Pesto, Smoked Salmon, Artichoke and Cream Cheese Pizza

I saw this pizza on a menu somewhere (I don’t remember where now) and thought I should give it a shot at home.

Unfortunately I don’t live near a good Salmon fishing river nor do I have a smoker (but has now been added to my list of things to build) so I had to buy my smoked Salmon. I also bought the Pesto instead of making it from scratch. Sorry, I was in a hurry with this one, the savages were hungry. I did however make the crust and I added Basil, Oregano and Rosemary from my little flower boxes on the deck.

Crust:
2 1/4 tsp. yeast (or one packet)

1 1/4 Cup warm water
4 1/4 Cup flour + more for rolling out crust
2 tsp. salt
1/4 Cup olive oil
Drizzle of honey (about 2-3 Tbs)

Mix warm water and yeast together, let sit for 5 minutes or so (don’t use hot water, it will kill the yeast). Mix flour and salt, drizzle with honey. Add dry ingredients to wet, mix well. Make sure all flour and water is absorbed. Form into a ball. Grease the bottom of a large bowl with olive oil, coat dough ball in oil. Let sit while you prepare the sauce and toppings. Dust a cutting board with flour and roll dough out to the size of your cast iron pan, if it's too big just rip off the edges, if too small just add a patch piece and press into place. Dough should be smooth and elastic if it sticks to the cutting board add more flour.

Toppings:

1/4 Cup Pesto sauce (I will add a recipe when I make my own)

1/2 Cup Canned/Jarred Artichoke Hearts

1 Smoked Salmon Fillet

1/2 Cup Cream Cheese Mozzarella Pearls (or you could use shredded)

Assembly:

Roll out crust to fit pan. Pesto is usually pretty thick so use the back of a spoon to spread evenly over the crust. Break up Salmon and artichokes and spread evenly to cover. Top with dollops of cream cheese and finish with mozzarella pearls. Bake at 425 until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted

Grilled Peach, Mascarpone and Pistachio Pizza

It was finally nice enough out to grill today! I made 2 little pizzas because they fit better on my baby grill than a big pan with a handle. First things first, get your grill happy! It can heat up while you get your ingredients ready. 

I stumbled upon this recipe for Grilled Peaches, Mascarpone and Pistachios while noodling around on Pinterest and thought it might be good on pizza as an appetizer or dessert. I combined this recipe with another one I saw that used Rosemary and Balsamic Vinegar. 

The crust is the same recipe I used before, this time I added fresh Rosemary:


Crust:

2 1/4 tsp. yeast (or one packet)

1 1/4 Cup warm water
4 1/4 Cup flour + more for rolling out crust
2 tsp. salt
1/4 Cup olive oil
Drizzle of honey (about 2-3 Tbs)

Mix warm water and yeast together, let sit for 5 minutes or so (don’t use hot water, it will kill the yeast). Mix flour and salt, drizzle with honey. Add dry ingredients to wet, mix well. Make sure all flour and water is absorbed. Form into a ball. Grease the bottom of a large bowl with olive oil, coat dough ball in oil. Let sit while you prepare the sauce and toppings. Dust a cutting board with flour and roll dough out to the size of your cast iron pan, if it's too big just rip off the edges, if too small just add a patch piece and press into place. Dough should be smooth and elastic if it sticks to the cutting board add more flour. For this recipe you can toss in the Rosemary whenever and get it incorporated into the dough or sprinkle it on after it's rolled out.

Toppings:

2 Peaches

1/2 Cup Mascarpone Cheese

1/4 Cup Pistachios, Chopped

Honey, just a drizzling

Balsamic Vinegar, just a drizzling

Peaches:

I had issues trying to cut perfect rings around the pits so I just cut the peaches in half in thin slices. Lay them out on a plate and drizzle with Honey and Balsamic Vinegar.

Next step, grill the peaches, I used a grill pan because I didn't want the slices to fall through the cracks. The pan also holds the moisture from the drippings. They don't take very long, we just want them to show grill marks and get a little squishy. Welding gloves are extremely important for this sort of recipe. The pans would be almost impossible to remove without them.

Now we are ready to assemble. Get your crusts ready and lay the grilled peaches on in a single layer. Shake the chopped pistachios over the peaches and add dollops of Mascarpone, sort of evenly. They will even out on the grill as they melt. Drizzle with honey. Toss em on the grill.

Pizzas on the grill don't take long and need to be watched for burning crusts. The farther the coals are from the cooking surface the longer it will take but there is also less of a chance of burning. These pizzas only took a few minutes.

Thai Peanut Pizza

I have had this pizza at many a restaurant with a few variations, so naturally I wanted to try and make it myself.

Pitas:

Here is a great tutorial on Pita Bread. Or you can use store bought, if you make your own you can make them any size you wish.

This is my modified recipe:

3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Drizzling of honey
1 packet yeast or 2 tsp.
1 1/2 cups warm water
Drizzling of oil

Preheat oven to 400. Mix water, yeast and honey. Let sit about 5 mins. Add flour salt and oil. Mix together, if dough is sticky add more flour. Knead on a floured surface until dough is smooth and elastic. Tear off chunks and form into balls, the amount of balls depends on the size of your pitas. Flatten with hands and roll out to desired size. Bake until pitas puff up or get a bit golden in spots, about 10 mins.

Peanut Sauce:Peanut sauce is another thing that you can buy or make. When it comes to sauces I don’t like to measure. Everyone likes something a little different. A little sweeter, and little thicker, a little spicier so play with your sauce and add your own ingredients. I used this recipe for Peanut Sauce because it was only 5 ingredients that I already had. I tasted it along the way, added spices and thickened with either peanut butter or honey:

My modified recipe:

1/4 Cup honey

1/4 Cup soy sauce

1/4 Cup peanut butter, or more to taste (I used chunky)

Curry chili paste to taste

Sprinkling crushed red pepper

Sprinkling ground ginger

Sprinkling ground black pepper

Sprinkling cayenne pepper

Toppings:Quantities depend on the size or quantity of pizzas you are making so these are rough estimates, also I always seem to put too much on my pizzas, I've never made a pizza I could eat without a fork. If you like yours thinner you can chop up the ingredients finer or use less.

Chicken, cut up into small chunks and sautéed in oil (canned works fine too)

1 can baby corn, chopped

1 can water chestnuts, sliced

A few baby carrots, chopped

A few green onions, sliced

Handful of Peanuts

Mozzarella cheese, shredded, fresh or pearls

Assembly:Start with a happy pita! Since the crust is already baked by the time you put your toppings on the pizza only has to bake until the cheese is melted. I baked my pita right in the pan the pizza was assembled in.

While the pita is getting happy in the oven (or your store bought one is waiting patiently in a pan) sauté chicken in sesame oil (or any oil you like). Spread peanut sauce evenly over pita leaving about ¼ to ½ inch bare around the edges. Add chicken. I mixed all my sliced and chopped veggies together and then just toss them all on at once. Cover with cheese and bake until cheese is melted, and maybe a little brown on top.

Bacon + Pineapple Pizza with Balsamic Reduction and Gorgonzola

Crust:

2 1/4 tsp. yeast (or one packet)

1 1/4 Cup warm water

4 1/4 Cup flour + more for rolling out crust

2 tsp. salt

1/4 Cup olive oil

Drizzle of honey (about 2-3 Tbs)

Mix warm water and yeast together, let sit for 5 minutes or so (don’t use hot water, it will kill the yeast). Mix flour and salt, drizzle with honey. Add dry ingredients to wet, mix well. Make sure all flour and water is absorbed. Form into a ball. Grease the bottom of a large bowl with olive oil, coat dough ball in oil. Let sit while you prepare the sauce and toppings. Dust a cutting board with flour and roll dough out to the size of your cast iron pan. Dough should be smooth and elastic if it sticks to the cutting board add more flour.

Balsamic Reduction:1 cup balsamic vinegar1 Tbs. Brown Sugar1 Tbs. Honey

In a sauce pan, combine vinegar, honey and sugar. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer, Stir occasionally for 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat, sauce will thicken as it cools.

Toppings:

1lb. cooked and crumbled bacon
1 can sliced pineapple
1/2 Cup Gorgonzola cheese
1/2 Cup mozzarella cheese
A few sprigs of fresh rosemary

Bacon:
I like to bake my bacon, there is less splatter that way and it cooks more evenly. This can also be done in a cast iron pan. Pre-heat the oven to 350. Lay strips flat in a pan or on an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet (if using a cast iron pan, lay the bacon right in the pan). Bake until desired crispiness is achieved. Drain bacon on paper towels and crumble when cool. If you have a grill pan you could bake the bacon in it and grill the pineapple using the bacon drippings.

Pineapple:
I used canned pineapple because they were already cut into pretty rings and are easier to grill. Fresh or chunk pineapple will work as well (if you are not pre-grilling).

If you cooked bacon in a grill pan drain the excess drippings and return to high heat, lay the pineapple slices in a single layer and grill just until grill marks are visible.

Assembly:

Preheat oven to 425. Pizza will cook much faster on a charcoal grill or in a fire so watch carefully and check often. Spread the coals out as even as possible and don’t let them pile up anywhere or your pizza will have burned spots. (I will be posting grilled pizzas as well, but today was rainy).

Lay rolled out dough in pan and push edges up sides of pan about half way. Cover with crumbled bacon. Lay grilled pineapple slices over bacon, try to cover as much area as possible, cut up extra slices and toss those on too. Sparingly, cover pizza with Gorgonzola crumbles and a drizzling of Balsamic Reduction. Top with mozzarella cheese and garnish with rosemary. Bake until crust edges are golden brown and cheese is melted. Slide your pizza out onto a cutting board, chop it up and enjoy!