Luxury Outdoor Kitchen Installation

We enjoy some of the best weather in the San Diego area. Outdoor living space gives you a place to prepare meals in your outdoor kitchen, entertain or relax with family and friends.

From exposed beam construction to retractable glass walls this outdoor living area was designed for serious outdoor entertaining.

Click Here to view a tour of this luxurious outdoor living space.

We supplied the client with the wood fired ovens for this outdoor living space.

Wood-fired Oven Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients:

8 medium Yukon potatoes

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt & pepper

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

Peel and wash the potatoes, and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Place them into a greased casserole. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with garlic and rosemary. Bake at 400^oF (200^oC) for approximately 1 hour. These are very easy and delicious. Enjoy!

Serves 4

Prosciutto & Arugula Pizza in a Wood Burning Oven

Use one of our Forno wood burning ovens to create this light summer pizza.

Basic pizza dough (recipe on previous blog)
Flour, for rolling out dough
Extra virgin olive oil
Thinly sliced prosciutto Fresh arugula, washed
Parmigiano Reggiano shavings

Roll out pizza dough, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking. Drizzle with olive oil and bake directly on stone in wood-burning oven at about 600-700F (300-350C) until crisp and golden-brown on the edges. Remove from oven and top with prosciutto, arugula, and parmigiano. Serve right away.

Using Real Cheese for Your Pizza

What’s the point of using a fantastic tool like a wood burning pizza oven if you’re going to use subpar ingredients? It’s arguable that cheese is the most important part of the pie, but many people end up using cheeses from the grocery store that have a bunch of additives and chemicals that take away from the real flavor of good cheese. The most common cheese used for pizza pies is mozzarella, which is available in a variety of different ways including fresh, skim and infused with a variety of different spices and herbs.

The potential of cheese and pizza is so much bigger than mozzarella. There are over 400 different types of Italian cheeses, many of which would be fantastic as a main cheese or as an accompanying flavor on a pie. The key to picking a good cheese is to find one that melts consistently and goes well with the flavor of tomatoes or whatever sauce you are using, but even this isn’t a hard a fast rule. Some pizzas use unique cheese, topping and sauce combinations to create something completely unique. You can even create a pizzas that barely uses any cheese at all except for a generous dusting of Parmesan Reggiano or Pecorino Romano. Whatever kind of pizza you are looking to make, your wood burning oven can make it burst with flavor.

Safety and Your Wood Burning Pizza Oven

Cooking with a wood burning oven is a fun experience that produces delicious food, but when proper safety precautions are not followed bad things can happen.  Newer wood-fired ovens are marvels of modern innovation and technology that contain a wide variety of options that make operating the oven as safe as possible. Even with these conditions, however, it’s important to operate the oven with caution in mind so that no unnecessary injuries or burns occur. In the end you’re still cooking with fire, so paying close attention to safety is paramount.

The primary safety precaution a person can take is simple; wear protection. If embers from the wood fire are flying everywhere when you adjust or add wood then wear goggles to protect your eyes from being burned. When putting food in and out of the oven make sure you are wearing protective gloves that can stand the very high temperatures that some wood burning ovens get to.  Also, whenever you have a fire roaring in the pit keep at least one eye on the oven. It’s not necessary to watch it like a hawk; although if children are around you should, but make sure you are checking in often to make sure nothing goes wrong. Wood burning ovens are fun, but an accident or simple mistake can ruin everything quickly.

Creating Your Ideal Pizza

A vast majority of modern pizza restaurants stick to a stable of a few very common ingredients: dough, red sauce, mozzarella cheese, meat and vegetables. It’s this formula that creates classics like pepperoni pizza, all meat pizzas, vegetarian pizzas and other common specialties you see at most mass marketed pizza chains. This stable of ingredients works for a lot of people, but the world of pizza is so much bigger than what we have been led to believe. When you have the equipment to make your own pizzas, like a wood burning oven, then you have the chance to create pizzas with ingredients that almost no restaurant would ever offer. Below are ways you change ingredients to create more interesting and flavorful pies.

-Cheeses. Mozzarella has been the king of pizza cheese for a long time, but there are so many other options. Feta cheese provides a strong aroma to pizzas looking for a bit of a punch and it goes great with other Greek ingredients. Asiago cheese has a deep nutty flavor and has a much stronger profile than mozzarella. Goat cheese offers a very distinctive flavor and will create a pizza with an almost completely different flavor than you’ve tried before.

-Sauces. Red tomato sauce is very versatile and flavorful, but it’s not the only game in town. Olive oil can be used in a variety ways as a substitute for red sauce. For example, you can infuse olive oil with things like garlic and basic to create a unique and powerful flavor. You can also use a white sauce on a pizza by making a roux or Alfredo sauce for a more creamy and delicate flavor. Some people even use things like BBQ sauce or salad dressing to create their desired flavors.

-Toppings. There are not a whole lot of things that don’t go well on a pizza. Open up your imagination a little and experiment with lots of different things. One of my personal favorites is artichokes and roasted bell peppers. You can also experiment with different types of meats. Use ingredient combinations from other types of food to figure out what would go well together on a pizza.

Perfecting Your Backyard with a Wood-Fired Oven

You may have looked at your backyard lately and thought that something was missing. Sure you’ve got the swimming pool, the lawn chairs and the outdoor refrigerator, but there is a certain flare that seems to be missing from the environment. A direct or indirect wood-fired oven may be just what you are looking for. If you’ve never seen a wood burning oven before then take a look through our wood fired oven gallery to see what the fuss is all about. Dolce Vita has a variety of outdoor wood burning ovens that would be a perfect addition to the decor in your backyard.

Our Forno direct and indirect wood-fired ovens can be constructed in a variety of different ways to fit in with the design concepts of your backyard. The ovens can be built into rock surfaces to maintain the same granite motif that's part of the rest of your backyard. They can be constructed as stand alone units or as part of a larger outdoor kitchen arrangement as well. Wood burning ovens provide an elegance and touch of class that is simply unmatched when it comes to outdoor cooking appliances. Not only will these ovens make your backyard look better, but they will make entertaining and cooking a far more enjoyable experience for you and your guests. There’s no reason to consider a wood-fired oven as an addition to your backyard.