Stuffed Pizza Pocket, Camp Version
Spaghetti, meatballs, and pepperoni sealed inside dough and cooked in a dutch oven at camp.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 65
- protein
- 31 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 25 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 50 min
- water
- 2000 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Pizza dough mix | 1.5 lbs worth | a just-add-water crust mix travels better than refrigerated dough |
|---|---|---|
| Spaghetti | 6 oz | broken in half so it fits the pot |
| Jarred pasta sauce | 24 oz | or one pouch, which does not break in a bin |
| Shelf-stable meatballs | 20 small | canned or vacuum-packed, not frozen |
| Pepperoni | 1 cup, diced | stick pepperoni keeps for days unrefrigerated |
| Green pepper | 1 cup, diced | holds two or three days out of a cooler |
| Shredded mozzarella | 2 cups | cooler item; low-moisture is the only kind worth carrying |
| Grated parmesan | 2 tbsp | the shelf-stable canister |
| Cornmeal | 1/3 cup | |
| Garlic butter or margarine spread | 3 tbsp | |
| Salt and pepper | a pinch each |
Method
- Build the dough per its package and let it sit while you cook. Bank a bed of coals or light 20 charcoal briquettes.
- Boil the spaghetti in a separate pot until just soft, about 9 minutes. Drain it, saving the water for dishes.
- Warm the sauce and meatballs in the dutch oven over the coals. Stir in the drained pasta, pepperoni, green pepper, salt, and pepper. Move it to a bowl or pot lid and wipe the oven out.
- Divide the dough in two. Press each half flat on a cornmealed cutting board, wide enough to line the oven with an inch of overhang.
- Oil the dutch oven, lay in the first round, and spread the pasta over it. Leave a bare half inch at the rim. Scatter the mozzarella on top.
- Lay the second round over everything and pinch the edges shut all the way around.
- Lid on. About 8 coals underneath, 16 on top. Bake 20 minutes, then lift the lid and spread the garlic butter over the crust and dust it with parmesan.
- Back under coals for 5 to 8 minutes, until the top is browned. Rotate the oven and the lid a quarter turn a few times so it does not scorch on one side.
This is a home oven recipe rebuilt for coals. Two things had to change. Frozen meatballs became canned or vacuum-packed ones, since nothing stays frozen past the first afternoon. Store-bought refrigerated dough became a dry crust mix, which weighs less, does not care about temperature, and rises fine in a bowl while the pasta boils.
The cornmeal is not a garnish. Rolling on cornmeal instead of flour keeps the bottom crust from gluing itself to the oven and gives it some grit to crisp against. The other thing worth respecting is the coal ratio: most of the heat goes on the lid, because a dutch oven bottom sitting on embers will burn a crust long before the top browns.
Packing
Dough mix, cornmeal, salt, and pepper go into one bag at home. Sauce pouch, meatballs, pepperoni stick, and parmesan ride in the dry bin. Cheese and pepper go in the cooler.
Variations
- Skip the top crust and you have a deep-dish bake that cooks in 15 minutes.
- No dutch oven: build it as two folded calzones on a greased skillet lid over low coals, turning once.
https://www.thisisnotdietfood.com/spaghetti-and-meatballs-stuffed-pizza