Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza with No Tomato Marinara Sauce~

Here's is the Sunday addition of What' for Dinner.  If you have followed along for any length of time, you will know I have a tomato allergy.  Out of all the sensitivities and allergies that I have, it has been by far the hardest one to deal with...no tomatoes, no marinara sauce, no pizza sauce, no chili sauce, no salsa, no ketchup, no bbq sauce...ok, you get the picture.  Well, that is until now...we came across a Tomato-Free Marinara Sauce on Vegetalion.  We decided to give it a try.  I figured it was worth a shot.

It was aaaaHHMAZING!  It was the first time I had had spaghetti with "marinara" sauce in a year!!! The recipe for the sauce can be found here.  The only thing is we would add a bit more garlic and spices next time.

Well, now that we  had found a replacement for marinara sauce it was time to test it out on a pizza. Bacon-Cheeseburger Pizza that is.

The recipe is found in Fine Cooking's Pizza on the Grill Magazine 2012.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 inch thick slices of red onion, separated into rings
3 TBS olive oil, divided
Kosher salt to taste; more as needed
1 pound ground chuck (or other ground beef-we used 90/10 grass fed ground sirloin)
1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 Tsp Colman's dry mustard (or brand you have on hand)
1/2 Tsp onion powder
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper; more to taste
1/4 C uncooked grits or polenta, for rolling the dough (we skipped)
1 ball prepared pizza dough, at room temperature (we use Bob's Red Mill gluten free mix)
3/4 C Red sauce (your own, or the marinara we made)
4  3-inch square packaged cheddar cheese slices
8 strips center-cut bacon, cooked until crisp
1 dill pickle, sliced crosswise (hubby forgot to add them, no biggie)

This can be baked on the grill, but we chose to bake in the oven this time around.

Directions:

Lightly brush the onion rings with 1 TBS of the oil and season with salt.  Place in a skillet and cook until browned and slightly caramelized, 2-3 minutes per side.  Reserve for topping.  (if grilling these too can be made on the grill)

Mix together the ground meat, Worcestershire, mustard, onion powder, 1/2 tsp salt, and a pinch of pepper until well combined.  Preheat a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add the hamburger mixture and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up any clumps of meat, until no longer pink.  Let cool and reserve for topping.

Roll out and shape the dough,  bake according to package directions (if grilling, grill one side and then flip onto pan and top)

Spread entire surface with the sauce.  Top with the hamburger mixture.  Place squares of cheese in a square-like pattern, making sure not to overlap them.  Top each with 2 strips of bacon and a grilled onion ring so the pizza resembles 4 bacon cheeseburgers.

Finish baking according to package directions (or on the grill).

Remove, garnish with the pickle slices, and season with salt and pepper.  Slice and serve.

I also found a company that makes a ready made jar No Tomato sauce called Norine's Nomato Sauce.  However, the one little market that carries it in Atlanta was sold out.  It can be ordered online.  The ingredients are very similar to the recipe we used.

Enjoy!!