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Friday, December 28, 2012

2012 Eat and Repeat: Bacon, Steak, and Blue Cheese Pizza

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Ryan and I have very different opinions when it comes to boots. It's not that Ryan doesn't like boots. He's actually quite fashionable and compliments me each time I bring home a new pair (which is, admittedly, a few times each 'season'). The problem is the scuffs that the boots leave on our floors. I'm constantly chided for leaving my boots on in the house, and the man clearly doesn't understand my need to keep my calves warm!

One thing we can agree on is pizza. We love all kinds, but both prefer a thinner crust with lots of toppings, just like we enjoyed at PW Pizza as part of our 2012: Eat and Repeat challenge. Our absolute favorite was the The Blues, which included bacon, steak, blue cheese, and red onion on a honey wheat crust topped with chimichurri sauce. When I set out to recreate it, I stumbled upon the recipe for PW's chimichurri sauce on STL Today's site which made the recreation much easier!
Ryan and I tag-teamed this pizza (I didn't wear my boots). I made the sauce in the food processor while he cooked the onions and the steak. This pizza could be made much more quickly if you made the various components (sauce, steak, sautéed onions) a day ahead of time...so plan ahead if you're in a hurry! Although we used sourdough pizza crust instead of honey wheat, our pizza tasted pretty darn similar to the original. This goes right up there with this pizza as one of the best (and most creative) pizzas we've made at home!

One Year Ago: Dark Chocolate Cake with Hot Chocolate Buttercream(best chocolate cake I've had!)
Two Years Ago: No Potato Venison Stew
Three Years Ago: Black and White Bean Soup

Bacon, Steak, and Blue Cheese Pizza with Chimichurri Sauce
inspired by PW Pizza

Ingredients:
-1 batch pizza dough (store-bought or homemade)
-1 batch chimichurri sauce (recipe below)
-1/2 red onion, sliced and sauteed in 1 tsp olive oil until tender
-8 oz. cooked steak, thinly sliced
-2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
-1 cup blue cheese

for the chimichurri-
-1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-1/3 cup red wine vinegar
-1 tbsp lemon juice
-1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
-1/2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
-1 1/2 tbsp minced fresh garlic
-1 tbsp minced shallot
-1/3 tsp ground black pepper
-1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
-1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Directions:
1. To make the chimichurri sauce, add all ingredients to the food processor and pulse just until blended. Do not puree.
2. Preheat oven to 400F. Roll out dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet or pizza stone. Bake pizza crust for 20 minutes.
3. Remove crust from oven. Spread chimichurri sauce over crust. Top with onions, bacon, and steak. Sprinkle blue cheese all over pizza.
4. Return pizza to oven and bake for 15 minutes. Cut into slices and serve immediately.