Stuffed Pizza Rolls
(recipes and more)
We sometimes call this "Inside-Out" pizza too. They're garlicky, cheesy little pizza dough balls filled with all of the yummy toppings you'd put on a pizza. To eat, just pop one off and dunk it in marinara sauce. Don't you love finger food? And don't you love dunking things? I suppose regular pizza is finger food as well, but for some reason this is way more fun. Must be the dunking factor. You can pick your own fillings. We love Canadian bacon and pineapple, or Italian turkey sausage and chopped tomatoes. Pepperoni and cheese is always a hit and you could easily make these vegetarian as well. This makes great party food or a fun appetizer, but in our house we often pair it with a salad and call it dinner. It works especially great for little fingers so my boys love 'em!hmm...looks like I forgot garlic in this picture. Have you noticed that I forget at least one ingredient about 97% of the time??Stuffed Pizza Rolls(I don't really measure, so you get what you get here!)print recipe text only1 roll refrigerated pizza dough* (or make your own)marinara/pizza sauce (click here to make your own)2 T grated Parmesan cheese (sorry, I don't know how to make that)1 T olive oil or melted butter1/2 t garlic powder1 t dried Italian seasoningmozzerella cheesePizza toppings of your choice: ie, ham and pineapple, pepperoni slices, sausage, etc.*You can use regular pizza dough, or thin crust. I used thin crust when taking these pictures.Preheat oven to heat specified on pizza dough package. Usually it's 400 degrees. If you make your own dough, 400 is usually a good heat as well.Unroll your pizza dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pat or roll the dough so it's about 12" by 8". You're going to want to cut it into 24 squares, so just eyeball it if you need to. Use a pizza cutter to slice the dough into 24 squares (bet ya didn't see that one comin' did ya?)Place cheese and desired toppings on each square. (Note that you're not putting the marinara sauce on the dough- it's for dipping after) You guys are smart, right? Just eyeball how much. You just need to be able to enclose the toppings in the dough so keep that in mind. For these ones pictured I used a teaspoon each of cheese, canadian bacon, and pineapple.When all of your dough squares have cheese and toppings on them, carefully lift up each square and wrap the dough around the toppings. Pinch to make sure each ball is sealed shut and then place them seam side down in a lightly sprayed pie pan (or similar sized dish).Brush the tops of the dough balls with olive oil or melted butter (I've used both and there's not much difference in result) and then sprinkle with the garlic and Italian seasoning and top with Parmesan cheese. (In lieu of the Parmesan, garlic, and Italian seasoning you could substitute this garlic bread seasoning.)Cook them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top. Keep an eye on them! Doughs vary, so I'd check them after even 10 minutes.Serve warm with warmed marinara sauce on the side for dipping.The outsides are like garlic bread and the insides are full of oozing cheese. This might just be a perfect food.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Pizza Sauce
Who the heck doesn't love pizza? There must be some of you out there, but I'm pretty sure that pizza is one of the most versatile, universally-loved food out there. You can get the down-home, crowd-pleasing Chicago deep dish supreme or a fancy-schmancy thin-crusted Italian Margherita.
I've been married for 7 years and have spent the better part of that time trying to perfect homemade pizza. No matter what I did, it always came out a little doughy and underdone with a weird aftertaste and it would take me straight back to horrible flashbacks of homemade pizza made from a boxed mix when I was a kid. I guess I can get how people hate pizza, especially homemade pizza, if that's all they've ever known.About a year ago, I finally got it right. The sauce, too. This week, we'll be doing the first of two homemade pizza cooking classes. Think of this as Pizza 101--the basics; versatile sauce, versatile crust, baked in an oven. In a few weeks, we'll follow up with something a little more advanced.There are lots of recipes for pizza sauce out there, but most of them are pretty work intensive. Quite honestly, if I'm going through the trouble to make homemade pizza, I don't want to have to cook the sauce, too. Also, a lot of them are chunky and I don't like chunky pizza sauce. And a lot of them are cooked with quite a bit of oil, so when you add the cheese, the pizza is all heavy and greasy.I like this recipe because in addition to being super-yummy, it comes together in just a few minutes and uses ingredients you'll probably have in your cupboard, anyway. Also, it's a great dipping sauce for breadsticks! Ready, Freddy?Pizza Sauceprint recipe text only1 6-oz. can tomato paste6 oz. water (just use the empty tomato paste can)3 Tbsp. garlic bread seasoning1 Tbsp. sugar or honey (I usually use sugar because it's easier and hey, I think we've established here that if there's an easy road or a hard road, I usually take the easy road...)3/4 tsp. onion powder1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)
Empty tomato paste into a bowl and add water a few tablespoons at a time, stirring constantly until combined. Add remaining ingredients, stir to combine, and allow to stand until ready to use. Covers two average-sized pizza; freezes extremely well.
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