Thursday, December 11, 2008

Clean-out-the-fridge pizza

I love homemade pizza - it's so easy and a great way to use up odds and ends that you have on hand. Tonight's pizza was inspired by the contents of my fridge and freezer. I keep balls of pizza dough in the freezer for future use - all they need is to defrost for a day in the fridge and they're ready to go. This was the whole wheat pizza dough from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads book. While I stretched out the dough, I preheated the oven to 500 degrees. On the dough, I smeared a few tablespoons of basil pesto and added half a can of drained diced tomatoes. I made sure the tomatoes were really dry so that I didn't end up with soggy pizza. Next up was the cheese - I added a handful of blue cheese, about 1/2 cup of crumbled feta and a very generous grating of parmigiano reggiano. For the toppings, I chose prosciutto, cooked bacon, artichoke hearts and piquillo peppers.

I assembled my pizza on parchment paper atop a cookie sheet. When the oven was ready, I slid the pizza, parchment and all, onto the pizza stone. I lowered the oven temperature to 450 and baked the pizza until the cheese was melted and crust browned, about 15 minutes. I wasn't exactly sure how this would turn out, given the strong, salty nature of the cheeses and toppings, but the ingredients melded nicely to make a delicious dinner!



23 comments:

priscilla joy said...

Hey Sara! You made pizza too! it looks so good!

Cakebrain said...

I haven't had homemade pizza in ages! good for you making it with stuff from the fridge too! sounds yummy!

Bharti said...

That looks so tasty!

Barbara Bakes said...

I love pesto on pizza. I'll have to make some soon!

Anonymous said...

Ow! This looks yummy! I agree with you on this, every now and then I play clean-out-the-fridge by making either fried rice,pizza or tossed salad;I find that ready-to-use lasagna sheets are good to have on hand too for those clean-out-the-fridge moments as well!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

What a gorgeous pizza! Yes, it is very easy to make...

Cheers,

Rosa

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Can't go wrong with homemade pizza!

Snooky doodle said...

oh!! pizza is my favourite meal. I love it especially home made ones . this looks great

Pam said...

Sounds like the perfect pizza to me... love all the cheeses you used.

alexandra's kitchen said...

i love this kind of a recipe. I am going to make your mushroom saute this Sunday to top off homemade pizza for my aunt. can't wait!

Judy said...

Great idea putting the dough in the freezer. The pizza looks yummy. Wolfgang Puck has a great easy tomato sauce that I've made for pizza.

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

I love to make pizza and it is so much better than take-out. This one looks so good.

Rosie Hawthorne said...

I floves me a homemade pizza!

Srikitchen said...

wow! that looks delicious!
first time to ur blog and it is so good!
do visit my blog when u find time!
join in the "sweet" event going in my blog!

Ana Powell said...

Hi Sarah
A great pizza. looks very yummy.
Have a great weekend x

grace said...

i wish i had that sort of stuff hanging out in my fridge! as it is, my clean-out-the-fridge pizza would be turkey, squash, and cranberry sauce. yep, it's still thanksgiving for me. :)

priscilla joy said...

Hey Sara! Something on my blog for you!

Jersey Girl Cooks said...

Clean out the fridge recipes always comes out good!

Maria said...

Nice looking pizza!!

Unknown said...

Home made pizza is the best! Thanks for the tip about keeping dough in the freezer.

Annie said...

Sounds like my kind of pizza. I have done this type of pizza many times. I usually use the sam assembly and cooking method too! Great minds think alike ;)

Anonymous said...

Ah, I love homemade pizza and I never think to freeze pizza dough so I can use it later. It's little tips like that that I should remember. I think so narrowly when it comes to storing food!

Balance, Joy and Delicias! said...

Hi Sara. Do you have the recipe to make that pizza dough? it looks great and I want to make it too! :D