Cooking in Pajamas

This weeks Barefoot Blogger recipe is White Pizza with Arugula.  It was chosen by Andrea of Nummy's Kitchen .

I am giving you Ina's original recipe, which I am sure is delicious, but I found a few shortcuts, that really cut out much of the labor and time involved for this pizza.  Ina's version calls for making your own pizza dough from scratch, which is easy and simple to make, but time consuming.  Her recipe also calls for making your own garlic infused oil.  It is very easy to find bottles of garlic infused olive oil in most markets, and they are not expensive.  That was another time saver.  Again, making your own garlic infused oil is very easy, but time consuming to prepare for a weeknight dinner.  If you have the luxury of time on your side, I would suggest you make the recipe in its' original form.  If you have never made homemade pizza dough, you will be surprised to see how easy and fun it is to make!  However you choose to prepare this dish, it is yummy, and will be enjoyed by all!

Gwenn's shortcut's:

1 - I used a pre-made, thin crust,  pizza crust.

2 - I used bottled garlic oil, and sprinkled dried thyme and crushed red pepper over the garlic oil that I drizzled on the crust.

3 - I baked the completed pizza as directed (with the cheese), and served an arugula salad "on the side".  I let everyone put their own salad on top of their individual slice of pizza (if they wanted to...not everyone likes room temperature salad on top of a hot pizza).  This is what the cheesy, white pizza looks like when it comes out of the oven.  It is soooooo good!

I just made up the name of this recipe, because I just made up this recipe.  I could have just called it 'Veggie Pizza', but I have at least 10 versions of vegetarian pizzas that I make on a regular basis.  People always ask me how I come up with my recipes.  About half of my recipes come from cookbooks, cooking classes, recipe websites and, of course, Food Network.  Another half start with a recipe that I have seen, but needs personalization to suit my families tastes.  Often, I look at several recipes for the same dish, and combine the best parts of each recipe, to come up with one amazing version.

Today, both of my kids are out of town, and Phil and I just wanted a quiet, relaxing dinner at home.  It is over 90 degrees outside today, so I didn't want to be in the kitchen for more than a few minutes.  There was no way I was going to make Phil grill anything for us, so I started thinking of something that would take less than 30 minutes of unattended cooking time.  Of course...a pizza!  Nothing is easier, especially when you begin with a ready made crust.

Here is a copy of the original recipe I printed out this morning, along with my notes on what I wanted to change in this recipe, to make it more to my liking (the notes on the bottom of the page are my grocery list).  This is what you can do with any recipe you come across that sparks your interest.  For example...this pizza would work great with fresh tomatoes, sauteed squash, broccoli, parmesan cheese and thyme.  You could also use a refrigerated tube of crescent rolls as your pizza dough, or a loaf of French bread.  Try a Mexican version with black beans, corn, jalapenos, cheddar, cilantro, tomatoes, lettuce and salsa, on a bed of jalapeno corn bread that you make from a mix in a baking dish (that one is good!).  I am just trying to get you to see that it is really hard to mess up a recipe when you are using your favorite ingredients, (just don't try this with baking....those measurements are very precise).

To make life really easy for myself today, I picked up a tray of ready-to-eat shrimp cocktail, to start off our summer supper.  I also got some Stella Dora biscotti for dessert, to have with the sorbet, I knew was already in our freezer.

When Phil got home from work, we enjoyed the shrimp cocktail, and some wine.  Then, I threw together the pizza (which took less than 15 minutes).  Thirty minutes before we wanted to eat, I preheated the oven and cooked the pizza.  It was a completely effortless meal, but it was delicious!  I love it when the kids are out of town!

Roasted Pepper and Portobello Mushroom Pizza with Goat Cheese and Fresh Mozzarella

1 thin crust prepared Boboli crust

1 T. garlic infused olive oil

1 4oz. jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped

1 6.5 oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

2 portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced

2 T. soy sauce

crushed red pepper, to taste

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled

6 oz. fresh mozzarella, sliced thin

3 T. balsamic vinegar

fresh basil, chopped for garnish

Preheat oven to 375.  Place Boboli on pizza pan.  Set aside.

Heat garlic infused oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat.  Add mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes.  Add the soy sauce and crushed red pepper, and saute for 2 more minutes.  Add salt to taste and set aside.

Arrange red peppers over pizza crust, followed by artichoke hearts, then mushrooms.

Sprinkle on goat cheese, then top with mozzarella.  Drizzle balsamic over the top, and sprinkle the top with freshly ground pepper.

Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges are golden brown and crispy.

Tonight was a girls only dinner.  The men went out to a local bar for a night of wings and trivia.  It is fun for me to plan a dinner that only has to please me and Jamie.  I can keep it vegetarian, one course, and super light.  Not that Phil and Joey are hard to please, but they like their meals heartier than Jamie and I.  This pizza took 5 minutes to prep and get in the oven.  It is not only flavorful, but very filling, and healthy too.

World's Crunchiest Pizza

2 tsp. EVOO

2 8-inch whole wheat tortillas

1c shredded Asiago cheese (you could you Parmesan if you prefer something more mild)

2/3c part skim milk ricotta

1 pkg. (10oz.) white mushrooms, sliced

1/2 red onion, sliced thin

kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425.  Place tortillas on a baking sheet and brush the top of each with a tsp. of EVOO.  Sprinkle the tortillas with Asiago, then dollop with ricotta.  Sprinkle with mushrooms (you probably won't use the whole package) and the onions.  Season with salt and pepper.  Bake pizzas until crust is crisp and very brown all over, 15 - 20 minutes.  Cut into quarters and serve one pizza per person.