Wood-Fired Side Dishes for Your Next Holiday Party

 So, what can you cook in a pizza oven other than pizza? We have a handful of interesting and delicious wood-fired side dishes to help you step up your game and impress your friends and family at your holiday party.

Try out these side dishes:

Glazed Carrots

 

 

The supplies necessary for this healthy-but-very-delicious side dish, include the Mangiafuoco home gas pizza oven, a vegetable peeler, sauté pan, and infrared thermometer.

Here are the ingredients you need:

• 800 grams carrots
• 80 grams water 
• 50 grams butter
• 50 grams brown sugar 
• Salt to taste

Directions

Preheat your oven to  425°F (218°C) and peel the carrots before cutting them into slices of ½ inches. Put them in your sauté pan and add the butter, sugar, salt, and water before giving them a thorough stir.

Cover the pan with its lid and place in the oven, but remove the lid after about 5 minutes. Allow the liquid to reduce so the carrots can caramelize, and stir occasionally. You can remove the pan from the oven when the veggies’ edges are golden brown.

Zucchini Ripieni - Stuffed Zucchini

 

 

Another delicious side dish, stuffed zucchini often steals the show. For this holiday recipe, get your Marinara pizza oven going, and take out a mixing bowl, mezzaluna/knife, pot, colander, thermometer, and baking dish.

You’ll need the following ingredients:

• 3 medium zucchini 
• 50 grams breadcrumbs
• 300 grams Italian sausage
• 2 eggs
• 60 grams Parmigiano Reggiano 
• Small bunch parsley
• A few chive sprigs 
• 1-2 cloves garlic
• Half a shallot
• Cayenne pepper to taste
• Salt to taste 
• Extra virgin olive oil 

Directions

Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C) and place the zucchini into salted boiling water and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Then place them in the colander to cool and drain. Remove the sausage’s casing and break the meat up before placing it in a bowl. 

Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl and add to the sausage. Mince the chives, shallot, pepper, garlic, and parsley and add to the sausage.

Now add the grated Parmigiano Reggiano, the breadcrumbs, and a pinch of salt to the sausage mixture and mix everything together.   

Remove the zucchini ends and cut them in half, longways. Remove the flesh with a spoon to create a ‘boat.’ Chop up the removed flesh and add to the sausage mixture, stirring well.

Place your zucchini boats into the baking dish and fill with your sausage mixture. Sprinkle some of the breadcrumbs over the top and drizzle olive oil over everything.

Put the dish into the oven and let the zucchini bake for half an hour to 35 minutes. You can remove them when the boats are crispy and golden brown and garnish with parsley.

Fresh Cranberry Sauce for Thanksgiving

 

 

This delicious sauce can be made in the Pizza e Cucina wood-fired oven. You’ll need a bowl, a deep pan, and a peeler.

As for the ingredients, here’s what you need:

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 3/4 cup dry red wine
• 1 12 oz package fresh cranberries
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 3 long strips of orange zest
• pomegranate seeds to garnish
• mint leaf to garnish

Directions

Preheat your oven and wash the cranberries thoroughly, making sure to remove any blemished berries.

Pour 2/3 cup sugar into a pan as well as the wine. Add the cinnamon stick and peel a few slivers of the zest of an orange, add three of them to the pan.

Put the pan on the stovetop of your wood-fired oven and let the mixture simmer for about 4 minutes. Let simmer until the wine has reduced and the sugar dissolved. Now add the cranberries.

Bring the mixture to a boil and allow it to simmer for 10 minutes. The sauce should now have thickened and the berries will be soft. You can add fresh pomegranate seeds for presentation.

Couronne Bordelaise Bread 

 

 

If you want to enjoy this delicious bread as a side dish for your holiday feast, you’ll need to light up your Gusto wood-fired oven and take out your infrared thermometer.

The ingredients you need are as follows:

• 1 kg bread flour
• 650 grams water
• 1.5 teaspoons dry yeast
• 450 grams Pasta di Riporto
• 18 grams salt 

Directions  

Preheat your oven to 475°F (246°C) and place two empty pans inside to preheat as well. Pour most of the water into a large bowl but leave a bit to incorporate the salt later on.    

Add the Pasta di Riporto to the water. You can break it up by massaging the dough while you squeeze it with both hands in the water. You don’t have to add the Pasta di Riporto but it adds a nice flavor to the dish.

Now add the yeast and stir well. The yeast should dissolve quickly and you can incorporate the flour. The dough should be somewhat shaggy in appearance and no dry flour must be visible. Cover the mixture and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Once the time is up, stretch and fold the dough, cover it again and let it rest for 15 more minutes.

You will then pour the leftover water over the dough and sprinkle the salt over the surface. Pinch the dough to incorporate the salt and cover once more to let it rest for 15 minutes.

Once the 15 minutes have passed, put the dough on a lightly floured surface and work it for 2 to 3 minutes. Place back into the bowl and let it rise overnight in the refrigerator.

Remove the next day and divide it into fourteen balls of 100 grams and two 150 grams balls. The small balls are for the Couronne and the bigger ones for the center of the Couronne. There will be some dough leftover that can be used for pizzas.

Shape each small piece of dough into tight balls and do the same for the large pieces. Place one of the large balls on a dusted surface and arrange seven of the small ones around it. Be sure to leave enough space to allow the dough to rise without touching. The arrangement should look like a flower.

Repeat the arrangement with the second large piece of dough. Dust the balls with flour and cover them with a cloth to keep them from becoming dry. The dough should be left at room temperature for an hour to rise.

Flour the Couronne proofing basket and set it aside. Once the dough has risen, roll out each of the big center balls into a thin disk. Place it over the raised part of the banneton and make sure the disk is stretching all the way to the midway point between the cup and the edge of the proofing basket.  

You should brush olive oil around the edge of the rolled-out dough so it can lift and create the resemblance of a crown.

Go ahead and reshape the rest of the dough balls to give them good structure and put each small ball into the stretched disk with the bottom looking up. 

Lightly dust the surface once again, cover, and allow to rise one more time for about 35 minutes.

Then line your baking sheet with parchment paper and flip the two baskets into it. Be gentle but quick.

Pour hot water into the preheated pans so steam forms in the cooking chamber and immediately slide the pan with your Couronne inside. Bake for 15 minutes and then remove the pans with the water. Continue to bake your dish for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

Peach Cobbler

You’ll want to use an outdoor pizza oven like the Mangiafuoco, a mixing bowl, and a baking pan for this delicious holiday recipe. As for ingredients, you’ll need:

• 900 grams of peaches (about 5)
• Juice of half a small lemon
• 170 grams or 1.5 sticks butter cubed
• 215 grams or 1.5 cups flour
• 300 grams or 1.5 cups sugar
• A pinch of salt
• Ice cream for serving 

Directions 

Preheat your oven to 350°F (176°C) and cube the butter before coating it with flour (with your fingertips). Rub the butter into the flour, using your fingertips.

Tap the bowl gently onto the working surface so the larger lumps of butter will come to the surface. Mix the sugar and salt in with your buttered flour and put in the refrigerator.

Now, prepare the peaches. Slice the fruit and put them in your baking pan with the juice of ½ of a lemon. Cover the peaches with your butter crumble and shake the pan to make the crumble work its way down the fruit.

Put the pan in the oven for 25 to 45 minutes or until the crumble is golden brown and your peaches are bubbling. Serve with ice cream.

Can you only cook pizza in a pizza oven? These holiday recipes prove that you can actually prepare many delicious and interesting holiday dishes in a pizza oven as far as your imagination will take you!

Create the Most Scrumptious Feast in Your Outdoor Pizza Oven

Now that you have these wood-fired recipes on hand you’re ready for the most delicious holiday season yet. And if you are wondering if our pizza oven holiday recipes are limited to just side dishes, the answer is definitely not! Your Fontana Forni outdoor oven can also wow your guests by cooking your Thanksgiving turkey to absolute perfection.

Fontana Forni is a brand built around family and time-honored craftsmanship, making our pizza ovens the ideal cooking companion for this holiday season.

Looking for more scrumptious holiday recipes? Fontana Forni has a collection of free pizza oven recipes available online!

Happy holidays from the Fontana Forni family!