Pizza Pot Pie

Pizza Pot Pie.

Doesn't that sound good?

I'd never heard of it until Karen started talking about it.

Karen came into town yesterday for a business conference and what she wanted to eat was Pizza Pot Pie.

Karen was introduced to Pizza Pot Pie by her friend Lindsay.

Lindsay lived in Chicago, and has waited in the long lines at The Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Co. for their famous Pizza Pot Pie.

Karen made this for us once last year, it's the only time I've ever had it, and now I'm going to make it with a little advice from her!

It's best described as pizza stew in a bread bowl.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. hot Italian sausage

1/4 lb. pepperoni slices

8 oz. package sliced mozzarella cheese

8 oz. package sliced provolone cheese

1 lb. mushrooms

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

1 14 oz. can tomato sauce

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes

1/2 large onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup red wine

1 teaspoon each of dried rosemary, thyme, oregano & sweet basil

1/2 teaspoon cayenne or chili flakes

1 tablespoon sugar

olive oil

2 loaves uncooked baguette dough from Von's

fresh basil as garnish

Start by sautéing the garlic, onions & green peppers in a couple tablespoons olive oil.

After the vegetables gain a little color, add the mushrooms.

The mushrooms in the Chicago company's pizza pot pie are left whole.

I thought they were too big and cut them bite-sized.

When the mushroom start to wilt a little, add about a half-cup of red wine.

Then add the seasonings, 1 teaspoon each of rosemary, thyme, oregano and sweet basil.

Add 1 tablespoon of sugar and salt and pepper to taste.

When it comes to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes to combine flavors.

While that's simmering, cook the sausage.

I'm making one pot with meat and one without for the vegetarians in the family.

For the vegetarians, I sauteed one eggplant, 2 yellow squash and 2 zucchini--all sliced.

When the meat and vegetables were done, I separated the sauce into two.

I added the sausage to the sauce and simmered for about an hour, then I sliced the pepperoni into strips and added them to the meat sauce.

Then added the remaining sauce to the veggies.

I bought two loaves of uncooked baguette dough at Vons Market. 

The nice man in the bakery looked at me funny, but was very accommodating. 

He asked what I was going to use it for, and said that he had never heard of pizza pot pie. It was only $1.29 for the uncooked loaf.

Get the dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit for about 30 minutes before using.

These are the bowls Karen uses for pizza pot pie.

They hold almost 2 cups of the filling, so if you've got big eaters, that might satisfy them.

I got them from Crate & Barrel, they cost $3.50 each.

(Thank you, Susie, for driving me to Crate & Barrel to get these bowls. I owe you a pizza pot pie dinner!)

They're perfect because of the pedestal, it makes it easy to de-crust the pot pies and scoop out the cheese by holding on to the pedestal.

Because the bowl is hot!

You can make them in a regular bowl, it's a little trickier to take the crust off, but it's easy enough to pry it off.

Start by putting the cheese on the bottom.

I used a slice each of mozzarella and provolone.

Karen makes it with a good slice off a block of mozzarella.

Then you ladle in the filling.

Those pretty hands belong to my sister-in-law Nancy.

This is the vegetarian filling.

It would be good with some beans in the filling--the bagged bean soup mixture, with all the different kinds of beans in it.

Then you make a crust with the bread dough, by patting a piece of it flat.

One loaf makes about 6 crusts.

It would be best to cut the dough into 6 pieces first.

That way the crusts would be uniform. We just broke off pieces of dough, and some were big and some were small.

You can make the pot pies with a regular bowl, too.

Karen marked the vegetarian ones with a "V" made from dough.

I think the crust works better at least an inch over the sides of the bowls.

We're chasing the light in the kitchen here.

Put them on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees F for about 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown.

The baguette dough works well because it makes a crusty bowl.

I liked it a lot better than using pizza dough crust.

To de-crust the pizza pot pie from the bowl, invert the bowl over a plate.

Run the edge of a spoon around the crust, separating it from the bowl, holding the pedestal.

Scoop the cheese from the bottom of the bowl.

We sprayed some of them with a non-stick spray, but there really wasn't a difference.

The deeper crust, 1 inch over the rim of the bowl, makes a nice crust for the filling.

(Those are Karen's pretty young hands.)

Chiffonade a few leaves of fresh basil for a tasty garnish.

Bon appetit!

 ***

I'm so happy Karen wants to squeeze in a little time with her family whenever she comes to town on business.

Yesterday, Rick came over too, and brought two cousins.

Here they are with one of them.

Hayley.

Then my sister-in-law came over too.

She always works hard here in the kitchen, then had to dash off and take Hayley to soccer practice.

Lindsay and Karen worked together before Karen got married.

They're still close.

You can see the pretty ranunculus Lindsay brought--there to the left in the background.

I love ranunculus.

Thanks, Linds! They're beautiful!

I feel like I know Lindsay because Karen has talked about her a lot.

It was so much fun chatting--cooking together and over dinner--and really getting to know her.

In person.

Lindsay tried umeboshi for the first time--she liked it!

She said her dad doesn't like it, so they never had it at home.

Next time she comes over, I'm going to introduce her to manju.

There's a saying in Japanese, "Ii kimochi".

Or "kimochi ii" as my grandmother used to say.

It means 'what a good feeling'.

I always think of the word kimochi-ii when the kids are home.

It's such a good feeling to have them home.

No printable recipe for Pizza Pot Pie yet.