New York City Chef Creates After Thanksgiving Pizza

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Nov 14th 2010 at 11:02AM

Forget turkey sandwiches or turkey casserole, Manhattan's La Bottega Italian restaurant has found the perfect use for Thanksgiving feast leftovers: the Day After Thanksgiving Pizza. Chef Bart Retolatto from the eatery in The Maritime Hotel of Chelsea is offering a "Day After Thanksgiving Pizza" and it sound so good I think it should be a main course on the big day. The doubled-crust pizza will be stuffed with roasted turkey, sweet potato puree, wild mushrooms, cranberry sauce, and gravy and will be served from the day after Thanksgiving until the new year. The recipe is after the jump if you want to give it a try at home.

THE "DAY-AFTER-THANKSGIVING PIZZA"

Preparation Requires:
A pizza stone
A round pizza cutter
A spatula

Ingredients:
5oz. Pizza dough (basic pizza recipe)
3oz. Roast turkey meat
2oz. Traditional thanksgiving day stuffing
2oz. Sweet potato puree
2oz. Cranberry sauce
2oz. Turkey gravy
.5oz. Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Set oven with pizza stone at 400°F.
Press out pizza dough until it reaches 9 inches in diameter. Season with salt, pepper, and olive oil.
Place dough in on stone in oven. If you don't have a pizza stone a flat baking pan will do. Just remember to grease it with a little olive oil so the dough doesn't stick.
Bake for 4 minutes and let rise slightly; the dough should not brown at this stage.
Take the dough from the oven and slice in half with a bread knife.
Smear one half with sweet potato puree and the other with cranberry sauce.
Building from the sweet potato side, add the stuffing and spread evenly. Pile on the turkey and drizzle with gravy.
Close the pizza with the cranberry sauce side and slightly press down.
Place back in the oven for 3 minutes and let brown slightly.
Remove from oven and cut into 6 equal sized pieces.

Tags: la bottega, thanksgiving, thanksgiving dinner, thanksgiving pizza