I first saw it in the freezer at Pat’s Meat Market where stacks of boxes were piled high with the brand Slab clearly showing.  It turned out to be Slab’s very popular pizza now available in stores. It’s not in Hannaford or Shaw’s (certainly not there) but is available at Pat’s, A&C Grocery and Micucci’s. At $12 for a 12-inch pie, it’s less expensive than ordering in from any of our pizza emporiums for takeout.

This is a plain pie: no toppings, just tomato sauce and mozzarella, with chef Stephen Lanzalotta’s signature pie in good stead: the sweet tomato sauce and gratings of mozzarella, just enough to make the pie glisten and gooey good.

Slab’s pie

After  first bite I thought, finally a plain pizza without all those egregious toppings, just the purely unadulterated Sicilian stretch of pizza dough and topping.

The crust is sensational: crispy, toothsome goodness.  Oddly the pie is not in slab form but rather a 12-inch round.  I assumed it would be in slab form as it is at the restaurant, though round pies are available there too. When you slice it the piece holds firm, no sagging in the middle.

For two of us the pie was perfect for a simple dinner.  I would store these in my freezer several in a stack, but the 14-inch box is too wide for the space in my side-by-side refrigerator-freezer. It’s wrapped in a plastic bag, which stored well in my freezer without the box.

The box, ready for the trash bin, is a sturdy and formidable piece of cardboard art

Since I saw it at Pat’s first, I went there the other day and they were out of it.  I trekked over to A&C Grocery and they had one left. The product seems to be very popular.

Prepare it this way: Let the pie stand at room temperature for 15 minutes allowing the crust to start its rise.  Put it on a pizza stone, cookie sheet or cast-iron pan.  It was too large for my 12-inch skillet.  The cookie sheet worked out fine.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees with the pan inside at the onset to heat up.  Then place the pie on the pan.  It takes exactly 15 minutes to be done: it will blister, rise and the sauce will bubble.  Let it cool for a minute or two before cutting.  It would be handy to have a pizza cutter, which I don’t.  A chef’s knife or bread knife worked fine.