jalapeno blue cheese pizza
Transcribing my weekend pizza into a weekday treat for ya’ll.
Today is mom’s birthday, and I was honestly hoping to have a nice baked good to share in honor of her sprightly 70th. But, I went a little rogue this year and bought her a mini cake from a bakery instead of making one, largely because we had a conversation about it a week or so again and that specific flavor brings back positive memories for both of us.
So, we’re having pizza. I’ll be hanging out with mom this afternoon, cooking some good food and drinking wine, and hopefully you’ll be indulging in a slice or three of this Jalapeno Blue Cheese Pizza. I looked in my fridge one fine day and saw all of the components for this pie waiting for use, and it’s a good little combination I scared up.
Blue cheese – usually stilton, but many kinds, really – is J’s weakness. He loves a slab or two with a glass of scotch and maybe a couple crackers. I wasn’t sure how he’d feel about it on top of pizza, but he ate five slices before I even started my first. Quite flattering, I’d say.
A good pizza night calls for this pie, a Peach Old Fashioned, and a comfy chair with a cozy candle burning in the background. Yessir.
Miss American Pie
If you have good pizza dough and pizza sauce recipes on hand, I suggest you go the homemade route with both of those components. We had some sauce on hand in the freezer that J’s been experimenting with for bar pizzas, so I used that. Any favorite store brand is just dandy too.
A hot oven is key with any pizza. I only recently got over my chickenshit ways to use a 500 degree temp setting. Get that going at least 30 minutes before you plan to bake, preferrably an hour. Turn on every fan in your house so it doesn’t get too hot, but never fear – the pizza doesn’t take long to bake, so you can flip off your burning hot death chamber soon.
I use a full pound of pizza dough, but cut it in half to make two smaller pies. This also means the measurements for all the toppings are also halved to accommodate two nice pies.
The first step with the pizza is to parbake the crust. This sturdies up the base so the bottom doesn’t get soggy and weird. I use a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal, but a pizza stone is fab if you’ve got one. Roll, punch, pinch, dodge, dip, dive, duck, and dodge the dough into a circle. Prick the center with a fork and brush with olive oil, then bake a few minutes until lightly golden.
Top Dawg
Now, we have some fun with topping these suckers.
Spread the parbaked crust with pizza sauce. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella – I use low-moisture, part skim mozz – and then the crumbled blue cheese. I prefer gorgonzola because it’s a more accessible price and doesn’t have a hugely variant flavor, but if you like another variety, have at it. Finish with veggie pepperonis (or regular, but this vegan pepperoni is the shit diggity) and sliced jalapenos. You ca shake the seeds out if you want them a little less spicy.
Pop the pizza back in the oven for a bit to melt the cheese and give the pepperonis a good crisp. Straight up pizzeria vibes in your homestead, yo. Repeat all that goodness with your second pie.
Slice it up and drizzle your slices with honey. Honestly, the honey paired with the hot peppers and the musky cheese is glorious. I also adore a smattering of fresh, roughly torn basil, but I’m also a basil ho this time of year so I put it on pretty much anything.
I served my portion with a bit of the tomato peach salad lurking in my fridge, mostly because its lurking was discomfiting so ridding myself of its watchful gaze eased my anxieties. Not really.
Leftover pizza, hot or cold, is quite nice too. Especially when you forget its there until you open the fridge the next day and oh my god there’s PIZZA FUCK YEAH. A nice surprise. Unless you don’t like jalapenos, then you’re kinda fucked.
Tried this recipe out? Leave a rating and comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you made!
Oh yes it’s pizza night, and the feeling’s right:
Herb Roasted Cherry Tomato Pesto Pizza
jalapeno blue cheese pizza
Ingredients
- 1 lb pizza dough, homemade or store bought
- 2/3 cup pizza sauce, homemade or store bought
- 2 cups low-moisture mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (I like gorgonzola)
- 1 cup vegetarian pepperoni (or regular)
- 2 jalapeno peppers, thinly sliced
- honey and fresh basil, to serve
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Sprinkle a large baking sheet with cornmeal.
- Divide your pizza dough in half and place one half on the baking sheet. Push and press (or toss like a fancy ass) into about a 10-inch circle. Brush with 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and prick all over with a fork. Parbake in the oven for 6 minutes.
- Spread half of the pizza sauce onto the parbaked crust. Sprinkle with mozzarella, then the blue cheese. Arrange the pepperonis and jalapeno peppers on top. Return to the oven for 6-8 minutes until the cheese is melty and bubbly. Repeat with the second half of the pizza dough and the remaining ingredients.
- Slice the pizza and serve hot with a drizzle of honey and fresh basil, as desired.
