HOME MADE PEPPERONI

A blogging friend, over at Hey, What's For Dinner Mom? posted a recipe for home made pepperoni. It started me thinking and, after searching the Internet, I found at least  a dozen more recipes that convinced me I needed to give this a try; I'm so glad I did.

Have you ever read the ingredient list on a package of commercial pepperoni or looked closely at a slice of it and wondered what all those "bits" were? Exactly!! Pretty gross thought wasn't it?? Well, now I have pepperoni and I know EXACTLY what is in it.

The recipe I decided to try is very simple because it does not involve sausage casings or a smoke house or any weird preservatives. It's just meat and spices baked in the oven at a super low temperature for 8 hours ............ and it was really good (even picky-picky husband love it!!)

 

 

First of all, when it's all cooked, it's NOT going to be bright red/orange like commercial pepperoni, and it's not going to be shaped perfectly round, but that certainly didn't bother us. At least I know exactly what is in my sausage!!

1 pound of ground pork (see note below)
1 pound of ground beef (very lean, I used 96%)
2 teaspoons liquid smoke
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons mustard seed
2 teaspoons fennel seed
1 teaspoon paprika
1 to 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes (see notes)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 slightly heaping teaspoons salt (see notes)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup water

Grind the dry spices together (I used my mortar and pestle) until they are roughly ground (it doesn't have to be super fine).

Mix the two ground meats together (I used my stand mixer). Then mix in the spices, the liquid smoke and 1/4 cup water. After it's well mixed. Cover it well, and chill it for 48 hours.

After 48 hours, mix again and roll the mixture into 2 logs and place them on a foil lined baking sheet (make sure the baking sheet has a lip).

Bake in a pre-heated 200° oven for 8 hours. Most of the recipes tell you to keep turning the "logs" every two hours, as they bake, but I didn't turn them at all, and they were fine. Your house is going to smell wonderful!! 

After 8 hours, they will look like this:

The "pepperoni" logs will be quite firm to the touch when they come out of the oven. Since I used very lean mean, I didn't have much grease in the bottom of my pan, but, if you use a fattier grade of meat, you might have to wipe off any obvious grease on the outside of the baked sausages before you chill them.

CHILL  BEFORE  YOU   SLICE !!

Let the baked logs cool a little, then wrap them in plastic wrap and chill them until they are very cold before you slice them.  Use a sharp knife and slice the sausages very thin.

We were very pleasantly surprised how easy this was to make and what a nice flavor it had. We will definitely be making this recipe again!!

NOTES:  For the ground pork, a small pork butt roast works great because it has the right amount of fat, but you can also just buy a pound of ground pork (UNseasoned....not sausage).

UPDATE: Since posting this recipe, I've tried the same spice mixture with ALL ground pork and I think we like the texture even better. If you use ALL pork, just reduce the cooking time to 6 hours.

NOTES: I used 1 1/4 teaspoons of crushed red pepper flakes and it was just the right amount of heat for us, but then we are pretty timid when it comes to food heat tolerance. If you like spicy pepperoni, just add more flakes.

NOTES: Several of the recipe I found online called for Morton's Tender Quick which has salt, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite and propylene glycol in it.  The only advantage to using that product (that I can see) is to give your sausage that bright pink color.  Since that is not important to me (and I tend to keep my pepperoni in the freezer)I just used plain old table salt and it worked fine.

BEST EVER PIZZA SAUCE

My picky-picky husband has been my pizza sauce Guinea pig taste tester for 43 years (pizza is his all time favorite thing to eat). I have to admit that I fed him some pretty funky pizza's over the years....he has been a brave man.

Well, several years ago, I got serious about my goal (to re-create a pizzeria style pizza sauce) and started experimenting again (poor husband). Some were too garlic-y; some were too onion-y; some were too oregano-y; etc.  

After dozens and dozens and dozens of pizza's, I've finally come up with the perfect blend of spices. Picky-picky husband is really smiling and making lip smacking noises when he eats my pizza these days (insert my big grin here). I hope your family likes it too.

MUCH BETTER THAN

COMMERCIAL PIZZA SAUCE !!

(1) 6 ounce can of tomato paste
1  1/2 cans of water
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
scant 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds (don't leave out)
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon olive oil
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3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese  (add AFTER its cooked)

Whisk together and simmer the above ingredients (minus the cheese) for about 5 minutes (SLOW simmer). Remove from heat and stir in 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese (I use the stuff in the green can).

That's it!!  It's good to go immediately or you can keep it in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. It really is wonderful.

WEEKEND BREAKFAST PIZZA

I don't buy refrigerator ("whomp tube") biscuits very often, but I DO buy them for this recipe. My family absolutely loves this quick and easy breakfast. As a matter of fact, the first time I made this, I was told "this is gold!!"  Even Picky-picky Hubby gave double thumbs up which is rare!!

 

This weekend treat can easily be "tweaked" to suit your family. Here are the basic ingredients:

8 ounce Pillsbury refrigerated crescent rolls
1 pound (total) cooked breakfast meat (see  note)
1½ cups frozen shredded hash browns (thawed)
1½ cups shredded cheddar
4 eggs  (don't be tempted to add more)
¼ cup milk
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Open the refrigerator rolls and press into an ungreased 12" pizza pan, pinching all of the seams shut. Important: make sure you press some of the dough up onto the sides of the pan to create a "lip". DO NOT PRE-BAKE THE CRUST.

Cook (and completely drain) one pound of your favorite breakfast meat (NOTE: I used equal parts of crisp bacon, breakfast sausage and finely diced ham...but ANY combo will work well. Just make sure the total weight is about a pound).

Sprinkle the cooked breakfast meat, evenly, over the unbaked crescent dough. Next, evenly sprinkle the thawed hash browns and cheddar cheese over the cooked meat.

In small bowl, whisk the 4 eggs, black pepper and milk together. Drizzle evenly over everything.  NOTE: Don't be tempted to add more eggs. It is going to SEEM like it isn't enough, but trust me...it is perfect.

 

Lastly, sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over all.  Bake in a 375 pre-heated oven for 30 minutes (my oven took 28 minutes). Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before you cut it.

 

Sauteed mushrooms, peppers, etc. would be wonderful in this breakfast pizza. Just add them the same time as the thawed hash browns. You might have to add a couple extra minutes to the total baking time if you add a LOT of extra veggies.

NOTE: You can also use one of those small boxes of JIFFY pizza crust mix instead of the crescent roll dough.

NOTE: If you use frozen hash browns, make sure they are thawed before using in this recipe.

PIZZA-STUFFED PEPPERS

In a recent issue of Pillsbury's Pot Pies & Casseroles cookbook, I found a recipe for Pizza-Stuffed Peppers, made with orzo pasta instead of rice, which intrigued me. They were very easy to make and were quite good. This would be a great recipe for kids. 1/2 cup uncooked orzo
4 cups boiling water
6 small bell peppers
10 ounces ground turkey
1/2 cup diced pepperoni
15 oz. of pizza sauce
1½ cups mozzarella shredded
1/2 cup water

Cook the orzo in 4 cups boiling water for 3 minutes (see note). Drain and rinse with cold water then set aside. Cut top off of bell pepper and clean out seeds and membranes, rinse. If pepper does not sit straight, trim a little off the bottom.
Brown ground turkey and pepperoni over medium-high heat for 4-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until turkey is not longer pink then drain well. Stir in pizza sauce, 1 cup of cheese and the partially cooked pasta. Divide mixture evenly between the bell peppers.

Spray a 5-6 quart slow cooker with vegetable spray and pour in 1/2 cup water. Stand filled bell peppers upright in slow cooker, replace bell pepper tops. Put lid on and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours. Just before serving, remove pepper tops and top with remaining cheese, cook 5 to 10 minutes more or until cheese is melted.

To remove bell peppers from slow cooker, lift out with large slotted spoon, using tongs to support peppers (do not squeeze).

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I didn't make mine in the crockpot. Instead, I pre-cooked the empty bell peppers (wrapped in plastic wrap) for 3 minutes in the microwave. I then filled them with the filling mixture and baked them in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. I then topped them with lots of cheese (more than the recipe calls for) and baked them another 5 minutes or so until the cheese was all melty.

NOTE: There are several ways to pre-cook the empty bell peppers before you fill them. You can blanch them in boiling water, but I find that microwaving them works better.

NOTE: If you use my method of baking these bell peppers, cook the orzo for the full 9 minutes before mixing it with the rest of the ingredients. I also added about a cup of chopped mushrooms to meat mixture during the last part of its cooking time.

VEGGIE CALZONES

Lately I've been making calzones. They are a very versatile "hot sandwich" and since they require small amounts of filling...they are a good way to us any leftovers on hand. Hubby loves big meat sandwiches, so I've made them with leftover BBQ chicken, steak & cheese, ham & cheese, crisp bacon & cheese and yes, pizza goodies.

Personally, I like my calzones stuffed to the brim with veggies and a little pizza sauce & cheese. I have found, through trial and error, that you have to saute your veggies until tender then drain them well on a paper towel. If you don't, you will get a soggy-bottom crust on your sandwich. Any veggies will work. Roasted veggies are excellent, so are grilled veggies. Tonight I was lazy, so I just sauteed some broccoli, mushrooms, garlic, green onions and kidney beans, but usually, the more veggie variety the better.

I use my regular bread dough recipe (CLICK HERE) and jazz it up with 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon onion powder and 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder(add seasonings when you add the liquid in the recipe).

Normally, I would rather cut my arm off than show anyone my oven, but I wanted you to see MY secret for getting a pizzeria style pizza crust. It doesn't look like anything special, but it is truly the best way to cook pizza at home.

My hubby came up with this idea about 10 years ago when I was complaining that my pizza stone wasn't working the way I wanted it to (I wanted a crispy crust with nice pillowy edges). He cut a 1/4" thick piece of steel (to fit my oven) and I seasoned it like a cast iron frying pan. After you have seasoned it, you never grease it or wash it again, just wipe it off.....nothing sticks to it.

I preheat my oven (and the steel sheet) to 450 degrees and use cornmeal on my pizza peal so that the prepared pizza (or calzone) will slide off directly onto this sheet of hot steel (no pan). Bake for 8 minutes, then switch the heat to broil and (watching it carefully) let it broil for about 2 more minutes or until it is the color you want. It works great...no more doughy "steamed" crusts.

For calzones, you will need a ball of yeast dough about the size of a hardball. Roll it out to a nice thin circle. Place a mound of sauteed, and drained, veggies on one side of the circle and top them with 1/4 cup of pizza sauce (CLICK HERE FOR MY PIZZA SAUCE) and a serious hand full of grated mozzarella cheese. Fold the "empty" side of the calzone over the filling and pinch the edges together. Once pinched together, roll the pinched dough edge back onto itself to form a very tight seal. Using scissors, snip several vent holes in the top of the calzone. Bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes or until nice and golden. Just as soon as they come out of the oven, brush them with butter and sprinkle with parmesan and coarse salt.

VEGGIE CALZONE CUT IN HALF