Dutch Oven Pizza

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In the house or at the campsite, making pizza in a Dutch oven is great for summer cooking.

This recipe is safe for someone on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, GAPS or modified paleo diet.

If I have a chance, I always try new camping equipment at home before taking the new item into the bush. Sometimes the new item never even makes it through the home trial. I have no tolerance for poorly made equipment that doesn’t deliver on its promises.

This week I’ve been testing a new camping Dutch oven called the Lodge 6 Quart Cast Iron Camp Dutch Oven. Keep in mind the Dutch oven is very heavy and would only be suitable for car camping, base camps, boating or canoeing.

Dutch ovens are not new to me. I’ve been using a Dutch oven my mother got at her wedding. That should be a testament to how robust a Dutch oven can be. This new Dutch oven is made for camping with a three legs on the bottom and the top of the lid. The lid is also extra thick and could be used as a fry pan or grill. These legs might not work on some stove tops but it worked well on my gas stove.

I seasoned the new Dutch oven with coconut oil before I started. This requires melting and letting the coconut oil just come to the smoke point and then to completely cool the Dutch oven. After the Dutch oven has cooled completely it is ready for cooking. This seasoning can be redone anytime the Dutch oven starts to stick.

I made an easy, paleo-pizza recipe for the test. This pizza is based on the recipe called? Upsidedown Pizza:

  1. I chopped and prepared the cheese, feta, pineapple, meat and vegetables.
  2. I precooked the meat topping. I browned the salted and finely sliced pork steak first, then added and browned the sliced onions. I set this aside for later.
  3. I took about a pound of meat and mixed it very well with some spices and one egg. After mixing, I made it into a ball which I pressed out to cover the bottom of the newly seasoned Dutch oven. This will be the meat crust of the pizza.
  4. On a medium flame, I cooked the meat crust. I spread evenly about 1/2 can of organic tomato paste while the meat crust was cooking. I did have to be careful not to burn myself on the hot sides of the Dutch oven.
  5. When the meat crust was mostly cooked through I topped the pizza with the cooked meat and onions. Then I added a layer of feta and two other kinds of cheese. I put the lid on and reduced the heat to low and simmered for 10 minutes. I removed the lid a few times to remove any steam (water) that would make the pizza soggy. The water collects on the lid. I dumped this water into the sink.
  6. The pizza was done very quickly and the house was not heated up by using the oven. I added some garden parsley and chives.
  7. This 9″ pizza was very filling. It fed two people to the overfull point. With a side dish the pizza could feed four people.

Making Sour Cabbage Rolls: Photo Essay

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Here are the sour cabbage rolls just before going into the oven. Please note I’m using an enamel Dutch oven.

This is a reprint of a July 12, 2010 post called Traditional Sour Cabbage Rolls. I have included pictures of how to make the cabbage rolls plus a few new tips.

At this time of year, I?m cleaning out my freezers for the summer months. I am always looking for recipes to use up frozen tomatoes, ground meats, organs and bones.

Sour Cabbage Rolls are a great food for cold winter days or even rainy summer weather. This recipe does not use brown rice so is safe for people on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. If you would like, add 1/2c of raw brown rice to the recipe or 1/2c walnuts to give the dish a grainier texture. Note the optional organ meats. Try adding the organ meats to casserole type meals and see if anyone notices the change. Joette Calabrese, in Secret Spoonfuls: Confessions of a Sneaky Mom, recommends adding organ meats to increase the nutrient content of a meal.

Rolls?
1 head of sour cabbage
2lbs ground pastured beef
1lb ground pastured pork
1/2lb ground organ meats (optional)
1/2c walnuts, finely ground (optional)
2c finely chopped onions
4-6 cloves of garlic,?minced
1T paprika
1tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Sauce
3-4 frozen garden tomatoes, skins removed
2-3c bone broth, enough to cover cabbage rolls

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Cut the leaf in half and remove the large central vein in the middle with a knife. Chop the central vein into thin strips and place them at the bottom of the Dutch oven.

You can make your own sour cabbage, if you have time, or buy Kissel Cabbage from a store. Carefully peel the cabbage leaves off the head. You will need to cut through the heavy vein at the base of the stem to get the leaves off. After removing the leaves, cut the leaf in half and remove the large central vein in the middle with a knife. This vein gets in the way of forming the cabbage roll.

Use about 2-3 tablespoons of the raw meat filling and form into a oval shape. I find it easier to roll out all the meat balls before starting to make the cabbage rolls. This also tells me how many leaves I need to cut in two.

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After all the meat balls are made and all the leaves cut into two, lay out one half of a leaf with the stem side towards you.

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Place the meat ball on the edge of the half leaf and roll away from yourself towards the thin edge of the leaf.

Place the filling on the half leaf and start rolling from the vein end towards the edge of the leaf. Tuck in each end to close the roll. Do not over stuff the cabbage roll.

The rolls should be placed one at a time into a large Dutch Oven with the seam side down. (If you have an enamel Dutch Oven this is the time to use it, due to the acids in the tomatoes and sour cabbage.)

Make two or three layers of rolls for the best results. Top each layer with one or two hand crushed tomatoes. Pour as much bone broth as needed to completely cover the cabbage rolls. Bake uncovered at 300?F for two hours. The cabbage rolls taste even better the next day after the flavors meld together.

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Pick up the roll and tuck-in the central vein side first. This is the hardest part.

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Tuck-in the leaf edge side. Usually one poke with a finger will do the trick.

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Here is the finished cabbage roll ready to be placed in the Dutch oven.

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I cut up the central veins into thin pieces and place them at the bottom of the Dutch oven. The cabbage rolls are arranged on top. Once all the rolls are placed, I cover the rolls with the liquid.

My Mother’s Dutch Oven

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A Dutch oven is best for long, slow cooking. It will take the toughest cut of meat and make it fall off the bone. It works like a crock pot in the oven. These case iron pots will last for generations, making it a good choice for someone wanting to reduce their carbon footprint.

Over the winter I have found my Mother’s Dutch oven to be indispensable. This bare cast iron pot has a wire bail handle. On one side of the pot is a coiled wire handle which helps lift this heavy pot when full. With the help of a tightly fitted lid this pot is useful for many types of cooking. It can be used on top of the stove for frying or boiling or in the oven like a covered casserole dish for slow roasting. I have never used it for baking, but the pot and lid can be used over an open fire as an “oven” for baking biscuits, breads and cakes. It is a wonderful, versatile kitchen implement. I cannot remember a time when this pot was not in my Mother’s kitchen. It may have been a wedding present which would make it almost sixty years old. It is in perfect condition after years of heavy use. I will be giving this pot to my children.

In my vegetarian days, I found I didn’t like cast iron because I found seasoning with vegetable oils produced a gluey residue on the fry pans or pots. (I didn’t know that if I had used traditional fats like lard, schmaltz, or tallow, I would never have had problems with my Mother’s cast iron pots and pans. Of course, I wouldn’t have used animal fats because I was a vegetarian.) So, I moved away from my Mother’s cast iron pots for two decades and became a consumer of non-stick fry pans and stainless steel pots.

In the last few years, as I have learned more about nourishing traditional foods, I have removed all the non-stick pans from my kitchen. I still use my stainless steel pots and pans, but they don’t do a great job in the oven. I started using glassware for the oven which works well for quick baking but doesn’t do a good job at slow roasting. I still had my bias against cast iron from my vegetarian days and heard that enameled cast iron did not stick as much as cast iron. So I bought a number of Le Creuset enameled Dutch ovens. These are very nice pots but they are very expensive. I bought them as seconds so the price wasn’t as bad but most people would find the price excessive.

This winter my sister brought out our Mother’s old iron pots and pans. Since we do not have vegetable oils in the house, the old cast iron was seasoned with lard, schmaltz, and tallow from my grease bucket. Lo and behold the bare cast iron did not stick. A few of the old cast iron pots still had the sticky residue from old vegetable oils which took some time to remove. Once the old vegetable oil was removed, the old iron fry pan would became slick and easy to clean from the animal fats.

It is funny how our actions can have unintended results. Becoming a vegetarian made my Mother’s iron pots and pans not work for me. I became a consumer of Teflon pots, pans and baking trays which I needed to throw out every few years as they got scratched up. Many people discard grandma’s iron pots and pans because of sticking, not knowing that this modern problem is caused by industrial vegetable oils. In the end, the Vegetable Oil Companies created a new industry for non-stick pots and pans. This started our society’s love affair with Teflon with all its related health problems. Do as your grandmother did and her iron pots and pans will last a lifetime. Maybe even several lifetimes. For more information about collecting your own animal fats please read The Great Grease Bucket: Something from Nothing.
?Something from Nothing? is what a frugal housewife would get when she went to the trouble to save drippings from roasted meats, sausages and bacon. ?Something from Nothing? is what the Vegetable Oil Companies created when they convinced everyone that the grease bucket was unhealthy and would cause disease or possibly death.

So, if you are interested in nourishing traditional foods and saving money, go to your local garage sale and pick up a load of dusty old cast iron pots and pans that someone is throwing out. Save your drippings from roasted meats, sausages and bacon and use your grease bucket to season your cast iron pots. You will be shocked at how slick your cast iron will become. Here are instructions for seasoning your pans. Just remember, use animal fat. NEVER use industrial vegetable oils.