I know you’re feeling the cold temperatures out there (just like I am), so perhaps something hot & spicy (instead of a soup) can warm you up this weekend and get your blood boiling (or at least pumping) a little more ! 

The roasted red pepper & tomato sauce was an experiment, using a jar of roasted red peppers to transform a tomato pizza sauce into something smokier and more intense, but still using some canned crushed tomatoes for the acidity and tang that they provide. I did a half-half ratio of peppers to tomatoes but there’s no reason why you couldn’t reduce to tomato to ¼ and increase the roasted red peppers to ¾ of the total. Try it.

Making a thicker dough will be more filling and it’s relatively easy since it rises only once directly inside the baking dish and using a food-processor (if you can) to mix it up and knead it somewhat, saves time and increases the chewiness of the dough when baked.

And of course, the toppings. A combination of very spicy and mild chorizo sausages, sliced thickly, mozzarella cheese in thin slices and grated and a sprinkling of parmesan (or dried manchego) cheese too.

For the past year, I’ve been putting one-third of the grated cheese directly on top of the pizza sauce and under the additional toppings and then adding the rest of the grated cheese on top. Why ? The first time was accidental because I was assembling too quickly but it worked out fine. It seems to hold up better and avoids the other toppings from sliding around and the dough is less soggy and crispier. It also tastes better. Of course, if you decide to place part of the cheese directly on the dough, as I’ve learned that many people do, you’ll need it to be in very thin slices and not grated, otherwise you’ll never be able to spread the pizza sauce on top … just a few helpful hints that are tried & tested.

And for those people, who like me, don’t have a pizza oven at home or even an oven that heats up really hot, then use the floor (or sole) of the oven to imitate a pizza-oven, which is what I do with thin-crust pizzas for the whole baking time but in this case because the crust is thicker, just start off on the bottom to crisp up the underside and then switch to the lower rack.

I’m pretty picky about my pizzas, with a preference for montreal-style thin-crust all-dressed pizza with green peppers, mushrooms, pepperoni and mozzarella but I think that this could be my new favorite . . . :)