Pizza Pasta One Pot

Our family loves pasta and we love pizza so this was a lot of fun to make. And, just like pizzeria pizza, this pasta dish could be customized to your personal taste. Make it like your favorite pizza. You could use gluten-free pasta or a whole wheat pasta. You could change up the meats, add some vegetables like bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, olives, or make vegetarian pizza pasta.

This pasta dish really did taste just like a pizza and everyone loved it. Another great thing about this dish is that it is a one pot recipe. One-pots are great for camp because you’re only using one pot and one burner, making for less mess and less cleanup. And, this meal goes together fast. We were able to get dinner onto the picnic table in less than 30 minutes, which makes this recipe great for a roll-into-camp night or an evening meal after a busy day of outdoor activities.

Serve this with a salad and some bread sticks and you’ll feel like you’re sitting down to eat at your favorite pizza place.

Equipment
Large skillet with lid or 12-inch Dutch oven, cutting board, knife, measuring cups and spoons.

Ingredients
2 tablespoon olive oil
16 ounces Italian sausage, casing removed, mild or spicy
1 cup mini pepperoni or regular pepperoni quartered
2 (15-ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
16 ounces rotini pasta
12 ounces hot water
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Red pepper flakes for serving
Parmesan, grated, for serving

Prep
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add Italian sausage and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the sausage as it cooks; drain excess fat. Stir in half of the pepperoni and cook until heated through, about 1 minute.

Stir in tomato sauce, oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, pasta, and 12 ounces hot water. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until pasta is cooked through, about 12-14 minutes. Stir occasionally to ensure pasta is absorbing the liquid. Add more water if needed.

Reduce heat; top with mozzarella and remaining pepperoni, and cover until cheese is melted, about 2 minutes.

Serve immediately, garnished with parsley. Serve with red pepper flakes and Parmesan just for fun.

Serves 10-12

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Product Review: Italia Artisan Pizza Oven

Earlier this month, our Boy Scout Troop camped on Whidbey Island at Fort Ebey State Park. We were in a group site located on a bluff with amazing views of Port Townsend, Fort Worden, Fort Flagler, the Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Canada. Friday night, we had gale force wind gusts, which made it a bit challenging to get all the tents up, but we managed.

Saturday dawned bright and clear with only an occasional shower. It was a great weekend and I was cooking for the Scoutmasters, which is always fun. The menu included a few favorites like biscuits and gravy, and cornbread, but I also field-tested a couple of new recipes, so in the coming weeks I’ll have some winners to share. The menu also included personal pizzas for lunch on Saturday, thanks to one of our scoutmasters.

Recently, Mr. Weddle purchased an Italia Artisan Pizza Oven from Camp Chef. It’s a self contained unit that hooks up to a propane tank. It can run on a 1lb disposable propane bottle or a standard bulk propane tank. It puts out 17,000 BTUs and oven temperatures can reach upwards of 700°F. And, it only weighs 47 pounds so it was easy to move.

It was designed to replicate the performance of a wood-fired brick oven from its double walled construction and specially designed burners to its ventilation and cordierite ceramic pizza stone. I’d say Camp Chef nailed it. The pizzas came out great! We were all very impressed.

I have to preface this by saying, in the five years I have known him, Mr. Weddle has never cooked on a campout. So, it was so much fun to see him get all excited to use this pizza oven and he, literally, took over my camp kitchen and personally made pizzas for all 10 of us scoutmasters, including himself. And, yes, that is a little pink rolling pin in his hand in the picture below. It was a gift from his beautiful wife so he could roll out his mini pizzas.

He brought store-bought pizza dough and a couple different jars of pizza sauce. He brought a variety of meats and some shredded cheese. I provided more cheese and some vegetables because he doesn’t “do” vegetables. I’ve mentioned several times in previous blogs how I have to sneak them into whatever I am making. So, between the two of us and a couple of other scoutmasters, we had quite the variety of pizza toppings.

Mr. Weddle divided his dough and made personal-sized pizzas for each of us. He was able to bake two pizzas at a time, and they cooked pretty fast so it didn’t take long at all to make 10 pizzas. The dough was cooked, the toppings were hot, and the cheese was melted and gooey, just as it should be.

Because it was cold and windy, he did struggle a little with maintaining the air temperature inside the oven. As a result, the stone was a little hotter than it probably should have been. Some of the pizzas did get a wee bit black on the underside, but it didn’t affect the flavor too much.

Overall, I’d rule it a success and told Mr. Weddle his pizza oven was welcome in my camp kitchen any time!

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Pizza Perfect Pull-Aparts

Yesterday, we were back up at Camp Sheppard teaching Dutch oven cooking to Boy Scouts and their Scoutmasters. It was a whole lot of fun despite the windy and rainy weather.

I’ve often found that even when camping in the worst of conditions, it’s the people you are with who make it a great experience. It also makes a huge difference if you are well prepared.

We made pizza pull-aparts and they were a huge hit. I mean, who doesn’t like pizza?! And, with the weather being so icky, these were warm, tasty, filling, and comforting. I’m not sure I’d ever classify pizza as comfort food but, yesterday, these definitely fell into that category.

The great thing about this recipe is that you can make it any way you want. If you have more than one Dutch oven, you could make multiple kinds (meat lovers, pepperoni, cheese, vegetarian, etc.). You can use whatever cheese you like. You can use pizza sauce from a jar or make your own. You could even make your own pizza dough in camp or at home and bring it in a cooler. The possibilities are endless, so have fun improvising!

The only thing you need to be mindful of is the amount of sauce you use. If you don’t use enough, the “pizza” will be dry; use too much and it will be sloppy. We used half of a 14-ounce jar of sauce, which was about 7 ounces and I think we could have used a smidge more sauce. My two teenagers said to double the pepperoni and the bacon bits so I adjusted those numbers up. They also said to add more cheese, but if you look at the picture, it looks like it’s drowning in cheese! So, here’s an adjusted version of what we made yesterday. You can add more cheese if you want to.

Equipment

12-inch Dutch oven

Mixing bowl

Mixing/serving spoon

Measuring spoons

Knife

Cutting board

Aluminum foil

Ingredients

2 (13.8 oz.) tubes Pillsbury Refrigerated Pizza Dough

1 (5 oz.) bag pepperoni minis

½ pkg. (17 slices) Canadian bacon, halved

1 (5 oz.) bag bacon bits

6 links fully cooked sausage, chopped

½ green pepper, chopped

1 cup pizza sauce

⅛ tsp. garlic powder

⅛ tsp. paprika

½ tsp. Italian seasoning

⅛ tsp onion powder

¼ tsp. basil

1 (2-cup) bag shredded mozzarella cheese

Non-stick cooking spray

Directions

Line Dutch oven with foil and apply a thin coating of non-stick cooking spray. Prep 25+ coals.

Open pizza containers; do not unroll pizza dough. Cut pizza roll into 8 slices and quarter each slice. Roll these bits into balls being careful not to overwork the dough. Cut Canadian bacon pieces in half, chop up your sausage links and dice the green pepper. This could all be done at home and brought to camp in resealable bags or plastic containers.

In a bowl, combine pizza sauce and spices. Add all the other ingredients, except for the cheese, and gently mix (you just want to get all the pizza dough bits coated with sauce and the ingredients mixed). Pour into Dutch oven and arrange the bits into one layer.

Bake at 350°F, using 17 coals on the lid and 8 underneath, for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Top with shredded cheese, let melt for five minutes, and serve. Serves 4-6