Spicy Minced Meat Pizza
But somehow a jar of olives found its way into my refrigerator — a fancy-looking jar from the Solaris food store, labeled Rioverde. I still don’t know whether this is good or bad news, but apparently opening that jar aged me several years instantly, because these were the first olives in my life that I genuinely liked. How did that song by Getter Jaani go again? “We all grow old…” or something along those lines. 😀
Alongside the olives, a few of their friends moved into my pantry too: a jar of capers, pearl onions, and ridiculously spicy chili peppers. Ranking them in order, the pearl onions were definitely my favorite (oh wow, they’re amazing on this pizza!). The chilies might have been just slightly over-the-top spicy, but then again, if chilies aren’t spicy, are they even real chilies?
Anyway, just staring at those jars already started a delicious pizza idea rolling around in my head. What if I piled a pizza with all kinds of marinated goodies? I checked the ingredient lists carefully and, surprisingly, couldn’t find regular sugar in the marinades. At that point, our journey home together was already decided.
The idea eventually evolved into a slightly spicy minced meat pizza. Since marinated ingredients tend to have strong flavors already, I kept the beef fairly simply seasoned this time — just garlic, salt, and pepper. The tomato sauce stayed classic, and naturally everything got topped with plenty of cheese. To balance the richness of the pizza, I scattered fresh arugula over the top at the end. Arugula has that lovely peppery sharpness, which fits perfectly with the rest of the pizza while also balancing the natural fattiness of the meat.
The pizza itself is actually quite simple. It took maybe 40 minutes altogether. The ingredient list may look long, but don’t panic: it’s absolutely manageable.
- 350 g wholegrain spelt flour
- 200 ml lukewarm water
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- salt
- 2 tsp dry yeast
- 100 g tomato paste
- 1 spl red wine vinegar
- ½ spl palm sugar
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
- 1 spl fresh thyme
- 400 g minced beef
- salt and pepper
- 1 garlic clove
- 5 Rioverde green olives with green peppers
- 3 Rioverde pickled green peppers
- 3 tbsp Rioverde pickled pearl onions
- 5 Rioverde large pickled capers
- 100 g grated cheese (lactose-free)
- 2 handfuls of arugula
- 1 Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- 2
In a bowl, combine the yeast, lukewarm water, and olive oil. Let it sit for a few minutes. Add the flour and salt, then knead into a smooth, soft dough. Cover with a towel and leave it to rise in a warm place.- 3
Meanwhile, fry the minced beef in a pan with salt, pepper, and garlic until fully cooked.- 4
Prepare the tomato sauce in a small saucepan by combining the tomato paste with the seasonings. Stir and let it simmer gently over low heat for about 5–7 minutes, stirring occasionally.- 5
Chop the olives and peppers, and grate the cheese if necessary. Wash the arugula under cold water.- 6
Take the slightly risen pizza dough and spread it evenly onto a baking tray using your hands. Cover the dough with the tomato sauce, then add the minced beef. Scatter all the marinated toppings over the meat — pearl onions, olives, capers, and peppers.- 7
Bake the pizza at 200°C for about 15 minutes. A couple of minutes before it’s done, add the cheese and return the pizza to the oven for another 2 minutes or so, until melted.- 8
Once the pizza is ready, remove it from the oven, scatter fresh arugula over the top, and enjoy!pitzza, minced meat, spicy, miced meat pizza, olives - 2