Dave's Rueben Pizza

I love Rueben sandwiches, but they're tricky to make. They usually wind up soggy from the sauerkraut no matter how well you drain it. And to make the sandwich right, you need to heat all the ingredients to the proper temperature.

I saw this recipe on an episode of Man vs. Food and it looked so simple, and looked so yummy, that I had to try it. This is pretty much how it was done on the show, with a few tips to make it easy, and a little variation of my own.

Ingredients

  • Prepared whole wheat pizza crust (Boboli), or make your own with Bisquick. Bisquick actually makes a really amazing pizza crust.
  • Thousand Island dressing
  • 1/4 to 1/2 lb each of deli-sliced corned beef and pastrami, depending on how "meaty" you like your Reubens. I love pastrami, but a pure pastrami Reuben is a little much, so I like to make them half and half.
  • Sliced Swiss cheese
  • Shredded Mozzarella cheese
  • Sauerkraut
  • Caraway seeds

Preparation

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Spread the Thousand Island dressing on the pizza crust. No need to spread is smooth. I just drizzle it on and it spreads out on its own as it cooks.
  3. Put down a layer of Swiss cheese. I use the square slices and start by making a cross with 5 slices. Then I take two more and cut them diagonally to make triangles to fill in the area between the cross arms.
  4. Put on the meat. Fold each slice over so that it doesn't lay completely flat. As I mentioned earlier, if you like the meaty style Reubens, heap it on!
  5. Sprinkle 1 to 2 teaspoons of caraway seed over the meat. This is what gives it that rye bread taste.
  6. Drain the sauerkraut and lay it on top. Again, how much you use is your own preference. I like it about a 3/4" deep layer.
  7. Lastly, sprinkle a light layer of the shredded mozzarella over the sauerkraut. This is just an amazing final touch!
  8. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the top layer of cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown. If you use a fresh Bisquick crust, it may take 20 minutes or so for the crust to cook.

Serve like any pizza, in slices. Some recipies call for a wedge of dill pickle on top of each slice. It's amazing how good this tastes. Even though the whole wheat crust and caraway seeds constitute a faux rye bread, it really works well. The best part is that all the ingredients are heated to the same hot tasty temperature, and baking it seems to evaporate enough of the moisture from the sauerkraut that would otherwise make the crust soggy.