Pip's Plate

This is what Keldon and I will be having for dinner tonight. It’s a pretty healthy pizza considering there’s next to no fat in this entire recipe. Use cheese sparingly to keep it healthy. I know it’s hard, but you can do it.

I barely had lunch so I’m getting pretty hungry. I’ve made this pizza many times, but I usually use a prepared crust like Boboli. Well, because it’s Sunday I guess I decided to make my own pizza dough. I’ve done that many times.

But this time… many things went wrong. I had to make the dough three times today. Bah! Talk about a comedy of errors.

This is what I learned today when making your own pizza dough:

1. If you’re using a food processor, make sure all the liquid goes in first. If you put it on top of the 5 1/2 cups of flour, it spills everywhere causing you to start over.
2. If you’re using a food processor, don’t blend the ingredients for 2 minutes like I did. It gets sort of soupy and becomes beyond repair. Instead, pulse 2 or 3 times … or until it forms into a ball.
3. Have several dough recipes on hand in case the first or second just doesn’t work out.
4. Have plenty of flour and yeast on hand for times such as today.

But, alas, I finally got it on the third try.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza
makes: 8 slices

Ingredients
1 pizza dough (either purchased or made from scratch – see below for recipe)
1/4 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce (I love love love Kowalski’s brand – a local Twin Cities grocery store)
1/4 small red onion sliced
1/2 pound hormone-free skinless, boneless chicken breasts: cooked & cubed OR you can pull it
1/4 cup sliced pickled peperoncinis
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Put your pizza dough on a baking sheet (stoneware is preferred). If you’re using your own pizza dough or a refrigerated dough, roll it out to the shape you desire (circle, rectangle, etc.)

3. Spread the BBQ sauce evenly over the dough to about 1/2-inch to the end. If you like your pizza saucy, go ahead and add some more.

4. Top the pizza with chicken, onion, peperoncini, and cheese.

5. If you’re using fresh pizza dough, bake pizza for about 18-20 minutes or until the edges of the crust are lightly brown and the cheese is bubbly.

If you’re using store-bought par-baked pizza crust (such as Boboli), bake pizza for 10-13 minutes or until cheese is lightly brown and bubbly.

Serve this with a Greek salad of mixed greens, feta, kalamata olives, cucumber, and lemon/olive oil vinaigrette.

Pizza Dough Recipe
makes enough dough for 1 pizza

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon dry active yeast
1/4 cup hot water (not boiling)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon olive oil
3 – 4 Tablespoons water

Directions
1. Mix yeast and hot water in a small bowl until the yeast dissolves – about 2 minutes.

2. Combine flour, salt, sugar, and olive oil in a medium bowl. Add yeast mixture and stir the mixture with a wooden spoon. Add additional water by the tablespoon as needed. The dough should be sticky, but it should form into a ball and want to stick to itself (it gets a little grabby).

3. When the dough is completely sticking to itself, put it on a clean dry surface sprinkled with flour. Knead the dough for about 2-3 minutes or until the dough is elastic.

4. Coat a glass bowl with olive oil, put the ball of dough in the bowl and turn it over so all surfaces are covered in oil. Put a kitchen towel over the bowl and let it rise for 1 hour. Punch it down, and your dough is ready to be pizzafied!

This is a homemade version of my favorite pizza at Zelo / Bacio / Ciao Bella. You can use goat cheese or not – depending upon your taste preference. This is pretty easy, especially if you buy pizza crust. I really like Boboli ready-to-bake pizza crust. When making my own pizza dough, I really like this recipe from Epicurious.

You could also use premade pizza sauce, but this recipe calls for such an easy way of making your own pizza sauce with ingredients you most likely will already have on hand.

Spicy Pepperoni Pizza

serves: 2-3 (pizza is cut into 6 pieces)

time: 15-20 minutes

1 serving pizza dough or ready-to-bake Boboli crust

1 large garlic clove, minced or pressed

1 1/2 T olive oil

2 t dry Italian seasoning

1/4 cup tomato sauce

2 oz pepperoni

1 jalapeno, sliced thinly

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

2 oz soft goat cheese

Preheat oven to 450.

Place pizza crust on pizza stone or baking sheet. Combine garlic and olive oil in small bowl then brush over crust. Sprinkle Italian seasoning over the crust, then spread the tomato sauce over the crust. This is essentially your easy-to-make pizza sauce without dirtying a lot of bowls.

Top with pepperoni, jalapeno, and cheeses.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven, slice into 6 pieces, and serve.

Add more crushed red pepper if you want more spice.

I spontaneously made this for dinner last night and it was really good. I used a premade pizza dough from Pampered Chef (all you do is add water and knead the dough) and it worked really well. Just make sure to follow the guidelines for the dough you use. This particular pizza cooked for about 20 min in a 425 degree oven. Times and heat may vary.

Butternut Squash Pesto Pizza

1 pizza dough

1/2 c pesto (recipe follows)

10 oz butternut squash (I used Cascadian Farms frozen butternut squash, but you can also roast your own if you have more time)

1/4 chopped onion

1 c Pecorino Romano – grated (you can also use Parmesan Reggiano if you can’t find pecorino – any salty, hard Italian cheese will work well)

Pesto

1/4 c toasted walnuts, chopped

5 garlic cloves

2 cups packed basil leaves (you can also add spinach and/or arugula if you like)

1/4 c Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

olive oil

S&P

Blend the first 4 ingredients in a food processor until processed, but not pureed. Stream in olive oil while processing to create the right consistency (it should be smooth but not runny – spreadable).

Roll out the pizza dough onto your baking surface (I prefer to use my pizza stone to get even cooking). Spread pesto over pizza dough. Top with squash and spread out over pesto. Top with onions and cheese.

Bake pizza in a 425 oven for about 15-20 minutes – again, cooking times may vary.