Tuesday, April 5, 2011

What's-left-in-the-fridge Pizza

 I come from Greatpoland ( western region of Poland) and therefore I'm thrifty.
To show you how serious the situation is I will tell you a joke which people from other parts of Poland tell about us.

- How did Scots came to existance?
- They were inhabitants of Greatpoland banished for excessive money spending :o)

Well, that might just be the truth :o) But not likely ;o)
And yes, we don't like to spend our money unless it's absolutely necessary :o) 

Thus said :o) I wanted to share with you what we had for dinner last week.

I wanted to make Hawaiian Pizza (my husband's favorite). The problem was that I did not have either mozzarella cheese or Canadian bacon or regular bacon, for that matter and grocery shopping was going to happen the next day. But I was determined to make a pizza. A while ago I made Hawaiian Pizza with Caramelized Onions and it was delicious so I decided to try to make something similar from the stuff I had left in the fridge.

To make this pizza you will need:
  • pizza dough (or bread dough)
  • 2 medium size yellow onions, sliced thinly
  • 1 Tbsp butter or canola oil
  • grated cheddar cheese or whatever cheese you have left
  • cheap Parmesan cheese
  • deli meat or whatever meat you have letf
  • pineapple chunks 
  • feta cheese (optional)  
Start by caramelizing onions which you have previously peeled, cut in half (or quarters) and sliced thinly. I used my mandolin and sliced them paper thin but they don't have to be that thin.
Melt butter in the pan and add onions. Cook over low heat stirring occasionally until onions are nice and golden. Their volume will decrease significantly. Set aside and let cool.
Yep, that's 2 medium onions right there.

Open the fridge and see what's left.
Grab some cheese and grate it. All I had left was a small piece of medium cheddar cheese.

And some meat. I used last few slices of baked ham deli meat.

Pineapple leftovers...

Cheap Parmesan...

And feta cheese.

And pizza dough. I used leftover bread dough.

Before you start, preheat oven to 500°F if you are using pizza sheet or to 450°F when you are using a stone. I went only 425°F because of the parchment paper.
Plop the dough on lightly floured surface and spread using your hands or rolling pin. I'm using parchment paper cause I don't have a pizza peal but I have a pizza stone. So I build my pizza on the paper and then using pizza sheet as a peel I slide it with the paper onto a hot stone. (Thanks for the tip, Johanna!)

Build up the edge if you want to (I wanted) smear with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.
Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.

And cheap Parmesan

And here come delicious caramelized onions. Spread them using a fork.

Next comes deli meat.

Feta cheese. I love baked feta cheese!
A sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper.

And pineapple chunks

Now just put it into the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Now maybe it was not the best pizza I have ever eaten but it was yummy and most importantly it was cheap ;o)

So next time you want pizza but you don't have all "proper" ingredients... don't let it stop you! Have fun and try new stuff!

5 comments:

  1. Yum! I love feta as well :) That pizza looks delicious.

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  2. GROAN... why didn't I know about the parchment paper on the pizza stone BEFORE I baked cheese & flour onto it...

    Love the blog Agata! Keep it up!

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  3. Amy and Lana, thanks for the comments!

    Lana, I was deadly scared of sliding bread onto a hot stone not to mention loaded pizza!
    And yes, I hear ya, it can be messy (btw that's why I'm building up an edge now cause last time cheese dripped on my precious stone).
    I read about this tip on Johanna's blog long time ago. I do the same thing with bread reusing parchment many, many times.

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  4. Very clever. Never would have thought of feta cheese!

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  5. Oh Sara, you must try this:
    http://www.tarteletteblog.com/2009/11/recipe-potato-leek-pizza-and-giveaway.html
    It's divine!

    First time I made it with feta cheese thinking wrongly that my husband dislikes goat cheese. It tastes great with both, feta or goat cheese.

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