Note: This recipe is portioned to fit in a 14" diameter, 1 1/2" deep dish pizza pan. I use the Williams Sonoma Goldtouch® Nonstick Deep Dish Pizza Pan.
Update: I've modified this recipe to fit in a more common 9x13 glass casserole pan if you do not already have a 14" deep dish pizza pan: https://gist.github.com/acjohnson/7e75ec920773c7efb745d5660749ef69
- 2 lbs pork sausage (brand doesn't matter)
- 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp fennel seed (crushed or whole seed, you decide)
- 3 lbs mozzarella cheese
- optional: 1 green pepper diced or sliced
- optional: 1/2 onion diced or sliced (white, yellow, or red. You choose!)
- 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 dozen large eggs
- 1/4 cup milk
Cook the sausage until fully cooked and golden brown edges form. Do not season until sausage is completely cooked. This is very important because garlic changes flavor dramatically when heat is applied and since we want to preserve the flavor of the raw garlic powder you do not want to season the sausage until it is fully cooked and removed from heat. Also you may think this is a large amount of garlic, but it isn't and you may even to decide to add more as you taste test the sausage!
Over medium-low heat using your favorite pan and lid simmer the crushed tomatoes for about 30 minutes or so, until it becomes darker in color and significantly thicker, just like pizza sauce; The point of this is to remove moisture from the sauce and to make it less runny. Remember to stir every so often to prevent burning.
Preheat your oven to 350, prepare your pan by evenly coating the bottom with 1 Tbsp of olive oil or canola oil. Spread the shredded cheddar cheese evenly. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the cheese has become somewhat solid and you can easily lift the edge with a spatula; golden edges will form as well.
While the cheese crust is baking, crack all of the eggs into a large mixing bowl and add the milk. Whisk egg and milk mixture with a fork until all yokes have been broken up evenly and color is uniform.
Remove pan with cheddar cheese crust from oven, preheat oven to 375.
Spread the sausage across the cheddar cheese crust evenly and add any additional toppings that you would normally put on a pizza or quiche. Ha!
Pour egg and milk mixture over the sausage.
Spread the mozzarella cheese on top of the egg and milk mixture.
Finally spoon the crushed tomato sauce over the mozzarella cheese. You can easily spread it using a flat slotted spatula or a large spoon.
Bake the pizza quiche for 75 minutes at 375 or until the entire dish is firm. The quiche should not jiggle when shook and should have golden brown edges that may even look a bit dark.
