When I was in college, I worked in a pizza place—there is one every 500 feet in New Jersey. However, this wasn’t any kind of pizza place. It was actually an artisan, wood-fired pizza place. A high, high step above Pizza Hut (no offense, Pizza Hut). My boss went to Culinary Institute of America, and it was from watching these pizzas made every day that I learned a few pizza ingredients that complement each other very well.

I also learned that soppressata tastes delicious on just about anything.

I split one pizza dough into two smaller pies (fun fact: they’re called “pies” in my neck of the woods—not sure if that’s a regional thing or not) simply because they photographed a little better, but feel free to keep this as one whole pie if you’d like. The ingredients in this pizza are extremely important, simply because the quality varies so greatly with items like soppressata, mozzarella and especially tomato sauce.

Before you pop open a jar of Ragu, try making your own tomato sauce for this pie. It will be incomparable to any jar you’ll ever try. Or, if you’re like me and live in an area filled with food-loving Italians, you can easily find pre-made tomato sauce that is still of excellent quality.

Quick tip: A drizzle of honey will counteract the spice of the jalapeños.

Ingredients:
Store bought pizza dough (or make your own)
8-12 slices thin soppressata
8 ounces fresh mozzarella
1/2 jalapeño, chopped, optional seeds removed
1/2 cup homemade tomato sauce
1/2 clove chopped garlic
Squeeze of honey (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450. Put a small amount of flour on a cutting board and roll out the dough. Top with tomato sauce, mozzarella, soppressata, jalapeños and garlic, and bake for 15-18 minutes. When pizza is hot, add a drizzle of honey and let cool two minutes, then serve.