Week #16: Kansas - Wizard of Oz Pizza

State:  Kansas

As usual, I have never visited the state of Kansas before.  The only thing I know about Kansas is from Wizard of Oz, there is a city named Topeka and Wichita, and the University of Kansas Jayhawks.  Researching the state, popular foods are BBQ, Steak, fried chicken, meatloaf, and a lot of mid-western comfort food.  For this pizza, I decided to go with steak and BBQ.  I made everything from scratch and the goal was to make it look like a Wizard of Oz yellow brick road style pizza.  I was going to make a Dorothy, Scarecrow, Lion, Toto, and Tin Man on the pizza, but it looked a little immature for the pizza idea.  The taste was really good, but this pizza might be eligible for a redo because of the brick road..LOL.  

Ingredients Needed:

Steak Rub:

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp of garlic powder

1 tbsp of sea salt

1 tbsp of chili powder

1 tbsp of black pepper

1 tsp of ground cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon of dry mustard

BBQ Sauce:

1 cup of ketchup

1 can of tomato paste

1 can of water – same can as tomato paste

3 Tbsp of brown sugar

½ cup molasses

2 tbsp of red wine vinegar

½ tsp of garlic powder

½ tsp of onion powder

1 tsp of paprika

½ tsp of cayenne pepper

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of black pepper

Collard Greens:

1 pinch of cayenne pepper

1 tbsp of olive oil or a splash

1 bunch of collard greens

salt, pepper, and garlic to taste

2 strips of raw bacon

Pizza:

1 cup of shredded cheese – (Change to block slices if you want the yellow brick road straight)

½ cup of processed cut colored peppers (red, orange, yellow)

¼ cup of processed cut green pepper

¼ cup of yellow onion

1 pizza crust

Sauce:

Take all of ingredients in mix together in a medium sauce pan on medium heat until boiling and lower to a simmer.  Cook for 5 minutes until smooth consistency, turn off heat and allow sauce to cool.  This will be used as a base for the pizza.

Greens:

Cut up greens to small sizes and put in a medium sauce pot.  Add water to fill halfway of greens.  Cut up bacon into small pieces and add into pot.  Add seasonings to taste and cook on medium heat.  Cook until boiling and then reduce temperature on low, cover and cook for 20-30 minutes or until soft. 

Meat:

For the rub, blend all ingredients together.  For this steak, I just used the shoulder steak which turned out really well.  Cut the steak into small pieces and coat the meat with canola or vegetable oil.   Roll the meat pieces into the rub, ensuring to coat all sides thoroughly.  In a large pan, add canola oil and cook until all sides are seared.   

Pizza:

Preheat oven to 415.  Add olive oil to crust to create a base and then add a layer of BBQ sauce to the base.  Place steak onto pizza and spread out thoroughly.  Then add the collards onto the pizza and the bacon if you want.  With the cheese, create a spiral yellow brick road.  Start from the center and work your way around the pizza like spiral.  Then add the mixed peppers and onions around the outside to make it look like flowers and grass.  Please see “Learning Moments” section for suggested update on how to make the yellow brick road. 

Pairing:

For this pizza, it was hard to find a beer from Kansas.  I was however able to find a beer from Kansas City, but in Missouri.   I had the 80 Acre Hoppy Wheat from Boulevard Brewing Company.  If I was able to get a beer, I would try one from Free State Brewing Company.  A good hoppy beer will offset the BBQ Tangy flavor.  For wine, go for a great Pinio Grigio or a white wine. 

Learning Moments:

For this pizza, I made everything from scratch and did not get lazy on the sauce or rub for the meat.  My skills in cooking are getting better.  Going into this pizza, I wasn't really sure what I was going to put on it until right before I started making it.  So I felt a little rushed going into making this pizza, but it all worked out.  The flavors of the collards, sauce, and meat rub tasted really good.  If I was going to do something different, I would have made the crust bigger and would have used "block cheese" slices to make the yellow brick road more precise.  With grated cheese, it spreads and didn't resemble the brick road I was going for.  All in all, it was a good pizza.