7 Days With Rachael Ray – Day 1 – Reuben Pizza

Rachael Ray – you either love her or you hate her. I have admitted before that I am a lover, and despite all of the opinions people have about her, I will always be a lover. In fact, there are only 2 cooking shows that I have on my DVR and that I religiously watch. 30 Minute Meals is one, and the other is America’s Test Kitchen. I know many people find her over the top and extremely annoying, but she really makes my kind of food. Food that can be made on a weeknight by someone who doesn’t have a ton of time to spend in the kitchen. Food that tastes good, is usually well balanced, and isn’t boring.

My husband can’t stand her. I can’t watch if he is in the house because he finds her so annoying. But even he will admit that when I make recipes from her show or her magazine, they are winners. That is why I have decided to do this 7 day series – a week of Rachael Ray. I think everyone should give her recipes a chance, and this way you don’t have to watch her show to see the recipe – you can skip the annoying and go straight to the recipe.

In her magazine – Everyday with Rachael Ray – she always features a 7 day menu planner. Every month, I say I am going to make the whole menu, but I have never followed through with that. When I picked up March’s edition, after looking at those 7 dinners, I knew I would be making all 7 of them, and I thought it would be fun to bring them all to you. I admit that it took me longer than 7 days to get through all of these. In all honesty, I don’t cook 7 dinners a week. I’m lucky if I cook 5 nights a week. With just 2 of us, we will almost always have leftovers that need to be eaten, and sometimes life just gets in the way. So while I wanted to bring these to you in March, while the magazine was still out, I just didn’t make it. But every issue has one of these meal planners (which also includes a shopping list – which I love!) so you really should check it out!
Day One brings us this Reuben Pizza. I was both excited and apprehensive about this recipe. I love pastrami, but I’ve never been a big sauerkraut fan. But it had been quite some time since I had tried sauerkraut, so I took this opportunity to try it again to see if I would like it this time around. I was actually surprised – I didn’t hate it! I can’t say that I am a full on sauerkraut lover now and that I want to make everything with it, but I don’t hate it on any level!

This original recipe feeds 4. It is a circle shape, with dough on the top and on the bottom, then when the “pizza” is finished, it is cut into fourths. Since there are only 2 of us, I did this more of a calzone style – just doing one round of pizza dough and folding it in half. We then each got one half of the calzone. It was the perfect serving size for 2 people.

I only made 2 changes to this recipe. The original just calls for refrigerated pizza dough, but I made my own – using the pizza recipe in Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. This was excellent pizza dough!! I still like the Cook’s Illustrated recipe that I made before better, but this was much faster and easier, and was really good. The only other substitution I made was using regular dill pickles in the sauce instead of bread and butter pickles.

We loved these! Filling, and a great twist on a typical Reuben sandwich. And this was defintely easy enough for a weeknight!
Reuben Pizza
from Every Day with Rachael Ray March 2008

Serves 4

One 1-pound package refrigerated pizza dough (or make your own!)
1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese, preferably imported Swiss or emmentaler
1 pound deli-sliced pastrami or corned beef
1 cup sauerkraut, rinsed
1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 1/2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons finely chopped bread-and-butter pickles

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 425°. Alternately – if you are using a pizza stone, put your stone in the oven and preheat for at least 20-30 minutes.

Cut the pizza dough in half and form each half into a disk. Place on a lightly floured work surface and cover one piece with a towel.

Roll out the other piece of dough into a 9-inch round and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle half of the cheese on top, leaving a 1-inch border all around. Arrange the pastrami and then the sauerkraut evenly on top. Top with the remaining cheese.

Roll out the second piece of dough into a 10-inch round and place over the filling. Tightly crimp together the edges to seal. Brush the top with the olive oil and cut 3 vents in the center.

Bake the pizza until browned and crisp, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool briefly.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, ketchup and pickles. Cut the pizza into wedges and serve with the sauce.

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