FEATURE/Frozen Pizza Dresses Up for the Holidays with Recipes from The Freschetta Culinary Council

Business Wire, Dec 10, 2001

Lifestyle Editors & Food Writers

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MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE FEATURES)--Dec. 10, 2001

Top Chefs Offer Easy Suggestions for Holiday Entertaining

If you're looking for a way to impress your guests this holiday season but you don't want to spend all day in the kitchen to do it, the chefs from the Freschetta Culinary Council are here to help. Using simple recipes, you can take a Freschetta frozen pizza, customize it with additional toppings, and serve it to your guests as a mouth-watering gourmet treat.

These chefs are qualified to help you with party planning. The Freschetta Culinary Council is a group of five nationally recognized chefs/restaurateurs: Bradley Ogden, chef/co-owner of The Lark Creek Inn and One Market in San Francisco; Tony Mantuano, of Chicago's world famous restaurant, Spiaggia; Robert McGrath, chef/owner of Roaring Fork in Scottsdale; Walter Potenza, chef/owner of La Locanda del Coccio and Aquaviva Eurobistro in Providence, R.I.; and Boston chef Daniele Baliani, well known for his work at Pignoli.

For two years the Council has been meeting to work in the kitchen together developing recipes for Freschetta. Three new pizzas they developed include a Southwest Chicken Supreme, a Roasted Garlic Chicken with Rosemary, and the first ever frozen Margherita Pizza with mozzarella and Basil. The chefs have also helped enhance the entire Freschetta line with their work on the sauce and toppings.

Any Freschetta pizza will bring unparalleled taste to your home. But if you're looking to add your own personal touch, the chefs have offered tips to enhance either the Freschetta Four Cheese pizza or the Margherita pizza.

Potenza recommends dressing up the Margherita pizza with fennel and sweet Italian sausage to give it a little extra kick. Baliani says putting roasted vegetables on the Margherita pizza can add a nice touch. Mantuano's suggestion is to simply add prosciutto and shredded Parmigiano to put a twist on the Margherita's classic flavor.

Ogden says you can wow your guests by serving a Ceasar salad on top of the Freschetta Four Cheese pizza. McGrath recommends using the Four Cheese base to create a fajita pizza with onions, peppers, steak and Monterey Jack cheese.

Use any of these suggestions, or your own creativity, to bring unique flavors to your holiday menu.

Freschetta pizza is produced by Schwan's Consumer Brands North America, a division of Schwan's Sales Enterprises, Inc., a privately held company based in Marshall, Minn., established in 1970. The brand is represented in more than 40,000 retail outlets across the United States.

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