Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Rosie Makes A Quick Tortilla Pizza.

I'm making a fresh garden pizza today. This is a good place to start
 for those of you out there who are scared
to make your own pizza dough.
 You want a thin crust pizza?
 Use a tortilla.
And I recommend a pizza stone.
 Turn your oven to 450 degrees with the pizza stone inside.
We have the beginnings of a pizza here:
tortilla on cornmeal dusted pizza paddle
 goat cheese
Monterey Jack cheese
Mozzarella cheese (not shown)
mixed olives
homemade pesto (not used)
 red onion
black olives
zucchini
 squash
 tomato
 assorted peppers
 Basically whatever I had in the garden and leftover in the fridge.
I gave the ham slices a quick saute in butter.
 And that would be Kentucky Legend Black Forest Brand Double Smoked Ham.
Sauteing helps to get some of the moisture out of the ham.
I put a layer of Monterey Jack slices on first.
Then the ham slices.

I peeled, seeded, and juiced my tomatoes.
 Important to do this.
 You don't want soggy, so juice your 'maters.
 Add a little freshly ground salt and pepper.
Next I layered sliced squash and zucchini.
A layer of grated mozzarella cheese.
Sliced red onions.
Sliced multi-colored peppers.
Sliced black olives and a drizzling of ELBOO.
That's Extra Light Bertolli Olive Oil!

Dot with goat cheese and add more grated mozzarella.
After the oven had reached 450 degrees,
 I waited about 15 minutes before putting the pizza in.
 You want to be sure your stone is good and hot.
 The cornmeal on the paddle allows the pizza to slide right off.
 Bake at 450 for about 20-25 minutes.
You want the tortilla crisp and the cheese that pretty golden color.
While the pizza was cooking, I gathered some basil leaves ...
... and gave them a quick chiffonade.
A chiffonade is simply a cutting technique.
Stack your basil leaves, roll them up, and sliced into thin ribbons.
Oh, this is a beautiful pizza.

Sprinkle the chiffonaded basil over the pizza.
That's a pizza!
I loved all the toppings on this pizza.
And I didn't miss a real pizza crust.
The tortilla was just fine.
And notice there was no sauce on the pizza either.
Didn't miss it either.

3 comments:

Marion said...

Hmm, Rosie, may have to try this tonight to replicate the French pizzas we ate....very thin crust, tomato sauce, tuna, anchovies, olives, etc...the tuna pizzas are very popular.

Never have been able to get the cracker-thin crust with dough although I suppose I could use a pasta machine to roll it?

Rosie Hawthorne said...

I don't see why a pasta machine wouldn't work.

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Oh Marion, if you use your hands or a rolling pin, I always sprinkle some oil over my dough. Helps it to thin out. And stop every now and then and let the dough rest. The oil might give you the crust you want.