Friday, December 01, 2006
Mega Meatball Pizza

Print PDF of recipe here.

Recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray
Yield: 4 servings


1 pizza dough, store bought or from your favorite pizza shop
A palm full all-purpose flour or cornmeal (I skipped)
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling, plus 2 tablespoons (I skipped the EVOO in the pan)
2 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary leaves, a couple of sprigs
Coarse salt
1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 to 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Black pepper
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
A handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 pound fresh mozzarella or brick mozzarella, sliced or grated (I used 1 lb)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. On a round pizza stone or pan or on a rectangular baking sheet, using flour or cornmeal to dust the dough, spread out the dough to form your crust. If you are using a baking sheet, drizzle pan with extra-virgin olive oil then set crust in place. Poke the pizza dough in several areas with the tines of a fork. Drizzle the dough with extra-virgin olive oil then season it with finely chopped rosemary and a little salt. Place in oven 10 minutes.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, then the meat. Brown and crumble meat a couple of minutes, then add onions and garlic. Season the meat with salt and pepper then work in the tomato paste using the back of a wooden spoon to combine. Stir in the cheese, parsley and oregano.

Remove pizza crust from oven and top with meat. Arrange cheese over the pizza, working to edges. Return the pizza to the oven and bake until cheese is golden, another 10 to 12 minutes.

Sweetnicks' Notes: I did not use olive oil in the pan with the ground beef. The ground beef gives off so much liquid on its own, I didn't want any more. The recipe didn't indicate draining the ground beef, but I did. When I added the tomato paste, I added about 1-1/2 tablespoons of water to give it the proper consistency.






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