Lively Pizza

The original, official name for this one is Pizza Capricciosa. Pizza that is "lively and free." I like it.

And I LOVED this pizza. I might go out on a limb and say this is my favorite pizza we've made so far.  SO GOOD IT DESERVES ALL CAPS. (Whoa!)

Everything holds together in exactly the right way: texture, color, flavor. In fact, it has this perfect balance of fresh and salty flavors, where each delicious ingredient blends with the rest to make an even better overall flavor.

Lively and free, indeed.

Here's how you make it:

1. Par-baked crust. We used whole wheat for this one, and I thought it was perfect.
2. Spread of crushed tomatoes, aka salsa semplice (again, I recommend Pomi brand)
3. Grated mozzarella
4. Sliced crimini/baby bella mushrooms
5. Thin strips of prosciutto or other Italian cured ham
6. Sliced canned artichoke hearts

Bake all of that together at 450 degrees F for 5 minutes, then add:

1. Chopped fresh spinach

Bake for another 2 minutes, pull out of the oven, and top with a drizzle of olive oil and freshly grated Parmesan. Buon appetito!

Chorizo & Jalapeño Pizza

Felicidades! Happy belated Cinco de Mayo...? Or something like that...?

Last week we picked up some Mexican chorizo at a Latin American market with the intention of making tacos. Didn't take long before we decided pizza deserved a spicy sausage treatment as well.

For those of you not familiar with it, Mexican chorizo is a pork sausage that's made with chile peppers and a variety of seasonings. Very tasty. Moderately spicy. A very dominant flavor that takes over everything around it.

Cue the jalapeños, onions and cilantro:

They also have dominant flavors that happen to go very nicely with said chorizo, which makes this one flavor-filled pizza.

While you're par-baking your crust, be sure to brown the chorizo and pour off the excess grease.

Layer the toppings like this:

1. Par-baked crust
2. Thin spread of salsa verde (green salsa made from tomatillos)
3. Good ole mozzarella, grated
4. White or red onions, thinly sliced in rings
5. Jalapeño slices
6. Browned chorizo
7. Chopped cliantro

Bake at 450 degrees F for about 7 minutes. Don't bother with the customary drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of Parmesan, but you could consider a few spritzes of fresh lime juice or a shredded radish garnish.

Coming Soon!

We inadvertently stumbled upon deep dish skillet pizzas and recipes for grilled pizza. Experiments in progress. Recipes coming soon.

Breakfast Pizza

Everyone knows that cold, leftover pizza is the breakfast of choice for many 20-year-old college students, but what adult in their right minds would actually MAKE pizza for breakfast? Really, it's absurd.

Oh, right... WE have made pizza for breakfast... and possibly crossed whatever line separates merely liking pizza from being thoroughly obsessed.

It was so good there weren't even leftovers for lunch.

1. Par-baked whole wheat crust (it's important to have fiber at breakfast, you know...)
2. Drizzle of olive oil
3. Yukon gold potatoes, sliced paper-thin, spread in a single layer over the crust
4. Generous dusting of old bay seasoning, garlic powder and onion powder, along with a pinch of celery seed and black pepper
5. Grated mozarella and a sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan
6. Breakfast meat of choice, sliced and browned in a skillet ahead of time - we used chicken sausage, but pork sausage or ham or bacon would also be deeeelicious

Assemble all of those items and slide the pizza onto the stone in the preheated oven. Once it's in place, crack raw eggs (approximately one per slice) on the top of the pizza. Bake at 450 F for at least 11 minutes. The crust will get a little darker than usual, but the potatoes and eggs need the extra time.

If it doesn't seem like the egg whites are cooking enough, try gently covering the pizza with aluminum foil to trap some steam and help the top cook. The whites should be gelatinous, not runny, and the yolks will be a lovely over-easy. It's everything you've ever wanted for breakfast in one dish.

A Guessing Game

WHAT is this ugly turd of a bread substance?

Anyone? Guesses?

Okay, fine, I'll tell you. Continuing the using-leftover-pizza-dough theme of the last post, this blob was originally cut off of a pizza crust to make that crust more attractively round. I smeared the uncooked dough with peanut butter, added a pile of chocolate chips, and obviously did not seal it adequately because the insides exploded out. But however hideous the outside, it was LOVELY on the tastebuds. Next time I would probably brush it with butter and a dusting of powdered sugar to make it even more desserty.

Wrapped-up Pizza

I guess, to most people, the pseudo-pizza below probably resembles a calzone. In fact, it probably IS a calzone, but given its unplanned creation and utter lack of ricotta, I can't justify calling it that. When we're ready to post a calzone recipe, we're going to make some legit calzones and there will be no question as to what they are or what to call them.

However, these pocket/wrap/pie things were a hungry lunchtime attempt to use up some leftover pizza dough without making yet another pizza. So I'm calling it "wrapped-up pizza" because that fairly literal description applies to a broad range of dough-filling constructions. We used what we had on hand, which happened to be sausage and leftover sauteed bell peppers and onions, but I'm quite sure you could take almost any pizza recipe and accomplish something similarly tasty.

Assuming you've already made the dough, stop before the par-baking part of the recipe! Split one of the dough balls in half or even in thirds and roll each chunk out into a thin circle. Add cheeses, veggies, meats (already browned and/or mostly cooked) and just a little bit of sauce (too much will make it soggy) to half of each dough circle.

Fold the other half of the dough over the toppings and firmly crimp around the edges so that nothing can leak out. Bake on the pizza stone at 450 degrees F for about 10 minutes, or until the crust is nicely golden.

Serve with some extra tomato sauce for dipping. Ours didn't turn out as gooey and full as a true calzone, but it sure made for a tasty lunch.

Spinach & Ricotta Pizza

Although we invent many of our own pizza topping combinations, we do occasionally refer to cookbooks for inspiration. In this case, we borrowed a recipe from the aptly titled cookbook "Pizza," by Diane Morgan. It is, in fact, the recipe pictured on the book's cover, so you know it has to be good.

It's a very simple layering of ingredients, spread evenly over the crust in this order:

1. Par-baked whole wheat crust
2. Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
3. Spread of tomato sauce (or our lazy version of Pomi crushed tomatoes with a sprinkling of Italian seasonings and salt)
4. Sprinkling of grated Parmesan
5. Two big handfuls of fresh spinach, torn into large pieces
6. Two minced garlic cloves
7. Grated mozzarella
8. Dollops of ricotta
9. Sliced fresh tomatoes

With three kinds of cheese, be careful not to over-top your pizza! The ricotta in particular is very moist and prone to cause sogginess, so a few strategically placed dollops are all that you need.

When it comes out of the oven, drizzle with more olive oil and shake on some crushed red pepper flakes. Eat at least three pieces...