Angry Pizza!!

       

Pizza comes from the latin root word Picea which means the blackening of crust by fire.

If you guessed that "Pizza Arrabiata" translates to "Angry Pizza", you would be correct.  As you can imagine, this is a pizza with some kick to it.  Onto the prebaked crust, I arranged halved grape tomatoes.  The recipe in Pizza, Calzone and Focaccia called for 6 halved plum tomatoes, but I thought the larger tomato halves on the pizza might be a bit overwhelming.  Besides, I love grape tomatoes!  You may notice that there is no type of sauce at all called for on this pizza. That seemed strange to this American girl's sense of taste, but I must say it wasn't needed.  Maxine Clark, the author of Pizza, Calzone and Focaccia advises, . . .

"keep the choice of topping as simple as you can to truly appreciate the flavors.  The crust is all-important and turns soggy if it is weighed down too much.  Slice meat and vegetables thinly and don't smother the base with sauce or cheese."



Sausage and Cherry Peppers have been added



I must say, we have to agree.  We have found that our favorite pizzas are the simpler ones with minimal toppings.  After the tomatoes I added some spicy sausage which I had browned.  This can be done well ahead of time.  In fact, I had browned it a few weeks ago.  I used half on a pizza at that time and froze the rest to use later.  The cherry peppers that I added next were a new taste treat for us.  The only ones I could find at the commissary were pickled and stuffed with mozzarella and prosciutto.  I debated whether to take the meat and cheese out of the peppers, but then thought it sounded like a pretty tasty addition to the pizza.  I cut each one in half and arranged them on top of the sausage.  Over this I shredded some mozzarella and then sprinkled some fennel seed and red pepper seasoning.   

I put the pizza back into the oven (400 degrees F.) to bake for an additional 14 minutes. 

Sprinkling a bit of Fiery Red Pepper Pizza Seasoning

 After it had baked, I drizzled (actually it ended up being more than a drizzle, but that's another story) olive oil over the pizza.  We enjoyed this pizza with some episodes of The Office.   Our son got us hooked on the show last fall, and we have been watching the entire series beginning with episode 1 of season 1.  We have now completed season 7, so we are almost up-to-date with the rest of the nation. We are on pins and needles wondering who will be hired as the new manager, but please don't tell me and ruin the surprise!