we have rules in our house about friday night pizza night:

1. we have to eat pizza every friday (duh)

2. things that have traditional pizza ingredients but aren't necessarily technically pizza count. so, like, cheese on toast with a tomato slice counts. spaghetti with tomato sauce and parmesan cheese counts. a grilled cheese with ketchup counts. this is weird, i am aware.

3. if eggboy and i are apart on a friday or if we're somewhere on a friday night where there is no pizza, we either try to plan ahead and have pizza for friday lunch or makeup for it and have pizza on saturday or sunday.

4. frozen pizza is ok. take-out is ok. planning a day ahead and starting a batch of jim lahey's no-knead pizza dough on thursday night is ideal though. i should have a reoccurring reminder on my phone for this.

5. if we're apart for a week or more, all bets are off. eat as much pizza as you want, when you want, standing over the sink, while watching reality t.v. anytime, anywhere. sending blurry pizza eating selfies and surpluses of pizza emoji are noted bonuses.

my pizza night in tuscany was a category five pizza night: it was on a monday. a monday! and it was at sunset, with a view of the rolling tuscan hills and a big hunky pizza oven that was part of our home for the week. rebecca, alana, brandiego, and i used herbs from the garden and tons of other tasty things to build soo much pizza, it was fantastic. with some inspiration from the surrounding vineyards, i made a little riff on this prosciutto + grape pizza. it had a grape smiley face.

today, as a little reunion for our tuscany trip, the other davinci storytellers and i are posting pizza recipes inspired by our trip! since i already posted the grape pizza that i made at our party, my recipe today is inspired by the amazing cannellini beans that i ate in tuscany. they were so good and fresh, i think we were there during bean season. beans have never really been at the top of my favorite foods list (unless they were blended into hummus), but with the way these tuscan ones were prepared, with plenty of rosemary, garlic, and olive oil, i saw them in a whole new way. so in the place of sauce, this pizza has a cannellini bean puree, and it's then topped with a basic soffritto and some crispy pancetta.

and ok, i am well aware that it is not the most supermodel-y lookin pizza, no amount of casually dropped rosemary sprigs or fresh parm or even white truffle oil from the tiny tuscan town of san miniato can fix that. but listen up! it tastes like grandma's chicken soup went on a pizza and it's good.

cannellini and soffritto pizza with pancetta and parmesan

serves 4

ingredients

1 can cannellini beans, strained and rinsed
1/2 sprig of fresh rosemary (stem removed), plus more for garnish
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for finishing the pizza
Kosher salt and pepper
5 ounces chopped pancetta
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
1 batch Jim Lahey’s pizza dough (divided into 2 parts, not 4), or pizza dough of your choice
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

white truffle oil, optional

clues

Preheat the oven to 500ºF.

In a food processor, combine the beans, rosemary, garlic, olive oil, a good pinch of salt and a few turns of pepper and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.

In a medium skillet, cook the pancetta until crispy. Remove it to a plate, keeping the fat in the pan. You’ll want a thin coating of fat on the pan to cook the vegetables, so pour some off if needed, or if the pan is a bit dry, supplement the pancetta fat with a drizzle of olive oil. Heat the fat over medium high heat and add the vegetables with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, for 7-10 minutes, until the vegetables have softened. Salt and pepper to taste.

On a baking sheet or pizza peel, flatten out half of the pizza dough. Top it with half of the bean mixture, pancetta, vegetables, and parmesan and bake until the crust is splotchy with brown spots. Begin checking for doneness at 5 minutes. Repeat with the other half of the pizza dough and toppings.

Finish the pizzas with fresh rosemary, a drizzle of olive oil or white truffle oil, and more parmesan and enjoy with a glass of davinci chianti!