Whenever I eat pizza I think of the movie, Do The Right Thing.  I haven’t seen the movie in years, but I can’t order a slice and not think of Radio Raheem saying “Two slices.”  Ahhhh, Spike Lee and the 90’s.

I used to consider myself a pizza purist.  By that I mean I stuck to traditional American toppings – pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, green peppers and onions.  I’ll eat any of those toppings in any combination.  I don’t like sausage and Canadian Bacon is OK but I prefer pepperoni.

There are those that swear by the quirky pizzas like Buffalo Chicken, Bacon Cheeseburger, Mac-n-Cheese or any other fusion pie, but when I get a craving for pizza, I want a traditional crust, sauce and toppings.

Last month I went out for my friend, Janis’ birthday.  We went to Urbn Pizza for drinks and dinner (it’s so trendy they don’t even put the a in Urban).  I checked out the menu before I went to see what kind of deliciousness I would be dining on.  All I saw were a lot of strange topping combinations which were undoubtedly wonderful, but there was not one traditional pizza option on the menu.

And then I saw the Mashed Potato.  The description was White pie w/ mozz, pancetta, fresh mozz, parm.  Now we’re cookin’ with fire.  That pizza was soooooo damn good.  There was a perfect amount of cheese, pancetta and potato.

I love a carb overload when it involves potatoes.  One of my favorite things to eat with Thanksgiving leftovers is mashed potato sandwiches.  Something about carb on carb makes me happy.

Tonight I made my own mashed potato pizza.  I didn’t use all the fancy ingredients like they did at Urbn Pizza.  I started with my favorite crust recipe.  This is the best crust I have ever made.  It’s super easy and you don’t need to have a mixer, even though it says it in the instructions.  I just use a wooden spoon.  I like to give my crust a little pre-bake before I put my topping on so it’s a little firmer.  Oh, and don’t bake it at 350 degrees – jack it up to 450.

Once my crust had cooked for about 5 minutes, I topped it with 2 servings of instant mashed potatoes, a cheddar/mozzarella cheese mix and some bacon.  I threw it back in the oven for about 7 or 8 minutes and then topped it with a little olive oil drizzle.

I forgot to take a picture when it was still whole.

This was fantastic!  I ate half of it myself.  Ryan made the mistake of leaving a piece behind and going for the pepperoni pizza I made.  I, of course, ate it and then he claimed it was a test and I failed.  I told him he failed – we have been married for almost 9 years.  If he thinks I’m going to pass up eating all of my favorite foods on one convenient little square of dough, he is mistaken.

One delicious serving suggestion was throwing a little hot sauce on top.