Guest Chef Pam

July 28, 2011
Cheeseburger Pizza

Guest Chef Pam:

 Wow, what a fun time making pizza. With three pizza places in town to buy already made pizzas, I had never considered making my own pizza. Pam showed how easy and tasty it could be without costing an arm or leg. The toughest part was browning the hamburger which is something I think most of us know how to do. We made two cheeseburger pizzas and one vegetarian pizza since two of our dinner mates were vegetarians. With the veggie pizza we left out the hamburger and mustard. We added the Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to the tomatoes. We also added chopped leaf spinach before the first baking. Both turned out very well.  This did make the veggie pizza prettier so we decided to add the spinach to one of our cheese pizzas to make it pretty and give it a bit more nutritional value. We had salad, fruit and cherry cheesecake to go along with it and of course we ate every bite.

Things I learned:
I learned that I could buy a pizza crust that actually looked and tasted like take out pizza. I was brought up on chef boy are dee which you had to mix and roll out which made making pizza the dreaded task I was remembering. The crusts were $4.69 each which did make it a bit more expensive than the roll out kind, but sure made it more palatable to make for me. I also learned that ricotta cheese is very good on pizza and there are a lot of different kinds of shredded cheeses at the store besides mozzarella, cheddar or colby jack. I used my baking stones which I had bought a number of years ago and hadn't really used them. They worked well, but I still don't get how to clean them afterward. I was also afraid I would scratch or break my stove top so didn't dare put the stones on top of the stove when we pulled them out of the oven. Maybe some of you seasoned stone users could comment on baking stones. A cookie sheet just seems easier and lighter weight to me.

Pam's tip for a perfect pizza: (click on video)

Cheese Burger Pizza Recipe (for one pizza)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1-12inch Boboli Thin Pizza Crust (can use whole wheat)
1/4 of a medium onion chopped
1/2 lb hamburger (extra lean)
Italian seasoning to taste
Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste
1 tsp Grey Poupon Mustard
5 oz can Boboli Pizza Sauce
14oz can Salt Free Diced Tomatoes (drained)
8oz Ricotta Cheese
4oz Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (can use any favorite pizza cheeses such as shredded Italian)

Brown together:

Hamburger, onion, mustard, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper

Layer: (place pizza crust on baking sheet or stone)
Smear sauce evenly over crust
Dob Ricotta cheese over sauce
Spread hamburger mixture over cheese

Bake: for 5-7 minutes to allow ricotta cheese to melt some.

Sprinkle:
Tomatoes over top of burger and cheese mixture
Mozzarella cheese over tomatoes

Bake: another 10-12 minutes or until cheese melts and bubbles