Popover Pizza Casserole

Popover Pizza Casserole

This recipe, with its popover-like crust, is quick to prepare, especially if you have pre-cooked and frozen your ground beef or pork. Since I had packages of both in my freezer, I used a half pound of each. The combination was really good. I freeze my meat in heaping 2 cup portions, which is about a pound. If I don't need the full pound, a quick tap of the package on the counter will break the package contents in half. Remove the needed portion and immediately return the remainder to the freezer for another use.

Popover Pizza Casserole

1  pound ground beef or pork sausage or a combination of the two

1  cup chopped onion

1  cup chopped green sweet pepper

1 cup fresh sliced mushroom(or a small can of sliced mushrooms)
1 clove garlic, minced

1 (3-1/2-ounce package) sliced turkey pepperonis, halved (Kitchen shears make quick work of this chore.)

1 (16-ounce) jar pizza sauce

2  eggs

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Remove eggs and milk from fridge and set aside.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Cook meat, onion, green pepper and mushrooms until meat is brown and vegetables are tender; drain fat.

Add garlic, pepperonis and pizza sauce into meat mixture; bring to boiling.

Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While meat mixture has almost finished simmering, make batter by combining the eggs, milk, and oil in the small bowl of your electric mixer; beat on medium speed for 1 minute.

Add flour; beat 1 minute more or until smooth.

Spoon meat mixture into prepared dish.

Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over meat mixture.

Pour batter over cheese, covering completely.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Bake for about  25 to 30 minutes or until topping is puffed and golden brown.

Serve immediately.