Restaurant Find: Zona78

I've never posted a restaurant find for any restaurants in Tucson, but in case any of you ever come here, and I'm not around to entertain you, I want you to know about one of my favorite Tucson spots. I am going to introduce you to what I believe to be the best tomato-basil soup in the city, though my other half of Two Friends Cook might disagree.

Zona78 is a restaurant that first opened in 2003, and they offer gourmet pizzas, some Italian dishes, and a great selection of starters and salads. They also offer this Roasted Tomato-Basil soup, made with local tomatoes and topped with their fresh toasted croutons. The soup is made with what I'm sure is a fair amount of cream, and I just find it amazing. When I think of going out to eat soup, all I think about is Zona78's tomato-basil soup. No joke. At lunch, you can get a grilled cheese and soup. Oh my goodness.


I also recommend this salad. For a long time, I always ate pizza from Zona78, but one day I tried their Chop-Chop salad. It's a delicious mix of contrasting flavors that work really well together. It's crunchy, a little sweet, and a little salty. Salami, pears, pecans, a fresh pear vinaigrette, amazing. Also, I'm thinking this fulfills my Iron Chef Blogger Challenge Pear, right? I ate pears, at least.


And, finally, this is Zona78's Tuscany pizza, and what their menu touts as their bestseller. It's a loaded pizza for sure, with Italian sausage, portabello mushrooms, fennel, roasted garlic, Zona's homemade mozzarella, and kalamata olives. I hope I didn't miss anything. It's a good pizza, though I didn't care for the fennel, and Aaron didn't care for the sausage. Still, pretty delicious. You can also opt for a whole wheat crust.

Pear Crisp Pie

(Ok, so I forgot to take a picture of my pie by itself, and this picture is a bit blurry. This is a picture from the Pie Off Brandon and I attended last night, and my pie is the one directly to the left of the white one.)

Pie Crust

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 egg

5 tablespoons cold water

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

1. Combine flour and salt. Add in shortening and work together with a pastry cutter (or fork, or whisk) until the mixture resembles tiny pebbles.

2. Lightly beat egg with a fork then add it to the mixture. Add water and vinegar.

3. Remove 1/3 of batter from bowl and put it in a large plastic bag. Flatten slightly with a rolling pin. Close bag tightly. Repeat with rest of dough, using 1/3 at a time.

4. Put in freezer for at least overnight (this will make the dough more flakey, but you can use it right away if you'd like. Thaw dough for 20 minutes before rolling and putting in a pie tin.

5. If you want to pre-bake your crust, fill with pie weights (or pinto beans or rice on tin foil) and bake for 10 minutes on 400.

Pear filling

4 green pears (the harder the better)

Sugar

Pinch of Salt

1. Peel pears with a vegetable peeler. Cut lengthwise, spoon out seeds and stem. Cut into 1/2 pieces.

2. Add "a good amount" of sugar (this is a direct quote from Pioneer Woman, I just poured the sugar in till I felt warm and happy inside). Add pinch of salt. Mix all around.

Crisp Topping

1 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Dash of nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 lb cold butter (1 stick)

1. In a medium bowl mix together all dry ingredients.

2. Cut butter into 1/2 inch squares. Put in bowl with dry ingredients and mix together with your hands (really squeeze together) until mixture resembles a coarse meal.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

1. Roll out pie crust. Pre-bake pie as directed above.

2. Take crust out of oven, pour in the pears. Cover with the crisp topping.

3. Cover with foil, bake for 15 minutes at 350. Remove foil, continue baking for 30 minutes more.

4. Take up the heat to 400, bake for 10 more minutes.

---REVIEW---

Brandon told me on the day of the Pioneer Woman signing that we were going to go to a Pie Off. I knew it was fate.

While Ree was signing my book I told her about the contest and asked her what I should make. I told her that I have a boyfriend that loves peach cobbler and she told me how she thought I could adapt her Pear Crisp recipe to make it into a Peach Cobbler Pie.

Well, turns out peaches are out of season, so I tried canned peaches. Horrible. Tried apples. No good. Stuck with the pears.

In the end I used three different recipes of Ree's and combined them to make a (contest winning) kick ass pie.

Pear Pancakes

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup pear nectar

2 medium Anjou or Bosc pears, thinly sliced lengthwise

1 cup half and half

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Confectioners sugar for serving

1. Preheat oven to 435. In a saucepan combine 1/3 cup granulated sugar, pear nectar and pear slices. Sprinkle pears with 1 tablespoon granulated sugar. Cook on medium-high until sugar caramelizes (about 10 minutes).

2. In a blender combine half and half, eggs and vanilla. Add flour, salt and remaining granulated sugar. Blend for 30 seconds on high. Scrape the sides of the blender and go for 10 more seconds.

3. Move pears to a glass or cast iron baking "bowl" (like a Pyrex container), pour batter over top of pears. Bake until light brown (about 15 minutes). Lower heat to 350 and bake until an inserted skewer comes out clean (about 10 more minutes).

4. Sprinkle with confectioners sugar before serving.

---Review---

Maybe it was because it was snowing outside when I made this for a Saturday breakfast, but this was one of the best breakfasts I have had at home. Brandon really liked it as well, and went for seconds (and thirds I believe).

Next time I am going to branch out and try some different fruits, perhaps apple or guava.

Here's a hint- you don't have to but a large jar of nectar for this recipe. You can buy individual cans of fruit nectar (usually found in the "Hispanic Foods" section) and you'll have more than enough!