Husband-Friendly BBQ Chicken Pizza

I once blogged about my recipe for BBQ chicken pizza. It’s very flavorful, since it’s loaded with tons of pepperoncini peppers, red onions, and cilantro. I made it again recently when a college friend and her new husband dropped in for a visit while they were in town. Afterwards, hubby remarked that while he really liked the meal, he would like it better with far less cilantro and peppers. Previously, he’d said something about fewer onions, as well. I thought that it would probably be better to find a new recipe than simply cut back, since those were the essence of that recipe. So I did some searching online. I kid you not, this is the title of one that popped up:

“Husband-friendly barbecue chicken pizza”

Of course, I picked that one to make.

I’ve been making my own pizza dough for a few months now. When I first made it, I had no problems. I’m not sure what star was shining on me, because I’ve had problems with it ever since. The next time I made it, it was far too gooey and I ended up adding a ton of extra flour to make it work. It was a struggle but eventually worked out. When my friend and her husband were in town recently, I tried to avoid the goopy problem by using less water, but then I felt like the dough was too dry (then again, I also forgot the olive oil because I was trying to talk and cook at the same time, oops).

This time around, I was super careful with every aspect of the dough. As you can see in this picture, I used less than 1 cup and more than 3/4 cup. I also actually measured the temperature to get the best results from the yeast.

When I was done mixing the dough, this is what it looked like.

It didn’t rise a ton last time and I thought that might because I didn’t put it in a warm enough place, so this time I put it outside on my balcony.

Oh yes, that helped!

I’ve started using a sprinkling of corn meal on my pizza stone. I think it helps with texture and keeps it from sticking. Plus, I’m a copy cat and other people do that.

I found that the dough was too elastic for a rolling pin and actually ended up picking it up and using my fists to stretch it out, just like what I’ve seen REAL chefs do. I felt pretty awesome about it. I even thought about taking a video to post here, but then I came to my senses and remembered that no one comes to my blog to see me. So then I didn’t. Anyway, here’s my dough on the stone.

Okay, now to start preparing the toppings. Like my other recipe, this one calls for red onions.

Unlike my other recipe, this one says to caramelize them in olive oil. The other recipe leaves them raw. I knew this way was going to be much better.

When they were about done, I put them aside in a bowl and re-used the pan to fry some bacon. I cut the slices in half just so they’d fit, but ended up using 6 whole strips of bacon.

Okay, time to start assembling!

First, I slathered the pizza crust with some barbecue sauce. I used a combination KC Masterpiece (Original) and Famous Dave’s Devil’s spit, since that’s what I had on hand. Really, I should have made my own, but let’s be honest – this was already a lot of work.

Next, I covered the pizza with leftover chicken from my slow cooker BBQ chicken the night before.

And then the onions, and also the bacon, crumbled and torn into little pieces.

Then the recipe called for a half cup of gorgonzola.

As I sprinkled it on, I tried to figure out the difference between gorgonzola and bleu cheese. I decided that gorgonzola is just an Italian variety of bleu.

The recipe called for some diced, fresh jalapenos. I opted for whole slices from a jar, but not very many. I wasn’t convinced that they belonged on this pizza (and I’m still not).

This part is odd. The recipe called for a tablespoon each of paprika and garlic powder to be sprinkled on.

I couldn’t do it. It just seemed like far too much of both. I sprinkled a lot of both, but not the whole tablespoon. I didn’t want to have gone through all this effort only to ruin the pizza by over-seasoning it.

Finally, top with grated mozzarella. For the first time ever, I bought fresh mozzarella and grated it myself.

Turns out, it’s really soft and moist and hard to grate. The texture was very different from the grated mozzarella I usually buy. I managed though. And ate all the pieces that looked weird, just to save hubby from them.

Here’s the pizza topped with everything:

Popped it in a 425 degree oven and we’re good to go!

I think the temperature was a bit too high, as the cheese didn’t have the texture that I was looking for, but whatever. It worked out.

I liked it, a lot! Caramelizing the onions got their flavor under control and added a sweetness that worked with the tang of the barbecue sauce. The smokiness of the bacon also went well with the sauce.

Hubby said he really liked this recipe. His only complaint was that it was too spicy and left his mouth burning. I suppose that’s what I get for using a barbecue sauce called “Devil’s Spit.” I won’t do that again.

I definitely think that this recipe just nudged my old one out of the rotation.

Oh, and in case you were wondering the crust was perfect!

Stuffed Shells

I first found this recipe when I was living in my little one bedroom apartment above a photography studio in an old-fashioned Pennsylvania town.

I first prepared it when I was dating this guy long-distance and he was coming to visit me for the weekend. I think I wanted to impress him.

Honestly, I don’t remember how it turned out. I just remember how little I cared about the food once that guy showed up at my door.

The second time I made it, I had taken my relationship with that guy to the next level and had moved to Maryland to live with him. I served it when he had some friends over for dinner. His friend asked for hot sauce and immediately drenched his shells in it. I’m still mad at that guy for it, even though we’re not friends with him anymore.

This was my third time. The boyfriend is now my husband and we had just moved back to New York. We’d invited my family over for dinner and I decided to make these shells for them. The nice thing about it is that it can be prepared way in advance, so all I had to do when people were over was to get off the couch and put it in the oven.

Start off with some fresh, juicy baby portabellas.

I do love that colander. All the mushrooms get diced when they’re clean.

Sure makes for a lot. It occurred to me after I was done with this that I could have saved a lot of time by doing it with my food processor. Ah well.

Yep, definitely should have used the food processor. The onions made me cry.

But the garlic was easy (I used the stuff from a jar).

First step is to sizzle all the mushrooms, onions, and garlic in a big skillet.

It’ll cook down after a bit.

When you’re satisfied with it, add a pound of ground turkey. It had been a long time since I’d used ground turkey, and I’m not sure why. It’s good, and a lot healthier than beef.

Cook it up a bit.

Don’t forget to season with salt and pepper. I tend to forget that. Not this time!

While that was happening, I had prepped some other things. Here’s some fresh parsley.

And some frozen chopped spinach. It was in a bowl because I was thawing it in the microwave.

When the turkey was cooked thoroughly, I added the spinach (after squeezing out the water) and the chopped parsley.

And then a whole bunch of cottage cheese. I think I chose a reduced fat container of it.

And finally, some grated Parmesan cheese.

When it’s all mixed in, this is what it looked like.

I waited until this point to boil the jumbo shells because I really wanted to give the mixture a chance to cool down before sticking my fingers in it. I remembered from last time how hard it was to stuff the shells when the mixture is hot.

Once they were boiled and drained, I put them next to the cheese and turkey mixture in preparation for stuffing.

As far as stuffed shells go, these were so pretty!

Am I right? I’m right, I know.

As for topping them, this is what I had: “Grandpa’s Sauce” from Wegman’s and grated skim milk mozzarella. I’d never had that sauce before, but that name is pretty effective marketing. I needed it and I’ve never even had a Grandpa to make homemade sauce before.

Covered with foil and put it in the fridge until later. I made a big mess but had plenty of time to clean it up!

Fresh out of the oven, this is what it looked like.

And once it was served up, this is what it looked like.

None of the ingredients alone stood out – no one seemed aware of the mushrooms or the turkey or the cottage cheese – but they all worked very well together. The taste just works.

Definitely too much work for a normal weeknight, but it’s certainly doable on weekends and well worth the effort.

And they make for good leftovers. Hubby had them for lunch at work and I should have frozen some for later, too. Mmmm!