Category: Pizza

Pizza Bombs

Dax Phillips Leave a comment

I know it has been some time since my last post, but things have been a bit hectic. I figured that since I have finally started to feel halfway normal, that I would post these pizza bombs. These things are awesome, and can be eaten as a game day snack, or taken down as a meal, much like pizza. Another great thing is that you can make them anyway you like your own pizza.

Loaded Pizza Bombs Recipe
Loaded Pizza Bombs Recipe

I made these as a game day snack, and I wish I would have made another batch as they only last a brief moment.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

  • 1 batch of your favorite pizza dough
  • 1 12 oz can of your pizza sauce
  • 1 cup of sliced pepperoni, chopped and lightly crisp, oil patted
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 8 oz bags shredded mozzarella cheese
  • garlic salt, sprinkled

Start by rolling out your pizza dough on a lightly floured surface. You probably want to roll this about 1/4 inch thick.

Next, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Butter the inside of a casserole dish.

Now, take a pizza cutter, and slice the dough width wise, in half, and then cut into about 1 1/2 inch slices.

Loaded Pizza Bombs Recipe
Loaded Pizza Bombs Recipe

Pour the pizza sauce into the bottom of your buttered casserole dish.

Take one of the bags of cheese and pour it over the pizza strips, to cover. Next take the sliced pepperoni and add this to the top of the cheese. Now the fun part.

Roll each slice into pinwheels, and place vertically, allowing it to stand up into the casserole dish. Repeat with all remaining pizza strips. Top with the remaining bag of cheese, and any additional pepperoni. Sprinkle with some garlic salt, and then bake uncovered in the oven for about 18 minutes or until the dough is cooked, and the cheese is nicely melted.

Remove from the oven, let cool for about 5-10 minutes, then dig in. These things were everything awesome about any type of pizza. I hope you enjoy!

Mexican Tlayuda

Dax Phillips 4 Comments

I know what you may  be thinking right off the start. T-what? Tlayuda. It’s essentially Mexican street food, in particular of the pizza descent. Think of great Mexican ingredients loaded onto a cooked, large flour tortilla. This is typically street food, and good Lord is it ever good, and fun to eat. This is a popular snack food, but let me tell you, it can be turned into a meal depending on the ingredients you put onto it. Typically a single tortilla, I was super hungry and decided I would go full force and make this a ‘double tlayuda’. Think of it as an open faced pizzadilla. You can make these with all sorts of your favorite proteins, but I wanted chorizo, a classic Mexcican ingredient, and in particular on the tlayuda. The classic uses some drizzle of lard, but I’m not into that as I am getting enough from smashed black beans cooked in some oil, garlic, and onions.

Mexican Tlayuda Pizza Recipe
Mexican Tlayuda Pizza Recipe

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

  • 2 large flour tortillas (You can use one if you prefer)
  • 15 oz can of black beans, drained, cooked, lightly mashed
  • Approximately 1 cup of Mexican chorizo, fat strained, and cooked until a bit dry
  • 1/2 yellow onion, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tbsp canola oil
  • 1/4 cup of water
  • 1/2 cup of raw slaw
  • 1/4 cup of fresh cilantro, chopped
  • your favorite hot sauce or salsa
  • 1/2 jalapeno, thinly sliced
  • 8 oz bag monterray jack cheese

Start by getting a small pot on the stove on medium heat. Add in the oil, then toss in the onions, cooking a few minutes until lightly softe

Mexican Tlayuda Pizza Ingredients
Mexican Tlayuda Pizza Ingredients

ned, then add in the garlic. After about a minute, toss in the black beans and water. Cook for about 15 minutes on medium to medium-low heat. Once the beans have softened a bit, use a fork, or potato masher, and start to mash the beans. I do not go for a few refried blend on these as I like some texture from the beans. Go about 50/50 on that mash.

OK, next step. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Take a flour tortilla, smear some black beans on it, some cheese, and some jalapenos to your liking, (again I  used two on this one as a stack), and place it on a sheet pan and place in the preheated oven. Cook for about 2 minutes, just to cook it slightly to lightly brown.  Once the cheese is slightly melted, remove from the oven.

Stack another tortilla on top. Gently press. Add enough bean mash to lightly coat the the entire top tortilla, then a generous amount of cheese to cover the top, then more jalapenos (if ou desire). Spread the cooked chorizo all over the top tortilla, along with a generous amount of cheese, and place back into the oven. Cook until the cheese is nice and melted, the tortilla nicely browned, and then remove.

Once you remove, shower with some of the raw coleslaw, fresh cilantro, and drizzle your favorite salsa or hot sauce.

Now you can fold this, or you can slice into wedges. I’m a wedge man. Wedges are good.

Mexican Tlayuda Pizza
Mexican Tlayuda Pizza

Holy Moly. If you think about this all together, well you are going to drool. When you eat it, it makes you want to be alone and devour the whole thing so no one is looking. It’s so good, and something that should probably come off the street and onto Mexican restaurant menus. Spice, cheese, crisp, soft, veg. What’s not to love. Make it (stacked or not), and I’m sure you will love it. Enjoy!

 

 

Pizza Montanara

Dax Phillips Leave a comment

I’ve probably said it before, but I will say it again. If there were a couple of things I could eat on a regular basis, it would be pizza and tacos. There are so many different ways to make either of those, and the toppings could be endless, hence why I could rotate those on a daily basis. Maybe it is the hand food, who knows. But there is one pizza known as pizza montanara that I’ve been wanting to make for the kids as they love a thicker style crust. This pizza is not only a thing of beauty, but it may have been one of the better pizzas I’ve made, and I’ve made a lot of pizza, trust me.

 

Pizza Montanara Recipe
Pizza Montanara Recipe

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

  • 1 batch of your favorite pizza dough, tossed into a size that will fit into your large skillet
  • Canola oil, enough to fill about 1 inch of your skillet
  • 1 small onion, thinly sliced
  • your favorite pizza sauce
  • fresh basil, optional
  • sliced pepperoni, to your liking
  • mozzarella cheese, to your liking
  • grated parmesan cheese, optional

Now these pizza toppings are to my family’s liking, but use your favorite toppings.

Once you have your dough shaped, and about 1/4 inch thick, take a fork and poke the dough all over. This will assist when cooking in the hot oil from having it balloon out.

Pizza Montanara Ingredients
Pizza Montanara Ingredients

Heat your large skillet on medium heat. Add enough oil to be about one inch in depth and bring that up to about 350 degrees. During this time, heat your oven to 450 degrees, along with a sheet pan.

Once the oil is heated, carefully add it to the skillet, and fry the dough for about 2 minutes, then using some tongs, carefully raise it out and flip it to the other side, cooking an additional 2 minutes. It should be a bit stiff and a light golden brown.

Raise the cooked dough from the oil, and let any excess oil drip back into the skillet. Now I know what you might be thinking, that this is going to be an oily mess, but trust me it does not. As a matter of fact you would probably think this was a pan style pizza, or deep dish style if you did not tell anyone how you made it.

Next, add the pizza to your pizza peel, and add the sauce, onions, pepperoni, and cover with the mozzarella cheese.

Pizza Montanara Recipe
Pizza Montanara Recipe

Slide onto the preheated baking sheet and cook for about 5 minutes or so or until the cheese is nice and melted and the sauce is heated through.

Remove and shower with parmesan cheese and fresh basil.

The end result was nothing short of fantastic. As much as I love thin crust pizza, along with pan and deep dish pizza, this was something in between all of that, and it was way too easy to make. My family loved this one, and I will be making many more in the near future. Hope you enjoy!

Pizza Muffins

Dax Phillips Leave a comment

Recently I was thinking of making another batch of my taco cups.  Gosh we loved those, and what’s not to love about using a muffin tin to batch out something that everyone is going to love, in bite sized form.  That’s when it dawned on me as I was looking at a batch of pizza dough that I could probably get away with molding that dough into the muffin tins and make pizza muffins! Low and behold these things were dynamite, and they were such a huge hit that one of my kids (they all devoured them) said I could make those any time for him. I knew that was a sure sign.

Pizza Muffins Recipe
Pizza Muffins Recipe

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

  • 1 batch of your favorite pizza dough, room temperature
  • cooking spray
  • your favorite pizza sauce
  • sliced pepperoni, diced
  • mozzarella cheese
  • shredded colby jack cheese, optional
  • Other favorite pizza ingredients, optional

My kids all agree (for the most part) on cheese and pepperoni pizza, hence this style of pizza muffin, however feel free to use your favorite pizza ingredients.

Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees.

Next, spray your muffin tin with cooking spray.

Take a generous ball of dough, enough dough to mold into each muffin tin, and then to each ball, form into the muffin tin. Repeat with each ball of dough.

I kind of went deep dish style on this one where I placed the meat on the bottom layer, but you create your own style.

Place diced pepperoni onto the bottom of each formed dough ball. Top with mozzarella, then some shredded colby jack cheese, then cover with pizza sauce.

 

Pizza Muffin Ingredients
Pizza Muffin Ingredients

Place into your preheated oven, and cook for about 15-20 minutes.

Once cooked, remove them from the oven, and using a butter knife, wedge each one out onto a serving plate. Shower with fresh parmesan cheese if desired.

Now dig in. These reminded me of hand sized deep dish pizzas, but in muffin form. And if you want to talk about something delicious, and additive, these are the ones to go for. Hope you enjoy!