Last summer I helped my friend Mark build a pizza oven on his farm in Illinois. It was operational when he left in the fall, but still needed to have the stucco applied to complete the job. When he returned from Sydney this spring (where he lives much of the year with his wife Nicole) we decided to 
work on the base coat together, and he would apply the finish coat on his own.
We chose the hottest day of the year so far, pushing 100 degrees. The plan was to have dinner, spend the night, and work early the next day before it got too hot.
Their garden is starting to produce, so much of the meal came from there. We started with a sparkling rosé wine from the Loire valley, which was a treat.
There followed a frito misto of herbs and vegetables, including stuffed zucchini blossoms. Nicole would say stuffed courgette blossoms. There were beans, peas, dill, basil, and sage in a lighter than air batter. Her secret is to use sparkling water in the mix.
Mark fired up the oven to grill some ribeyes the Tuscan way: simply grilled and then dragged through olive oil with rosemary and a little Maldon sea salt. Served on a bed of slightly bitter arugula (or rocket), the juices softened and flavored the greens beautifully.
There is almost always a breeze on Meyer Farm, so in spite of the heat it was very pleasant sitting outside around the table made from barnwood taken from the ruins behind the house. Before we knew it, it was after midnight and we had consumed some very nice wines.
Mark claims I said we would get up at 5:15, but I didn’t crawl out of bed until 7:00 when the sun was alarmingly high in the sky. The first order of business was to install the 4 decorative tiles on the face of the oven, with Nicole’s guidance. They will add a nice touch to the finished project. By 11:30 we had run out of material, but had barely enough to finish the scratch coat. After a few days of drying, Mark will finish it up. Looking forward to our first pizza from it!
