As a new mom with a part-time job, I have found these past few months difficult. I’m always exhausted and lack the energy to do anything meaningful besides attending to my baby. These days, food to me means sandwiches and sometimes pizza – and today I am going to write about the latter. I have called this “chaotic pizza” because it looks just like me nowadays: disheveled, all over the place and totally chaotic. The look of this pizza may not win any awards, but I’m not too concerned about it. I just think the pizza tastes great! 🙂
If there’s one thing I know about the pizza preferences in this household, it’s that we like our pizzas to be chock-full of ingredients. I built this pizza around a few slices of prosciutto I had in the fridge, to which I added quite a few other ingredients from the fridge and the pantry. I made my own pizza dough (2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 packet dry yeast, 3tbsp warm water, 1tsp vegetable oil, a pinch of salt and some corn flour for rolling), but you can also use store bought. I also pre-baked the dough for about 5 minutes to prevent it from getting soggy from the toppings. I don’t know if pre-baking is absolutely necessary, but I always do it – just to be on the safe side.
Ingredients
1 store bought or homemade pizza dough
1/2 cup store bought pizza sauce
1/4 lb prosciutto
1/2 lb fresh mozzarella (I used ciliegine, but you can use any size mozzarella, provided that you cut it into uniform and manageable slices)
1/2 lb shredded mozzarella
1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch strips
1/2 medium red onion, cut into half rounds
1/2 cup sliced black olives
10 cherry or plum tomatoes, cut into halves
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 350F.
Roll the pizza dough onto a corn floured surface (the corn flour will make the dough easier to roll) and then transfer it to a pizza pan covered with aluminum foil for easy cleaning. Pre-bake the dough for 5 minutes, then take it out of the oven and start building up the pizza. Spoon the pizza sauce over the dough, then sprinkle half of the shredded mozzarella cheese. Add the onion and the pepper. Also add the tomatoes and the olives. Distribute the fresh mozzarella evenly on top of the veggies, then add the prosciutto. Finish off with sprinkling the remaining shredded cheese on top of the prosciutto. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Put the pizza in the oven to bake for about 20-25 minutes.
Take the pizza out of the oven and slice it while still hot.
I have made this pizza several times these past 2 weeks, and it’s been a great success. As a relatively new red onion fan, I love it how the onion shines through and joins the pepper and tomatoes in bringing freshness and heaps of flavor to this pizza. While its appearance may leave to be desired, its flavor combination is no reason for concern. Messy? Yes! Delicious? Definitely 🙂
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