Saturday, January 29, 2011

Stuffed Crust Rosemary Focaccia Pizza with Zucchini and Mushrooms

Pizza! Pizza!

When we don't order pizza, we love to make it. Friday night is traditionally our pizza night. We love trying out different variations of this classic meal. The best thing about pizza is that every slice is a whole meal! You've got everything you need in a well balanced meal compressed into a delicious triangle.

The secret to home-made pizza is finding the right crust. We used to almost always buy the Boboli brand pizza crust. I always found it chewy and lacking in flavor compared to traditional pizza crust. Then, a while later, we discovered that pita bread or indian nan made great pizza crusts. If you are short on time and oven space these are great options because they are quick and can even be made in a toaster oven.

Lately, the best crust however has once again come from a grocery that is quickly becoming a favorite of mine, Fresh and Easy. In their refrigerated section, they have already prepared pizza dough. So, for this recipe, I can't tell you how to make the dough. You just have to buy it already made. But if you can find the raw pizza dough at another store go for it. For this recipe, we bought their rosemary focaccia dough and that was the perfect choice!

Ingredients
1 package of the rosemary focaccia dough from Fresh and Easy
2 cups of grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of vegetable pasta sauce
Fresh oregano
2 Tbs. olive oil
Garlic salt
1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
1 sliced zucchini
Fresh arugala
2 stalks of green onion sliced

Directions
1. Sprinkle all purpose flour on your counter or on a large cutting board.
2. Coat your hands with flour and toss the pizza dough until it becomes large and round. You can try to roll it out with a rolling pin first, but I prefer tossing it high into the air and catching it!
3. Lay the dough on the flour-coated counter and sprinkle with garlic salt. Then move it to a pizza pan or cookie sheet.
4. Lay a thin layer of mozzarella around the outer ring of the dough. Top the ring of cheese with a few scattered oregano leaves.
5. Fold over the dough and press the edges down to seal the "stuffed crust."
6. Brush the olive oil on the crust and then sprinkle a little more garlic salt on the crust for additional flavor.
7. Spread a thin layer of pasta sauce over the dough.
8. Sprinkle a think layer of the mozzarella cheese over the pasta sauce.
9. Top with the veggies and arugala.
10. Sprinkle a little more cheese and oregano on top of the pizza.
11. Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes and check. Continue to bake the pizza until the crust turns golden brown and the cheese starts to brown on the top.
12. Remove and let cool for five minutes!

Pair with your favorite beverage! This went well with an IPA beer FYI.

You may even want to warm a side of the pasta sauce to dip your stuffed crust into after you finish the middle of the pizza. It is quite delicious!

Enjoy!




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