Designer pizzas
Designer Ali Lue we discover is as good in the kitchen as she is with exquisite fabric and scissors. “Come in!” She insists as we take a peek at activities in the kitchen. “I’ve just placed the last of my gourmet pizzas in the oven”.With a promise of Tex Mex, Shrimp and Scampi, Jerk Chicken and Margarita toppings and Paul Blackwood, our Appleton bartender, mixing a Piña de Hennessy – a combination of Hennessy VS and Irish crème liquor – we’re ready to enjoy the pizza vibes.
It’s important to ‘fess up to the fact that this is Sunday Cuisine’s first gourmet pizza party. We’ve done the teenage pepperoni and pineapple and cheese pizza binges, several Friday evening pizza overindulgence sessions too, complete with just a little too much garlic bread; but as the shrimp scampi is taken out of the oven and sliced with barely enough time given to cool before indulging in the pink melt-in-the-mouth delicacies, we reckon that life ought always to be full of gastronomical moments such as these.
The lychee martini shaken with Appleton Genesis goes down as smoothly as the shrimp scampi. Other guests tuck into the spicy jerk pizza with which Blackwood serves up a Classic Mai Tai. When pressed for the secret ingredients he makes another, reeling off the items as he goes along – 1oz Appleton Estate V/X, 1 oz Appleton Estate Reserve, 1/2 oz Apricot Brandy, 1/2 oz Orange Curacao, dash of Grenadine, 3 oz of fresh pineapple juice and a squeeze of fresh lime.
Beer and pizza we’ve done but make a mental note to keep the numbers of both Ali Lue and Paul Blackwood on speed dial.
“I love to bake,” explains Lue as we all add additional slices of pizza to our plates, “it’s a soothing hobby for me and simply found myself rolling out pizza dough one day and literally experimenting with various toppings.
The feedback continues to be positive.” No idle boast, since we simply cannot seem to get enough. Lue works with the freshest ingredients like her ‘just picked from the garden’ basil leaves and vine-ripened tomatoes and who swears by olive oil. “I try to keep it as authentic as possible while teasing the palate by juxtaposing tastes and textures, like using white cheddar with jerk seasoning.”
…With her Tex Mex-inspired pizza she works with an abundance of ingredients creating a symphony of lights but adds the unexpected like a splash of white wine. “Whoever said it was tequila or nothing else?” she muses. Certainly not when there’s an Appleton bar and a variation on a Watermelon Julep is gathering momentum.
Lue, who is working on a festive couture collection, might just be tempted to throw in gourmet festive pizzas. Sunday Cuisine has already responded in the affirmative.