Sunday, October 27, 2013

Amy's Pizza Pie (my version of deep dish pizza)



My kids love this and so I try to make it often. It is a very basic deep dish pizza with two crusts, but it always looks so nice out of the oven that I enjoy making it.



Amy's Pizza Pie

Amy's Favorite Pizza Dough

(you will want to divide the recipe 1/3 for top crust and 2/3 for bottom crust)
1 1/4 C warm water
2 T Olive Oil
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1/4 C cornmeal
3 T whole wheat flour
3 C unbleached white flour
1 T yeast

• Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water (about 105 to 110 degrees F), add the rest of the ingredients and beat using the dough hook of a stand mixer until a nice dough ball is formed. If it is still sticky place flour on the counter and turn out the dough and knead until smooth.  Be careful not to knead in too much flour and make the dough too heavy. Let rise for 60-90 minutes, until doubled in size. Punch down and turn out and divide into two dough balls to roll out for pizzas.

• Option—Do you have a bread machine? Place the ingredients into your bread machine in the order the machine suggests, set for the dough cycle, when complete, turn out and divide into two balls which you will roll out for the pizzas.
--If you don't have one, you should look at investing in a Zojirushi bread machine...it is my second machine and I just love this machine. I make most of our bread and it is so nice to place ingredients in, go to work and come home to dough ready to go, or even a baked loaf!  www.zojirushi.com  They also make great rice cookers....this is a necessity in my kitchen too!

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  

Filling:
• 1 lb of Italian sausage, cooked and drained. (If using links, slice open the casing and crumble the sausage into skillet to cook through).
• Pepperoni, I use sandwich pepperoni, and about 20 slices or so, enough for one layer
• 1 large green bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1/2 of a large (the ones I am finding are softball size) red onion, very thinly sliced
• sliced black olives, one small can drained (3oz)
• 4 C shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/3 grated parmesan cheese
• Tomato sauce. I prefer an organic tomato & basil pasta sauce or I often use the roasted tomato sauce you can find on this blog.

Egg wash:
• 1 egg beaten with 2 Tbsp hot water

• 1/8 tsp garlic powder 
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Mix these together to sprinkle on top after egg wash


Use olive oil and grease a round 12-14 inch deep casserole dish. Roll out 2/3 of dough to fit in dish with some overhang. 

Place 2 C of mozzarella cheese on the bottom of the crust and then top with 1/3 C of grated parmesan cheese.  Next layer in pepperoni and sausage, then peppers, onion, and black olives.

At this point, you can add tomato sauce (16oz to 32oz depending on how much sauce you like...or leave it out of the pie. Heat the sauce and serve on top of the pizza.  This has become my favorite way to do this since it makes the leftovers easier to reheat and keeps them from being soggy!








The photo here shows sauce in the pie, but it your choice. Add the remaining 2 C of mozzarella.












Roll out the remaining 1/3 of dough recipe. Add the top crust.

and roll up the dough hanging over the edge with the top crust to seal the pie well.













Brush with the egg mixure and top with a dusting of garlic powder and kosher salt (go easy with this). With a sharp knife, make a few slits in the top of the dough for steam to escape.


Place in pre-heated 375 degree (F) oven for about 1 hour until golden and the filling is hot and cheese is melted. Let stand for 15- 20 minutes before slicing.



Enjoy!




Saturday, October 26, 2013

Garden Grill Sandwich





This sandwich is one I've been making for years.  It is inspired by a sandwich I used to order at Ohio University in Athens Ohio, at a "joint" called The Pub.  I was back recently and disappointed with the sandwich.  It was grilled back in my day...ahem, but today's version was just on toasted bread...OK, not the same. So, I think you'll be quite happy with this version of a garden grill sandwich that you will be happy to share with your family and friends.





Amy's Garden Grill

• 2 slices of seeded rye bread (or sourdough) for each sandwich
butter, softened
• cream cheese, a thick layer
• Colby cheese slices, 2 slices per sandwich
• thinly sliced cucumber (I prefer the English cucumber and you don't need to peel or seed)
• thinly slice tomatoes
• kosher salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• alfalfa  sprouts, optional (I highly recommend, but hit or miss if my grocery has any, so I use when I can find them)

NOTE: A wire rack for cooling is needed to keep sandwich from being soggy.


Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Meanwhile butter one side of the bread slices.  For each sandwich you'll have one half spread with cream cheese and 2 slices of Colby on the other.  Spread a thick layer of cream cheese opposite the butter side and add the Colby to another slice, place the slices butter side down in the cast iron skillet and grill until golden and cheese are softened (you may want to cover skillet with a piece of foil to help cheese melt). Remove the grilled slices to the cooling rack. To the cream cheese side add a layer of cucumber, add salt and pepper, and then a layer of tomato, add sprouts if using, then top with Colby slice.  Cut in half and enjoy!  This if a favorite at our home, and we hope you enjoy it too!