Playing for Pizza by John Grisham - Recipe by Mat Follas
Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
I first started reading John Grisham novels around 20 years ago an since my first taste of his words, I’ve worked my way through all of his books, more than once.
This one was picked, well you can imagine why, it’s the title, not really an ingredient but I couldn’t resist the title or the book.
Here’s a little bit about John Grisham and a book overview pieced together from various sauces such as Wikipedia and Amazon.
John Grisham is probably most known for his fiction writing about modern legal thrillers. Before his writing career begun, John worked at a small Mississippi law practice, no surprise about where he got most of his ideas from.
The idea for his first book, A Time to Kill, came when John overheard a testimony about a twelve-year-old rape victim.
He wondered what would happen if the girls father had killed her assailants. This book tool him three years to write, finishing in 1987.
When it was published in 1988 only sold 5,000 copies.
Johns next book.
The Firm, hit the big time and was made into a film making John Grisham a very popular author indeed.
Lots of great books followed soon after many making the New York bestsellers list as soon as they came out into the world.
The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, Runaway Jury, The street Lawyer , The Testament, The Last Juror (and so many more) nine of them were made into films with big stars like Tom Cruise and Danni Davito.
Playing for Pizza is about an NFL quarterback, Rick Dockery, who is having a rough time when one mistake makes him a laughing stock over night.
Rick leaves a NFL game when he makes mistakes leading to his team to losing out on the chance to go to the Superbowl.
Thrown off the team, amongst many other things he’s up against, Rick gets his break – as star quarterback in Italy.
Rick accepts the job, glad to get away from the negative press and his legal troubles in the United States, but wary of living in Italy, where he doesn't know the language and where American football draws little attention or respect
His Italian team wins their first game with Rick, then lose a couple for various reasons.
Italy and the team grow on Rick, and he begins to feel some loyalty to them.
Rick decides to honour his contract with the Parma Panthers. With renewed resolve, a talented Italian wide receiver, and a new strategy, they win each of their remaining regular-season games, then advance to the playoffs and the Italian Super Bowl, a very close and hard-fought game against their rivals.
Obviously, there’s more to this book than just my overview, but I’ll leave that for you to find out.
I’m giving the book a 3 egg rating.
As I mentioned I’m a big fan of John Grishams writing, but my favourites are the legal books, so this one was out of my reading comfort zone.
A little too much of the sports references for me but what did bring it back was the food, making it perfect for a Foodie book Club read
John Grisham, Playing for Pizza
Three Egg Rating
Mat Follas has gifted the recipe to go along with this months read straight from his website. Heres a little bit about Mat and what he’s been up to.
Mat won the TV series BBC MasterChef in 2009, then opened his first restaurant, The Wild Garlic, to considerable national acclaim. The Wild Garlic was awarded 2 AA Rosettes and was recommended in The Good Food Guide and The Michelin guide. In 2016, Mat opened Bramble Cafe & Deli in Poundbury, Dorset which was sold in August 2020. Mat's new venture in Sherborne, Dorset is yet to be named.
Mat regularly runs Foraging courses as well as Gin and liqueur making courses and he has had three books published, Fish, Vegetable Perfection and Afternoon Tea (Waitrose Weekend's Best Baking Book of 2018).
Mat often judges food competitions and events and is a regular judge for BBC MasterChef and The Great Taste Awards.
Tortilla Pizza Florentine
Tortilla Pizza Florentine by Mat Follas
SERVES 4
1 Tortilla wrap
100g spinach
1 small tin of tomato concentrate
4 happy Eggs
Ground pepper for seasoning and presentation
To make the PizzaSpread the tomato purée onto the Tortilla wrap.
Cook the spinach in a pot of boiling water for 20 seconds, then
quickly run under cold water to blanch it.Arrange the spinach on
the Tortilla.
To poach the eggs
In a pan of gently simmering water, stir to make a whirlpool in the
water, crack an egg and carefully drop it in the middle.Poach for
approx. 4 minutes.Arrange the poached eggs on the Tortilla.
Season with ground pepper.Place in a preheated oven at 160°C for 5 minutes to warm through.
