Make Paulie Gee's Pizza at Home with a New Cookbook

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At the age of 56, Paulie Giannone decided to leave his career in corporate I.T. to follow his dream of creating a pizza restaurant. He partnered with his wife, Mary Ann, and launched Paulie Gee's, a Greenpoint pizzeria that has expanded into shops all over the city. And now, they are sharing their beloved recipes with home cooks. Paulie and Mary Ann discuss their new cookbook, Pizza From the Heart: 100 Recipes for Pies, Pasta, Salads, and More.

THE GREENPOINTER

Makes one 12-inch pie

This is one of the favorite combos we came up with while experimenting in our suburban wood-burning oven. So it only made sense for it to become one of our firstofficial Paulie Gee’s pies, named after the neighborhood where we began our business and that became our second home. It wasn’t until later that Paulie realizedhe’d taken the entire idea for this pie from Roberta’s own Green & White. So thank you to the entire team at Roberta’s! —MG

1 round of your favorite pizza dough (about ½ pound) Semolina, for dusting 6 ounces shredded low-moisture mozzarella cheese Handful of arugula Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling Juice of ½ lemon Fine sea salt (optional) ¼ cup shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

Place a pizza stone or steel on the floor of your oven. Preheat the oven to 550ºF or as high as it will go for 45 minutes. Place the dough on a pizza paddle that’s been dusted with semolina and stretch it to about 12 inches. Evenly scatter the mozzarella on top of the dough. Use the paddle to transfer the pie to the pizza stone or steel on the oven floor. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, until the crust is evenly brown and crisp and the cheese begins to brown slightly. Remove from the oven and evenly scatter the arugula over the pie. Drizzle with EVOO and the lemon juice and sprinkle with a bit of salt to taste, if desired. Top with the Parmigiano before slicing and serving.

NOTE: Simply substitute your favorite vegan cheeses for the mozz and Parmigiano for a vegan version.

Recipe(s) reprinted from Pizza from the Heart by Paulie and Mary Ann Giannone © 2025. Published by Union Square & Co., an imprint of Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group.