Philly Cheesesteak Skillet Pizza

Shaved steak, cheese, onions, and peppers top a tender homemade crust in this delicious pan pizza mashup.

Philly Cheesesteak Skillet Pizza

The mall. It can provide defining moments in a mother-daughter relationship. Chesterfield Mall in St. Louis certainly did that for my daughter and me. While there were occasional meltdowns in the dressing room of Abercrombie & Fitch, there also were delightful memories made, including sharing her favorite lunch at Charleys Cheesesteaks followed by a fruit smoothie from the bubble tea stand. Many rewarding mother-daughter talks happened in that food court.

When I’d forgotten to defrost something for dinner, we also were known to share a weeknight pan pizza from Pizza Hut that was near our home. The best part of those pizza nights were the conversations.

This recipe for Philly Cheesesteak Skillet Pizza for me is not only a mashup of ingredients, but memories, as well.

While I’ve never had the experience of enjoying an authentic cheesesteak sandwich from the City of Brotherly Love, I know it includes great bread, tender shaved beef, onions, and plenty of cheese (Cheez Whiz, American, or Provolone). Pickled peppers are another popular topping, according to Visit Philadelphia, the city’s tourism entity.

Philly Cheesesteak Skillet Pizza, inspired by a Food Network recipe, has all that and more. Although pizza purists may poo-poo this mashup, it makes an affordable meal for a family (just add a salad) and is the easiest homemade pizza you’ll make. So, let’s get cooking!

Homemade pizza dough, shaved beef, onion, peppers, and garlic are the basic ingredients for Cheesesteak Skillet Pizza.

To make Philly Cheesesteak Skillet Pizza, which yields 6 servings, you’ll need these ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons (one packet) instant dry yeast

• 1 cup (approximately) lukewarm water

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1¼ teaspoons salt

• 1 cup onions, chopped

• 1 cup green peppers, chopped

• 1 large garlic clove, sliced

• 12 ounces shaved beef

• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend

• 1 teaspoon steak seasoning of your choice

• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

• 4 ounces grated mozzarella

• 4 ounces grated Colby Jack cheese

• 4 slices Provolone

• Non-stick cooking spray

• Pickled banana peppers to garnish

Yes, it’s a long list of ingredients but stay with me. It really is easy to put together, and first, we’ll need to make the pizza dough.

Directions for homemade pizza dough

Combine flour, instant yeast packet, oil, and salt in a large ceramic or glass mixing bowl. You will need about 1 cup of water to bring dough together (an 1/8 cup more or less, depending on how humid/dry your home is). You can combine this by hand or with a mixer; I went the manual route. You’re going for a smooth, soft dough. I mixed the dough until it came together and then turned it out on a floured surface and did a light knead for about 5 minutes.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl (I sprayed my mixing bowl with non-stick), cover, and allow it to rise 90 minutes. It should double in size. After the dough had risen, I stretched it into my 10-inch cast-iron skillet (see photo below).

I sprayed the stretched dough with a little non-stick and sprinkled the Italian seasoning blend and Parmesan cheese on the raw dough. Now it’s time to create the toppings.

Stretch dough in skillet before adding toppings.

Directions for Philly Cheesesteak Skillet Pizza toppings

Bring a separate skillet up to medium-high heat and spray with non-stick. Add the shaved steak, sprinkled with steak seasoning, and cook about 3 minutes. The seasoning you use is your choice; Lawry’s Seasoned Salt would even work. I used my favorite coffee barbecue rub.

Remove steak from the skillet to a plate and add vegetables (garlic last). You want to just tenderize these, not brown the onions and peppers. When you smell the garlic, the veg will be done. Now it’s time to top your pizza.

I spread the vegetables first, added the shaved beef, and then the grated cheese. The sliced provolone topped everything, and I baked the pizza for 22 minutes at 425 degrees F. You want the cheese to fully melt and the crust to turn golden, so your oven may require a few minutes, more or less. Serve the pickled peppers on the side for a great garnish.

Can I make the dough in the morning and finish the pizza at dinner?

You can bake the pizza later. Just allow the dough to rise in the covered bowl for 45 minutes (while you finish getting ready for work or school). Refrigerate the dough for 4 to 24 hours; it will slowly rise as it chills. You may need to bring it out and allow it to set for 15 minutes before you try stretching the dough in your skillet.

I think the next time my daughter comes for Sunday supper I’ll make Philly Cheesesteak Skillet Pizza and we’ll plan a shopping trip to another mall. Of course, we’ll have to find a bubble tea stand afterward, and that’s alright with me.

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Want a more traditional pizza recipe? Try Heirloom Tomato Pizza!

When heirloom tomatoes aren’t available, just substitute sweet cherry tomatoes. Slice them in half and start building your pie!

Heirloom Tomato Pizza

About the blog

Three Women in the Kitchen is an award-winning food blog offering today’s home cooks comforting, hearty recipes with a personal touch. The website also pays tribute to Deborah’s mother, Katie Reinhardt, and paternal grandmother, Dorothy Reinhardt (the “three women” in the kitchen). Whether you’re an experienced or a novice cook, you’ll find inspiration here to feed your families and warm your heart. Subscribe today so you won’t miss a single delicious detail.

Thai Meatballs in Red Curry Sauce

Create a quick weeknight meal with ground pork, a jar sauce, and familiar Thai ingredients including garlic, ginger, coriander, and lemon.

Thai Meatballs in Red Curry Sauce

College basketball fans look forward to this month every year because of two words: March Madness. It’s a flurry of playoff and championship games that take over the entire month.

I thought it might be fun to play with our own “madness” in the kitchen (not the courts) and present four March Mashups beginning with Thai Meatballs in Red Curry Sauce.

I don’t know about you, but my weeknight menu could use a little help. Throughout winter we’ve eaten stews, braised meats, casseroles, and so on. But it’s too early for the crop of tender spring produce. What’s a home cook to do?

She (or he) breathes a little life into dinner by combining different flavors into familiar dishes known in the culinary world as “the mashup.” You’ve probably seen some outlandish dishes in recent years come across your social feeds under hashtags like #foodporn or #foodie (and so on). But food mashups aren’t new. Cathy Kaufman, a food historian from New York, has said this practice goes back hundreds of years. Spaghetti and meatballs, a staple in the American diet, resulted in Italian immigrants adding meatballs to pasta in the 19th century (in Italy, the tradition was to keep these separate), according to Kaufman. Celebrity chefs, including Wolfgang Puck, in the 1980s jumped on the fusion food bandwagon.

An article in Southern Living two years ago explained the brain science that makes many of these mashups so appealing to us. Basically, the familiar part of the mashup hooks us into wanting to try the dish and the unfamiliar ingredients that’s pleasing to our palettes release the dopamine “pleasure amplifier chemical,” into our system.

I guess that’s why I danced around my kitchen after tasting my Thai Meatballs in Red Curry Sauce! I mean, who doesn’t love a good meatball? But instead of our favorite Italian flavors, this recipe presents you with heat, acid, and sweet notes that are familiar in Thai cuisine. And the spicy red curry sauce (from a jar, by the way, which is an awesome time saver), a replacement for the traditional marinara, really elevates the meatballs. Plus, it’s ready in about an hour, which makes it a great weeknight dinner. I think you’re going to enjoy this recipe, so let’s get cooking!

To make Thai Meatballs in Red Curry Sauce, which yields 24 meatballs for four to six servings, you’ll need these ingredients:

Meatballs

• 1 pound ground pork (80/20 fat content)

• ¾ cup panko

• 2 scallions (white parts), diced

• 1 egg

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1½ teaspoons brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

• 1 teaspoon fish sauce

• ½ teaspoon ground coriander

• ½ teaspoon minced garlic

• ½ teaspoon Sriracha

• ½ teaspoon ground ginger

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon sesame oil

• Green scallion tops for garnish

Sauce

• ¾ cup Thai Red Curry Sauce

• 1 cup evaporated milk

The Thai Red Curry Sauce is made by Clean Plate Pantry. Amanda Calvert creates the sauces for this St. Louis-based company. It’s won a Good Food award (in the culinary world, that’s like being handed an Oscar).

This recipe is very versatile. You easily can swap ground turkey or chicken for the pork. No Sriracha? Your favorite hot sauce will work instead. While fish sauce has a unique flavor and funk, you might not have it in your pantry. Soy sauce will be fine as a swap. And ground ginger is a good substitute for fresh.

Directions for Thai Meatballs in Red Curry Sauce

To make your meatballs, combine the ground pork, panko, scallions, egg, lemon juice and zest, brown sugar, fish sauce, coriander, garlic, Sriracha, ginger, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Gently combine all ingredients with your hands (don’t over mix). I like to use my left (non-dominant) hand like a pitchfork to mix ground meat.

Let chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

This is a one-pan recipe, so use a large skillet that has a lid. Bring skillet to medium-high heat and add oil.

Partially pan fry the meatballs in batches. Move them to a plate to make the sauce and add meatballs to finish cooking.

Form meatballs by scooping a tablespoon of mixture and lightly roll it in your hands to form a ball. Place into hot skillet. I did this in two batches, removing the first 12 meatballs to a plate to rest.

To make the sauce, deglaze your pan with a few tablespoons of water and add your curry sauce. The world of curries can be complex, but generally speaking, green curries are the most mild and red the most wild. That was the case with the Thai Curry Sauce. Taste the sauce from the jar to decide how much heat you can handle, but I found my palate needed to tone down the heat with the cup of evaporated milk. I had a bit of evaporated milk and canned coconut milk in my refrigerator from making Simple Coconut Bread Pudding (a 50/50 mixture), which brought out the coconut flavor from the prepared sauce. You also could substitute cream or even 2-percent milk here.

Stir the sauce in your pan and add the meatballs. Cover and cook 8 minutes, turning meatballs halfway through to be sure they are well-coated in the curry sauce. I served the meatballs with jasmine rice and garnished each serving with the green tops of scallions.

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Can I freeze the meatballs?

Absolutely, but I’d recommend freezing them before coating in the sauce. Allow the partially cooked meatballs to cool before placing them in freezer bag. When you’re ready to reheat them, defrost couple of minutes in the microwave before adding to the sauce.

If you mouth is watering for more Asian-inspired recipes, I’ve got you covered!

Juicy chicken is bathed in a sweet, spicy sauce, making Simple Asian Glazed Chicken a budget-friendly weeknight dinner.

Enjoy some of Korea’s favors in my easy Korean Beef Wraps.

About the blog

Three Women in the Kitchen is an award-winning food blog offering today’s home cooks comforting, hearty recipes with a personal touch. The website also pays tribute to Deborah’s mother, Katie Reinhardt, and paternal grandmother, Dorothy Reinhardt (the “three women” in the kitchen). Whether you’re an experienced or a novice cook, you’ll find inspiration here to feed your families and warm your heart. Subscribe today so you won’t miss a single delicious detail.

Simple Coconut Bread Pudding

Stale bread, coconut, milk, and raisins steam in a slow cooker to make the ultimate comforting dessert.

Simple Coconut Bread Pudding

Do you have a favorite blanket, quilt, or afghan you reach for each time you take a nap or snuggle into your couch to watch TV? Mom crocheted a blue-and-white afghan for me 30-plus years ago, and that’s my couch buddy. While not on trend, it’s a way of keeping a little piece of Mom close by, and it provides warmth and comfort.

In the dessert world, bread pudding is like your favorite blanket. While not trendy, nothing is better than a bowl of warm bread pudding. Home cooks for generations have known classic bread pudding to be an economical dish because it uses bits of stale bread and a few pantry staples to make something special. What a sweet way to close out this short series of slow-cooker winter recipes.

This recipe for Simple Coconut Bread Pudding from an old cook booklet of Mom’s is unapologetically stodgy and tender because it steams in a coconut-infused milky custard inside your slow cooker. The aroma that fills the kitchen is better than any pricey candle from that northeast scent peddler. (You know the one.) This old-fashioned bread pudding begs to be served in one of Grandma’s china bowls. So, break out the home movies for later and let’s get cooking!

To make Simple Coconut Bread Pudding, which yields 8 servings, you’ll need these ingredients:

• 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

• ½ cup sweetened vanilla almond milk

• 1 cup evaporated milk

• 4 cups dry bread cut into 1-inch pieces

• 2 eggs

• ½ cup sugar

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• ½ cup sweetened coconut flakes, packed

• ½ cup raisins

• Coconut flakes to garnish

Puddings have a long history. Homer referenced a blood pudding roasted in a pig stomach in his Odyssey. (No thanks; I'm giving blood pudding up for Lent.) Savory puddings are common in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries. In the U.S., puddings are usually a sweet dish, although there are some versions that are popular for breakfast and brunch.

Bread pudding is a sweet treat throughout many parts of the world encompassing all type of cuisines. I like bread pudding because it yields a delicious dessert for someone who may be a little uncertain about his or her baking abilities.

For Simple Coconut Bread Pudding, I used up two old hamburger buns and about four slices of country white bread, but you can use French bread, challah or other egg bread, or raisin bread. I love the way coconut flavors the custard and gives some texture to the steamed pudding. I used finer flakes, but large flakes of coconut would also be lovely in this recipe.

Directions for Simple Coconut Bread Pudding

First, coat the slow cooker with non-stick spray. In a large bowl, combine the cubed bread with milk, coconut milk, and evaporated milk. Mix well.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Add egg mixture to bread and bread bowl and stir.

Fold in coconut and raisins. Transfer combined ingredients to your slow cooker.

Cover and cook on high for three hours.

When the pudding is finished, you’ll notice bits of bread that didn’t submerge all the way that creates a mixture texture. I added a pinch of flaked coconut to the top of each serving. Because the pudding steams, it remains super moist; there’s no need for a sauce with this one. It’s a rich, delightful, and comforting dessert that immediately transports you to your granny’s house on a Sunday afternoon with the first bite.

You will note this is not a low-calorie dessert (is there such a thing other than a banana?), but if that’s a concern, you can use low-fat coconut milk and sweetened fat-free condensed milk. This recipe yielded a rich bread pudding, so I'll opt for the lower fat version when I make it again and cut back on the sugar.

When you need a hug, put up a batch of Simple Coconut Bread Pudding and tuck in with your favorite movie for the night.

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Feeling nostalgic for more throwback desserts?

Buttermilk Pie is a simple recipe any home cook can make. My grandma sometimes added flaked coconut to the filling. This was one of Dad’s favorites.

Classic Snickerdoodles are always good to have on hand. Pour a cold glass of milk and kick your feet up for an afternoon break.

About the blog

Three Women in the Kitchen is an award-winning food blog offering today’s home cooks comforting, hearty recipes with a personal touch. The website also pays tribute to Deborah’s mother, Katie Reinhardt, and paternal grandmother, Dorothy Reinhardt (the “three women” in the kitchen). Whether you’re an experienced or a novice cook, you’ll find inspiration here to feed your families and warm your heart. Subscribe today so you won’t miss a single delicious detail.