Pizza

As far as I'm concerned, La Casa Pizzaria in Omaha, NE is my holy grail of pizza.  If you have never had it, you owe it to yourself to give it a try.  La Casa's style of pie is a thin crust neopolatin.  They also use a unique combination of romano and mozzarella cheeses.  I feel that I have duplicated their style fairly well except for one aspect, the crust.  If anyone out there has worked at La Casa or knows the dough recipe, please let me know.  Up until now, I have been using the Betty Crocker pizza crust mix, with some good success.  Tonight however, I am trying my friend Janine's family pizza dough recipe.  I am told this is a wonderful thin crust dough.  Sorry, no sharing of this recipe.  Janine makes me a secret spaghetti sauce and I can never compromise that perk.

La Casa's marinara sauce is about a simple as it gets, and not in a bad way.  All I do is buy a can of whole italian style tomatoes and blend them in my food processor.  Not a total puree, leave it a bit chunky.  I simmer slowly with salt, pepper, sugar and olive oil.  That's it.

For tonights pizza I am doing ground beef, onion and green pepper.  All I do for the beef is brown 1 pound of hamburger broken up very small, add Cavender's Greek Seasoning, salt and pepper.

I make my pizza on a Pampered Chef baking stone.  No particular reason why, I just love how things turn out on it.  Once the crust is laid out, prick a few holes in it so that there are no bubbles.  Bake for 5-6 minutes at 425, remove and brush with olive oil.

Layering the pizza correctly is key to achieving a La Casa style pie.  First a thin layer of sauce.

Next, both cheeses.

Add veggies at this point.

Finish with seasoned ground beef and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes on a low rack.  Towards the end, I broil for a minute or two to ensure a crisp topping.

The finished product.

Tonight's drink of choice....NorCal Margarita.  More about this little gem later.  Nosh on!