Sausage and Ricotta Pizza with Castelvetrano Olives

FANCY RANCH

TOTAL 5 MIN; MAKES 11/2 CUPS

Spiked with umami-rich anchovies, this versatile condiment is perfect for drizzling over pizza or tossing with salad greens. Chill the ranch overnight to thicken it slightly and allow the flavors to meld.

1 to 2 oil-packed anchovy fillets (to taste), finely chopped 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/3 cup whole buttermilk, plus more if needed 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh chives 1 Tbsp. white vinegar 1 medium garlic clove, grated on a Microplane 1 tsp. black pepper 1/2 tsp. fine sea salt, plus more to taste 1/4 tsp. onion powder

Using flat side of a knife, smash chopped anchovies into a smooth paste on a cutting board. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add remaining ingredients; whisk until well combined. Thin with additional buttermilk if needed to reach desired consistency. Season with additional salt to taste. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 1

week. —PAIGE GRANDJEAN

SMASHED GARLIC OIL

TOTAL 5 MIN; MAKES 1/2 CUP

Pungent fresh garlic permeates the olive oil for a quick and easy finishing oil with big flavor. Salt works as an abrasive to break down the chopped garlic into a smooth paste.

6 medium garlic cloves 1/4 tsp. fine sea salt 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1/2 tsp. finely chopped fresh oregano

Finely chop garlic, and sprinkle with salt. Using flat side of a knife, smash to form a paste-like consistency. Transfer mixture to a small bowl. Stir in oil and oregano. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up

GARLIC CONFIT

ACTIVE 10 MIN; TOTAL 3 HR 10 MIN MAKES 11/2 CUPS

Garlic cloves become mellow and sweet as they bathe low and slow in buttery olive oil. Slather softened cloves over crusty bread, or whip garlicky oil into mashed potatoes.

11/2 cups olive oil 2 garlic heads, cloves separated and peeled (about 26 cloves) 1 (6-inch) oregano sprig 2 chiles de árbol 2 (3- x 1-inch) lemon peel strips 1/8 tsp. fine sea salt Preheat oven to 250°F. Combine all ingredients in a small lidded ovenproof saucepan. Cover and roast in preheated oven until garlic is softened and very lightly browned, about 2 hours. Uncover and let cool completely, about 1 hour. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator

up to 1 week. —PAIGE GRANDJEAN

HOT HONEY

TOTAL 5 MIN, PLUS 24 HR INFUSING MAKES 2/3 CUP

Relying on time rather than heat to marry the flavors allows the fruity Calabrian chiles and floral clover honey to shine. For a milder spice, remove some or all of the Calabrian chile seeds.

1/2 cup clover honey 10 jarred whole Calabrian chiles (about 11/2 oz.) (such as Tutto

Calabria), finely chopped Pinch of fine sea salt

Stir together all ingredients in a small lidded jar. Cover tightly with lid, and let stand at room temperature at least 24 hours or up to 2 weeks. (Hot honey will get spicier the longer it infuses.) —PAIGE

GRANDJEAN

NOTE Find Tutto Calabria chiles online at supermarketitaly.com.

STEP NO. 6

TRY OUR PRIMO PIES

Part of the fun of making your own pizza is personalizing your pie. From garlicky and briny to earthy and spicy, pizza is the perfect blank canvas for highlighting garden-fresh produce or using up fridge leftovers. Follow our topping guidelines (see p. 78) and choose your own adventure, or try these favorite combinations from the f&w test kitchen.

1

CLASSIC CHEESE PIZZA

Do basic better.

Spread 1 shaped dough round with 1/4 cup Basic Pizza Sauce (recipe p. 78). Top with 3 ounces shredded low-moisture mozzarella. Bake as directed; top with fresh basil or oregano leaves, if desired.

2

WILD MUSHROOM PIZZA WITH HOMEMADE RANCH

Almost a salad. (Almost.)

Spread 1 shaped dough round with 1/4 cup Basic Pizza Sauce; top with 2 ounces torn fresh mozzarella and 1 ounce sliced or torn wild mushrooms that have been seasoned with olive oil and salt. Bake as directed; drizzle with Fancy Ranch (recipe p. 83).

3

POTATO PIZZA WITH CRÈME FRAÎCHE AND BACON

Double the carbs? OK!

Spread 1 shaped dough round with 3 tablespoons crème fraîche and 4 smashed cloves of Garlic Confit (recipe p. 83). Layer with 2 ounces thinly sliced potato, 3/4 ounce caramelized onions, 1/4 ounce cooked crumbled bacon, and 6 baby kale leaves. Bake as directed; sprinkle with chopped

fresh chives.

4

SOPPRESSATA PIZZA WITH CALABRIAN CHILE HOT HONEY

The pizza of the moment.

Spread 1 shaped dough round with 1/4 cup Basic Pizza Sauce; top with 11/2 ounces torn fresh mozzarella, 1 ounce thinly sliced soppressata, 1/4 ounce thinly sliced red onion, 1/2 ounce Calabrian chiles (optional), and fresh oregano leaves. Bake as directed; drizzle with Hot Honey (recipe p. 83).

5

SAUSAGE AND RICOTTA PIZZA WITH CASTELVETRANO OLIVES

Meaty, briny, and vegetal.

Spread 1 shaped dough round with 2 tablespoons Basic Pizza Sauce; dollop with 3 tablespoons ricotta. Top with 1 ounce cooked crumbled Italian sausage, 1 ounce roasted mixed bell peppers, and torn Castelvetrano olives (optional). Bake as directed; top with

fresh basil leaves.

Hakim Sulaimani, the owner of Yafa Café in Sunset Park, Brooklyn

F ROM Y E M E N

S T O R Y B Y K H U S H B U S H A H

W I T H

P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y A L E X L A U

LOV E

ONE OF THE WORLD’S OLDEST COFFEE CULTURES TAKES ON DELICIOUS NEW LIFE AT YAFA CAFÉ.

HAWAIJ-SPICED FRIED CHICKEN SANDWICHES

P. 95

H

HAKIM SULAIMANI IS WEARING a burgundy track jacket half-zipped over a crisp white shirt, with a black bag that reads “Degentrify your coffee” in bright orange letters slung across his shoulder. They say that some people wear their heart on their sleeve, but in Sulaimani’s case, it’s more of a mission statement. The soft-spoken 28-year-old is determined to build a completely new coffee economy for Yemen, some 7,000 miles away.

Sulaimani is the owner of Yafa Café, a bustling coffee shop on a busy stretch of Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood. The deep notes of freshly roasted coffee and the sweet fragrance of cardamom engulf your nostrils the moment you push open the glass door. On the front left wall hangs a series of photographs, one depicting the facade of his family’s ancestral home in Yafa, a district located in the southern part of Yemen. Another wall is decked out in woven baskets from the same region. Each piece of decor, each cup of coffee poured, each item on the menu is an ode to Yemen.

“I want to do for Yemeni coffee what Starbucks has done for the Indonesian coffee economy,” says Sulaimani, who hopes to see coffee become one of Yemen’s main exports in his lifetime. Sulaimani first started taking pride in Yemeni coffee when he was 7 years old, thanks in part to a PBS show. A trivia question revealed that Yemen was one of the birthplaces of coffee, a fact that stuck with him. “I remember being a kid and feeling super hyped because I’d never heard of Yemen in any other context before in the mainstream,” he says. In college, when he was spending lots of time in coffee shops in New York City, he realized that Yemeni coffee could also be a viable career. He initially dreamed of a modest online business selling coffee beans, but that vision quickly morphed into the full-fledged café that he opened in 2019 with his cousin Ali Suliman (who has since left the business and is now a coffee consultant). Today, Yafa Café serves a modern menu that includes

above: Photographs of Yemen displayed on the walls. below: In addition to Yemeni coffee, Yafa Café creates house-roasted coffee blends sourced from Brazil, Uganda, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, and Peru.

cardamom–brown sugar lattes, za’atar avocado toast, and some very popular breakfast burritos.

Yafa Café is in the same working-class neighborhood where Sulaimani grew up. It’s on the same block as his father’s bodega, Yafa Deli,where he was practically raised. His father, Tarek, who arrived in the U.S. from Yemen nearly three decades ago, remains skeptical of the café, Sulaimani admits with a laugh. But while his father still sells $1 cups of coffee at the bodega, Yemeni pour-overs go for $7 a cup at Yafa Café, not even 100 feet down the block. “Any type of coffee can trace its DNA to Yemeni coffee. So you’re drinking kind of the grandfather of coffee,” he says.

Sulaimani has high hopes for that coffee. He is frustrated that even though Yemeni coffee sells at record prices in the Western market (with one well-known shop making headlines for selling $16 cups), Yemen’s coffee farmers struggle to make ends meet—a situation made even more dire by the country’s ongoing civil war. Although Yemen has several 10th- and 11th-generation coffee farmers, many have shifted to growing khat, a popular amphetaminelike stimulant. For the coffee at Yafa Café, Sulaimani works with a small coffee farm in Yafa that relatives help manage, as well as a handful of other companies that prioritize the well-being of farmers and an ethical supply chain. He hopes to one day directly support more farms and to convince more coffee farmers to return to their original crop.

At Yafa Café, a big part of the business is educating customers, not only on why he charges $7 per cup of coffee but also through being transparent regarding his supply chain. His approach has paid off. In the years since it first opened, Yafa Café has become a glowing success, beloved both by the local community and by customers who trek in from neighboring states like Connecticut for the coffee and to order from the food menu, which, like the coffee, is rooted, but not fixed, in tradition. “I didn’t want to deal with people saying, ‘This isn’t how my mom makes it,’” says Sulaimani. Dishes like the shurba, or soup, with bulgur and a hawaij-spiced fried chicken sandwich have proven to be very popular. Another hit? The honeycomb buns, a sweet bread that his aunt would bake after her 4 a.m. prayers every morning when the café first opened.

These days, Sulaimani is looking to the future, one where he sees several more Yafa Cafés, each brimming with its own menu of Yemeni tea and coffee, and a thriving wholesale business, selling to several offices and cafés across the country. He has visions of walking down the aisles of Whole Foods one day and seeing bags of his coffee stacked high. Sulaimani is energized by the number of Yemeni coffee shops that have popped up locally since he opened the doors to the café, and he is hopeful that there will be more.

“We’re finally seeing this fourth wave of coffee shops that sell African and Middle Eastern coffee because that is their background,” he says. “The beans are from where we come from. And so is the culture.”

above: In addition to a coffee menu of espresso drinks and pour-overs, guests at Yafa Café can order karak, a spiced and milky Yemeni tea, and qahwa, a drink made from coffee husks steeped with ginger and cardamom. below: A photograph of women carrying tea in Yemen.

YEMENI BULGUR WHEAT SHURBA (SOUP) P. 94