Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Pizza Toscana

Photobucket

Throwing out food is a pet peeve of mine. It's a waste of money, a waste of resources, and frankly it makes me feel guilty. I am thrilled when I find a recipe that takes food destined for the garbage bin and turns it into something fantastic. Pizza Toscana does just that with the sides of bread that get sent home with takeout food. Leftover, even slightly stale bread gets transformed into ooey gooey cheesy deliciousness. It's not quite pizza, not quite casserole, but perfectly in the middle and perfectly delicious.

This is all about using up what you have on hand so this is a guide, not a recipe.

Pizza Toscana
Adapted from Cristina's Tuscan Table

A few glugs of good olive oil
Leftover bread
A few tablespoons of milk
1 cup of tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
1 ball fresh mozzarella
2 sausage links, casing removed and cooked
2 T fresh oregano leaves
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450

Take a casserole dish just large enough to fit your leftover bread. Oil the bottom and place the leftover bread in the casserole in a single layer. Drizzle the milk over the bread. Add the tomato sauce, sausage, oregano and garlic. Tear up the mozzarella and spread over the other ingredients. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and finish with another drizzle of olive oil. Place in the oven for 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and gooey.

17 comments:

What Color is Teal "Anyway"? said...

Wow, such a great idea!

Hopie said...

Oooh, I totally agree with the philosophy of this recipe and the flavor combo sounds delicious (and fun to play around with). French bread goes stale really fast. I'll have to try it with day-old baguette!

Lucy said...

I love this idea because we often seem to have odds and ends of bread that need eating up. Plus, I can never resist mozzarella!

cristi said...

Very nice idea. An Italian could not have done it better!

Jessica | Cajunlicious said...

I hate throwing out food too & this is a great recipe! Thank for sharing!

rachel said...

You did again...made my mouth water. Need to try this recipe soon.

Denise | Chez Danisse said...

Looks good and much easier than preparing pizza dough.

Jessica | Cajunlicious said...

I given you an award! Pick it up here http://cajunlicious.com/2011/07/a-new-award.html
- Jessica

Kelly | Eat Yourself Skinny said...

Hi there! LOVE your blog and found it through Jessica at Cajunlicious! New follower! xoxo

cornercottage said...

Completely agree with the hatred of throwing food out! Beautiful recipe!

Maureen said...

What a clever way to "repurpose" food :) Looks delicious.

Val said...

I love this idea. There's no doubt that bread is one of those things that always seems to get forgotten and then thrown away. Lately I seem to be throwing out way too much. I just have to catch all these little bits of forgotten food before they go moldy and make my own pizza/casserole.

Gloria Baker said...

Amazing, love how look! gloria

Anonymous said...

Cheers for sharing, this is really a delicious and easy snack for me to made (er.... i am always working in front of the computer) which i have a tight deadline all the time. This help me to ease out the cooking timing :)

essays said...

Its great to see that people are sharing quite profitable information with each other, I agree with your idea !

charmingdate said...

Be nice to be here!

www.takeaway-sellyoak.co.uk said...

I really like your wordpress template, exactly where do you get a hold of it through?