Ratatouille Pizza

 

Every fortnight or so, I make  pizza dinner. Generally, it happens when I am working from home. I use my trusty bread maker to knead the dough at around 3 PM. After the ingredients are measured and added to the bread maker, I don't even look at it till the remaining work day is over. As I come down from my home office,  well risen pizza dough awaits.

Since Gudiya loves Pizza, I take this opportunity to sneak in as many veggies as I possibly can. Every time, Gudiya suggests patiently that I should make just cheese pizza without any vegetables. [Nice try, Baby Girl! It ain't happening anytime soon!] I overlook this suggestion and go my way anyway!

Last week, I made a hodgepodge pizza adding eggplants, bell peppers, mushrooms and corn niblets. I called it "Ratatouille Pizza"!


Ratatouille Pizza
Ingredients
1 recipe pizza dough for making a large pizza, homemade or store-bought


For vegetables "Ratatouille" mixture
1 tbsp. Olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/4 cup minced onion
1 small eggplant, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1/3 cup corn niblets
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
Salt and crushed black pepper to taste

For Pizza
2 tbsp. Pesto sauce - home made or ready made
6 slices fresh Mozzarella cheese
Italian seasoning

Garnish
Crushed Red Pepper

Method
1. For making Pizza Dough, follow this link.

2.  Preheat oven 400 F

3. Heat oil in a saucepan. Sauté onion and garlic till soft. Add vegetables and Italian seasoning. Keep sautéing till they are cooked. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Set aside to cool down completely.

4. Take out well risen pizza dough. Spray some oil onto the baking tray. Stretch pizza dough in a rectangular fashion on the baking tray. Spray some cooking oil.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for about 5 minutes. Take out.

5. Spread some pesto sauce evenly, leaving  out about 1" border around the rectangle.

6. Spread the vegetables "ratatouille" mixture.

7. Place fresh mozzarella slices on top.

8. Sprinkle some Italian seasoning.

9. Bake for about 12 minutes or so till the cheese has melted.

10. Take out of the oven. Using a sharp knife, cut into squares. Serve immediately.

Note -
1. You can most certainly make individual pizzas or circular pizzas.

2. For best taste, use only all purpose flour.

3. For health benefits, use half of all purpose flour and half of wheat flour.

4. Dice eggplants into very tiny pieces so it gets cooked easily.

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Grape Tomato Pizza

 

 

My Pizzeria adventure continues...


Grape Tomato Pizza (Makes 1 pizza)

Ingredients

1 readymade pizza crust (See note below)

1 tbsp. homemade or readymade basil pesto

5 Grape Tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded

 

Garnish(Optional)

Crushed red pepper

 

Method

1. Preheat oven 400F.

2. Place readymade pizza crust on a baking or pizza tray.

3. Spread basil pesto around the crust leaving about 2" border around the circumference of the crust.

4. Scatter grape tomato halves over the pesto.

5. Sprinkle Mozzarella cheese over.

6. Bake for about 5-6 minutes or till the cheese is melted.

7. Cut into wedges.

8. Garnish with crushed red pepper if using.

 

Note -

1. I used Whole Foods Brand Whole Wheat Pita for this recipe.

2. In summer, when there is abundant Italian Basil growing in backyard, I use homemade pesto. But here, I used Costco brand Basil Pesto.

3. You can most certainly make homemade pizza crust.

 Grape Tomato Pizza & Arugula Pizza

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Arugula Pizza

 

Arugula is leafy greens with peppery bite. It also goes by the name "Rocket" due to the unique shape of its leaves. Arugula pizza is baked first and then you add fresh Arugula on top. In my Pizza escapades so far, this is my husband's most favorite pizza.

Arugula Pizza (Makes 1 pizza)

Ingredients

1 readymade pizza crust (See note below)

1 tbsp. readymade oven roasted tomatoes with Italian seasoning

A handful of Arugula

1/4 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded

 

Garnish(Optional)

Crushed red pepper

 

Method

1. Preheat oven 400F.

2. Place readymade pizza crust on a baking or pizza tray.

3. Spread Oven roasted tomatoes around the crust leaving about 2" border around the circumference of the crust.

4. Sprinkle Mozzarella cheese over.

6. Bake for about 5 minutes or till the cheese is melted.

7. Cut into wedges.

8. Garnish with crushed red pepper if using.

 

Note -

1. I used Whole Foods Brand Whole Wheat Pita for this recipe.

2. I used Costco brand oven roasted tomatoes. It has lots of oil. So try to use only tomatoes, shaking off as much excess oil as possible, before spreading on the crust.

3. You can most certainly make homemade pizza crust.

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Chicken Pesto Pizza

 

 

Have you ever met those annoying people who wonder & ponder over every bite they put in their mouth at restaurants? They want to know what ingredients may have gone in that morsel? Well, then you have met either me or people just like me. My husband thinks that I eat less and wonder more about the recipe.  Oh well, that's just the way it is! Recently we went to a Pizza place that serve a variety of pizza (potato pizza, anyone?). So it's very natural that you will now see a plethora of Pizza recipes at Enjoy Indian Food!;-)

 

Since most of the ingredients below were store bought, this pizza appeared even on a very hectic week night dinner table.

 

 

Chicken Pesto Pizza (Makes 1 pizza)

Ingredients

1 readymade pizza crust (See note below)

1 tbsp. homemade or readymade basil pesto

2 strips  grilled/baked/roasted boneless, skinless chicken, cut into cubes

1/4 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded

 

Garnish(Optional)

Crushed red pepper

 

Method

1. Preheat oven 400F.

2. Place readymade pizza crust on a baking or pizza tray.

3. Spread basil pesto around the crust leaving about 2" border around the circumference of the crust.

4. Scatter chicken cubes over the pesto.

5. Sprinkle Mozzarella cheese over.

6. Bake for about 5-6 minutes or till the cheese is melted.

7. Cut into wedges.

8. Garnish with crushed red pepper if using.

 

Note -

1. I used Whole Foods Brand Whole Wheat Pita for this recipe.

2. In summer, when there is abundant Italian Basil growing in backyard, I use homemade pesto. But here, I used Costco brand Basil Pesto.

3. You can most certainly make homemade pizza crust.

 

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Black Beans Pizza

 

This pizza is inspired by the recipe featured in WebMD. If you find Barbeque sauce too sweet, add a dash of Sriracha.

 

Black Beans Pizza

Ingredients

Mix

1 cup cooked black beans

1 cup yellow corn kernels

1/2 cup red bell peppers, diced

 

1 recipe pizza crust, readymade okay.

 

1/3 cup barbeque sauce                     

                          

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese             

Garnish

Avocado slices

Cilantro

 

Method

 1. Preheat oven to 400F

2. Spread some barbeque sauce over the prepared pizza crust.

3. Spoon black beans mixture.

4. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese.

5. Bake for about 7 minutes.

6. Garnish with avocado slices and cilantro before serving.

 

Note -

1. Barbeque sauce has a Smokey flavor and it's sweetish in taste.

 

Credits

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/smoky-corn-and-black-bean-pizza

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Pizza Margherita

The most important ingredient for making pizza margherita is fresh mozzarella cheese. Fresh basil from your own backyard  makes a perfect garnish.

 

Pizza Margherita

Ingredients

1 recipe Pizza crust

Marinara or Pizza sauce (homemade or store bought)

A ball of fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced

 

A handful of shredded Italian cheese (optional)

 

Garnish

12-15 Fresh Basil leaves, rinsed and patted

 

Method

1. Follow the method to make pizza dough. Preheat oven 500F

 

 2. Stretch into a flatbread.

3. Add some twists around the border, if you like.

4. Apply a spoonful of olive oil.

3. Scatter some cornmeal over the pizza pan. If using pizza stone, heat it in the oven.

4. Transfer pizza crust onto the pizza stone.

5. Bake for 7 minutes.

5. Spread the marinara sauce leaving at least 1" border around the circumference.

6. Place sliced cheese pieces in the middle. Add more Italian cheese if you prefer.

7. Bake in a preheated oven (500F) for about 9 minutes.

8. Garnish with fresh basil leaves only before serving.

 

Note -

1. Do not add Basil leaves too much in advance as they will turn dark and get wilted.

2. Fresh Mozzarella cheese is readily available in most of the super markets.

 

 

Credits for Pizza dough

http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes_detail.php?rid=1074

 

Italian Basil

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Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza

Chicago style deep dish pizza is every cheese pizza lovers' dream come true! It's more like a pie than a pizza. There are various pizza crusts in the United States. NY style pizza has a thin crust, St. Louis style pizza has a cracker like crust and Chicago style pizza has a thick crust with lots of stuffing and cheese and another layer of crust on top.

I followed my usual Bob's Red Mill recipe for making pizza crust but I made 2 stuffed pizzas using a pie plate. I made my own veggie stuffing. This recipe is entirely my experiment so there are no claims for authenticity. It is based on my take on the famous Chicago style Deep Dish Pizza that we tasted in Chicago. This pizza - unlike my version below - had a thin layer of tomato paste on the top crust along with some sliced tomatoes and black olives. Also, it was lot deeper than mine![Scroll below to see the picture of the famous Chicago style pizza right from Chicago!]

Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza
Ingredients
Pizza Dough

For the stuffing
1 tbsp oil
1/3 cup finely chopped red onion
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (optional)
1/3 cup finely chopped bell pepper
9-10 white button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 cup shredded fresh spinach
 pizza sauce in a jar [I used classico 14oz jar]
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp shredded fresh basil leaves
salt to taste
Shredded Mozzarella cheese, as needed
or
Shredded Pizza cheese, as needed

Method
1. Proceed to make pizza dough as described here. Cover and let it rise. Punch the dough down and cut it into 4 parts. Cover and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a saucepan. Saute garlic and onion till they are soft. Add turmeric powder - if using
3. Add bell peppers. Saute for about 5 minutes.
4. Add mushroom & spinach. Saute for 10 minutes.
5. Add Italian seasoning, pizza sauce and salt to taste - remember that the pizza sauce already has salt.
6. Simmer the sauce on a low flame till it thickens up.

7. Add basil leaves. Let it cool down completely before using
8. Spray some oil onto a pie plate. Preheat oven 350F
9.  Roll one ball of dough so its diameter is larger than that of the pie plate. Make sure that the remaining balls are covered so they do not dry up.
10. Place the rolled dough onto the pie plate, taking care to cover the sides of the pie plate.
11. Spread some cheese on top.
12. Now spread about half of the stuffing. Spread more cheese on top. Make sure that the stuffing and cheese do not overcrowd the sides of the pie plate.

13. Roll another dough ball. Plate it carefully on the stuffing.
14. Pinch the rolled dough around the circumference so the stuffing is completely enclosed.

15. Prick some holes in the center of the pizza top so there is some way the steam escapes.
16. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 - 45 minutes. Keep a close eye after 30 minutes.
17. Take out pizza. Let it cool down a bit before cutting into "pie" slices using a sharp knife.

18. Serve immediately.
19. Repeat steps 9 - 18 for the second pizza "pie".

Note -
1. If you prefer a spicier version, you could add some crushed red peppers into the stuffing.
2.  Turmeric powder is obviously an Indian touch, which is added for its antioxidant properties. It is completely optional.
3. This recipe gives 2 deep dish pizzas of usual pie size diameter.
4. For authentic flavor, spread some pizza sauce without vegetables on the pizza pie after it comes out of the oven. Place some sliced tomatoes and black olives before serving.
5. In order to get a glaze for the crust, whisk 1 egg white and 1 tbsp water. Paint it on the top of the pizza pie using a pastry brush, before baking.

Chicago Style Deep Dish veggie Pizza from Chicago

 

Credits

Giovanni's Chicago Style Pizza

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Vegetable Pizza

 

I use "Perfect Pizza Crust" recipe from Bob's red Mill. The pizza crust/base comes out perfect every time. I use any veggies that I can think of to top my pizza [Even Avocado, Asparagus & Artichoke hearts!]

 

Perfect Crust Vegetable Pizza

Pizza Crust recipe from Bob's Red Mill

Ingredients

Mix

1 cup warm water

1 tbsp dry yeast

 

Mix

2 1/2 cup white bread flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

 

You will also need,

2 tbsp oil

Corn meal for dusting

 

Pizza ingredients

Vegetables of your choice [red bell peppers, firm/deseeded tomatoes, black olives, grilled asparagus, artichoke hearts, onions, mushrooms, garlic, yellow corn, spinach - you name it!]

pizza sauce - as needed

 

Grated mozzarella cheese - as needed

 

Method

1. Add dry flour ingredients to yeast mixture. Add oil and knead till the dough is elastic.

2. Place in a greased bowl.

3. Cover with a wrap.

4. Rest in a warm place till the dough is doubled in size.

5. Divide the dough into 2 halves.

6. Form two 12" circles.

7. Preheat over 450F

8. Place on cornmeal dusted baking sheet.

9. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

 

Note-

1. I generally smear the pizza sauce on the pizza base. Top it with veggies of choice and cheese and bake in the oven.

2. I make 4 balls and form 4 medium pizzas.

3. I use half of bread flour and half of whole wheat flour to make it healthful.

4. I use frozen artichoke hearts and grilled asparagus from Trader Joe's.

5. I use the same recipe to knead the dough in the breadmaker.

 

Recipe for pizza crust  

 http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes_detail.php?rid=1074

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