Hello! Welcome to Pizza and a Movie. Today’s pizza idea was suggested by a reader who fondly remembers the amazing smoked salmon pizza at Rydell’s – a now long gone pizza restaurant in St. Louis. She described the crispy cracker-y crust with cream cheese, thinly sliced red onion and thin slices of salmon lox. Her at-home adaptations include adding capers and a squeeze of lemon. All of this sounded too good – I had to try it, so today we have Smoked Salmon Pizza. Let’s go!
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F with a pizza steel or stone. I am using a store bought thin crust pizza dough that will get a bit puffier than a cracker-y crust, but since we are baking the crust naked, I know the dough will develop a nice crispy, bubbly crust. You can find flatbread style pizza dough at the supermarket, which I think would be a great dough for this pizza.
Roll or spread out the dough on a lightly floured pizza peel and brush the whole dough with olive oil. Slide the dough onto the preheated steel or stone and bake for about 15 minutes.
Keep a watch on the dough, if any big bubbles develop, you can deflate them with a sharp knife. Pull the dough when it’s golden on top and bottom. Then, shut off the oven; we will use the radiant heat to melt the cream cheese and take the raw edge off the onion.
Toppings
You want to use room temperature cream cheese. So be sure to take the cream cheese out of the fridge an hour or so before making the pizza. Leave the baked dough on the peel and spread the softened cream cheese over the dough, leaving a border for the crust. Then top the cream cheese with the thin red onion slices.
Slide the cream cheese and onion-topped pizza back into the still-hot oven, on the stone or steel for about 5 minutes.
Smoked Salmon
You can use thinly sliced lox for this Smoked Salmon Pizza. I found some Wild Alaskan Smoked Salmon, which comes in thicker slices than lox. With about 3 slices to a 4-ounce package, it will be the perfect amount to evenly cover the pizza.
After its 5 minutes in the still-warm oven, pull the pizza and lay the smoked salmon slices evenly on top of the pizza. If you’re using thinner lox, you can crumple the slices a little for added texture and nice presentation.
Now for the garnishes! I am going to garnish this Smoked Salmon Pizza with capers, lemon zest and finely chopped parsley. Finishing it off with a good drizzle of olive oil.
I love the look of this pizza; the colors are gorgeous! Slice it up and we are ready to serve. You can see that the dough is thin with a crispy bottom. I hope this version of our dear reader’s favorite Smoked Salmon Pizza cuts the mustard!
Movie Night: Other People
We have our Smoked Salmon Pizza ready, so let’s get to the movie. Other People is a comedy/drama from 2016. Starring Jesse Plemmons, Molly Shannon and Bradley Whitford. Three actors I very much enjoy; so I was surprised I had never heard of this movie. At the outset, the premise is a sad one: a young man returns home to help care for his mother who has cancer. It is sad, and these three actors (and supporting cast) have a wonderful way of portraying heart-breaking emotional moments followed with humor that feels true, relatable and wholly real.
The family dynamics playing out in this film are bound to resonate; even without the impending death of the beloved matriarch (Shannon). Other People is a brilliantly portrayed snapshot of a year in the life of one young man and his family; trying to navigate their relationships as the difficulties of life shape their futures. Other People is available to rent on Vudu and Apple, it’s also available to stream on Netflix with a subscription.
Thank you all so much for joining me today for Pizza and a Movie. And thank you to our reader, Karen for suggesting this pizza idea and sharing her memories of a great pizza in one of my favorite cities, St. Louis. If you want to try another reader-suggested pizza, try My Take on The San Giorgio Pizza. Have a wonderful weekend! Take care and be well, xo Kelly
Key Equipment
Williams Sonoma Wooden Pizza Peel
The Original Baking Steel
Metal Pizza Peel
Smoked Salmon Pizza
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading...Take your bagel with cream cheese, lox and capers; replace the bagel with a crispy, chewy golden pizza crust. Add some lemon zest and olive oil.
Ingredients
- 1 Prepared Flatbread or Pizza Dough
- Olive Oil, plus more for garnish
- 8 oz. Cream Cheese, at room temperature
- 1/4 Red Onion, sliced thinly
- 4 oz. Smoked Salmon or Lox
- Capers
- Lemon Zest
- Parsley, chopped fine for garnish
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F with a pizza steel or stone.
Roll or spread out the dough on a lightly floured pizza peel and brush the whole dough with olive oil. Slide the dough onto the preheated steel or stone and bake for about 15 minutes.
Keep a watch on the dough, if any big bubbles develop, you can deflate them with a sharp knife. Pull the dough when it's golden on top and bottom. Then, shut off the oven; we will use the radiant heat to warm the cream cheese and take the raw edge off the onion.
Leave the baked dough on the peel and spread the softened cream cheese over the dough, leaving a border for the crust. Then top the cream cheese with the thin red onion slices.
Slide the cream cheese and onion-topped pizza back into the still-hot oven, on the stone or steel for about 5 minutes.
After its 5 minutes in the still-warm oven, pull the pizza and lay the smoked salmon slices evenly on top of the pizza. If you're using thinner lox, you can crumple the slices a little for added texture and nice presentation.
Garnish the Smoked Salmon Pizza with capers, lemon zest and finely chopped parsley. Finishing it off with a good drizzle of olive oil.
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Mari
September 16, 2022 at 11:31 amThis is a pizza that my daughter and I would love, e cause we like something different and we like, and are able to eat salmon. I was swooning over this pizza and showed the pictures to number one son earlier. He got the most bizarre expression on his face. I thought it was the salmon, which he definitely can’t eat. He asked why there were peas on top of the pizza! This after watching me throw capers on salads and chicken for the last 20 years or so. He thought the pizza would be great without the salmon and capers. Double face palm.
Jesse Plemmons works a lot, and he’s very good, and very underrated. Personally, I like actors like that. Their fame does not tae over the movie. Hello Tom Cruz and Nicholas Cage, I’m thinking of you. Sadly, most people know Jesse as Kirsten Dunst’s husband. It would be nice if he had a higher profile, but I suspect it’s his choice to fly under the radar. I defy anyone to rapidly say Dunst’s more than once. Can it be done? I have my doubts.
Today’s episode of Stump The Chef is mostly going to be silly. I like silly and I had ten hours of sleep last night, which means I’m barely functioning. So ready or not, and you’re always ready, here we go!
Which actor or actress did the worst foreign accent in a movie? As in, the accent was all over the place. I’m specifically thinking of a character actor who was active for many years. If you asked my daughter, it would be Sean Connery. When she and her friends were in advanced Russian, they did hilarious sendups of him. It wasn’t that he did a bad accent, it was that regardless of the role, he always spoke with a heavy Scottish accent. The Hunt For Red October was big at the time and he was a Russian submarine commander I believe, and his Scottish accent was amusing. The students would make up long winded nonsensical speeches in Russian and imitate Connery. I may be prejudiced, but my daughter’s was top notch, and it still cracks me up when she does it. The actor I’m thinking of, started out well with a Russian accent but he slid into a lot of accents and finally ended up speaking with his usual American accent. My husband who also spoke Russian, loved that movie too. Hint: Marty would have been bemused that he chose this one. What is the movie, and who is he? Bonus points if you can also name a female actress that couldn’t hold onto her accent. What was the movie? Who is she? She never had the accent to begin with, but was consistently off. She did the same bad accent in more than one movie, what kind of pizza would you serve them?
Aside from Russian, which accents give American actors the most trouble? There two that they always confuse, and they invariably do them wrong. There is also one that they simply can’t do, while actors from their country, can always do an American accent quite well. There is no specific actor, there are a lot of them! Hint, think Europe. Further hint, think WW2. Do they deserve a pizza?
Finally, W.C. fields famously said an actor should never work with animals or kids. Are there any specific actors and movies that prove his point? Who was outdone by an anima or a chid? Pizza?
Name a TV series that gave two young actors their big break. What was the series and who are the actors They went on to tackle a lot of roles in the future. What kind of pizza would you serve on a Friday night to this American/Canadian duo?
Finally, Happy Funny Friday to Kelly, Alex, Terry and three delightful character actors currently appearing as dogs. I understand they’re aced the role. 🤣
Mari
September 16, 2022 at 4:06 pmI may have made this unexpectedly hard. Here’s a hint about the female actress. Goop. The male actor’s initials are EB.
Kelly Djalali
September 16, 2022 at 4:38 pmAh, Gwyneth Paltrow. Yes her Shakespeare in Love accent was pret-ty bad.
Kelly Djalali
September 16, 2022 at 4:37 pmThere is a lot to unpack here, Mari! In general The worst, most distracting accents I can recall were Keanu Reeves’ accent in Dracula, Cameron Diaz’s Irish accent in Gangs of New York was terrible, I think any time I have ever seen Kevin Costner try to do an accent it inevitably is just plain old American – Robin Hood comes to mind…Also, Harrison Ford doesn’t seem to do accents well.
It seems like Australian actors manage to nail American accents really well; with Naomi Watts, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman being really good at it. It seems like Scottish, Irish and Australian accents are challenging for American actors.
As for the best movie-stealing performance of an animal in a movie, hands-down is Toto.
I wonder if you’re thinking of one of the greatest TV shows of all time, Freaks and Geeks. That show really launched Jason Segal and Seth Rogen. They would get a good old American-style Pepperoni Pizza.
I am sure I have missed a few of your challenges in my reply here…But happy Friday to you Mari! xo Kelly
Mari
September 16, 2022 at 7:54 pmThe male actor I referenced was Ernest Borgnine in Ice Station Zebra. He was a very sweet man, but accents were not his thing. His first really big movie was Marty, for which he won an Academy Award. He couldn’t sustain an accent for more than five minutes, except for some Italian things he did, and you would expect that one to be good! You did come up with a great list for that. I had forgotten Keanu Reeves. The TV show was Friday Night Lights, and the two breakout stars were Jesse Plemmons and Taylor Kitsch. (I watched it for Kyle Chandler.) My youngest son loved Freaks And Geeks and was always trying to get me to watch it, but I never did. I forgot about Australians and American accents, but I was thinking of the English. That is a rough accent for Americans to do. American actors are usually just awful with English accents, and they can’t tell the difference between French and German. They invariably do the wrong one. German is actually much softer than French, despite all the consonants. For me the world’s most interesting language is Luxembourgish, which is actually High German, although it sounds like French and German thrown in a blender. Germans can understand it, but usually can’t speak it. I think in general, European actors are better with accents because they hear the various accents on a more regular basis than we do. This was a rough challenge and I apologize for not giving more coherent clues. There is such a thing as being too subtle, which is not something I’m often accused of. Anyway, you came up with great answers that I hadn’t thought of, so I’d call it a win. It gave e something T thin about! Have a great weekend.
Kelly Djalali
September 17, 2022 at 8:11 amLol, Mari. This was a tough one for me…there were just too many possible answers! I had choice-paralysis! I never watched Friday Night Lights, though I know of it and that it was Jesse Plemmons’ break out role. I think you’re right about European actors having an ear and ability for foreign accents, it seems logical. You know, I think my favorite accent of all time goes to Catherine O’Hara in Schitt’s Creek. It’s a totally made up accent with no explanation of origin (in the show) and it’s quite possibly the best accent in the world. If you haven’t seen that show, you absolutely must. Have a great weekend! xo Kelly
Karen
September 16, 2022 at 1:22 pmKelly,
Perfect adaptation, flat bread dough great idea!
Kelly Djalali
September 16, 2022 at 4:10 pmI am so happy you approve, Karen! This pizza is amazing and will definitely end up as brunch dish at our house. Thank you again for suggesting it. Have a great weekend, xo Kelly
Sally Burke
September 16, 2022 at 8:48 pmHi Kelly, definitely all the right ingredients. I have the smoked salmon and what I wouldn’t give for some Sockeye salmon, probably far more flavoursome than ours. Never the less I am having a change up and making Smoked salmon Fritatta, sorry about the pizza Kelly, yours looks amazing and that crispy base, definitely a ‘cracker’ base. We went through a stage some years ago having the ingredients you have on the pizza on rye bread but added avocado and sprouts, not that I really like sprouts for me they taste too earthy, and I wouldn’t put avocado on a pizza as I don’t particularly like it heated. Enjoy your weekend and happy cooking 🧑🍳
Sally 🤗
Kelly Djalali
September 17, 2022 at 8:04 amHi Sally, Well I think a smoked salmon frittata sounds just as amazing as the pizza. It’s so funny but I can never find sprouts of any kind at my local grocery store. I could go across across town to a different store…I like bean sprouts the best, for Vietnamese dishes. Enjoy that frittata! xo Kelly