How- To Tuesday: Cooking With (AP) Style, Making Pizza With The Associated Press Stylebook

I was browsing my copy of The Associated Press Stylebook the other day (because, really, how else could one possibly want to spend a lazy afternoon?), and I found myself in the food guidelines. Among the common culinary conversions and the proper spellings of all sorts of ingredients (from angel hair pasta to johnnycakes, to York peppermint patties), I was excited to find that the editors had included a delicious-looking example of the proper recipe-writing style. I started to drool a little, then I made a grocery list.

Tonight’s menu: PIZZA WITH RAINBOW CHARD, GOAT CHEESE AND EGG.

Hey, if it’s AP Style, it must be good for you.

Here’s the recipe as AP presents it on page 423 (note the missing oxford commas).  I followed the rules for the most part but, in a few places, my own house apartment style guide necessitated that I deviate from AP. My notes are in italics.

PIZZA WITH RAINBOW CHARD, GOAT CHEESE AND EGG

Start to finish: 30 minutes

Servings: 4

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 bunch rainbow chard, chopped

1 medium yellow onion, diced

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 cloves garlic, minced

20-ounce ball prepared pizza dough, room temperature

4 ounces (about 8 slice) prosciutto, finely chopped

8-ounce log chevre (fresh goat cheese)

4 large eggs

Heat the oven to 400 F. Lightly spritz 2 baking sheets with cooking spray.

In a large skillet over medium-high, heat the oil. Add the chard, onion, red pepper flakes and garlic. Saute until the chard is wilted, about 8 minutes. Set aside. (I wanted to make sure the onions were good and soft so I got them going first and let them sauté while I chopped up the chard. I threw the garlic in last so it wouldn’t be overcooked and bitter. I added a third clove of garlic and an extra dash of red pepper. I don’t believe in the notion of “too much spice.”)

Divide the dough into 4 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each to the size of a dinner plate. Place 2 rounds of dough on each baking sheet. Top each piece of dough with a quarter of the chard mixture, spreading them evenly. (I believe pizzas are meant to be shared, so I made one big pie instead of 4 individual ones. My dough recipe is gluten free and a little tricky to roll out, so pizza was less round and more … artistic? You may have better geometric luck with a smoother dough.)

Top with the prosciutto, then crumble goat cheese over each pizza. (I opted to go light on the goat cheese – I probably used about 4 ounces instead of the recommended 8.)

Bake for 12 minutes, or until the crust is lightly puffed, but not browned. Crack an egg into the center of each pizza, then bake for another 12 minutes, or until the whites are cooked but the yolks are still runny. Serve immediately.

Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 651 calories; 254 calories from fat; 28 g fat (11 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 228 mg cholesterol; 70 g carbohydrate; 36 g protein; 4 g fiber; 1,668 mg sodium.

The finished product was incredible, if I do say so myself. Thanks, Associated Press, for a grownup pizza recipe I’ll definitely make again. 

Works Cited: "Food Guidelines." Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law. Ed. Darrell Christian, Sally Jacobsen, and David Minthorn. 48th ed. New York: Basic, 2013. 422-438. Print.