Drew Foreman and Marguerite Viola met in AmeriCorps, where they were paired together because they both could cook. They worked together to create meals for hikers who would pass by in their travels. They created beautiful dishes like lamb chops and barbecue, but also pizza. “Pizza is a blank slate for any flavors you want. It is a playground for everything, from fresh ingredients to pickled. You can test out flavors and be as creative as you want,” says Foreman.
Foreman grew up in a home where neither parent cooked but they would give him and his brother a credit card and an open invitation to shop and cook whatever meals they wanted. “This is where I fell in love with cooking,” Foreman remembers. “One of the funniest fails I had that my family still jokes about is when I made tuna noodle casserole but forgot the actual tuna.” He worked in restaurants during high school and college, and when he wasn’t inspired in the career path he had set out for, cooking came back into the picture.
Foreman and Viola opened a mobile wood-fired pizza oven that would travel to all of the local farmers’ markets. Seven years ago, they bought the building where Emmaus’s favorite Switchback Pizza is now tucked away on Jubilee Street. Their seasonal menu is a cult favorite among locals and truly anyone else who tries their pizza.
Here, they are sharing their recipe for Drunken Apple and Swine, a sweet and savory pizza made with sweet Italian sausage, Gorgonzola, crisp apples, a little bit of cinnamon-sugar on top, and finished with a bourbon syrup. In the fall, the apples are sourced from local favorite Scholl Orchards in Bethlehem.
The couple is often inspired by new flavors and delicious meals they have when traveling. Whenever Foreman and Viola have an amazing meal on one of their culinary date nights, it always becomes the conversation of “How can we make this into a pizza?”
Switchback Pizza Company | 525 Jubilee St., Emmaus | 610.928.0641 | switchbackpizza.com
Makes two 12-inch pies
Ingredients
- 2 10-ounce dough balls
- 2/3 cup Gorgonzola cheese crumbles
- 1 cup cooked sweet Italian sausage(links or loose)
- 2 apples
- 2 tsp. cinnamon/sugar blend (1½ tsp. cinnamon and ¼ cup sugar)
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 2 ounces bourbon
For one pie at a time
Instructions
Topping Preparation
- Cinnamon/sugar Blend: Put cinnamon and sugar in a cup with a lid and shake to blend. Makes a larger batch than needed.
- Pre-cook Sausage: Bake links in oven or toaster oven at 400 degrees until internal temperature of 165. If loose, cook in a pan until browned and done; set aside to cool. If making links, let cool then slice into 1/6 inch slices. (Can be made the day before pizza night.)
- Bourbon Apples: (note: apples cook quickly) Core apples and slice into ¼-inch slices. Set the frying pan on medium-high heat to warm. Add butter to pan and let melt and begin to brown; add apples to butter and toss to coat. Toss coated apples with cinnamon-sugar blend. Add bourbon to the pan and cook until alcohol burns off and a syrup is created in the pan. Remove from pan and allow to cool. Make in two batches if needed as to not crowd the pan. (Can be made a few days before pizza night.)
Pizza Night
- Add pizza stone or steel to oven. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
- Pull dough ball from fridge 25 minutes before baking.
- Pull all ingredients out of fridge and let come to room temperature.
- Toss dough ball in flour and stretch dough ball out to 11–12-inch pizza; transfer to steel.
- Add ingredients to pizza: apples, sausage then Gorgonzola last (on top).
- Finish stretch to make sure pizza isn't sticking to steel.
- Bake until desired doneness; about 5–12 minutes.
Published as "Beyond the Menu" in the December 2022 edition of Lehigh Valley Style magazine.
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