{{Old Spaghetti Factory}} Mizithra Pizza

Mizithra Pizza {{inspired by Old Spaghetti Factory}} made with mushrooms, bacon, mizithra, and a garlic butter sauce.

On our first Valentine’s Day after we got married, nothing went the way I thought it would. At that point, Forrest didn’t realize that I liked Valentine’s Day, and really hadn’t thought of anything ((which in hindsight, is totally fine, but I admit, I was a little sad!)), and we found ourselves driving around at 6:00 PM, trying to find some restaurant that didn’t have a two hours wait!

We went to probably five or six different places, when we stumbled into Old Spaghetti Factory. I had been there one or two times in the past, but never really thought about it again. However, they had no wait (no idea why — we tried to go this year, and the wait was forever long) and we were seated immediately!

This was back in the day when we bought two meals when we went out, and I decided I really wanted to indulge, since, you know, it was Valentine’s Day! I ended up ordering the Mizithra Pasta, but the version that had bacon and mushrooms. And oh my goodness, at that point, I thought it was probably the most delicious food I’ve ever eaten. I craved it all the time after that.

One time, I attempted to make the pasta at home, and it took forever to find a store that carried Mizithra cheese. We ended up driving 45 minutes to an Albertson’s in Colorado to buy a small container of it. Even thought it turned out well, I had no desire to go on a wild goose hunt for the cheese again (we had no Old Spaghetti Factory near by when I was looking in Colorado, hence why we didn’t just go there. They sell it.)

So a few weeks ago, I discovered that the Costco by our house sold the exact Mizithra/Romano blend that Old Spaghetti Factory sells! It was less than $10 for two good-sized containers, and let me tell you, I was SO excited. While I probably could eat the pasta every day, we’ve been trying to come up with different recipes to use it, and this mizithra pizza we made the other night was AMAZING. I ate way more than I should have, because it seriously was the pasta, in pizza form.

We ended up using Stonefire Naan for our pizza crust (we weren’t really wanting to make our own that night), and it was so yummy. I highly recommend using that for pizza! However, you can use whatever crust recipe you want, or store bought crust. This recipe will probably make four small naan pizzas, or one large regular-sized pizza.

A couple of notes

• I’ve listed two different methods. The stove-top, browned butter method will yield the best and tastiest results, however, if you don’t like to brown butter (it can be stressful!) or don’t have a lot of time, just follow the microwave method.
• The mizithra won’t melt, so don’t be alarmed by that. It is also a very strong tasting cheese, so a little goes a long way!

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{{Old Spaghetti Factory}} Mizithra Pizza

Yield: 1 pizza

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Ingredients

• Any pizza crust or recipe you want, this makes enough for probably one large pizza
• About 1 cup
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• 6-8 slices bacon, crumbled
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic cloves

Instructions

1. Stove Method
2. 1. Place butter and garlic in a sauce pan and melt over medium heat, whisking frequently.
3. 2. Once melted, the butter will start to foam up a little bit. Small, brown specks will start to appear. Smell the butter and when it starts to smell nutty, remove from heat. Be very careful not to burn the butter.
4. 3. Brush lightly over the entire pizza crust
5. 4. Place mushrooms and bacon on pizza and top with desired amount of mizithra cheese.
6. 5. Bake according the instructions for your crust. note that the cheese does not melt.
7. Microwave Method
8. 1. Melt butter in microwave, and mix in garlic cloves.
9. Assemble as described in steps 3-5 above.