Shaved Steak Pizza w/ Blue Cheese Sauce & Caramlized Shallots

I love pizza. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, drunken late night snack...any time, any place, any toppings. Onions, mushrooms, sausage, ham, pineapple, jalapeno, feta, spinach, buff chick, bbq chick, olives, peppers, SHAVED STEAK & BLUE CHEESE SAUCE! Extreme emphasis on the latter because A. I'm blogging about it today (duh) and B. I think it's the best pizza I've ever made. It's my masterpiece.... my masterpizza, if you will.

Creamy gorgonzola sauce with caramelized shallots and a hint of worcestershire, tender shaved steak with stretchy, melty smoked mozzarella and sharp, nutty parmesan, topped with a few generous shakes of red pepper flakes.... all atop a crisp pie with a tender, chewy, pillowy crust.

Every time I make something, I ask my boyfriend for constructive criticism so I can make note of it and improve for next time. When I made this he said "nothing, maybe you could sprinkle gold flakes on it". I agreed.....yes, it's perfect.

One of my favorite meals I've made and you often see in classic steak houses is a grilled ribeye or NY strip with a blue cheese sauce and crispy onions (I made it and blogged it which you can see here). I was thinking I'd make that for dinner when my boyfriend suggested pizza and BAM an idea was born. It's rich, savory and comforting, and different from your usual red sauce recipe so it's extra special to make for the ones you love! If you want to get super crazy with it, top the pizza with fried onions....

A good tip to keep in mind is to buy gorgonzola or stilton cheese rather than a store brand or other "blue cheese". This is because "blue cheese" is an unprotected term, so any cheese with blue mold on it can be given that name. Gorgonzola and Stilton are protected terms so it's a safer bet for flavor and quality for any recipe you use. Another good tip if you're from the Portland, ME area is to use Portland Pie dough as your crust if you're not looking to make one yourself - it's the best. They have never disappointed me and have multiple flavor options.... and they're products are sold in most major grocery stores in ME! (And yes I'm available for sponsorship.) I used sourdough for this one.

If you're like my mom and you're disgusted by blue cheese (and she hates goat cheese too which just blows my mind) don't be afraid of this recipe! The butter, cream and other cheeses mellow out the blue cheese flavor just perfectly. I promise you'll love it!





Shaved Steak Pizza w/ Blue Cheese Sauce

Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
1 large shallot, sliced thinly
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt & fresh pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup gorgonzola crumbles
Pizza dough
Handful of fresh baby spinach
1/4 lb shaved steak
1/2 cup smoked mozzarella, grated
Sprinkle of shredded parmesan

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. If you're using a pizza stone, place it in the oven while it preheats - this allows for a crispier crust on your pizza.
• To prepare the blue cheese sauce, melt the butter over medium heat in a small saucepan. Add the shallots and cook to caramelize and brown a bit, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Toss in a pinch of salt and a bit of fresh ground pepper to season.
• Reduce heat to medium-low and add the heavy cream and worchestershire sauce. Simmer a couple minutes to thicken a bit and then stir in the gorgonzola to melt. Set aside. 
• Meanwhile, heat a couple tsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Season the steak with salt and pepper and cook just for a couple minutes until almost cooked through - it will cook more in the oven so don't worry about cooking it completely as it will dry out. Chop it when its cool enough to handle so you don't have large stringing pieces on your pizza.
• Stretch out your dough and place on a pan or pizza stone. Option to brush a bit of olive oil and garlic powder on the crust. 
• Brush the blue cheese sauce on the pizza, top with fresh spinach leaves in one single layer - it's more for color so don't go crazy loading it on! Then top with the shaved steak, smoked mozz and a sprinkle of shredded parm. 
• Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until the bottom is cooked and crispy to your liking and the crust is golden brown.