I was going to save the recipe for tonight's dinner until later in the year when our strawberry patches (hopefully) start to produce. However, that didn't last long as I couldn't resist making this
Strawberry, Pistachio, and Goat Cheese Pizza for our Friday Night Pizza when I noticed how red and juicy the berries looked (I asked for a taste to make sure they were sweet first as well!) at the market today!
Preparing the dough (which of course was our favorite
whole-wheat pizza dough) is somewhat different than your ordinary pizza, as the dough is fully cooked before you begin adding any of the toppings. Once I had prodded the dough enough to stretch it out, I drizzled a couple teaspoons of oil on and smeared it all over to coat the entire surface. Seasoned lightly with salt for extra zing, I took a trusty fork and pricked the dough all over the top to keep any bubbles at bay while it cooked. If you want a heartier crust, use a pounds' worth of dough - we wanted this crispy and thin, so I used twelve ounces. Bake it long enough to cook it completely through and give the crust a rich golden hue.
As soon as the crust was ready, we retrieved it off the stove and immediately scattered the top with crumbled goat cheese, which happens to soften slightly from the residual heat. Up next came sliced fresh strawberries and tender leaves of baby spinach that we drizzled with oil and fresh lemon juice, seasoned simply with salt and fresh ground black pepper and then gently tossed the salad together before arranging it over the goat cheese. For a sharp bite, shaved Asiago cheese was thrown on top, followed by toasted pistachios for a nutty contrasting crunch.
I think this pizza speaks for itself! Clean, crunchy, sweet and salty with an irresistible tang from those creamy goat cheese crumbles. Quite attractive with its colorful array on top, you could serve this cut into smaller wedges as an intriguing appetizer (and if you do, you may want to make at least a couple of these as they will fly off the table!), or do as we did... gorge ourselves into summery bliss by almost polishing the whole thing off! I bet this pizza will be even better when we have the satisfaction of walking out to the backyard and picking the berries right off the plant to make this again later in the season!
Preparing the dough (which of course was our favorite whole-wheat pizza dough) is somewhat different than your ordinary pizza, as the dough is fully cooked before you begin adding any of the toppings. Once I had prodded the dough enough to stretch it out, I drizzled a couple teaspoons of oil on and smeared it all over to coat the entire surface. Seasoned lightly with salt for extra zing, I took a trusty fork and pricked the dough all over the top to keep any bubbles at bay while it cooked. If you want a heartier crust, use a pounds' worth of dough - we wanted this crispy and thin, so I used twelve ounces. Bake it long enough to cook it completely through and give the crust a rich golden hue.
As soon as the crust was ready, we retrieved it off the stove and immediately scattered the top with crumbled goat cheese, which happens to soften slightly from the residual heat. Up next came sliced fresh strawberries and tender leaves of baby spinach that we drizzled with oil and fresh lemon juice, seasoned simply with salt and fresh ground black pepper and then gently tossed the salad together before arranging it over the goat cheese. For a sharp bite, shaved Asiago cheese was thrown on top, followed by toasted pistachios for a nutty contrasting crunch.
I think this pizza speaks for itself! Clean, crunchy, sweet and salty with an irresistible tang from those creamy goat cheese crumbles. Quite attractive with its colorful array on top, you could serve this cut into smaller wedges as an intriguing appetizer (and if you do, you may want to make at least a couple of these as they will fly off the table!), or do as we did... gorge ourselves into summery bliss by almost polishing the whole thing off! I bet this pizza will be even better when we have the satisfaction of walking out to the backyard and picking the berries right off the plant to make this again later in the season!
It's my favorite salad... on top of my favorite food!
ReplyDeleteAwesome... I love it.
Looks wonderful and so fresh and summery
ReplyDeleteMags - I could see a number of salads on this type of crust too!
ReplyDeleteKatie - Thanks!