Homemade pizzas focus on variety
Regina Murphy
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Last week was cookie time; this week it’s pizza time!
A lot of pizza dough is just a pepperoni delivery system. But adding herbs, cheese, beer, sourdough starter can turn the crust into part of the meal instead of a platform for toppings.
With a bread machine, or a dough-hook for a food processor it makes it that much easier. In a pinch, ready-to-cook pizza crusts from the store will do.
Judy Conway sent in two really nice recipes, including one with a cornmeal crust. Thanks for sharing!
JUDY’S BREAKFAST PIZZA
1 (8-oz.) can crescent rolls
1 lb. ground pork sausage, cooked, drained
1 cup shredded cheddar
1 cup shredded mozzarella
5 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
3/4 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. pepper
Unroll crescent rolls, separating them into 8 triangles. Judy says to place the triangles with elongated points toward the center on a greased 12-inch pizza pan. Press perforations together to form a crust. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes on the lower rack, then remove. The crust will be puffy.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Spoon cooked sausage over dough; sprinkle with cheeses. Combine the eggs and remaining 3 ingredients; pour this over the sausage mixture. Bake at 350 degrees on lower rack of oven 30 to 35 minutes or until crust is golden.
Judy says, “When we were kids growing up my aunt made this pizza for us kids whenever we visited her. She was an avid gardener and always liked to incorporate things out of the garden into her recipes. Zucchini and onions out of her garden were always used in this recipe.”
JUDY’S ZUCCHINI
CRUST PIZZA
12 oz. package corn muffin mix
1 cup flour
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2/3 cup milk
1 large egg, beaten
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 lb. turkey sausage
8-oz. jar sliced mushrooms
1 onion, sliced
3 cups shredded mozzarella
3/4 cup pizza sauce
In a bowl, combine corn muffin mix, flour and Parmesan cheese. Add milk, egg and zucchini and mix well. Spread onto greased 14-inch pizza pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes.
Brown the sausage and remove from skillet so you can sauté the mushrooms and onion in the sausage drippings. Spread 2/3 cup cheese over the baked crust. Add pizza sauce and spread to within an inch of the edges. Top with sausage mixture and the remaining cheese. Return your pizza to the oven and bake 10 more minutes. Yum!
Pizza can have just about anything on top of it, from chicken alfredo, to barbecued pork to steak and mushrooms. Think outside the pepperoni!
For a change, try to limit yourself to two or three toppings, focussing on one main flavor with a couple of accompanying flavors. Ground beef with onion and mushroom. Sliced tomatoes with feta cheese and black olives. Diced chicken with caramelized onions and mozzarella. Beef and blue cheese.
You can try this spread for your pizza in place of the traditional tomato sauce. You can buy pesto, but it’s easy to make yourself with a blender.
PESTO PIZZA
3 cloves roasted garlic
Olive oil
2 cups fresh basil or spinach leaves
2 Tbsp. pine nuts or walnuts
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 yellow bell pepper, chopped
3 or 4 fresh mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup shredded Italian blend cheese (more or less)
Make the pesto by blending together the garlic, basil and pine nuts until very well chopped. Then, with the blender running, drizzle in olive oil until a paste forms. It should be moist, but not runny. Many people choose spinach and/or walnuts as a cost-cutting measure and it tastes just fine.
Brush the pre-baked pizza crust of your choice with olive oil. Take a fork and spread the pesto all around the crust. Sprinkle on the cheese according to your needs. Add the onions, bell peppers and mushrooms, and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.
Another good topping is thinly sliced fresh tomatoes and slices of fresh mozzarella cheese along with some more fresh basil: The classic “Pizza Margherita.”
This next dish is a doozy! Stromboli is part pizza, part sandwich. You can make your own dough, of course, and choose either mild or hot sausage. Just remove the sausage from its casing and crumble it well when cooking. This recipe can be halved because it feeds an army.
STROMBOLI
2 cans of prepared pizza dough (13.8 oz.)
1/2 lb. Italian sausage, browned and crumbled
1 cup sliced yellow onions
1/2 cup red bell peppers
1/2 cup green bell peppers
2 Tbsp. jalapenos
2 Tbsp. garlic
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 lb. ham
1/4 lb. pepperoni or salami
1/2 cup black olives
2 cups provolone, grated
2 cups mozzarella, grated
1 egg
1 cup grated Parmesan
Stem, seed and thinly slice the peppers. Mince the garlic and slice the olives. Slice the ham and pepperoni or salami. Grease a large baking sheet and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a large skillet, cook the sausage over medium-high heat until no longer pink about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain well on paper towels. Discard all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the pan (save that pork fat for later). Add the onions, bell peppers, and jalapenos, and cook, stirring, until very soft, four to five minutes. Add the garlic and Italian seasoning and cook, stirring, for one minute. Remove from heat to cool.
Roll out half of the dough onto a sheet of parchment or waxed paper and press it into a rectangle about 10-by-15 inches. Spread half of the cooled sausage mixture across the dough, leaving a 1-inch border. Layer half of the ham, pepperoni, olives, provolone and mozzarella cheeses over the top.
Beat the egg with a little bit of water. Brush the border of one long edge with egg wash. Starting at the opposite long side, roll up the dough into a cylinder, pinching the edges to seal. Place on the prepared baking sheet and repeat with the remaining ingredients.
Brush the top of each Stromboli with egg wash. Bake until the dough is nearly done, then sprinkle with the Parmesan. Return to the oven until the cheese is melted and the dough is golden brown (about 5 minutes).
Remove from the oven and let stand 10 minutes, then cut into thick slices and serve. So much better than a frozen pizza pocket!
Next week we’ll look at several sour cream cake recipes. For the following menu let’s do something special. I like to eat at the Thai House in Lawrence, especially on the weekends when they have the noodle bowls. All over Asia and the Far East, cultures share a love of this style of dish.
I’m not talking Ramen here! Do you have a favorite noodle bowl recipe you would like to share? Send it in to 517 Merchant, or e-mail murphysmenu@yahoo.com. Let’s get cooking!