A simple idea that I gave a try and will regularly insert for a quick meal or snack idea. This would also be a great dish to take to a party. You could use store bought dough or a canister but I made the dough using the same pizza recipe as we used for previous pizzas (Thai Chicken, Tomato Mushroom Pesto, Grilled Crab Pesto) Continue reading
One of my favorite restaurants in the whole wide world used to be California Pizza Kitchen. I just loved it- I always, always got the spinach and artichoke dip appetizer and the thai chicken pizza (on honey whole wheat crust!). When I find something I like at a restaurant, I am notorious for ordering it every single time I go back and this was no exception. As I have matured and my foodie-ness has grown in epic proportions, CPK just doesn’t have the same appeal it once did. That’s ok, it happens. However, every now and then I still get a taste for this uniquely delicious pizza and being the self-proclaimed foodies that we are, I suggested we try to make it ourselves. It turned out great and I encourage you to shake things up sometime and give this recipe a try.
Posted in Asian, Pizzas, Sauces
Tagged california pizza kitchen, carrots, chicken, cilantro, homemade dough, honey, Peanut sauce, peanuts, recipe, thai chicken pizza, yeast
We have made pizza before in the oven and on the grill and enjoyed it, but used a store bought dough when doing so. It was a good dough that was made in the store and frozen, so at least it wasn’t a Pillsbury canister but not quite as good as fresh so we took that final part on. Being our first time, we wanted to just go with a Basic Pizza Dough Recipe courtesy of the food network. It was fun and easy to do it all ourselves despite living within close proximity to Aiello’s, the best pizza in the world.
Posted in Pizzas
Tagged Aiello's, baby bella, basil, Donatelli's Italian Market, flour, homemade, mozzarella, mushrooms, Pesto, pizza dough, tomato, yeast
Yes another crab dish and I think that this may have been the best one yet. We had a hankering for some pizza and being that we live in Maryland, making your own pizza is the only option. So we stopped at Marchone’s Italian Market in Wheaton and grabbed a frozen dough ball.
A thorough thaw is very important
This was about 2 hours of thawing and the dough had expanded to about twice the original size.
Thoroughly thawed and ready to work with
If the dough is not thawed to room temperature, it will be very difficult to work with which I have learned from experience. At the same time, you can’t work with the dough too much and remember that flour is your friend!
I rolled the dough out to the desired size while the grill was heating up. Once the dough and grill are ready, give the top of the dough a thorough spray of oil. You will then put the dough on the grill otherwise plain.
Straight on the grate oil side down and plain
Leave the dough on for about 3-5 minutes. Just until the down side is lightly browned and basically firm enough to pick the whole piece up without folding and flopping like raw dough.
We need a new grill!
The bottom of this piece is uncooked. The top would look better if we had a better grill that cooked evenly(grill companies we are looking for a sponsor!). When we move, the gas grill is not coming. The grill doesn’t know that, but I guess once this is published the news will be out.
Now it is time to dress the pizza with your toppings as you normally would and then throw it back on the grill. Instead of a red sauce we used a pesto base.
Summer basil is great
Next we used some more of the famous leftover crab which was starting to run low. Note that this was published well after the dish was made and we did not keep fresh crab in the fridge for 3 weeks.
We were able to be pretty generous with the crab since we had so much. This was almost but not quite a pound.
Cheese it up
We used a store bought Italian blend.
Fresh tomatoes
We love fresh tomato slices on pizza. Now it is ready to go back on the grill for a little longer than the plain dough.
Close the lid, which will help to melt the cheese. I gave it a few turns because of our extremely uneven grill as you can see the full blast flame or no flame options. It would be a good idea to give it a spin either way though. This stage will take closer to 7-9 minutes to melt the cheese and cook the pizza through.
Summer basil again
It turned out great! Slice it up, cheese it up, and go to town!
Recipe for Standard Pesto with Walnut
Greg
(Since I have been begun posting over the last month, we will start to tag our posts)
For dinner tonight we decided to make pizza at home because trying to find good pizza in suburban Maryland is IMPOSSIBLE. We went to a local Italian market called Marchone’s to get some of our ingredients. We bought enough dough for two pizzas, their homemade red sauce, and two hot sausage links. We decided to make pizza number 1 a barbecue chicken pizza and pizza number 2 a margherita style with sausage. Both came out great and highly recommend Marchone’s for any ingredients you need for an Italian meal. Also, the sandwich line was very long, which is also a good sign that their subs are good too! We must try those soon…
Pizza #1
After several hours of thawing...
both doughs
chicken mixed with Stubb's bbq sauce
the good stuff
before baking...
after baking
there was some extra crust so we folded it over
Recipe for BBQ Chicken PizzaPizza #2fresh hot sausage from marchone's.. i love when food comes in deli paper!
before baking
after baking
Recipe for Margherita Pizza with Sausage
Making pizza is an activity I highly recommend! If you live where we do, you will surely be pleased and you get to add whatever toppings you like, making it even better.
Starving Kitten 