Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Whoa Mamasita!

Today was a busy day as I was going from appointment to appointment and running errands in between. When I had a small break at home to relax, that eternal question hit me smack in the face: what should we have for dinner? I wanted something new, but quick and easy (don't we all?) I just happened to be watching 5 Ingredient Fix on Food Network and it turned out to be one of my favorite episodes. Claire uses pizza dough in three different recipes. We already tried her pizza dough croutons in my usual Caesar salad--very tasty--and then as she started to make her Easy White Pizza, I remembered that I had bookmarked that recipe quite awhile ago because it looked so good. As I watched her make it again, I knew this was the dinner for us. Five ingredients needed (well only four for us since we had the garlic infused olive oil), and a super quick prep. I was sold!

This was so easy and so quick I couldn't believe it. Less than ten minutes of prep. Even my grocery store visit was quick because I only needed four things. Once my pizza was prepped, it just cooked in the oven for 25 minutes. Voila! Dinner was served. This really tasted like a gourmet pizza. I'm a little embarrassed at how excited I am about this pizza. Seriously.

My husband loved the little pockets of Ricotta cheese scattered through the traditional mozzarella. The oregano added just the perfect spice to it, and the garlic olive oil gave the perfect subtle garlic flavor that didn't overwhelm the other ingredients. This folks, is a winner! This is perfect for a hectic weeknight meal when you're strapped for time. I plan to buy some pizza dough and have it on hand in the freezer so I can pull it out for a quick meal. Seriously, less than ten minutes of work for you, then let the oven do the rest! This is going in the Chic Chef dinner rotation for sure! Okay, have I gushed enough? Just feast your eyes on this...


foodnetwork.com

(Okay, mine didn't look exactly like this. I had more of the calzone dome-esque look to mine. Still tasted phenomenal so we went with it.)

My Recipe Notes:
  • I need to experiment with various types of dough, as well as my pizza forming technique. Ours came out as a large mound--but still completely tasty!
  • 25-30 minutes is recommended in the recipe, but ours came out at 22 minutes. Could be just because of our raised dough mound (sheepish grin)
  • I am a strong believer in a finishing touch of salt and pepper before serving. So my pizza was seasoned before it went in the oven, and also right before serving. And of course, Fleur de Sel was my go-to finishing salt. You don't need much, but it just gives that extra pop of flavor to the dish.