Aileen Rosales

Friday Night Pizza

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TGIF! As promised, here is the pizza recipe I threw together one night ago. It was so good that the whole pizza got demolished within minutes. 😉 It might be a bit more work just because you have to roast the tomatoes before, but it is well worth it in the end. Enjoy!

IMG_20150216_231627Serves: 4-6 people

Ingredients

  • My basic pizza dough crust or store bought crust
  • 3 Roma tomatoes, roasted (directions below)
  • 1 Tbs EVOO
  • 1.5-2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • 1 ear of corn, or 3/4 cup of corn
  • 1 4oz can sliced olives
  • 1 large handful of cilantro, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • Red pepper flakes to taste (I added quite a bit for a nice kick)
  • salt & pepper

Directions:
For the Roma tomatoes:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Prepare a separate baking sheet for the tomatoes and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Slice the tomatoes and arrange on a sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for about 25-30 minutes or until the tomatoes begin to caramelize. Let cool completely before removing from baking sheet. (Use a spatula)

For the pizza:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Sprinkle a light dusting of cornmeal on your pizza stone or baking dish. Roll out your dough and carefully lay it on the baking sheet. Drizzle 1 Tbs of EVOO  and carefully brush it all over the crust. Next, you’ll want to take your minced garlic cloves and spread it evenly all over the crust. Feel free to use the brush again to help distribute it all over. (I usually season the dough with salt & pepper but you can choose to season it once you put all the toppings on.)

Next, top your pizza with the rest of the ingredients: mozzarella cheese, roasted tomato slices, corn, olives, and cilantro. Lastly, spinkle some red pepper flakes to taste.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Back to the Basics: Pizza dough

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Let’s face it: pizza is one of the best comfort foods that exists. Am I right? As much as I love ordering a pizza for delivery,  I discovered making your own is better.

My pizza crust is a basic pizza recipe. It is so simple to make, yet delicious! You can spruce up the dough by adding rosemary or whatever type of herb before mixing it together. The dough makes one large pizza or two medium sized  pizzas. If you decide to make two medium sized pizza, go ahead and freeze the other half of dough if you’re not going to make it within the same day. Otherwise, you can keep it refrigerated and use it within 2 days.

The next time you decide to order pizza, try this recipe instead! Have a pizza party and invite some friends.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • ~3 cups all purpose flour (just use a little less than 3 cups)
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 1 packet dry active yeast (2 1/4 teaspoon)
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

  1. In a large boil, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast on top and let it sit for 5 minutes (yeast will form bubble).
  2. In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt. Add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add in the olive oil. Mix ingredients until a large ball of dough forms (Best to mix with a wooden spoon first then use your hands). Kneed dough for 10 minutes.
  3. Coat a large bowl with olive oil and place dough inside. Make sure to cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. Place bowl in a warm place and let rise for 1 hour. After an hour, punch dough down until flat. Sprinkle a well floured surface and roll out pizza dough. (Bake @ 500 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown).

TIP: Before adding toppings, take a fork and poke lots of holes throughout the pizza. This will prevent the dough from expanding so big. I forgot to do that one time and the pizza came out lopsided.