So you may have glanced at the cast iron skillet pizza and thought "I am never going to make that." Well jerk, you're missing out. And if you've made it, BRAVO! Was it tasty? What did you put on it? Wasn't it simple and now you're a master? I knew you could do it. For the skeptics I'm including favorite toppings as encouragement and a reward to those who ventured to make their own pizza.
When I am making a pizza with meat I don't use more than a 1/3 Cup to 1/2 Cup ground meat. This way a pound of meat will go very far in feeding the family. 1 pound can make several pizzas and multiple meals. Neither of the recipes below have meat nor depend on meat for flavor, and yet they remain favored by the man of the house as well.
For sauce I have done loads of variations. I have stewed fresh tomatoes, home canned tomatoes, brand canned tomatoes and have found no matter the masterpiece, the sauce gets lost in the toppings. So in the end I've concluded that the best red sauce is straight tomato puree (not paste, as it's boiled down and becomes more saturated in excitotoxins). I know, right? Any ingredients (herbs, garlic, etc.) can be added directly to the pizza before the toppings stage for the same tasty effect. Had I known this before, I could have saved myself probably a thousand hours spent perfecting sauces that would have fared better over fresh pasta than to be baked under veg and cheese.
My favorite thing is to clean out the fridge into pizza toppings. It sounds worse than it is. I don't use moldy potato salads... I just go through the crisper drawer and use whatever may have lost its crispness.
I do a sauce layer, a green layer, and a veggie layer, fruit layer and top with onions (I do the onions last so they cook nicely, they have a way of remaining somewhat raw when hidden in layers).
Don't be afraid to experiment and use your imagination on the sauce. It can be honey and olive oil with curry powder, or tomato puree, roasted garlic spread, a jerk sauce, blended vegetables or just a red pepper and wine sauce. Every kind gives you the option to showcase a masterpiece of toppings.
I usually prefer making both a very spicy pizza and a very savory pizza. When I use pear I like Goat cheese, when I use Jalapeno I like apple pieces. These are all things you'll discover through your adventure trials. The following are some favorites.
The order of things: crust -> sauce layer -> veggie layer -> fruit layer-> (optional cheese) -> onion and garnish on the top
Cherry bomb vegan:
- just enough tomato to cover the crust I used a small gravy ladle to scoup 2-4 scoops of sauce on, too thick and the crust will be soggy towards the upper layer.(sauce layer)
- a handful of diced kale, or cilantro (greens/herbs layer)
- 1-2 cherry bomb peppers diced including the seeds
- 1 pinch dried peppers (jalapeno, morita, serrano, banana, ancho, pasilla, poblano, cayenne any of these) and their seeds.
- 1/2 small yam or sweet potato sliced thinly and diced again {or pulse in processor} (veggie layer)
- 1/2 -1 whole apple peeled, cored and diced (fruit layer)
- some ground pepper
- pinch of salt
- slices of onions scattered on top with some parsley sprinkled about.
If your pizza has reached a critical level of heat on the spicy index of hot then you can tame it back with some extra apple, some honey, agave or cheese. Sweet and dairy help lower spicy heat.
Savory Pear and goat cheese:
- just enough tomato to cover the crust I used a small gravy ladle to scoop 2-4 scoops of sauce on, too thick and the crust will be soggy towards the upper layer.(sauce layer)
- a handful of diced fresh parsley with or without a handful of fresh basil (herbs/greens layer)
- some ground pepper
- pinch of salt
- slices of red, orange or yellow peppers (these are sweeter than green - veggie layer)
- 1/2-1 whole pear, peeled, cored and sliced (fruit layer)
- 1-2 heaping TBSP goat cheese crumbled on top (cheese layer)
- slices of onions scattered on top with whatever garnish you'd like like fresh thyme, sage or oregano
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