Pizza Recipe - Chorizo, Corn and Smoked Cheddar
Ideas, Methods, and Recipes for Making Gourmet Pizzas at Home
Sep 18, 2009
Eating an interesting gourmet pizza is even closer than driving to the local California Pizza Kitchen. Before grocery stores started carrying ready made pizza dough, making pizza at home involved either canned dough or the laborious task of mixing dough at home. Mixing dough at home is a great way to spice the dough creatively, but purchasing fresh dough from the bakery of a grocery store is the fasted way to get fresh, homemade taste with minimal effort.
Inexpensive and a Great Way to Use Leftovers
For between $2 and $4, any pizza conceivable is at everyone's finger tips. Pizzas are also a great way to use up leftover vegetables and even meat entrees from earlier in the week. Leftover steak? Steak and mushroom pizza. Leftover alfredo sauce? Chicken alfredo pizza. Leftover meatballs? Make a meatball pizza. Any sauce, any vegetables, any meat can be used to make great gourmet pizzas. The recipe below is just an example of a method of making a pizza. If there is leftover paneer masala in the refrigerator, use the sauce as a base for the pizza and the veggies and paneer as toppings.
Experiment with interesting cheeses, sauces, and unusual toppings. Most of all, have fun with it!
Recipe for Chorizo and Smoked Cheddar Pizza
Ingredients
- one ear of corn
- Roughly 1/2 cup of chorizo, depending on how much meat desired (this recipe can use precooked chorizo chopped or fresh chorizo with the casings removed)
- one small onion, cut into thin strips
- one batch of pizza dough, purchased from bakery grocery store or mixed at home
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon of corn meal
- 1/2 cup roasted tomato sauce (or any type of tomato sauce on hand)
- 1 tablespoon chives, snipped (for garnish)
- 1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, finely chopped (for garnish)
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Take the dough out of the fridge and let it rest and rise about an hour before it is time to make the pizza.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Take the ear of corn, still in its husk, and place it directly on the middle rack of the oven. Let it roast in the heated oven for 30 minutes.
- Remove the corn from the oven and let it cool so that it can be handled. Pull back the husk, and shave the corn from the ear with a knife. Reserve as a pizza topping.
- Increase the oven temperature to 380ºF.
- Preheat a small non-stick skillet over medium heat. Saute the chorizo to release the oils and flavors. Once golden and crispy, add the onions and continue sauteing until the onions are softened. Remove from heat, drain on a paper towel, and reserve for the pizza toppings.
- Once the dough has risen, kneed it and roll it out to fit the size of your baking sheet.
- Sprinkle the cornmeal onto the baking sheet and spread the dough out on top.
- If the dough is springy and won't stay on the edge of the pan, just keep working it up to the edges until it stays.
- Drizzle a small amount of olive oil over the crust, just to thinly coat the dough. Spread it with the back of a spoon.
- Next, spread a thin layer of sauce over the dough, also with the back of the spoon.
- Next, liberally spread the smoked cheddar over the sauce.
- Sprinkle on onions, chorizo and corn as desired.
- Season with pepper and any salt desired.
- Bake in the center rack of the oven for between 20 and 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle with chives and parsley to garnish.
Enjoy! This recipe can be modified very easily by switching out the type of cheese, the toppings, and the sauce, but by using the same method.
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