Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier - Ree Drummond

I've been hearing about the Pioneer Women forever, you guys.  So many of you out there have reviewed her books and cookbooks, and I guess she has a cooking show on now.  I have been feeling all left out and stuff.  

Granted, I've heard she is all gooey about her Marlboro Man husband, her idyllic life on the farm, having his young 'uns, and blessings and all that.  Gooey usually gets an eyeroll out of me, but I'm willing to suspend my cynicism if she helps me make good food!

So Heather (Raging Bibliomania) decided I had gone long enough without Pioneer Woman in my life so she loaned me this cookbook as well as one of her books.  If I had been organized and reading in a spritely fashion, I would have posted back-to-back reviews of the two, but that didn't happen.  It didn't take me long to dig into this cookbook however.

This is not one of those cookbooks that have a recipe for every day of the year (There are a little over a hundred recipes ranging from breakfast, appetizers, soups, supper, sides, desserts and canning).    It is more of a visual treat, with bright, beautiful pictures of every dish, step-by-step through the preparation.  Amazing.  I've never seen that and I love it.  No way you can screw up.  Plus the recipes are simple but hearty, for hungry cowboys.  And she also includes pictures of her kids, the hubby, the animals and the farm.  It really is a warm, friendly cookbook, which I guess is Ree's persona.

I had some leftover grilled flank steak in my fridge, so I knew immediately that my tester recipe would be Steakhouse Pizza.  Yeah baby!  

1 Skirt steak or flank steak, 1 1/2 to 2 pounds
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 red onions, halved and thinly sliced
1 TBL olive oil, plus more for drizzling
4 TBL balsamic vinegar
2 cups good marinara sauce (store-bought is fine)
1 recipe Pizza Dough
12 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
Steak sauce
Shaved Parmesan cheese

1.  Preheat oven to 500 degrees and arrange the oven rack to the very bottom position.

2.  Season the steak with salt and pepper.  Truth be told, you could put this on a plate in front of some dudes and just call it dinner.  Men like meat.

3.  Grill both sides of the steak over medium heat until medium rare, just about 2 minutes per side.  You want the steak to be nice and pinkish red in the middle, so don't overdo it!

4.  Remove it from the heat and set it aside.

5.  In a large skillet over medium heat, saute the red onion slices in 1 TBL olive oil and 2 TBL balsamic vinegar until soft, about 10 minutes.

6.  Mix the marinara sauce with the remaining 2 TBL balsamic vinegar.

7.  Roll out the pizza dough into a large oval and place it on a baking sheet.  

8.  Spread the sauce mixture all over the surface of the crust.

9.  Arrange the onion slices all over the sauce.

10.  Lay the mozzarella slices over the onions, then place the pan in the oven on the lower rack.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly and hot.

11.  While the pizza is baking, slice the grilled steak very thin.

12.  Pull the pizza from the oven and immediately lay the steak slices over the top.

13.  Transfer the pizza to a cutting board.

14.  Then grab some steak sauce...

15.  And drizzle it all over the steak.

16.  Sprinkle with the Parmesan shavings, then serve it with a big, green salad.  You and whatever dude's sitting at the table with you will love every bite.
  

The picture shown here to the left is Ree's picture.  As soon as my pizza was sliced up, it was gone.  There was no time for pictures.  So here are some changes I made to the recipe, to fit my needs.  

No onions.  Kids won't eat them.

My flank steak wasn't warm off the grill like Ree's was, so once I put it over the top of the pizza, I popped it back in the oven for another five to 7 minutes.

Not only did I sprinkle Parmesan on the pizza, but also a little blue cheese and a Balsamic Vinegar glaze (you can buy it in a little bottle at the grocery store).  

I didn't include the recipe for pizza dough because it is the same as any pizza dough.  

This pizza was so good.  So, SO good.  My son grabbed the one piece that was left and declared it for his lunch the next day.  Apparently the kids were distracting him and stealing pieces of steak.

I'm going to work my way through this cookbook.  Not all the recipes are things my family would eat, and some look like they have more calories than I could afford on a school night.  But I like what I am seeing!

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