White Pizza with Greens
Pizza should be easy and fresh. I truly believe this. It's the kind of meal where you can make a gourmet version of your favorite toppings or throw the extra leftover portions of veggies (or meats) combined to make a perfect dinner. I also think you shouldn't feel pressured to make your own pizza dough. Most grocery stores have a pre-made dough. Look for a local bakery. I buy mine from seven stars, which is in my neighborhood. It makes 2 -10 inch thin crust pizzas.
The other order of business to mention is salad pizza. Salad on the side is a thing of yesterday. There are a few distinct ways of then eating said pizza-salad.
1) Cut it up like normal pizza. This requires just a small green salad like this one with arugula or other baby greens. This is best for sharing and with guests.
2) Personal pizza sized, cut up and eat with fork and knife. Get yourself a good serrated knife so the cutting is easy. You can pile the salad a little higher on a smaller diameter pizza this way.
3) Sandwich Style/ New York Style. Cut into big pieces, this 10 inch pizza you would want to do 1/4 slices or 1/3 slices, fold in half with salad in middle. Then eat like a pita sandwich.
White Pizza with Rapini and Arugula
one 10 inch pizza
INGREDIENTS
- Pizza dough (1/2 a bag)
- 1-2 cloves garlic
- 2-3 green garlic stems
- 1 mozzarella ball 3 inch diameter
- 1 oz pesto gouda (optional)
- a bunch of rapini flowers
- 2 tbs capers
- 2 cups baby arugula
- 1 tbs olive oil
- juice of half a lemon
INSTRUCTIONS
Start by heating your oven. I love my Breville toaster-convection oven because that way I am not heating up my entire stove for little 10 inch pizzas. I set it at 475F.
Rolling out pizza dough takes longer than you think. Really get into it and roll it out until its very thin. Place on a baking sheet with parchment paper for easy removal and moving around.
Spray with olive oil or use a brush to LIGHTLY coat. Add some grated or minced garlic (1/2-1 clove). Then take your mozzarella ball and slice. Place 1/2 all around and then add chopped green garlic, 1/2 your capers and 1/2 of the rapini flowers. Then add the rest of your mozzarella and optional a second cheese. I used pesto gouda, but parmesan, regular gouda or other aged cheese are good. I do 1/4 the amount of aged gouda to the ratio of mozzarella.
Bake for 15 minutes when you see the pizza is golden. Then count to 60, THEN take out of oven. You don't want your pizza to burn, but at the same time, non crispy thin pizza kinda sucks.
Once done take out and let cool a tiny bit while you are prepping the salad. Take the other half of your rapini flowers, the rest of the capers and another 1/2 of a clove of garlic and put in a bowl. Add your arugula, drizzle 1/2 teaspoon olive oil, salt and pepper and the juice of half a lemon. Toss and place on pizza.
Chose a way to serve from the options above and enjoy!