The Dresden Files: ‘Za Lord Elite Deep Dish Pizza

Today’s going to be a rather short post with Dragon Con coming up this weekend, and with the fact that recording my band‘s new album has backed up my posting schedule. Don’t worry. This recipe is going to be a fun one: The ‘Za Lord Elite Deep Dish Pizza!

One of my first entries for the blog was a dish mentioned in the urban fantasy series The Dresden Files. I’m still not sure if I should be surprised, thrilled, or both that Mac’s Steak Sandwich continues to be my most popularly searched recipe — especially when I wrote it when I was still getting my feet wet in the world of food blogging. Admittedly, it was put together with what ingredients I could find at the time, and I have every intention of revisiting it soon with some new, tasty additions that I think fit Dresden’s Chicago a little better.

That said, I want to move onto a recipe I’ve had in mind before I even started the blog: pizza for everyone’s favorite band of degenerates – The ‘Za Lord’s Elite!

For those who have not read the series, The Dresden Files follows the noir-style adventures of a modern day wizard named Harry Dresden as he stumbles, bloodies, and near kills himself with the grace of a drunken, pyromaniacal ferret while solving the mysteries of Chicago’s supernatural community. Every once in awhile, he would summon the aid of a local pixie named Toot Toot to help him gather information. At their first meeting, he lures the wayward fae with the traditional offering of bread, milk, and honey.

Rule 1: Never let a pixie get hangry…

He soon learns from Toot Toot that he and his kin prefer a slightly more modern take. And doesn’t it just figure that the pixies of Chicago nurse an all-consuming pizza addiction? Soon Dresden’s regular deliveries garner him the following of a winged, plastic bottle-armored, box-cutter wielding, pie-loving army who are more than happy to hail their ‘Za Lord in exchange for a slice or five of flakey-crusted cheesy goodness.

So with Chicago, pizza, and fairies in mind, I wanted to create a pixie-themed Chicago-style deep dish pizza. In my research, I learned that while the deep dish pizza is iconic to the city’s food culture, native Chicagoans are more likely to chow down on a thin and crispy crust pizza and leave the deep dish to the tourists. Don’t worry, I plan on making that too. In the meantime, let’s start with the cake equivalent of the ‘za world.

So for the crust, I used honey to activate the yeast and mixed in fresh thyme as the herb is reputed in folklore to help one see into the Otherworld (or the Never Never in Dresden’s case). Into this, I pressed slabs of mozzarella, plenty of sliced button mushrooms, and more fresh thyme. Then I topped the whole thing off with some crushed tomato with basil and a faerie ring of mushrooms.

Trust me, folks, this is circle you’ll want to get trapped in. I used an aluminum springform cake pan to bake this in. I recommend the same as it makes it much easier to remove the pie than it would in a standard pan. You could use a cast iron skillet, just make sure you don’t serve the result to any faeries unless you’re planning an assassination attempt.

So here it is, pizza good enough to inspire one to take up a tape-wrapped screw or boxcutter and fight against the forces of Summer, Winter, Heaven, or Hell in the name of the mighty ‘Za Lord!