MEATZA!

A few weeks back, a colleague shared a photo of his home-made "meatza." On a low-carb program, he used ground chicken as a crust substitute in constructing a pizza.  While it sounded like a large, round, flat meatloaf topped with cheese and tomato sauce, his pics looked like pizza. And he brought me a (frozen) leftover slice.

I allowed it to thaw on the counter top, then I gave it my usual pizza slice re-heat: about 10-12 minutes on a perforated pizza pan at 375 degrees.

To my surprise and delight, the slice was perfectly rigid, and the ground chicken even took on the spotted golden look of a dough-based pizza crust.

One bite, and the meat ingredient was apparent - this medium-thin crust was heavy, dense, chewy in a satisfying way. One small slice of this pie had the satiety power of about two slices of conventional pizza.

The chef was apologetic about the conventional cheese and the commercial supermarket sauce from a jar, but those ingredients worked in harmony with the meaty crust. Mass-produced jarred sauce may be scorned by the purists, but this one had better flavor than the gallon-jug stuff used by the chain pizzerias and even most mom-n-pop shops.

Underside of the "crust"

Good stuff and highly recommended for those going low carb. The dilemma is, would you put on a meat topping? This may be the occasion to go veggie on top -- this crust can withstand the added moisture.

I did find some online "meatza" recipes, here's one.

Thanks, Chris, for sharing the meatza!