Seriously, the plan has been, for the past 3 days, pizza and brownies. Brownies and pizza. Two kinds of awesome. But it turns out, the pizza was so awesome, I don't even need the brownies.
And this is why.
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| BEST PIZZA EVER!! |
We have a tradition of picking up cookbooks as souvenirs when we travel. They're great, useful, and specific to the place we're visiting! They're kinda the perfect souvenir. Anyway, I digress. We picked up the Great Chicago-Style Pizza Cookbook by Pasquale Bruno, Jr when we visited.. you guessed it... Chicago! And it's been sitting on our shelf for almost 3 years and we've NEVER USED IT! This is a crime of the worst sort, because this pizza.... amazing. And to think, we could have been eating it for the last three years if we'd only known....
This recipe is (I assume, though it's carefully not stated outright in the book) that this pizza is based on the recipe used at Giordano's Restaurant and Pizzeria. It's a spinach stuffed deep dish pizza. If you'd asked me yesterday, I'd have said there's no way to replicate that much awesome at home. I would have been wrong.
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| Stuffed Spinach Deliciousness |
What makes this even better is that it's SUPER EASY to make! (Without posting the actual recipe here...) Basically, take a standard pizza crust recipe and make a double batch (or enough for two pizzas). Roll slightly more than half the dough out so that it's about 3 inches larger than the base of a springform pan. Put the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Fill with a mix of about equal parts chopped spinach and shredded mozzarella cheese.
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| Mmmm. Look at all that cheesy green goodness. |
Put the second crust on top of the filling, roll the edges down to seal it, and cut a hole in the middle of the crust to vent steam. Cover in drained crushed canned tomatoes seasoned with Italian Seasoning and shredded parmesan cheese.
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| Ready to go in the oven. |
Put in a 475 oven for 7-8 minutes on the bottom rack of the oven, then move up two positions for an additional 10 minutes. Remove, cut, and ENJOY! Seriously. Enjoy a lot!
Happy Baking!
