the mozzarella with the lightly caramelized scallions. Save the oil left in the pan from the scallions; we will use it to brush on the crust of the baked pizza.
Evenly spread the crab meat over the scallions, then top with the remaining mozzarella cheese.
Bake the pizza for 10-15 minutes, until the crust is golden and the cheese is melted and begins to get brown in spots.
When the pizza comes out of the oven, use a silicone brush to brush the scallion cooking oil over the crust of the pizza.
Sprinkle the sliced scallions over the pizza and it's ready to slice!
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Mari
April 1, 2022 at 10:26 amOM Goodness. We have hit the pizza lottery this week. I had not heard of this week’s movie, which will come as no surprise to anyone, since I seem to say that nearly every Friday. The catchy music caught my attention, so this will be a good one to watch. I love movies set in different time periods, and since I lived through this one, it will be doubly interesting. This week’s edible pizza is so lovely with the cheese and scallions making lovely mountains of goodness over the crab. I do not have a pizza challenge this week. I was caught up in real life and not even thinking of reel life. I was shocked to hear about Bruce Willis and his memory problems. Looking back over the last of his movies we watched, it’s obvious that something was wrong. He looked very stiff and uncomfortable. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife and children. His little girls are so young to lose a parent. Even though he may live decades physically, mentally he won’t be there, and it’s so sad. Retiring was clearly the right choice, but he will be missed. Obviously this hits close to home, so I can totally empathize with his friends, family, a d other fans. As that old commercial said, a mind is a terrible thing to waste. It is even worse to lose it. Well that was grim, so let’s end this on a happier note. Happy April Fools Day, or Poisson D’Avril, as they say in France. Laugh and have some fun. The sun is out here, and I’m working on a big smile.love and hugs to my Djalalis, Terry, Dante and the ladies. Make some memories to cherish, take time to laugh, a d hug someone special.
Kelly Djalali
April 1, 2022 at 10:50 amHi Mari, We too are sad to hear about Bruce Willis and his aphasia diagnosis; we enjoy many of his movies.
I totally forgot it was April Fool’s Day! You will like Licorice Pizza, it’s a very sweet and funny film. Enjoy the day, I hope you have a sunny, beautiful weekend. xo Kelly
Carol
April 1, 2022 at 11:14 amHi Kelly ! Happy April. I love PIZZA & have tried many of your recipes. Where did you stay in SC recently? I would love to have the palmetto omelet with lobster crab
Kelly Djalali
April 1, 2022 at 1:59 pmHi Carol, we stayed at a hotel called Charleston Place. The restaurant in the hotel is called The Palmetto. I am so happy you’ve tried my recipes, thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment! Have a great weekend, xo Kelly
Sally+Burke
April 2, 2022 at 2:27 amH Kelly, you really are innovative, the only crab meat we get here is usually in a can and not much substance unless you want to make a dip, so what you have made makes me feel quite envious. Perhaps if I lived closer to the city I might be able to get great crab meat from the fish monger, but I’m sure it would be quite expensive. I would probably substitute prawn meat, which is also expensive, but at least you get to see it rather than shredded seafood. It never ceases to amaze me that with our proliferation of seafood it is becoming more and more expensive, perhaps it is the trade deals between countries that is causing the rise in price. Anyway enough of my grumbling… I am so happy that Beth has taken you under her wing so you can include fashion as well as your wonderful recipes. Happy cooking ?? and happy getting dolled up, I guess you use that expression also ?
Sally ?
Kelly Djalali
April 2, 2022 at 8:08 amThank you so much, Sally! I hear you on the crab meat, and the fish situation for that matter. Everything here is getting so much more expensive. But cooking at home is still cheaper than going out for dinner, even if that little 8-ounce jar of fresh crab was $20! Thankfully, making substitutions is usually an option. I hope you have a wonderful day, xo Kelly
Sally+Burke
April 2, 2022 at 2:39 amHello again Kelly… I was just checking out Licorice Pizza and again it is not a chancel we subscribe to. Trying to get my better half to do anything more than Netflix is a bit of a challenge and just recently since we had to get a new modem attempting to re connect Apple TV seems to be impossible. Thank goodness for Apple Support. Not to worry, I seem to sleep through most night time tv anyway lol!!!
Kelly Djalali
April 2, 2022 at 8:10 amHello Sally, Technology issues are so frustrating! We have problems with our internet regularly…Good luck getting it sorted! If you do get a chance to see it, it’s a great movie. Take care, xo Kelly