My wife tasked me with this one, essentially a home-made take on a dish from a well known chain restaurant. After all, home cooking is ultimately always healthier, even when making this junk food kinda dish. We actually made the dish vegetarian and in fairness, it’s quite a decent dish, nutritionally speaking.
We used:
- Alpha Foods Meatless Sausage
- Newman’s Own Sockarooni tomato sauce
- Air fried tortilla chips (Mission Foods low carb here)
- Home made sautéed garlic mushrooms
- Kalamata olives
- Mozarella cheese
- Pepperocini
In order of layers then – we started with the air fried tortilla chips. Simply slice up some tortilla, toss in oil and salt then air fry for five or so minutes. On top of that, thick slices of fresh mozzarella – just needs 30-45 seconds in the microwave over the chips – to start melting down.
After that, pan fried meat free sausage. I seasoned with some crushed fennel seeds and basil, but we also use MorningStar Farms Italian sausage crumbles when we can get them. When the sausage is pretty much cooked, a cupful of a zesty pasta sauce goes over the sausage. I like to then cook that down a little so it’s not too watery.
While all of this is going on, I have some fresh, sliced button mushrooms cooking in a little olive oil and a clove of garlic. They take about 20-30 minutes over a medium-low heat to really cook to that caramelized point that’s fun.
Lastly, some spicy pepperocini and briny olives complete the picture.
Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you! I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC – Utah’s biggest and oldest online food magazine; I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune. I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV shows.
I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have covered the Utah dining scene for the better part of fifteen years. I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand. I started Shop Smart to catalogue my adventures in the grocery store and kitchen. Follow along on Instagram too!