When I lived in Chicago, I fell in love with deep dish pizza. I would meet up with friends at the Giordano’s on Halsted near the blue line for dinner at least once a month. We would order the meatiest pizza on the menu and a side salad to round out our meal. The pizza always took anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to prepare, but we didn’t mind because we could spend the time catching up on everything going on during the past month. When the pizza finally arrived, we would all devour the pizza in a matter of minutes. The pizza was so good, it didn’t matter how intense our conversations were, we would stop to enjoy the delicious marvel in front of us. During the years I lived and worked in Chicago, I developed a deep appreciation for Chicago style pizza. Giordano’s, Uno Pizzeria, and Lou Malnati’s Pizza were some of my favorite restaurants serving Chicago style pizza. These are mainly tourist spots, but I’ve been at the restaurants many times and the deep dish pizza are always so good. After moving away from Chicago, I still occasionally crave deep dish pizza. This morning, when I woke up, all I wanted was a slice of deep dish pizza. I pulled out my trusty old cake pan to build my deep dish pizza on. The best part about making pizza is you could add whatever ingredients you want into the pizza. It makes for a great way to clean out any leftover ingredients in your refrigerator. I actually attempted to make a deep dish pizza a few weeks back as a way to use up some leftover ingredients. The pizza turned out absolutely amazing. Both Kevin and I ate the entire pizza before I had the chance to document the process. Today, I made a slightly different version using ham and greens in honor of Easter. The base for my deep dish pizza is my pizza dough, which I prepared the evening before. My pizza dough is one of my most versatile base ingredients. I always like to have a batch of pizza dough on hand in case my cravings for carbs kick in. I’ve used it to make pretzel bites, everything pretzels, and a variety of pizzas such as this one or this one or this one. I’ve also used my dough for garlic knots. I love using pizza dough so much, I contemplated dedicating an entire section on my blog specifically to pizza dough. Chicago style pizza is different from typical pizza. Instead of layering tomato sauce, cheese, and toppings on the dough in this order, you start with the dough, layer on tons of cheese, add the toppings, and finish the pizza off with tons of tomato sauce on top. The pizza itself is served more like a pie than a pizza. You also eat the pizza with a knife and fork. My ham and greens deep dish pizza was the perfect way to start off my Saturday afternoon.
Deep Dish Ham and Greens Pizza:
· Pizza dough recipe
· 1 teaspoon olive oil
· ¼ cup marinara sauce
· ¼ cup tomato sauce
· 3-4 ounces ham, diced
· ½ crown broccoli, stalks trimmed
· ¼ cup of loosely packed spinach
· ¼ cup of loosely packed arugula
· 2-3 ounces Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated
· 2-3 ounces Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
· ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
· ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
· 2 sprigs fresh basil, thinly sliced
· Additional grated cheese for sprinkling over the top of the cooked pizza
Directions:
1) Prepare the pizza dough the evening before following my pizza dough recipe here.
2) In the morning, preheat oven to 450°F. Set aside a cake pan. Add the teaspoon of olive oil to the cake pan. Using both hands, stretch the dough and press the dough alongside the cake pan. Keep stretching and pressing the dough with both hands until the dough covers the entire inside of the cake pan. Set aside.
3) In a small bowl, combine the marinara sauce and tomato sauce. Set aside.
4) Heat a skillet on medium heat. Add the ham and broccoli. Cook until the ham and broccoli begin to brown, about 3-5 minutes. Add the spinach and arugula. Cook for 30 seconds to a minute, until the spinach and arugula begin to wilt. Turn off the heat and remove the pan from the heat.
5) To assemble the pizza, sprinkle most of the cheeses all over the pizza dough. Add in the ham, broccoli, spinach, and arugula. Top with a sprinkle of kosher salt, black pepper and the rest of the cheeses. Spread the marinara sauce combined with tomato sauce over the top of the pizza.
6) Gently transfer the cake pan to the oven. Bake the pizza for about 33-36 minutes. Remove the pizza from the oven once the crust is golden brown.
7) To serve the pizza, top the pizza with some fresh basil and a sprinkle of cheese.
Takeaways: The pizza is very versatile. Other equally delicious combinations include Italian sausage and broccoli or pepperoni, portabella, and peppers. For a vegetarian friendly version, you can add peppers, broccoli, and mushrooms. Feel free to mix and match your favorite ingredients to create your ideal pizza.