Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Deep Dish Pizza



Of everything I make, this is probably my husband's favorite meal. He is a pizza lover, and though he likes the thinner, more modestly dressed Italian-style pizzas, he much prefers the more Americanized, topping overload pizzas.

When I was a kid, we had family friends from Illinois, somewhere just outside of Chicago. The wife was a fabulous cook, and I use some of her recipes to this day. The husband's specialty was his Deep Dish Pizza. He was VERY particular about it. It was soooo good. He doesn't share his recipe, but this is pretty close. I've never been to Chicago, so I have no idea how it compares to pizza you would get there, but it's really good, and always a hit.

Ingredients:

1 ball of Pizza Dough. (This recipe makes 2 balls)
1 lb Italian Sausage
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 8oz package of mushrooms, sliced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 8 oz cans tomato sauce
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
8 oz mozzarella, sliced
Fresh basil - optional

Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Remove sausage casings if present. Brown and crumble in a large skillet. Remove to a plate. Saute onions and bell pepper in sausage drippings until softened but not mushy. Remove to plate with sausage. Saute mushrooms and red pepper flakes until liquid evaporates, about 5 minutes. Remove to plate. Add garlic, saute 1 minute, then add tomato sauce, oregano, and fennel. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Press pizza dough into bottom and halfway up the sides of the casserole dish. Layer toppings onto the dough, pour the sauce over them, top with the cheese and optional basil. Bake until crust is golden and cheese is bubble, about 20-25 minutes. Enjoy. This never lasts very long in our house.

I've been told that traditional deep dish pizza has the cheese on the bottom. Which is fine and dandy, I just like to put it on top so it helps hold the toppings toghether. But, to each his own.




1 comment:

  1. You can't go wrong with pizza. This looks delish! And I'm with you...who wants cheese on the bottom?!

    ReplyDelete