The Joy of Cooking (Cheeseburger) Pizza

As a kid, I thought there were only a limited number of things that you should put on a pizza. Things like pepperoni, Italian sausage, peppers, olives, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, cheese, and the like. You know. All the things you can order at any local pizza chain. As an adult, I put away childish things (except for acting childish once in a while) and learned that there is so much more out there in pizza land. Chicken, artichoke hearts, fresh herbs, eggs, broccoli, spinach … well, I'll skip the spinach, but you get the idea.

Let's face it. Pizza is basically flat bread with edible stuff on it. Why limit ourselves to just a few ingredient combinations? And don't think that cheese and sauce are sacred. Not all pizza has cheese. Early Italian pizza was just sauce baked flat bread with tomato sauce. American's added the cheesy bits. Not all pizzas have sauce, either. Some just pile the other ingredients on. I'm not suggesting we treat pizza like herbed foccacia with a few olives dotted on it (although we could). Let's just broaden our horizons a little.

A few months ago I got this weird idea of turning various classic salads and sandwiches into pizza. I've since learned there are a few chefs already doing that, but more than one person can have a good idea so, I'm not going to apologize.

What about a cheeseburger pizza? That's a classic American sandwich. I fooled around, making a couple different ways, and they were pretty good. I have no idea what the actual ingredient amounts were. I was winging it. The listed ingredient amounts are guesses. Just don't put on too much of any one thing. When it comes to pizza, piling too much stuff on doesn't make it better.

When I make cheeseburgers, I use sharp cheddar. Because cheddar can get greasy when it melts, which is fine when it drips off the burger, but not so fine on a pizza, I opted for a combination of mozzarella, colby, and Monterey jack.

Ingredients

pizza dough

1 Tbl vegetable oil

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 half pound ground beef

3 Tbl cup tomato sauce

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

3 Tbl dill pickle relish

1 half tomato, diced

2 cups colby jack cheese (or a bit of colby and Monterey jack), grated

1 leaf romaine lettuce, torn into 2 inch pieces

1 ½ Tbl catsup

salt and pepper

Directions

Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat, until shimmering. Add half of the onion, setting the rest aside, and a dash of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until just softened. Add the ground beef, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, and cook until no longer pink. Stir in the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds more, until fragrant. Remove from heat and let cool.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, Fahrenheit.

Roll out the pizza dough onto a pizza pan, baking sheet, or whatever you use for pizza, and let it rest while you get everything else ready.

Mix the tomato sauce and mayonnaise together, about 3 parts mayo to 1 part tomato sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Better yet, use my fry sauce recipe. Spread the sauce in a thin layer over the pizza dough. This is the “secret sauce” part of the burger.

Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese evenly over the sauce. Next, sprinkle the ground beef/onion mixture, chopped tomato and the remaining chopped onion. Lastly, sprinkle on the colby jack cheese.

Bake in the oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the dough is cooked through and the cheese is melted and toasty. Rotate the pan halfway through, to ensure even cooking. Remove from the oven.

Squeeze most of the liquid from the pickle relish, and dot all over the pizza. Decoratively squeeze catsup in thin lines, next (I used a crosshatch pattern). Finally, spread the lettuce pieces over the pizza. Slice and serve.

Please don't consider my recipe gospel. Add various herbs and spices to the meat mixture. Hold the pickles; hold the lettuce. Use mustard. Blue cheese, would be a great substitution for the, colby-jack mixture. The point is to have tasty, tasty, pizza fun.

New Year in the Tiny Kitchen

With the new year upon us, I wanted to update any of my readers that are still paying attention. Moving from a three bedroom house to a three bedroom apartment has been a challenge. Going back to college has put a damper on my blog output, as well, in case you didn't notice. Did you notice?  No? (whimper …)

 Self-pity aside, moving to a campus apartment has been an interesting challenge. We lost more than half our square footage, overall. I'd bet my kitchen lost half it's square footage and at least two-thirds of it's counter space. See that picture, up there on the right? That's extent of my built-in counter space, these days. The nice part is we still have quite a bit of cabinet space and room to put up a shelving unit on the wall, opposite the oven; that acts like our pantry.

A small kitchen doesn't mean we have to stop cooking good food. We've come up with a few solutions to increase our counter space and had to rethink the way we buy and store food, but it's working out pretty well so far. We brought an old aquarium stand with us that we turned into a table for the microwave, and we've stacked some of our flour, cereal, and sugar storage buckets in one corner. When not open, they provide temporary landings for bowls and such when I'm cooking, so that helps a bit.

For more counter space, we got a few sink cut-outs. These are the left over material when kitchen counter manufacturers cut a space out for of a new counter top to make room for the sink. You can often get them for pretty cheap from a cabinet shop or, if you're lucky, from a friend or family member who happens to be a finish carpenter. You could just buy some finished wood from a lumber yard or home improvement store, if you needed to, although I suspect it would be more expensive.

One sink cut-out sits on top of the microwave, turning that into counter space. We also have a larger one that we sometimes put on top the stove, to hold the dish strainer when we wash dishes and provide more space if needed. I just have to make sure I don't have the stove turned on at the same time.

 Speaking dishes, we have to do them completely by hand; we don't have a dishwasher anymore. Because of the limited counter space, it gets to be quite a mess if we don't keep up on them.

 Even though we've left a lot behind, I think things are going pretty well. We are all doing well in our respective schools and things are, mostly, settling in. One thing about going back to this school that appeals to my foodie nature is that it's an agricultural college. That means lots of college level food classes. Even though it's not part of my degree, the cheese making class has caught my attention.

I'll get back to my new years celebrations, now. You should, too. I made four different kinds of dip, including garlic-hummus and some bread sticks. I'll try to share the recipes later.

 Happy New Year and too all, good eating.

Kitchen Gadgets that Actually Work: Part 2

This is part two of a two part article about useful kitchen gadgets. Not the ones that promise to do everything for you, and then just take up space as well as wasting your money. These are “must haves” that actually do make life easier in the kitchen.

Kitchen Shears
Holy trimming tools, Batman! These are very useful. Many of things you used to have a hard time using a knife with, are easier with a good pair of kitchen shears. Trimming pie dough, snipping herbs, cutting kitchen twine, opening food packages, and even trimming and cutting up a chicken or two, while not impossible with a knife, are a lot easier with a pair of kitchen scissors. A good set of kitchen shears should come apart for easy cleaning and have non-slip grips.

Measuring Cups and Spoons
Pretty much a given, right? Back in my Mom’s day, they weren’t. She rarely uses the ones she’s got. While that’s impressive, considering what a good cook she is, inaccurate measurements are one of the most common causes of recipe failure. I find this is especially true in baking, where the ratios of flour to water, to yeast, and other ingredients can make or break you.

As for measuring spoons, I prefer a relatively deep bowl, making liquid measurement easier. The top of the bowl should be flush with the handle, making it easier to level dry ingredients. I also like slim, oval bowls, although most of mine are circular. Slim bowls make it easier to scoop things out of narrow spice jars. I like to have a spoons that measure 1 Tablespoon, 1 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, and 1/4 teaspoon. Sometimes it’s nice to have a 1/2 Tablespoon and a 1/8 teaspoon measure, as well.

To measure dry ingredients, I like straight sided cups with flat bottoms. They sit on a counter better. As with measuring spoons, I want the top of the bowl to be flush with the handle so I can easily level ingredients. This is a big deal when baking. I like dry measuring cups in 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, and 1/4 cup sizes. I’ve seen other, intermediate sizes, but I don’t see a need for them.

For liquid ingredients, I love my old Pyrex 2 cup measure. I don’t like the way the new ones are marked, though. They seem harder to read. I also have a 2 cup cylindrical one. I’d like to get a 4 cup one, similar to my Pyrex, but I’ve not broken down and purchased one, yet.

Microplane
I never thought I’d need one until I got one for myself. Oh how quickly wants become needs. Microplanes are small hand-held graters that can double as zesters. They can finely grate hard cheese in a hearbeat. They can also easily handle garlic, ginger, nutmeg, chocolate and citrus zest.

Oven Thermometer
I confess. I don’t have one of these, yet. I want one, though. I’ve did pretty well with my old electric oven, but this new gas one has got me stymied. I’m not used to it’s idiosyncrasies and, frankly, I think it’s got a hot spot or two. Researching the net, I’ve learned that home ovens can vary as much as 90 degrees between ovens. Ouch. I want an oven thermometer that’s easy to read, accurate, and won’t get knocked loose shifting pans around on the oven rack.

Pepper Mill or Spice Grinder
Pepper mills are probably better than spice grinders, for that truly fresh ground pepper taste. But so far my spice grinder has done well for me. The pre-ground stuff sold in the supermarkets has a lot less pungency than freshly ground. In some cases, the flavor profile can change over time, as well. A good mill is going to be able to handle a lot of whole spice in it’s canister, and be easy to fill. It should give a good yield and consistent grind, without wearing out your hands and wrists in the process.

Tongs
Once again, I didn’t realize how much I would use these until I had them. They can lift, turn, rotate, and flip almost any food that has some bulk to it. Bratwurst, chicken breasts, and even spaghetti can be more easily managed with these things. A good set will open wide enough to pick up large things, like a pot roast, but with tong ends that make it easy to pick up smaller items, as well. Most have simple locks that keep it closed for easy storage.

Vegetable Peeler
For years people have using paring knives to peel potatoes or carrots, but a dedicated vegetable peeler can do so much more. Summer squash, cucumbers, apples and pears can be quickly peeled with one of these. Get a vegetable peeler with a swiveling blade, rather than a fixed one, and a comfortable grip. Serrated versions are available for more delicate foods like tomatoes and peaches, although I do not own one.

Whisk
Put down the fork. For mixing eggs, batters and gravies a whisk will do a much better job. A good cook can use them to quickly whip cream and stiffen eggs whites, although I use electric beaters for those. You really only need one whisk, fairly long, with a tight radius that can reach into the smaller areas of a saucepan or bowl. Again, make sure there is a comfortable grip that affords a lot of control and extended use.