Episode Two - Pizza Challenge

This week was fun...and I knew what I wanted to do at the first commercial break last Sunday night! Challenge: present a pizza that reflects you, on camera, in one minute.

Since I'm from Chicago, the deep dish part was a no-brainer. As a Swedish-American, pulling in my heritage was the creative element: a Swedish meatball pizza! Do a white pizza with the meat topping of smashed Swedish meatballs - and what a winner it turned out to be!

Crust: Publix bakery provided (although I have a great recipe that's on the sight this week). The trick to the crust is to heavily coat the plate with olive oil for that typical "fried" Chicago deep crust.

Cheese: Swedish fontina slices. Fontina is a good melting cheese, and therefore a winning substitute for mozzarella.

I took some liberties by adding chopped spinach, but this reflects my philosophy of adding in healthy elements when you least expect. That's what most moms do, right?

Lastly, the creamy meatballs, taught to me by my grandmother. Nothing brings back homey comfort than the smell of those filling the house, whether put on noodles, mashed potatoes, or in this week's case, in a pizza pie!

I would recommend this dish with a nice, cold Swedish pilsner. Our longtime friends are the US distributors, and if you want to try the package deal, order up some authentic Swedish brew...

Special thanks to my "guest" Matt, Emma's boyfriend and thanks to everyone who contributed last week!

To improve the quality, this week is in two parts: tomato sauce and swedish meatballs in beef bechamel...