Pizza Pizza Pizza with Eric Pulsifer
A few weeks back, our dear friend Alex had a Birthday and she wanted to celebrate in style. She asked all her friends to bring a pizza of their choice. And our buddy Eric stood above the rest – physically and foodically!
Who can say no to a Jalapeño Popper–stuffed Pizza?
By Eric Pulsifer ///Junk food gourmet
My go-to homemade pizza topping is Spanish chorizo, a cured smoked meat more similar to high-quality pepperoni than the greasy, lymph node-laden skillet magic that is Mexican chorizo. But Alex already had the gourmet pizza down, and I felt an itch to make the kind of pizza that would only sound appetizing to a reasonably health-conscious person after a few drinks.
I was tossing around the idea with some other pizza partiers about making something deliciously trashy — using low-quality ingredients to create a guilty pleasure of a pie with the sort of fare reserved for bachelors and teenagers. Funny enough, I’m willing to be bet my pie was still probably healthier than the stuff the big chains call pizza.
My initial thought was to make a crust stuffed with that staple of the lonely man diet, the Pizza Roll. However, recalling that those little pockets of sauce and square bits of meat aren’t actually very good, I opted instead for a crust stuffed with gorgonzola-filled jalapeño poppers.
The recipe is simple, and the result was tasty. This made a 10″ round pizza with a couple of leftover poppers for pre-pizza snacking.
1 tube of pizza crust2 boxes of frozen Safeway Gorgonzola Gems1 box of frozen spinach artichoke dip1 cup of Velveeta shreds1/2 a cup of corn meal1 tablespoon of cheap olive oil
Sprinkle some corn meal on a nonstick tray. Spread the dough out on top of the tray, rub olive oil over the center and add additional corn meal. Surround the pizza with a barrier of halfway cooked (as per instructions) Gorgonzola Gems and roll the crust over. Spread halfway cooked spinach artichoke dip in middle, top with cheese and throw in the oven. Bake at 425 degrees until crust is golden brown.
