Thursday, April 29, 2010

Member Recipe - MEATZA!



This recipe was a contribution from Wasatch Crossfit member, Laurie D. The paleo version will be in (parentheses), which is the way I made our portion.

I use a 12x17 rectangular pan
Get a decent sized mixing bowl to mix the meat

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
(omit)
3 tsp salt (cut back to 1 tsp of sea salt)
1 tsp caraway seeds (this is the magic ingredient in my opinion)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic salt
(I used garlic powder, since we added salt above)
1 tsp coarse ground pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
2 lbs. ground beef (80/20 is fine and
grassfed is preferred)
2 large eggs
(I added 1/4 c almond flour)
Tomato sauce seasoned with desired seasonings (garlic powder, basil, oregano, thyme)
Your preferred choice of toppings (I chopped up onions, green peppers and mushrooms)
Mozzarella cheese (omit)


Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.


Chop any desired vegetables or toppings and set aside.


Place ground beef into a large mixing bowl, add all seasonings and Parmesan (omit if Paleo) and incorporate thoroughly. Add eggs (and optional almond flour) and mix until combined. Dump the beef mixture onto your pan and flatten to cover the entire pan. Place in pre-heated oven and bake for 10 minutes.


While the "crust" is baking, saute whatever veggies you want to add as a topping, if needed.


Once the "crust" is baked, take out of the oven (you will notice the crust has shrunk considerably and there is rendered fat in the pan. You can blot the the edges of the pan for easier pan cleaning, but I used grassfed beef and didn't bother.). Set the oven to "Broil".


Spread the tomato sauce evenly over the top.

Here is where creativity and personal preference come into play. Add any toppings you desire. The original recipe called for spaghetti sauce as a base, then a layer of pepperoni, then a base layer of mozarella cheese, sliced green olives, feta cheese, more pepperoni, and topped off with more cheese.

Clearly, for Paleo, I omitted the cheese, although as you can see in the photos below, the bottom segment of the Meatza has cheese and black olives - a request from my daughter. This is a versatile meal that can accomodate all types of tastes, since you can compartmentalize the toppings to please everyone.
Once the toppings are added, place back in oven and broil for 3-5 minutes - keep a close eye on it so it doesn't over-bake or burn!



Let it sit for a couple of minutes, slice and serve.

This was delicious! Thank you, Laurie D.!!

(recipe contributions are gladly received, reviewed and credited on my blog - just email me @ contact info on upper right hand corner!)

2 comments: