As a part 2 to my post earlier this week, I thought I’d share our latest pizza recipe with you guys to get your culinary inspiration flowing. Despite my overwhelming carnivorous tendencies, I acquiesced to my husband’s vegetarian inclinations and created this deliciousness. I have to say, I actually didn’t miss the meat… too much. A little bacon wouldn’t have hurt it at all, but I resisted. Anthony, you’re welcome. 😉Â
Meat or no meat, homemade pizza is one of those things that I absolutely love to make. It brings back so many memories! I remember as little girls my sister and I would stand on stools or sit on the counter in the kitchen of our northwest DC row house with Dad on Friday nights, flinging cheese and toppings everywhere until the perfect masterpiece had been created. Since then, this has remained one of my favorite ways to get the whole family in the kitchen. In fact, this is one of the first culinary projects Anthony and I took on together when we were dating. It’s (literally) a recipe for quality family time that lets everyone get creative and get involved. Give it a try this weekend!
We used our recipe for whole wheat rosemary pizza dough and added just a few toppings to keep this a light and refreshing dinner. For the sauce… I confess: I cheated. I bought pesto… from Costco. IN MY DEFENSE, there is not a single grocery store that carries sufficient amounts of basil around here for me to make my own, AND Costco’s 100% imported Genovese Basil pesto is actually delicious. I’ve eaten pesto in Italy, and this, dear friends, is as close to authentic as you’re going to get without plane tickets or making it yourself. So no regrets here.
Also… I stuffed the crust. Because the cheese shrinks when it melts, use as much as you possibly can haha!
- 1 whole wheat pizza crust
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ⅓ cup pesto
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella
- 2 roma tomatoes
- 5 leaves of fresh basil
- Fine sea salt
- Garlic powder
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F and roll our your pizza dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out to about a 14" round, and then transfer it to a pizza pan or baking sheet by rolling it up around your rolling pin and unrolling it onto the pan. Leave about a 1" edge hanging over the pan on all sides. This will seal in your stuffed crust.
- Build a border of shredded mozzarella around the rim of the pan. Pile it as high as you can! Start with ½ cup mozzarella and add more as desired. Fold over the edge of the crust and seal it into the bottom of the crust as you go around (you can use a fork to help with this).
- Brush the dough, edges included with olive oil. Then, spread the pesto over the center of the crust, creating an even layer. Top with remaining mozzarella, tomato slices, crushed red pepper, basil and lemon zest. Sprinkle the edges of the crust with the sea salt and garlic powder, and bake for 15-20 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted, slightly browned and bubbling up. Let cool for 5-10 minutes, slice, serve, and enjoy!
ericrynne says
January 8, 2015 at 4:45 pmWow, looks great! Might try this out tonight! Or I might just have to go to my favorite loca
Pizza Joint instead 🙂