Pesto Pizza!It all came from some on-its-last-leg basil in my fridge. Throwing away basil is painful. On an average day, you can get about a cup of basil for, like, three bucks. That's a lot when basil is usually one of many ingredients. And let's talk about how pesto also contains pine nuts and then you're wallet's nervous twitch is going to flare up.
But. Pizza.
I'm back to using this trusty recipe for my pizza crust. I split it in two (which means we are averaging two pizzas a week for dinner around here lately). And I top it then bake it at 475 for 10 minutes. It's much lighter and thinner, and it's my new favorite.
So take that crust, and top it:
A generous slather of pesto*
Slices of mozzarella (from an in-water mozzarella ball)
Thinly sliced tomato (I'm currently obsessed with baby romas)
Sprinkle of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
A hefty sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan cheese
It's so delicious. And such a fresh, summery meal. I also think it would be lovely with bacon or prosciutto.
*As for the pesto. Remember this post when I lamented losing my favorite pesto recipe? Well, Kjerstin saves the day because she found my recipe!! She emailed it to me back in January. And it really is just as good as I remembered. Also, I didn't have pine nuts tonight, so I made it with walnuts, and it was just as tasty.
So, the Beloved Pesto Recipe (from Alexandra's Williams-Sonoma Pasta cookbook):
1 C firmly packed basil
1/2 t salt
3T Parmesan
2 T Romano
3 T Pine nuts
2 clove garlic
mix in food processor, then drizzle in
1/2 C Extra virgin olive oil
1 T pasta water
If you've got a grill, pizza can be made even more friendly by outdoor cooking. I tried it a couple weeks ago, and now we're obsessed: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pizza-On-The-Grill-I/Detail.aspx
ReplyDeleteJust use your own dough and ingredients and follow the cooking directions. It rocks--tastes a lot more like pizza from a brick oven because you can cook it hot and fast.
Matt and Elisa and T and I recently got together and made pizzas, one of which was a pesto pizza with mozzarella and tomatoes and pine nuts (I made the pesto with almonds, but double the pine nuts would be awesome too). So good! We also made that PW one with onions and prosciutto. Delicious. If only we could eat pizza together. . . I'm excited to try your crust recipe. I just can't quite get a crust I love. And your pesto recipe. Pesto might be the love of my life. Which reminds me. T made really delicious grilled cheese sandwiches yesterday. He just put pesto on the bread and then we used some kind of mildish white cheese. It was good. We also made a grilled sandwich with tomatoes, basil, and parmesean cheese (not too much) and pressed it while it was grilling (brushed with olive oil) with a plate and a big can of tomatoes (so it would be kind of like a panini) and it was delicious. They were really good especially because they were pressed. How do you feel about grilled sandwiches?
ReplyDeleteOoo. I'm going to try making this for dinner next week. I love trying your recipes.
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