Ingredients:
20- to 24-oz. dough ball
5 oz. pizza sauce
8 oz. mozzarella, shredded
4 oz. Italian sausage, browned and sliced
4 slices bacon, sautéed and cut into 2” pieces
3 thin slices prosciutto
8-10 black olives
5-6 basil leaves
Directions:
Preheat oven to 550°F. Toss, stretch, roll or press pizza dough into desired shape and spread with tomato sauce. Sprinkle 7 oz. of mozzarella onto the sauced dough. Place sausage slices around the surface, then place bacon pieces between the sausage. Drape torn pieces of prosciutto between gaps of bacon and sausage, covering the surface with all three meat varieties. Break the black olives and place on pizza. Sprinkle the remaining 1 oz. mozzarella on top.
Bake in the oven until the mozzarella begins to bubble and bubbles show a hint of brown. Remove from the oven and let pizza sit for 4 minutes. Break up fresh basil leaves over the pizza just before slicing and serving.
Meaty Treats
When a plain cheese or pepperoni pie just won’t hit the spot, a Meat Lovers special can work wonders for hungry customers. But choosy guests may crave something beyond the standard pepperoni and hamburger toppings. That’s why many operators are turning to more artisanal meats to create unforgettable specialty items that often command a higher price point. Here are some tasty takes on this carnivorous classic:
Customers never want to say bye-bye to the Meat Lovers special at American Pie Pizzeria in Hallandale Beach, Florida. The pizza is topped with Genoa salami, ham, sweet sausage, pepperoni and smoked bacon, all smothered in mozzarella.
Linguica, a spicy, smoky Portuguese sausage, helps make the Pike’s Peak stand out on the menu at Mountain Mike’s Pizza, with locations in California, Nevada, Oregon and Utah. This flavorful all-meat pie also features mounds of sausage, pepperoni, salami, beef and ham.
At Riviera Pizza & Pasta in Pittsburgh, the Meat Lover’s Pizza comes loaded with gyro meat, capicola, pepperoni, sausage, bacon, ham and salami, plus fresh garlic, provolone and mozzarella.
