Italian Grandma Pizza - A spicy and sweet pizza topped with soppressata and fennel. | foxeslovelemons.com

In this monthly series, I commit to cooking whatever is on the cover of Bon Appetit, Saveur or maybe some other food magazine. There’s a reason these particular dishes are on the cover – they’re usually the best recipes in the magazine.

Bon Appetit October 2014 | foxeslovelemons.comI guess you could say I cooked the Grandma pizza from the cover of Bon Appetit’s October 2014 issue, if you’re willing to overlook the facts that I didn’t make my own sauce, got lazy and didn’t make homemade crust (even though I know how to now, especially for Detroit style pizza), forgot to buy fresh mozzarella and just used the cheap stuff, and only used one type of soppressata.

I mean, sometimes life just happens. Also, many of Bon Appetit’s recipes are simply too complicated for me. And I’m willing to guess that if they’re too complicated for somebody who spends half her day in the kitchen, then they’re probably too complicated for the average Joe. Regardless, the combination of soppressata and fennel on this Grandma pizza was a winner.

Speaking of The Average Joe, I noticed while I was in Italy that there were A LOT of guys named Fabio around. Most of them were just totally average looking. So, I’m thinking that in Italy, The Average Joe = The Average Fabio?

Italian Grandma Pizza - A spicy and sweet pizza topped with soppressata and fennel. | foxeslovelemons.com

Italian Grandma Pizza - A spicy and sweet pizza topped with soppressata and fennel. | foxeslovelemons.com

Italian Grandma Pizza

Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 24 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 ball (1 pound) of homemade pizza dough, or store-bought
  • 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1 cup prepared pizza sauce
  • 4 ounces thinly sliced soppressata
  • 1/2 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced
  • 2 fresh red chiles, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano
  • 1-1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • Coarsley chopped fennel fronds, flaky sea salt and red pepper flakes, for serving (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Press dough to fit a greased 13 x 18-inch rimmed baking pan. Sprinkle with mozzarella, then dollop with pizza sauce. Top with soppressata, fennel, chiles and Pecorino Romano. Drizzle with oil.
  2. Bake 24 to 26 minutes or until crust is completely cooked through and crisp around the edges. Cut and serve garnished with fennel fronds, sea salt and red pepper flakes, if desired.

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For more recipes straight from the cover of food magazines, check out my Cook The Cover Archive!