Smoked Salmon, Pesto & Goat Cheese Pizza

I had this pizza idea rolling around in my head for a couple of days and finally had time to try it out last night for dinner. I made the crust using my usual recipe of 2 cups flour, 2 tsps of baking powder, 1/4 cup olive oil, 3/4 cup of milk. Blend together and form in to a ball. Let it rest for 5 minutes and then transfer to a greased pizza pan – press to fit pan. Put in a preheated oven (400 degrees) and cook for about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and top with the good stuff. I made the pesto from my basil plant. I grabbed about 12 large leaves and put in them in a blender with a handful of pine nuts a tbls of garlic, about a 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese and olive oil. I used this as the sauce for the pizza then topped with shaved onions, goat cheese, smoked salmon and mozzarella cheese. I returned to the oven for about 13 minutes and then ate it enjoying every glorious bite of deliciousness. This is my new favorite combination of toppings and I loved the summer flavor of the pesto sauce. YUM!

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Deep Dish Pizza

Need I say more? This is delicious and I have blogged about it before. I just couldn’t resist the yummy looking picture.

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Deep Dish Pizza

I had a crazy allergy headache today from too much yard work. I trimmed all the azaleas and could smell the mold on them as I was cutting them – so – as I was healing with a few hours on the couch today, I was flipping channels and landed on Mystic Pizza. Naturally a pizza craving was not too far behind. I decided to mix up my typical pizza making and go deep dish. I used my regular crust recipe – as I was making the crust I preheated the oven to 400 and set the cast iron skillet in the oven to preheat as well. When the crust was ready I formed it and then set it inside the cast iron skillet and pressed it on the sides of the pan – it started to sizzle as soon as it hit the pan – yum. I put the crust in the oven for about 6 minutes while I prepared the toppings. I removed the pan – added the sauce, toppings of spinach and feta, and topped the whole thing with cheese – then back it went into the oven for another 17 minutes. The crust was crispy on the bottom and done all the way through – it was quite tasty! I will definitely do this one again. Normally I go for the thin crust but this was just what the doctor ordered.

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pizza al fresco

pizza al fresco

Originally uploaded by All Things Mimi

This was our first dinner outside in the lounging area. I made a pizza (mushrooms, pepperoni, feta, tomatoes, onions) and served it with a Laughing Cat Reisling.

A good time was had by all (by all I mean me and Dev…).

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Monday Pizza

Monday Pizza

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

Couldn’t decide what to make for dinner last night. I was uninspired. Then I remembered that a friend brought me some sundried tomatoes from a recent trip to South America. So…the pizza bug was born. I used fresh spinach, feta and sundried tomatoes. I have a great and super easy crust recipe I have blogged about before. It doesn’t get any easier than this:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Blend together:
2 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cup of milk

Form into a ball and let it rest for 5 minutes. Form to greased and floured pizza pan and cook for 7 minutes (you don’t have to do this, but I like a crispy crust and this works for me) add sauce toppings and cheese and cook for an additional 10-12 minutes.

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Friday Night is Pizza Night!

Although we hadn’t done it in a while, Friday nights are usually Pizza Nights for Dev and me. I make a pizza and we settle in to watch bad cable, a netflix movie or Friday Night Boxing- whichever is on.

Because we hadn’t had home made pizza in a while, I decided to go half and half. One half is hawaiian (Canadian bacon, ham, pineapple and red onion) the other half is veggie (onion, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach and parmesan).

I made a quick sauce from a can of crushed tomatoes, olive oil, red pepper flakes, garlic, red onion and a little sugar.

I love pizza night!

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Home-made Pizza

Home-made Pizza

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

Tuesday dinner. I think the last time I blogged about a pizza it was a Tuesday – no idea if that has any implications and if so what those would be, but never-the-less. It was pizza Tuesday.

Preheat oven to 425.

Crust
2 cups flour
2 tsps of baking powder
1/4 cup of olive oil
3/4 cup of milk
dash of salt

Kneed together. Form into a ball and let rest for 5 minutes. Grease a pizza pan – spread dough onto pan – top with favorite toppings – add cheese – bake for 20 minutes – enjoy! I topped mine with feta, spinach and sundried tomatoes and enjoyed it with a Las Moras Malbec from Argentina – perfection!

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Pizza Tuesday

Pizza Tuesday

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

Tuesday was the first day of classes so naturally I came home tired and confused at what had just happened. Why was I not sitting on the couch watching the Olympics. Why am I wearing dress clothes? In the confusion dinner was the last thing on my mind. I decided to make a pizza with some yummy leftovers I had in the fridge. I had roasted red and yellow peppers the other night for a salad -so those when on the pizza; I added fresh basil, fresh spinach, some of the ricotta from the quinoa bake the other night, a bit of feta which I always have around and then assorted cheeses on the top. It was delicious!

The crust is the same I have been using for a while because its easy and you don’t really have to plan ahead. I posted it a while back – I’ll re post so you don’t have to go digging through to get it.

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsps of baking powder
3/4 tsps of salt
3/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 tbls of melted butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix ingredients together and then transfer to lightly floured surface – prep your baking sheet with either cooking spray of corn meal and then transfer the dough to the baking sheet and form to the pan – I used a rectangular baking sheet so I could spread the dough a little thinner and get a nice crispy crust, you can choose your favorite way and it should work fine.
Bake for about 15 minutes and enjoy!

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Steelhead trout, feta and pesto pizza

Steelhead trout, feta and pesto pizza

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

Well, the cavalvade of fun part ? I can’t remember what part – maybe 3, who’s counting, got into full swing yesterday when Mimi and I finally got back in the kitchen together. We didn’t plan this meal in advance, just used what was around the house, but we created a pretty great pizza. I still had some of the steelhead trout in the freezer so I took that out to thaw. I also have a basil plant taking over my front porch – so we put our heads together and came up with this pizza. It was great! Seriously good flavors here – the moral – don’t be afraid to put fish on a pizza 🙂 We made a simple pesto and then just started layering the toppings – we got artsy with the fish and made a pinwheel design 🙂 from the thinly sliced trout. The dough was a very simple dough that you don’t have to let rise at all and its very easy to work with.

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Vinnie Van Go Go’s

Vinnie Van Go Go’s

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

I didn’t make this, but had to share. There is this terrific dive pizza place in Savannah GA called Vinnie Van Go Go. The crust is always perfectly crisp and thin and the toppings are great. A slice is $2.50 with normal toppings costing .50 and Yuppie toppings (my personal favorites) costing .75. This slice is Spinach, Feta and Sundried Tomatos (all yuppie toppings). If you live in Savannah and haven’t had Vinnie’s shame on you! If you are planning a visit to Savannah this a must! Beware – Vinnies is a cash only establishment so you better grab cash before hand…they also have a delicious spinach salad, perfect for sharing, and a decent beer selection.

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