I typically crave pizza at least once a week. Over the weekend, Kevin and I celebrated Valentine’s Day early with a simple dinner. My hearty pepperoni and arugula cast iron pizza was the star of our dinner. I cut up pieces of pepperoni into little heart shapes and added them to my pizza. Pizza is one of my favorite foods in the world. When I lived in New York, I ate pizza at least once each week. I didn’t start making my own pizza from scratch until I moved to the Midwest. When I make my pizza, I usually bake my pizza in the oven on top of a pizza stone or directly on a sheet pan. This time around, I decided to make pizza directly in a cast iron skillet. I preheated the oven with the cast iron skillet in the oven. When the oven reached 500°F, I carefully removed the cast iron skillet from the oven, drizzled on some olive oil, pressed the pizza dough into the skillet, topped the pizza with my favorite ingredients, and baked the pizza in the oven until it turned golden brown. The best part about a cast iron pizza is the dough develops a nice browning at the bottom. The crust turns out extra crispy and holds all of the ingredients on top of the pizza very well. Pizza is a very comforting dish and can easily be customized with any ingredients of your choice. In honor of Valentine’s Day, I tried to add as much redness to my foods as I possibly can. Tomatoes and pepperoni were the easiest additions as both of these ingredients are red and the flavors work very well on top of pizza. After the pizza was done, I topped the pizza with more fresh basil and arugula. Kevin and I savored all of the flavors on each bite of pizza.
Hearty Pepperoni and Arugula Cast Iron Pizza:
· 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
· my pizza dough recipe
· 3-5 whole tomatoes from can, hand crushed
· ½ teaspoon kosher salt
· ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
· ¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning
· 6-8 grape tomatoes, halved
· 8-10 slices of pepperoni, cut into heart shapes
· 3 sprigs fresh basil, rolled up, thinly sliced, and divided
· 2 ounces Pecorino Romano
· 3 ounces mozzarella cheese
· ½ cup arugula, loosely packed
Directions:
1) Prepare the pizza dough the evening before following my pizza dough recipe here.
2) When ready to make pizza, preheat oven to 500°F. Place a cast iron skillet in the oven as the oven is preheating. Once the oven reaches 500°F, pour ½ tablespoon of olive oil onto skillet. Using a spatula, carefully press the dough into the skillet. Pour the other ½ tablespoon of olive oil over the dough. Leave the edges of the dough slightly raised in the skillet for the pizza crust.
3) Evenly distribute the hand crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, tomatoes, pepperoni, half of the fresh basil, and cheeses all over the pizza. Place the pizza in the oven for 16-18 minutes. Remove the pizza from the oven once the crust is golden brown. Let the pizza rest for a couple minutes before topping with remaining basil and arugula.
Takeaways: If you prefer a crispier pizza, you can bake the pizza for an additional minute or two longer in the oven. If you prefer a softer pizza, you can remove the pizza from the oven after 15 minutes.
