Spaghetti Sauce. Moreover Pizza. Two Ways.

 Not too long ago,

I made Spaghetti and Meatballs.

Ground beef has been on sale,

so we're having spaghetti again,

except today I'm cooking the ground meat

with the sauce, not in meatball form.

Whenever I make a sauce,

I end up with lots of it.

I'll be using some of the remaining sauce

for Moreover Pizza/Two Ways.

Follow along.

I have a pound or so of ground beef.
I swirled a bit of oil in the pan
and browned the meat over medium high heat.

 

While the meat was browning,

I chopped up an onion

 and a bunch of multi-colored peppers from the garden.

I buy those sets of small green, red, orange, and yellow peppers

from the Teeter and save the seeds.

I grew these peppers from those seeds.

You could easily do this in large pots on your deck.

It doesn't take a whole garden area.

Mince the garlic.
Four cloves.

Add the onions, peppers, and garlic to the browned meat.

Stir for a minute or so.

I added in about a tablespoon of dried oregano.

Pour in a 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes.

Be sure to rinse it out with water

to get all the goodness.

Add in a 14.5-ounce can of diced tomatoes.

And rinse.

Notice, we date our canned goods.

Use accordingly.

Now, all I have to do is let the tomato sauce cook

at a bare simmer over low heat for as long as I want.

At least an hour.

Taste test and adjust seasonings if needed.

Freshly ground salt and pepper to taste.

Chopped fresh herbs -

oregano, thyme, sage, rosemary, parsley.

Or a lesser amount of dried herbs.

And I don't bother with dried parsley.

While my sauce was developing flavors,

I started on my herbed garlic bread.

I picked fresh parsley, thyme, sage, rosemary, and oregano.

One large garlic clove.

Finely chop the herbs and mince the garlic

and add to a tablespoon of melted butter.

Drizzle a nice extra virgin olive oil over the bread for more flavor.

Coat bread with greenery and butter and cook until toasty.

Every now and then,

come and agitate your sauce.

Notice it's cooked down about an inch.

Gives you richer, more concentrated flavors.

This is ready to serve on spaghetti now.

And I don't have a picture of the spaghetti

and the sauce and the garlic toast,

but you know what it looks like.

Just know the flavor was all there

and it was GOOD!

I had sauce leftover remaining,

so today I'm making a pizza -

Moreover Pizza Two Ways.

Let's start on a dough.

Add one packet yeast to 1/2 cup warm water.

Sprinkle two teaspoons sugar over the yeast and stir to dissolve.

Leave it alone.

Let it "proof."

The yeast needs to "prove" that it's alive.

Wait until it gets all nice and foamy like this.

If it doesn't proof, throw it away and start over.

Fork in a cup of bread flour.

Give it a tablespoon of olive oil.

Lightly flour your work area.

Knead the dough a bit

to pull it together.

Then let it rest about twenty minutes.

Come back and knead it about 5 minutes more.

Place dough in an oiled bowl,

turning to coat.

Cover and let rise until doubled.

While the dough is rising,

I started on the pizza fixin's.

First the mushrooms.

Slice and sauté in a little butter over medium heat.

When the mushrooms were browned,

I poured in a splash of shaoxing wine.

You could use sherry if you don't have the Chinese stuff.

Cook off the wine.

Heat up the spaghetti sauce from the other night.

Dough has doubled.

Punch it down.

Knead it some more,

then let it rest.

I thinly sliced some pepperoni.

Place slices on a paper towel and nuke

for about 25 seconds.

Gets a LOT of the grease out.

Grease ends up on paper towel,

not in the pizza.

I sliced some ham pieces and ...

... sautéed in a little butter until slightly browned.

I'm using goat cheese in the crust.

I sprinkled a little cornmeal on my pizza paddle,

so the dough will slide off easily.

I took my time spreading out the pizza dough.

Spread a bit and let it rest.

Spread a bit more.

Let it rest.

Keep going until you have the pizza the way you like.

Dot the goat cheese around the outside, then ...

... crimp the sides over.

I prefer a thin-crust pizza,

so this went into a 450° oven onto my pizza stone

which had been heating for an hour at 450°.

About 7 minutes.
I like a crispy crust.

Remember I'm making pizza two ways -

original/regular on one side,

"Hawaiian" on the other.

 I spread out a thin layer of spaghetti sauce on half of the pizza.

Notice my nuked pepperoni slices in the background.

 Place the pepperonis over the sauce.

 On the other side,

I put a thin layer of diced tomatoes and green chilies.

Ham slices over the diced tomato side.

Then add chopped pineapples on the "Hawaiian" side.

Sliced maraschino cherries go on the pineapple,

along with pepper strips.

Chopped asparagus spears from the garden on the "original" style pizza.

Brush melted butter over the crust.

I grated cheddar cheese over the "Hawaiian" side

and grated Swiss on the "original" side.

Back in the oven until cheese is melted

and crust is lightly browned - about twelve minutes.

Well, these two are about the best pictures

 you're going to get of my pizza.

Boy descended from his room,

and piled his plate, ...

...  leaving this for Mr. Hawthorne and me.

No leftovers!

SUCCESS!!