Pizza

Last night I had a couple friends over so we could eat dinner and watch Beyonce wear 3d glasses while she watched Usher sing a Michael Jackson song. Needless to say, we had fun and it was really tight.

I remember when I was a kid, we would have pizza on french bread all the time. Largely because us kids really liked it and it was really easy to prepare. I like it right now because I am kind of convinced that I'm incapable of making delicious pizza crust from scratch. The sauce is really what makes this pizza anyway.

French Bread Pizza:
ingredients -
1 Loaf French bread
3 links italian hot sausage
3/4 lb ground beef
1 large onion
1 large bulb fennel
5 cloves garlic
1 28 oz can tomatoes
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp sun dried tomato paste
2 tsp fennel seeds
1 red bell pepper
Fontina cheese
Quattro Formaggi cheese blend
Fresh basil leaves

Heat up a big skillet or pot on the stove. Remove sausage from casings and brown with the beef. Take meat out of the pan leaving the fat behind. You want 1 TBL of fat so pour it out if there's too much or add olive oil if there isn't enough.

Add diced onion and fennel and cook for 5-6 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. At this point use an immersion blender or food processor to blend the vegetables because I don't like chunks of veggies in pizza sauce. Add the veggies back to the pan with the tomatoes, sun dried tomato paste, fennel seeds, and oregano. Cook for 15-25 minutes. Add meat back to sauce and cook for 5 minutes.

Split the french bread loaf. I tore out some of the inside because I wanted it to be less heavy on the bread. Spread the sauce evenly on the bread. top with sliced red bell peppers, fontina, and quattro formaggi.

Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Top with basil chiffonade.

I love this pizza because I think tomato sauce with italian sausage is just begging for a lot of fennel, basil, and bell pepper flavor.

xo,
Levi