Friday, February 23, 2007

Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza; Salad


This is a great Pampered Chef recipe that I haven't made for a long time. In searching my old recipes to find vegetarian (or vegetarian-adaptable) recipes, I re-found it! It's a keeper!

Chicago-Style Deep-Dish Pizza

filling:
4 oz. fresh muchrooms, sliced
1/2 c. onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 t. dried oregano leaves
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed in a towel to remove water
1 1/2 c. pizza sauce, divided
1 can (14 1/2 oz) Italian-seasoned diced tomatoes, drained
2 c. (8 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 oz. fresh Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/4 c.)

crust:
1/3 c. plus 1 T. cornmeal, divided
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 pkg. (1/4 oz) quick-rising dry yeast
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
2/3 c. very warm (125 degrees) water
1/4 c. olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

For filling, cook mushrooms, onion, garlic and oregano over medium heat until onion is tender; stir in spinach and 1/2 c. of the pizza sauce. Remove pan from heat. In a small bowl, combine remaining 1 c. of pizza sauce with drained tomatoes and set aside.

Lightly grease bottom of a deep-dish baker or spring-form pan and then sprinkle with 1 T. of the cornmeal. Combine (in large bowl) flour, remaining 1/3 cup cornmeal, yeast, sugar and salt. Add water and 1/4 c. oil; stir until mixture forms a ball. Place dough on lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 3 minuts. Flatten dough to fit in bottom of baker or spring-form pan. Pat evenly on bottom and about an inch up the sides. Sprinkle 1 c. of the mozarella over the crust; top with the spinach mixture, remaining cup of mozzarella, and then the tomato mixture. Bake 30 minutes or until crust is deep golden brown. Grate parmesan cheese over the top of the hot pizza, and then serve.

(if you're not vegetarian, they suggest subbing 8 oz. Italian sausage, cooked, for the mushrooms)

And because I thought it looked impressive, here's a picture of the pizza before it was cut:

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Salad with spicy vinagrette

I put about 2 T. of Italian Giardinera (spicy marinated veggies) in the food processor, and then added 1 T. red wine vinegar, 1 T. water, and 3 T. olive oil. It made a yummy, spicy vinagrette for the salad.

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