Milanesas, reloaded

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Some people are a very bad influence on me… like food bloggers leading me to hell in a path of gulletry, and my younger brother, who does just that but in person, which is even more dangerous.

Case in point, his genius idea of making a pizza stuffed (yes, stuffed) with milanesas, which happen to be one of our national food obsessions, but are actually breaded slices of beef.

It´s like a giant pizza sandwich filled with milanesas, mozarella, parmesan cheese and tomato sauce. He got this idea from something similar he had in a bar and he needed my help making his dream come true. And who am I to deny him? you know, I´m just selflessly trying to make people happy… stop snickering, I´m telling you, there was nothing in it for me… no, of course I don´t like pizza!

Sometimes, when you make over-the-top dishes, you can feel a bit guilty, but that so wasn´t the case here. If anything, it made me happy and completely proud of our fattening concoction. In fact, I´m adding this dish to my rotation for dinners with friends or family gatherings because this one is a real crowd pleaser, and it´s not even that time consuming if you already have your milanesas ready to be cooked in the freezer.

And since I think no one in their right mind would resist to a slice of this pizza (even though the night pictures don´t show it in all its glory), I´m gonna be taking this dish to Peabody´s housewarming party, since I´m sure it´s going to be full of sugar-ladden treats, and there needs to be something savory to start with. If this doesn´t make a good house-warming gift, Peabody, I don´t know what will!

(Recipe after the jump)

Pizza filled with milanesas a la napolitana (by Marcela and Nicolás O.)

Calzone dough (adapted and translated from 145 Recetas de panes y facturas, by Marcelo Vallejo)

All-purpose flour, 300 grams

Bread flour, 200 grams

Salt, 2 teaspoons

Active dry yeast, 2 teaspoons (20 grams fresh yeast)

Water, lukewarm, 300 cc

Olive oil, 3 tablespoons

Filling

Milanesas (slices of a tender cut of beef dipped in an egg wash mix with herbs and spices and then breaded.)

Mozarella

Parmesan cheese (to sprinkle over the tomato sauce and also over the dough for browning)

Tomato sauce

(And just anything else you want to add, could be sauteed onions, chopped olives and whatever you think would work here.)

Yields: one regular stuffed pizza or 2 calzones

1. Mix in a bowl the two types of flour with the salt; make a hole in the middle and sprinkle the yeast there, add the lukewarm water on top of it and then the oil.

2. Mix the ingredients until you form a soft dough, and knead for a few minutes.

3. Divide the dough into two balls and let it rest covered with a cloth or plastic wrap for 40 minutes in a warm environment.

4. Roll out each ball of dough in a circular shape.

5. Add the cooked (cold) milanesas first (I cook mine in the oven making sure they don´t get too dry, about 10 minutes, but you could also deep fry them if you want.) Try to cut the milanesas and arrange them in such way that you don´t leave empty spaces. You still need to leave some room all the way around the pizza to join the two pieces of dough. Here´s a picture before adding the second layer of dough:

6. Over the milanesas, add some mozarella or some other melty cheese, a bit of tomato sauce (about 1/3 cup), any herbs and spices you want (say oregano, rosemary or thyme), some parmesan cheese.

7. Now add the second layer of dough and press all the way around the circle to seal the pizza. Let it proof for 3o minutes.

8. Sprinkle with some more parmesan cheese and bake for 10-15 minutes (or until nice and golden) in a very hot oven, 220°C-425°F.

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