Chicago Oven & Pizza Grinder Pizza Co Chicago Pizza Pot Pie
1 recipe pizza crust mix – ready to use
4 teaspoons olive oil
1 pound ground beef – or sweet or hot Italian sausage meat, (removed from casings and crumbled), or a combo of all
1 medium sweet onion – peeled and chopped
1 medium green pepper – seeded and chopped
2 garlic cloves – peeled, crushed, and chopped
1 can whole tomatoes – (28 ounce) roughly crushed
3 ounces tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano – or dried basil
2 tablespoons Italian parsley – fresh, minced
salt – to taste
fresh ground black pepper – to taste
1/2 pound mozzarella cheese – thinly sliced
Vegetable oil – to prepare the bowls
Prepare a recipe for pizza dough and let it rise in the refrigerator for 1 1/2 Hours.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees for 60 minutes.
Prepare the sauce while the dough is rising.
Heat two teaspoons of the olive oil in a medium-sized non-aluminum saucepan. Add the meat and cook it until it is no longer pink. Remove the meat and Drain off the fat.
Heat the to remaining teaspoons of olive oil in the same saucepan and sauté the onion and green pepper until the onion is just translucent. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Add the sautéed meat, tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, parsley, and salt and pepper. Stir and simmer, uncovered, for 45 to 60 minutes. Stir from time to time to prevent burning.
Oil 4 1- to 1-1/2-cup ovenproof bowls, inside and out. Oil a baking sheet.
Spoon the cooked sauce into each bowl, leaving at least 1/2 inch of space at the top of each bowl. Lay the mozzarella over the sauce in each bowl.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator, punch it down, and divide it into 4 pieces. Roll each piece out with a rolling pin until it is just large enough to hang over the bowl’s edge by 2 inches.
Set the bowls on the oiled baking sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The dough is done when the crust is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.
To serve, put a dinner plate on top of the dough, and with oven mitts protecting your hands, quickly invert the pie. Loosen the dough all around the edge with a knife before removing the bowl. The pies can also be served in their bowls without inverting them. Let each person break through the crust to get to the filling-just as they would with another type of pie.
NOTE: The dough is refrigerator risen so that it will be stiff when it is rolled out. When the dough is too soft, it can slip and expand too much on the bowl.
Description:
“When the pizza goes into the oven, it resembles a crust-covered deep-dish pot pie, but when it is done, the waiter detaches the crust from the bowl and deftly flips it over at your table. Viola! Upside-down pizza pot pie!”