Christmas like in the movies | Kevin McCallister’s Pizza

Among the pleasures of the holiday season are family feasts and movie nights at home. What if we combined the two? Until December 24, The Press offers you a recipe inspired by a Christmas movie every week. Featured today: cheese pizza from Mom I missed the plane ! .

The scene

Kevin McCallister only likes one kind of pizza: cheese pizza. When at the start of Mom I missed the plane ! (Home Alone), his brother Buzz devours the spikes meant for him, the boy is so angry that he pushes him around. He is immediately reprimanded and sent to his room. The next day, his family flies to Paris without noticing that they have forgotten him at home.

Seul dans la grande résidence, Kevin McCallister en profite pour commander une seconde fois de la pizza. La scène où il s’amuse à terroriser le livreur en faisant jouer des extraits d’un film de gangsters est l’une des plus marquantes de ce classique du temps des Fêtes. Le pauvre employé de la pizzéria quitte les lieux convaincu d’être la cible de tirs. Tout ça pour un maigre pourboire de 20 cents !

« Une pizza au fromage rien que pour moi », se réjouit alors le garçon interprété par Macaulay Culkin, en humant la boîte laissée sur le pas de la porte.

La version du restaurant Elena

Manger la pizza préférée de Kevin McCallister dans un restaurant montréalais ? C’est possible ! Parmi les huit pizzas qu’on trouve sur le menu d’Elena, dans le quartier Saint-Henri, l’une porte le nom du célèbre héros de Maman, j’ai raté l’avion !.

Lorsque les salles des restaurants ont dû fermer au printemps 2020, l’équipe d’Elena a bonifié son offre de pizzas à emporter.

« On savait qu’on avait énormément de familles qui venaient ici. […] We had to make a cheese pizza for the kids,” says Ryan Gray, co-owner of restaurants Elena, Nora Gray and Gia wine & grill.

According to him, the name to give to the dish seemed obvious.

It must be said that this feature film released in 1990 greatly marked Ryan Gray. “For me, it’s one of the most important films of my youth. […] I can’t wait until my granddaughter wants to listen to it with me. »

If, at almost 4 years old, Sloane is still a little young to laugh at the tricks invented by Kevin McCallister to repel thieves, she is not too small to taste the pizza that bears her name.

“It’s his favorite pizza, by far,” confirms his father.

This is the recipe that Ryan Gray has chosen to share in The little critics. This book written by Joanna Fox and published last fall presents the children’s favorite dishes of nearly 80 Canadian chefs or restaurateurs.

If at Elena the pizza is cooked in a wood oven, it is possible to reproduce it in a conventional oven at home.

The restaurant team uses flour from the Moulin des Cèdres and tomatoes from the Bianco DiNapoli brand, even specifies Ryan Gray.

Recipe

Preparation: 2 hours

Rest time: 48 hours

Cooking time: 12 minutes per pizza

Yield: 4 pizzas of 30 cm (12 in.)

Ingredients

• 600 g (4 cups) all-purpose flour
• 40 g (1/4 cup) whole wheat flour
• About 500 ml (2 cups) of water at 18 ^ohVS
• 1 1/4 tsp. instant yeast
• 1 C. sea ​​salt
• Olive oil
• 500 ml (2 cups) tomato sauce of your choice
• 400 g (4 cups) grated mozzarella

Preparation

• 1. In the bowl of a stand mixer or large bowl, combine the flours and water for 4 minutes on low speed (or 8 minutes by hand). Let stand 20 minutes. Add yeast and salt. Mix again for 9 to 12 minutes or until the dough is smooth and homogeneous.
• 2. Transfer the dough to a large oiled container. Place one hand under the dough on the side opposite you, then fold it back on itself towards you. Rotate the container 90 degrees and fold the dough in the same way. Repeat twice, for a total of four times. Cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes. Repeat this step twice, letting the dough rest for 30 minutes each time, for a total of 1 hour 30 minutes of rest.
• 3. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and divide it into 4 equal parts. Shape each piece into a smooth ball, taking care not to stretch the dough. Place the dough in a lightly oiled and floured container. Cover and refrigerate for 2 days to allow the dough to ferment and develop its flavors and complexity.
• 4. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes at room temperature before stretching it.
• 5. Place a pizza stone in the oven. Preheat the oven to 500 ^ohf.
• 6. Pass the blade of a knife between the balls of dough to separate them and transfer them to a well floured work surface. Handle the dough with delicacy: avoid creating holes while trying to keep the round shape as much as possible. It is also important to keep the top and bottom of the balls always in the same position. Make sure the top and base are well floured before you start rolling them out.
• 7. Roll out the pizza dough on the work surface, one ball at a time. Compress the dough as little as possible around the edges. Begin to stretch the dough from the inside into a rough disc, leaving a 4 cm (1 1/2 in) border for the crust. Once the disc shape has been obtained, continue to gently press the dough from the inside in a circular motion. Add more flour under the dough as needed, until a disc of 30 cm (12 in) is obtained. Transfer the pizza base to a piece of parchment paper.
• 8. Pour 125 ml (1/2 cup) of tomato sauce over the base and spread it in a clockwise rotating motion to the edge of the crust.
• 9. Sprinkle with 100 g (1 cup) of cheese.
• 10. Slide pizza with parchment paper directly onto pizza stone and bake for 8-10 minutes or until set. If desired, broil (broil) during the last minutes of cooking to achieve a wood-fired cooking effect. Prepare the other pizzas in the same way.

Note

If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can bake the pizza on a baking sheet for the first 8 minutes, then transfer it directly to the oven rack and continue baking for the remaining few minutes.

The little critics

Joanna Fox

KO EDITIONS

272 pages