This weekend's pizza was totally interesting ! Take a traditional tomato-based pizza and turn it on its ear! Hawaiian pizza has always seemed really exotic and kind of weird to me, but my brother-in-law raves about it! Whenever the guys have their poker parties at the family farm, Dan likes to order a Hawaiian number to split with the rest of the guys. So I've slowly come around to the idea of trying a pie decked out with ham and pineapple.
I found a recipe on-line that piqued my interest ... a tomato paste cooked up with ginger root and garlic. Hmm ... ginger and garlic go really well with pineapple and pork in Asian dishes. Okay. I can do that I was thinking.
Srirachi sauce and red hot pepper slivers provide the heat. Yup. That makes perfect sense! Ham slivers and pineapple ... there's that Hawaiian pizza identity stamp! Mint leaves ? Mint leaves ? Well, okay. Since I'm really stepping out on a limb I might as well keep it honest!
Well, as you can see the slivers of ham and pineapple turned into chunks because that's how SB and I roll. I put way more than one lousy cup of cheese on that pie because a cheesy pizza is a law, don't ya know? And the verdict ? It was wicked good! Which means awesome! Killer! The ginger and the mint work really well with the pineapple on this pie and that Srirachi sauce really packs a good punch! Baking the crust with the tomato sauce before topping with the other ingredients makes perfect sense too. The pineapple and ham have so much moisture. Their juices work their way into the tomato sauce and help spread the ginger and garlic flavours without creating a soggy crust.
Here's the link for the pizza recipe that I followed ... I ditched the pepperoni, as I really didn't want a greasy affair and besides, we had ham galore, for cryin' out loud! I used a half and half combo of sharp Italian cheese and part-skim mozzarella and doubled the amount and put the Srirachi sauce below the cheese layer and more on top because we love red hot spiciness.
Go ahead. Hit that link ... and enjoy!
Back in the day I used to have Hawaiian pizza as a mainstay, but never with the updated flavour profile here Susan.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea to bring out the Asian-ness of Hawaiian pizza with these additions! Way to go, thinking (and cooking) outside the box.
ReplyDeleteOK you do make it sound good, but pineapple or any fruit on Pizza is still weird ��
ReplyDeleteI totally agree about ginger and garlic in a tomato base. I learnt the technique from a 2004 Delicious magazine and agree it works beautifully with Asian dishes (I've cooked pork meatballs in them, reminiscent of an Italian meatball sauce).
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of the mint - fresh, herby. The pizza looks wonderful too.
Oh wow, the pizza looks to die for. I have never had a Hawaiian pizza because the ingredients never appealed to me. I think I would love to try yours though.
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