FESTIVE pizzas usually involve topping dough with turkey, pigs in blankets and cranberry sauce. Why not sprinkle some Christmas pudding crumbs to compete the seasonal set? Yuck.
Now for something completely different, which has ToM straining at the leash to get down to the Mackie Mayor to sample a pizza collaboration between Honest Crust and new Levenshume natural wine bar ISCA.
It’s on the specials board until Sunday, December 1 and boasts a seriously classy roster of ingredients to enhance HC’s superb sourdough bases. So a combo of in-house smoked Westcombe Dairy ricotta, brown butter, roasted squash, cavolo nero, chilli and pangrattato (breadcrumbs, made from their own dough).
The recipe was created by chef Isobel Jenkins, celebrated for her supper club Season’s Eatings and the other half of ISCA’s founding duo. The wine expertise comew from Canadian sommelier Caroline Dubois (below), who created the low intervention wine list at the groundbreaking Where The Light Gets In Stockport.
ISCA, a combination of wine bar and seasonally-inspired deli/cafe, has now soft launched and is a huge bonus for Levenshulme. The title ISCA comes from yoking together the names of its two owners (we were a bit slow on that one). Follow @ISCAwines to confirm full opening times.
The ambition of the place is obvious. On Saturday, January 18 they are hosting a collab dinner with Brooklyn-based ‘Sunday Suppers’ an award-winning cooking series and blog created by Karen Mordechai, a photographer, recipe developer, and stylist.
The Levy event is part of Sobremesa, Sunday Suppers’ global dinner series. It is about celebrating friends and community, and gathering around a table with great food. The series of dinners are called ‘Golde’, appropriate for the seasons and inspired by the healing warmth of the colour.
Tickets on sale now, as befits the global remit, are $95 (£74) a head and include a fivecourse menu, matching natural wines and 10 per cent of the price will be donated to The Hunger Project. Buy tickets here.
The food menu is smoked cheese, pickled fruit, congee turmeric, garlic chips, seven minute egg; market panzanella, carrot, radish, bread, herbs; crispy chicken, black garlic, olives, charred leeks; apple crostata, creme fraiche, pink salt.
Isca Wines, 825 Stockport Road, Manchester, M19 3PN. For other events go to this link.
Check out 'How natural wines came of age'.