9.30.2010

Twisted recipes: Overkill Pizza

I had a bit of a slant on last Saturday, and as a result I was given over to some strange ideas about food.  I was armed with:

1 premade whole wheat pizza dough
1 bag store brand mozzarella cheese
1 bag store brand cheddar cheese (equal parts Wisconsin, New York, and Vermont cheddar)
8 oz fresh mozzarella
1 carton sliced mushrooms
1 package sliced pepperoni
1 golden delicious apple
1 white onion
1 red pepper, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
1 container whole peeled garlic cloves
1 bottle olive oil
1 bottle dijon mustard
1 bottle honey
an open bottle of red wine
a tupperware container of leftover tomato sauce

Let's start with the sauce.  If you don't have any pre-made, you can follow this recipe and add half a cup of Parmesan cheese and a clove of garlic, omit the lemon zest, and add basil and oregano.

While the sauce is simmering, remove the pizza dough from its packaging, coat with flour, knead it, and let rise on a surface coated with flour, under a damp cloth.

Next, chop an onion into half-ring pieces, and the apple into thin slices
Pour a thin coating of olive oil into a frying pan.  Put the heat on high.  Once it starts to sizzle, reduce heat, and add the onions.  Stir-fry until the edges begin to brown, then add a couple of dollops of dijon mustard,  a drizzling of honey, and the apple slices.  Turn over until the ingrediants are well distributed, and let it all cook until the onions have completely browned over, stirring occasionally. Set the contents of the pan aside.

Leaving the juices in the pan, saute the mushrooms until the outside shows the faintest sign of having been cooked, then splash in some red wine-- maybe half a cup.  Add a handful of garlic cloves to the pan, and don't split them at all.  Cook until all of the wine is absorbed.

I used a square pan, so I used a rolling pin to stretch out the dough.  If you have other methods, go right ahead.


coat a piece of paper towel in olive oil and spread it on the pan.  Stretch out the dough to the edges of the pan, and spread a thin layer of sauce on the dough.

Add a layer of mozzarella cheese, then add the mushrooms


Sprinkle on a layer of cheddar cheese.  Then add the garlic cloves


And then the carmelized onion/apple mixture


Then spread pieces of fresh mozzarella on top


Followed by a the peppers


Then another layer of cheddar, and the pepperoni


Pop it in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until it looks like this


It was quite the pizza.  I was surprised at how well the whole cloves of garlic worked.

I can seriously understand how one might want to simplify this recipe, but at the time, it was EXACTLY what was needed.

4 comments:

  1. I saw this in my reader late last night and was a irked that I wasn't equipped to make anything but a frozen pizza.

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  2. oh i like this very very much. come out to california and let's film you making it! your lesbian fairy godmother, xoxoxo.

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  3. I love caramelized apples and onions so I will try this--love anything pizza, no pepperoni though--don't eat processed meats

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  4. Cooper: I keep meaning to buy some yeast packets to keep around so that I can always make pizza-- most of the rest of the ingredients tend to hang around me.

    Arwriter: :D

    Pia: If I had it at the time, I might have added bacon, if that's helpful.

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