Taco Pizza

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Mads

Now, this recipe is only for the highly skilled pizza-eater. You might pass out from tastiness if you aren’t trained in eatery.

Just a warning.

Ok…now for you real pizza pie lovers, here is my recipe for taco pizza. It is glorious. Absolutely glorious.

The crust:

The toppings (onion, cilantro, tomato, grilled chicken, green and red pepper, garlic, jalapeno, and black beans):

The cheese (marinated fresh mozzarella and mexican cheddar):

The sauce (roasted garlic hot sauce, 1/2 packet taco seasoning, 1 Tbsp. olive oil):

Here she is right before I put mexican cheese on ‘er and put ‘er in the oven.

Halfway done!

Oh my goodness, doesn’t that look gooey and awesome!

The final product (not safe for amateur eaters):

Try this.

Maybe toss a little taco sauce and sour cream on top if you are brave!

Om nom nom

-Mads

Veggies in the mix

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Mads

So I promised I wouldn’t post about my pizza adventures until I made something new and different. Well, mission accomplished. Last night I made a masterpiece.

I used my standard crust recipe. It’s too simple and delicious to veer away from.

The base layer was simply a spoonful of olive oil and 3 cloves of chopped garlic.
Followed by:
chopped tarragon and basil
orange bell pepper
halved mini tomatoes
very thinly sliced zucchini (which was sauteed with olive oil, salt, and pepper)
Canadian bacon
shredded fresh mozzarella
shredded parm

Oven at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes or so.

I am not a fan of zucchini, but it adds just a bit of a bite and isn’t too noticeable after sauteing. The Canadian bacon was a surprise even to me, but I would definitely use it again and again.

In case you don’t believe the amazingness, I have witnesses!

-M

Step by step pizza making

Posted on May 26, 2010 by Mads

I have been continuing on the “in pursuit of perfect pizza” quest, but have neglected to document the whole shebang for my blog! So, for your viewing pleasure, here is the shakey snakey breakdown:

Crusts are usually from here because it is SOOO easy, but I think that some toppings need a thinner crust and sometimes I just don’t feel like using corn meal. So I’ve also been using this thin crust recipe. I am of the philosophy that pizza should be the easiest of dinner creations, so spending a lot of time on the crust is not something I’m interested in.

Pizza sauces are a tough one for me. I have yet to find a red sauce that doesn’t taste chef-boy-ar-dee ish. Instead, I use BBQ sauce, pesto, garlic infused olive oil, or no sauce at all! Apparently sauce wasn’t always paired with pizza.

My favorite toppings include hot Italian sausage, goat cheese, chopped basil, and sundried tomatoes. Really, once you have the crust and sauce down, there are endless possibilities.

Watch as I make a new creation!
Step 1: Wine

Step 2: Toss ingredients together for the crust, let rise, and roll out.

Press out the dough into your desired thickness. This one was a thin crust, no corn meal.

Step 3: TOPPINGS!!!!
Pesto and artichokes.

Something interesting I found about sundried tomatoes…they can be better than just yoinking them out of the jar they come in. Haha I had no idea. Just boil them in water for 10 minutes or so and they will get reconstituted a slight bit, just enough to make them a little soft.

OK, back to toppings…
Chopped basil (chopping is easier if you roll the leaves up)

Pine nuts, prosciutto, and drizzled olive oil.

Top it all off with some parmesan and you are oven-ready!

Ta-da! Easy as pie…pizza pie!

Ok, so now that you know all my pizza secrets, I won’t post any more pizza posts until I’ve made something totally awesome and new.

-M

Pizza Party!

Posted on March 28, 2010 by Mads

If you read my mac n cheese post, you know that I like taking food and making it on repeat until I perfect the recipe. I have officially perfected mac n cheese (there is no standard recipe…at this point I just go by feel).
My newest pet project is pizza. I was never too nervous about how tasty my pizzas would be, because bad pizza is still good pizza. Well folks, my pizza is (pardon my french) fucking fantastic! It was seriously unbelievably good.

I used this crust recipe, but the rest was just straight from my noggin.
Anything that calls for yeast makes me really nervous, because I am notoriously bad at making bread-like products. However, this was easy peasy and worked like a charm.

You just toss the ingredients together and let it sit for 10 minutes…that’s all!

Then sprinkle your pan with cornmeal. I wasn’t sure if this would be worth the fuss, but the cornmeal added a really great restaurant quality crust. In hindsight, I might have put a little too much on my pan haha oh well.
I browned a bit of spicy Italian sausage mmmm…

Then it was time for the assembly!
I included:
-pesto
-layer of goat cheese (oh my god, yes)
-spinach
-sundried tomatoes
-shaved red onion slices
-the snosage
-pepperonis (next time I would get spicy or some other Italian meat. this did not stick out in the mix of things)
-layer of fresh mozzarella cheese