Pizza

I'm going through a phase right now. A pizza phase.  I'm not really into traditional style pizza, you know, one smothered in red sauce and mounds of cheese.  Instead I've have a taste for non-traditional, fresh ingredients. I'm putting my motto to use too, keeping my new love for pizza simple.

Lately I have been shopping at Heinen's. I like the store. The store is clean and organized and the bonus kicker - the people are SO bleeping friendly. Just like Trader Joe's, but much closer to my home. I also shop at Kreiger's. It's a little neighborhood store that finally got a face lift and is now popular because of the buy local push.  The bad thing is their prices have sky rocketed.

One draw back for me is the meat case at Heinen's. It's hard not to pass because it sits in the center of the store like a small island.  I'm not really into meat, but I do eat it about once a month. I just don't like to look at raw meat, let alone a case of it. Touching it with my bare hand is out of the question, I have to wear gloves and I definitely can not think about what I am eating when I am eating it. If I see a vein or blood on the bone, I'm done.  I find myself turning my head away when I pass the meat counter, ignoring the cute butcher boy. Such a shame and a waste because he really is cute. Why couldn't he have been the produce manager or wine guy? Seriously. All right, enough about me and the lack of meat in my life, we're moving onto pizza. 

Pizza Pie Ingredients

Frozen whole wheat pizza dough that I bought at Heinen's. I will post the name of the dough I used, I just threw away the bag like a goof.  I prepared the dough as directed.
1 frozen whole wheat pizza dough, thawed
1-2 cups garden fresh broccoli
1 medium shallot
1-2 cups fresh mushrooms
Extra virgin olive oil
Lemon pepper spice blend
Parmigiano Reggiano

Wash broccoli  before you cut it and separate into bite size florets. Do not cut up and then wash broccoli, if you do you are actually washing away the nutrients; seriously, no kidding. Wipe mushrooms clean with a damp paper towel, do not soak in water, then slice. Wash and slice shallot.

Follow package directions on preparing dough. Roll out dough. Drizzle about 1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil on dough,  Using finger tips, spread olive oil evenly onto pizza dough surface. Top with fresh vegetables. Sprinkle assembled pizza with about 1 teaspoon of lemon pepper spice blend and freshly grated parmigiano. Bake on lower rack of a convection over, 325 for 25-30 minutes, until crust is golden brown.

Slice and enjoy with a glass of wine.

I ate half of this pizza in one sitting. The whole wheat crust was perfect! The shallots gave the pizza a nice garlicky onion flavour. The seasoning provided a sweet, sour, salty bonus. I liked this pizza and my new found frozen pizza dough so much I made another one using a white crust and topped it with 1-2 cups mushrooms, 1.5 cups washed and dried spinach, slivered almonds, dried blueberries, lemon pepper spice blend and extra virgin olive oil.  Add more or less ingredients to suit your taste.

Make sure to really dry the spinach and mushrooms to avoid a wet crust. Next time I would toast the almonds prior, and top per serving after. The almonds absorbed the moisture of the other ingredients while cooking, and I noticed they were a bit soft as I dove into the leftovers the next day. The refrigeration left them blah and damp.

My review of my own cooking is this:  I preferred the wheat crust pizza and toppings over the white crust pizza. The almonds subtracted from the experience, and I should have baked the white crust pizza a bit longer to dry out the ingredients a bit more. Both were good, but the wheat crust pizza was delicious.

Here's to moderation, ciao!