Who doesn’t love pizza! Here are three recipes for white pizza—a nice alternative to pizza with red sauce. Two of them are topped with arugula, but the toppings are quite different on each. They’re all wonderful.
FIG AND PIG
I had the Pig and Fig Flatbread at
Sandy’s at Huntington Beach California. It was so tasty, I ordered it again at
brunch two days later so I could figure out what was in it. Here’s my take…it’s
really good!
I used Pillsbury’s THIN crust pizza
crust…the kind in the refrigerated tube you smack on the counter to open. (It’s
pretty good, so try it.)
Toppings:
- A few tablespoons of fig jam
- 4 oz shredded reduced fat mozzarella
- 4 oz crumbled blue cheese
- 1/2 cup red onion—1/2 inch dice
- Approx 3/4 cup or so prosciutto that
has been crisped in a frying pan with a little oil. Or use diced pancetta than
has been fried in a frying pan until it is a little crisp. Don't cook the meat
too long.
Prebake shell at 400 degrees for 5
minutes.
Add toppings. Spoon about a scant tsp of the jam at various intervals on
the crust—about every 1-1/2 inches apart. Sprinkle with the cheeses, then the
red onion and meat.
Bake 6 to 10 minutes until cheese is
bubbly.
Meanwhile, rinse some arugula with cold
water. Spin dry, then add dressing sparingly.
Serve flatbread with a generous handful
of the arugula salad on each slice.
Salad dressing:
2 tsp. Dijon
2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
2-1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Whisk together in small bowl.
WHITE PIZZA WITH ARUGULA
Ina Garten makes her own crust, but I
don’t spend the time. I like the Artisan Pizza Crust with Whole Grain by Pillsbury,
or Trader Joe’s Pizza Dough available in the refrigerator section of the store. I also like Boboli, I’ve also changed a few other things.
For the topping:
2 cups grated Italian fontina cheese (8
ounces)
1 cup reduced fat mozzarella cheese (4
ounces)
4 ounces container of goat cheese
crumbles
For the vinaigrette:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces baby arugula
For the garlic oil:
Place 1/2 cup of olive oil, 4 cloves garlic thinly sliced, 5 springs fresh thyme and 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over low
heat. Cook for 10 minutes, making sure the garlic doesn't burn. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. (Be
sure your oven is clean)
Stretch the dough on the pan. Brush dough
with garlic oil, and sprinkle liberally with salt (to taste) and pepper. Sprinkle evenly
with the cheeses. Drizzle each pizza with garlic oil and bake for 10 to 15
minutes, until the crusts are crisp and the cheeses begin to brown.
Meanwhile, whisk together 1/2 cup of
olive oil, the lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add the
greens: When the pizza is done, place the arugula in a large bowl and toss with
just enough lemon vinaigrette to moisten. Place a large bunch of arugula on
each pizza.
GOAT CHEESE AND PEPPER PIZZA
This recipe is originally from California Pizza
Kitchen, although I made a number of changes.
1 prepackaged pizza crust dough…I like
Pillsbury’s THIN crust pizza crust in the tube because the bottom gets crispy.
Olive oil*
1-1/2 - 2 cups shredded mozzarella
cheese
2-3 plum tomatoes sliced thin (about 1/8
to 1/4 inch)
2-3 peppers depending on size (any
combination of red, yellow, or green) (or use one jar of roasted red peppers)
24 pieces of red onion (2 inches x 1/4
inch)
2 oz mild goat cheese
Optional: use Ina Gartens’s Garlic Olive
Oil: Heat ½ cup olive oil, 4 thinly
sliced cloves of garlic, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes. Simmer over low
heat for 10 minutes. Make sure garlic doesn’t burn. Set aside.
--Cook bacon until crisp. Crumble.
--Slice peppers and cook in large frying pan over medium heat in a little
olive oil until peppers are browned on edges and are a little soft. (Or
substitute one jar of roasted red peppers, sliced.)
--Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
--Stretch dough in pizza pan. Brush with olive oil.
-- Spread mozzarella over surface. Sprinkle crumble bacon over cheese.
--Place peppers over cheese. Then onions. Place tomato slices next, but do
not overlap.
--Separate goat cheese into bite size pieces and place over tomatoes.
Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper but do not add salt.
If you have fresh basil, chop some and
sprinkle on top. But not critical.
Bake about 9 to 10 minutes or until
bubbly.
