Copycatting Papa John.

Time to copycat another food item, this time from Papa John's.  Papadias are inspired by the ‘piadina,’ an Italian folded flatbread sandwich from Northern Italy, but Papa John's uses their original pizza dough instead of flatbread.  Sort of like making a calzone, but not sealing the ends.

There are four varieties, each hand-stretched, oven-baked and hand-folded to order. 

1 - Italian: Italian flatbread-style sandwich made with Alfredo sauce, spicy Italian sausage, salami, real cheese made from mozzarella and banana peppers; served with a pizza sauce dipping cup.

2 - Philly Cheesesteak: Italian flatbread-style sandwich made with sliced Philly steak, fresh-cut onions and green peppers, real cheese made from mozzarella and "Philly" sauce; served with a garlic sauce dipping cup.

3 - Grilled BBQ Chicken & Bacon: Italian flatbread-style sandwich made with grilled chicken, bacon, fresh-cut onions and real cheese made from mozzarella, drizzled with sweet and smoky BBQ sauce; served with a BBQ sauce dipping cup.

4 - Meatball Pepperoni: Italian flatbread-style sandwich made with spicy meatballs, pepperoni, pizza sauce, real cheese made from mozzarella and classic Italian seasoning; served with a pizza sauce dipping cup.

With the name ending with "dia", you can't help but think, "quesadilla"?  Normally made with tortillas, a quesadilla has a filling (yes, you can use what's listened up above), placed on a grill; the tortilla is browned, folded, cut into sections, and ready to eat with a favorite dipping sauce, salsa, and/or guacamole.

When in the mood for pizza, but no fresh dough available, having a package of tortillas comes in handy for a quick, crispy pizza on the fly.  We keep Naan bread in stock as well, and it makes a pretty tasty, spontaneously in the mood for, pizza.

So, why not make one of these "Papadias", but using the original bread type, a flatbread, and that is what Naan is.  By the way, I named my version, MamaMiadias.

To keep ingredients from falling onto my oven bottom, I preheated (tempered) a 16 inch pizza pan, in the oven, at 425F.  Just in case any oils happen to leak through (holes in the bottom of the pan for air circulation), I also have a sheet of heavy duty foil on the oven's bottom.

American (left), Italian (right)

While preheating was going on, I prepped the Naan bread.  One was an American cheeseburger style, with seasoned, and cooked, ground beef (salt and cracked black pepper only), slices of bell peppers, onions and shredded Cheddar cheese.  

The second was an Italian style, with the cooked ground beef containing an Italian herb blend, the bell peppers and onions, diced tomatoes, but shredded mozzarella and provolone cheeses.

Once the oven hit 425F, I placed the prepped breads onto the pizza pan, popped it back into the oven (on the center rack), and let it bake for 15 minutes.  Once out of the oven, I quickly folded the breads and cut them in half.  

Holy Dias Batman!  They were so full of flavor and texture; no need to dip into a sauce, or add anything else.  We did try a couple of sauces, but they actually took away from the initial flavor instead of  enhancing.  This was a truly satisfying sandwich!

...and so, the MamaMiadia was born in the Cokenour kitchen.  Of course, Papa John's gets credit for introducing the idea, to us, via television commercials.

Mary Cokenour