Week #44: Utah: Funeral Potatoes & Pastrami Pizza

State: Utah

I have never been to Utah, so when I was researching, I looked for dishes that are popular there.  With Salt Lake City being a large Mormon population, I found out that Funeral Potatoes is a very popular dish there.  Just like with most small churches, there is always some type of casserole dish.  When my father passed away, the Baptist Church had at least 5-8 different casserole dishes there.  They are comfort food and for funerals, it is all about helping people get comfortable.  Apparently, Pastrami burgers are very popular in Utah as well, so I decided to use Pastrami for the meat of the pizza.  With this challenge, I had to give it a whirl and I really enjoyed this pizza.  I hope you like it.  

Ingredients:

Utah Funeral Potatoes (Mormon Funeral Potatoes):

2 tbsp of butter, divided

1/2 cup diced onion

1/2 a bag (32-ounce) of frozen shredded hash browns, thawed

1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1/2 (8-10 ounce) box of organic cream of chicken soup

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 pizza crust

Additional Cheese for topping pizza

1/4 lb. of pastrami

Funeral Potatoes:

In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pan.  Cook according to the instructions on the bag.  Basically, brown both sides of the potatoes and add salt/pepper.  Remove from heat and allow potatoes to cool.  In a mixing bowl, add potatoes, butter, onion, soup, cheese, and additional salt & pepper.  Mix thoroughly and set aside for pizza recipe.

Pizza:

Preheat oven to 450.  Cook crust for 10 minutes or until slightly browned.  Turn down heat to 400 degrees.  With a spoon, add potato mixture to the base of the pizza crust and spread out like icing on a cake.  Add pieces of pastrami, spacing out to ensure all slices will be covered.  Then add cheese on top.  Place into oven and bake for 5-7 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Remove and allow pizza to cool before eating.

Pairing:

When you think of Utah, you normally do not think of great craft beer. However, Utah has a great brewery named Uinta, which produces some excellent beers.  My favorites are Hop Nosh and Dubhe IPA.  For this pizza, I went with an Imperial black IPA.  The goal is to balance out the cheesy and salty with a nice malty and hoppy finish.  Cheers!

Learning Moments:

I learned that casseroles are huge in America and every function in a church has some type of casserole or 1 dish recipes.  This one was a little different than Minnesota's version, because it had pastrami on it.  The pastrami really balanced out this dish.  This pizza was really good and is a must try!  Enjoy!