Meatball and Ricotta Pizza

Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound of ground beef

• 1 small yellow onions, chopped

• 1 cup of grated Romano cheese

• 1/2 cup of flat leaf Italian parsley, chopped

• 1/4 cup of seasoned bread crumbs

• 1 egg

• 1/2 tsp of salt

• 1/2 tsp of fresh ground black pepper

• 3 Tbs of extra virgin olive oil

Preparation:

• In a large bowl, thoroughly combine all the ingredients above except the olive oil.

• Using your hands, roll the meat into 3/4 inch balls.

• Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan.

• Fry the meatballs for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side until the meatballs are golden brown.

Makes around 12 to 16 mini-meatballs

Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

• • 4 cup of all purpose flour

  • 1 1/2 cups of warm water

  • 1 package of active dry yeast

  • 1 tsp. salt

  • 2 Tbls of extra virgin olive oil

  • 1 Tbls of sugar

    PREPARATION

  • In a large bowl pour in warm water and sugar

  • Stir to dissolve sugar.

  • Add yeast and gently stir until yeast is dissolved.

  • Let mixture sit for around 15 minutes to activate yeast.

  • Add oil and salt and gently stir.

  • Add one cup of flour and mix

  • Add a second cup of flour and mix until sticky.

  • Add third cup of flour and mix until dough becomes thick.

  • Place the dough on a floured board and gradually knead in the remaining flour.

  • Dust with extra flour and continue kneading until dough becomes firm. About 10 minutes.

  • Kneading is complete when you have a smooth silky ball of dough. It’s better to over knead than to under knead.

  • Grease a large bowl with a little oil.

  • Place dough in the bowl turning once to coat the dough.

  • Cover with a dish towel an place in a warm place for about 2 hours allowing the dough to double in size.

  • Take the dough out of the bowl and cut in half and roll the into two balls.

  • With a rolling pin roll the dough and place onto a grease baking pan.

  • Cover and let it sit in a warm place for around another hour.

Pizza

Ingredients:

• Basic Pizza Dough

• 2 Tbs of extra virgin olive oil

• 3 cloves of garlic,chopped

• 1 tsp of thyme

• 1 tsp of oregano

• 1 tsp of basil

• 1 28oz can of whole San Marzano, tomatoes

• 1/2 tsp of salt

• 1/2 tsp of fresh ground black pepper

• 2 Tbs of extra virgin olive oil

• 1 Tbs of butter

• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced

• 8 portobello mushrooms, sliced

• 12 -16 meatballs

• 2 cups of ricotta

• 2 8oz balls of fresh di bufala mozzarella, drained, dried and sliced.

Preparation:

• Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees

• On a greased baking dish roll the dough out into a round crimping the edges to form a crust.

• In a medium size saucepan, saute the garlic, thyme, oregano and basil in the olive oil for 2 minutes.

• Add the tomatoes and mix together.  Heat through for 2 minutes.

• Spread the tomato mixture over the pizza.

• Season with salt and pepper

• In a small frying pan, saute the onions and mushrooms in the oil and butter until the onions a translucent.

• Top tomatoes with with onions mixture.

• Add the meatballs all over the pizza.

• Add dollops of ricotta all over the pizza.

• Add the sliced mozzarella.

• Bake for 20 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is crisp