Since my wife and I have both lived in Philadelphia, we have a soft spot in the heart of our plates for Philly Cheesesteaks. However, because I am me, we tend to think a little outside the bun with our Cheesesteak Adventures. Embracing the “Alternative Rock” of the cheesesteak world is also great because it keeps us out of direct competition with the giants of the cheesesteak world, Pat’s and Geno’s.
Like with most of our cheesesteak inspired recipes (dare I say all?), we made ours using venison instead of beef, and we went heavy on the vegetables (in this case, red peppers, onions, and mushrooms). We opted to go for a red sauce as well, but a white sauce would likely work very well too…perhaps an Alfredo or some sort of horseradish infused roux!
Time: 40 Minutes
Ingredients:
- Pizza Dough or Crust (Go premade or Make your Own!)
- Chip Steak (We used venison chip steak)
- Onion
- Mushrooms
- Red or Green Peppers
- Garlic
- Tomato Sauce
- American Cheese
Method:
- Slice your veggies, and then heat up a large pan with a little oil.
- Add your onions and garlic, and begin to sautee until the onions begin to become opaque.
- Add your mushrooms and peppers next.
- As your veggies cook, slice your chip steak into ribbons, and then, add them to the pan as well. Sprinkle in a little black pepper as you see fit.
- As your meat and veggies cook, place your pizza stone in the oven, and preheat to 415 degrees F.
- When your oven is hot and most of the liquid from your veggies/meat has cooked off, pull your pizza stone out of the oven, and arrange your crust/dough atop. We typically sprinkle some corn starch on parchment paper and spread our dough out on that. Then, we slide the paper onto the stone since it pretty much guarantees no sticking.
- Spread your sauce and then your cheesesteaky toppings on your pizza, and then bake for about 15 minutes.
- Place your sliced cheese on top, and bake for another 10 minutes to melt and crisp your crust. **If you like your cheese to brown and blister a bit, you can put it on your pizza before the first bake instead of part way through.
- Plate, devour, and enjoy!
