State: Minnesota
Before
starting the pizza, I researched the state of Minnesota and found out that one
dish dinners are the common meal.
Pronounced by locals as "hoddish", hot dish meals are great
comfort food for cold winters and are very popular. I can totally see myself eating this hot dish
meal, so I decided on making this a pizza.
The ingredients were a little different than what I am used to, but it
turned out pretty good. I chose this hot
dish recipe for the pizza, because I hear this one is popular.
Ingredients:
1 tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lb of hot Italian turkey or some type of lean meat
Sea salt and pepper to taste
1/2 a bag of frozen peas and carrots
1/2 a bag of frozen corn
1/2 a cup of cream of mushroom soup (see below for recipe if doing scratch)
1 pound of cooked tator tots (see instructions for bag)
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
Soup:
4 ounces fresh mushrooms
2 tablespoons onions, chopped
1 tbsp of minced garlic
1 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons rice or tapioca flour - to make gluten free
1 small carton of organic chicken stock
1/2 cup of light cream or whipping cream
salt and pepper to taste
1⁄4 teaspoon nutmeg
Sauce:
First, chop
up the mushrooms into petite sized portions.
Melt butter in a large frying pan and add in the onions, garlic, and mushrooms. Cook until onions are translucent and
soft. Next, stir in 2 tbsp. of flour and
create a roux until slightly brown.
Add in the
chicken broth and heat until slightly thickened. Add in 1 tbsp. of flour and stir until
dissolved. Then add in cream and heat to
sauce becomes thicker. Stir
frequently. Add salt, pepper, and
nutmeg. Once sauce thickens, remove from
the heat and set aside.
Meat:
For the
meat, I wanted something with some heat and wanted to stay lean, as this pizza
is going to pack in some fatty calories.
In a medium pan, heat up 1 tsp of canola oil and add turkey to the
pan. Ensure to break up into small
pieces and cook turkey until gray or until pink is gone from the meat. Remove
from the heat and set aside.
Pizza:
Preheat oven to 400 or 450 degrees for a pizza crust from
scratch. Add a thin layer of olive oil
to your pizza crust. Put crust into the
oven and allow to bake for 5-10 minutes or until slighly browned. Do not overcook the crust. The time will depend on what type of crust
you are using. Take pizza out of oven.
Next add the turkey and veggies to the base of the
pizza. Spread out thoroughly to ensure
all areas are covered equally. Next, add
a layer of the sauce over top of the meat and veggies, covering the whole
pizza. Take cheddar cheese and spread
over top of the pizza. Finally, add the
cooked tator tots along the pizza. Cook
for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted over the casserole. Remove from oven, turn off oven, and allow to
cool before eating. Sauce can be VERY
hot.
Pairing:
Trying to find a beer from Minnesota can be a challenge
living in Tampa, FL. There are some
great breweries in Minnesota from what I hear, but I am not familiar with
them. The type of beer I would serve
with this pizza, is something that would be a dark rum or bourbon aged porter
or imperial stout. When I think of
eating this pizza in MN, I think of Winter time and you need something to warm
you up. When it comes to a wine, a
Merlot would be a good selection for the pizza.
Learning Moments:
Doing this pizza, I wasn't really sure where it was going to
go or if it would taste good. I thought
about making the casserole first and then placing it on top of the pizza, but
decided not to. The pizza turned out very
good, but I would consider making a different casserole dish. After I made the pizza, I realized that a
green bean casserole and smoked ham pizza would be killer. I may end up doing this state over again just
for that combination. It sounds really
good. Either way, this pizza turned out
pretty good and was very tasty. How can
you go wrong with tator tots?? Enjoy!
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