Friday, February 5, 2010

Arugula White Pizza

Making homemade pizza is one of my most favorite things to do for Mr. Bear and myself. His favorite is my chicken pesto pizza and my favorite is... well, I am still searching for the perfect pie. One pizza that I really enjoyed creating was a White Arugula Pizza - inspired by Ina Garten's white pie I saw her make awhile back on the Food Network. For some reason I love eating pizza with greens on the side, or in this case, right on top.


Ingredients
1 roll Pizza Dough (Trader Joe's)
1 container Ricotta Cheese
1 container Basil Pesto (Trader Joe's)
Olive Oil
Flour
16 oz shredded Mozzarella
1 bag Arugula - rinsed
Ken's Balsamic & Onion marinade (or any balsamic bottle dressing)

Directions
1. Allow the pizza dough to rise...take it out of the bag, put it in a deep bowl, drizzle some olive oil over it so it stays moist, and then leave it alone for 30-40 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. When the dough has become big and bubbly - sprinkle some flour on your baking plate, your hands, and the dough. Then use your hands to form it into a flattened...well, whatever shape the dish is that you will be baking it on (either circular or rectanglular - I have both shape pizza stones).
NOTE: If you are using a pizza stone and it is brand new, make sure to sprinkle flour or cornmeal on the stone before baking. If you are using a cookie sheet, drizzle olive oil all over the sheet so that the dough does not stick while baking.
3. Carefully place the dough on the baking stone. Drizzle olive oil over the dough... then add one tablespoon of basil pesto. Use the back of the spoon to spread the pesto over the dough.
4. Spoon on some ricotta cheese... and spread it out with the back of the spoon so that there is a nice thin layer. (If you really love some ricotta, use as much as you'd like! I use the whole 8 oz.)
5. Sprinkle the pie with mozzarella cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.
6. Remove the pizza from the oven. While it is still hot, cover the pie with arugula - use a lot or a little depending on how much you like the spicy green leaf.
7. Drizzle the balsamic marinade over the top of the arugula. Cut yourself a BIG slice. Enjoy!!

5 comments:

  1. I love pizza. So does my husband. I will have to get up off my lazy butt and get going with the recipe!!!

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  2. I looove pizza! I wish my husband were more open to different types of pizza like yours is!

    Quick question, is the TJ dough soy-free?

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  3. I am actually not sure... I have never really looked at the label or the ingredients - how sad is that?! I know that you can buy soy-free dough mix at organic grocery stores though!

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  4. #1. I made this pizza and it was amazing. I used Pillsbury dough and Classico pesto. We don't have Trader Joe's in our area. Tennesseans would much rather prefer pork cracklins to tofu.

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  5. This looks really yummy! Thanks for sharing!

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