I♥Food4Thought » Peppers and Meatball Pizza

Monday, February 22, 2010

Peppers and Meatball Pizza

Posted by CB / no comments » / Recipes, pizza

This afternoon, I was tweeting with my friend, Rebecca (@ezrapoundcake) of Ezra Poundcake about pizza. Hey! We’re both foodies. It’s what we do. And I mentioned to her… “Invention is the mother of necessity” also known as: I came up with this pizza b/c I had leftover meatballs and marinara sauce in the refrigerator and it would break my heart to throw it away.

Pizza’s pretty much my go-to for leftovers. You can put (almost) anything on a pizza and it will taste good. (I’m not down with the pineapple!) Look at how that concept made Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax of California Pizza Kitchen a phenomenon. I’m “wild” about their Wild Mushroom Pizza (corny line alert!) but my Hubs is less traditional with his love of their Greek pizza (blech!).

So I figured why not? Meatballs on a pizza could totally work.

And it did. Even better than I imagined.

Oh btw… Did you notice my rectangular baking sheet instead the usual circular pizza pan? It’s the way my mama use to make us pizza when I was younger so I’m kinda partial to the rectangular shape.

Eventually I’d like to own a pizza peel but until then, mother knows best.

Peppers and Meatball Pizza

Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes
Makes 2-10" pizza or 1-12"x16"x1" pizza (extra doughy!)

Ingredients:

FOR PIZZA DOUGH
1-1/2 cups warm water (105°F-115°F)
1 package (2-1/4 tsp) of active dry yeast
3-1/2 cups bread flour*
2 tbsp olive oil (I used TOOC Basil Olive Oil)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

TOPPINGS
favorite meatball recipe (here)
1 red bell pepper, stem+seeds removed and thinly sliced
favorite marinara sauce (here)
parmesan cheese
mozzarella cheese
fresh basil, rough chop
1/4 cup chopped onions**

* You can substitute all purpose flour but that changes the texture of the crust.
** Feel free to use more if you are an onion lover. My hubs isn't.

Instructions:

TO MAKE PIZZA DOUGH
In a stand mixer, fitted with a flat beater, add warm water and yeast. Let sit for about 5 minutes until the yeast is dissolved. Mix in the olive oil, bread flour, sugar and salt for about 1 minute. Exchange flat beater for dough hook. On low-medium speed, knead the dough until smooth and elastic about 10 minutes. (Mine took about 5 minutes.)

Prepare a large bowl that has been lightly coated with olive oil. (I sprayed with PAM olive oil.) Place pizza dough into large bowl and move it around the bowl so that dough is coated with olive oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place until dough doubles in size about 1-1/2 hours (or more depending on the temperature). Punch the dough down so it deflates. Let rest for about 10 more minutes.

TO ASSEMBLE PIZZA
Preheat oven to 450F.

Roll dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface. Take your hands and work your way around the perimeter pulling the dough outward while moving in a circular motion. You can finish by hand or use a rolling pin to increase the size of the dough to fit your pizza pan. Drizzle with a little olive oil and using a pastry brush spread it across the surface of the dough. Add your toppings (except basil).

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until crust is crispy and cheese is golden brown. Garnish with fresh basil.

ENJOY!

Husband rating: A
He really liked this pizza but since he’s not a big bell pepper fan he asked if next time I could switch out the bell peppers for tomatoes. Sure thing Hubs!

Wifey rating: A+
The meatballs, basil and bell peppers were so yummy together. Love love love this pizza dough. So thick and bread-y. Just the way I like it. I wonder if I could use whole wheat bread dough and it would taste just as good? Definitely will make again!