Project Tasteless: Big Top Pizza

I love Halloween. A love so strong I am frequently guilty of planning next year's costume the day after the big night. Heck, I once even started designing my costume for next year, before Halloween even came and spookily went. So, yeah, I'm down with All Hallows' Eve.  But I know of one gal who just might rival me in the love of costumes department, and that fabulous female is none other than Rachel Wilkerson. So, when Rachel announced that the 2nd challenge of Project Tasteless was to be a Halloween costume inspired pizza, my brain started whizzing and fizzing more than dry ice in a bowl of hunch punch.

And thus, inspired by my "Three Ring Hottie" costume the "Fit for a Queen Ring-Mistress" Pizza was born. The Ring Master (or Mistress) has a very important job in a circus. This individual must be strong, yet sexy. Smart yet cunning. She must seduce the crowd, keep the clowns in line and the tigers purring. She is both sweet and spicy, and so is this name sake pizza.

So let's start the show :

Basic Ingredients List:

Sauce:

• Raspberry Preserves
• Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce
• Tomato Paste

Toppings:

• Rotisserie Chicken
• Green Pepper
• Jalapeno Pepper
• Basil
• Goat Cheese
• Stilton Cheese with Apricot
  
  (I used a Pillsbury roll out dough for simplicity, but it was really tasty!)

These ingredients are simple, but good quality, and just like a good Ring Mistress they will keep the audience guessing. Each bite is a surprise: will it be sweet? fiery? savory?

The sauce was the key, and I channeled my inner ring mistress, taming the feisty chipotle pepper (1 chopped pepper with about 2 tablespoons of sauce) with the sweetness of raspberry jam (approximately 1/4 cup) then tempered with the stability of tomato sauce (1 heaping tablespoon). I also added 1/3 cup of pumpkin beer, give or take a sip, for a little extra zing- not unlike the terrifying last second catch of a trapeze artist.

Apply a layer of sauce to the rolled out dough- thin is the idea here, like makeup of the ring mistress, who is the beauty of the three ring circus, not the crazy clowns with their caked on cheeks and noses.

Layer the sauce with shredded chicken and another drizzle of sauce, then sprinkle all the toppings and crack that whip!

Bake at 400 degrees F for 12-15 minutes, or until the crust browns and the cheese starts to bubble. 

Please direct your the attention to the center ring and enjoy this pizza with a side of excitement and circus peanuts, if you so desire.

Happy Halloween!

Love to all,
~the ring mistress, who moonlights as a pizza gal, Jess