Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Garlic Chicken Pizza

My mom is a genius. I called her last week with a dilemma: What to make for some friends. Her response: Pizza. Simple. Everyone loves pizza. On inspiration from the Pizza Shoppe in Benson I went for garlic chicken--also I love garlic. But when I came home to make this pizza Saturday, I discovered the garlic was MIA. Goldilocks had gone through my apartment and rearranged everything in anticipation of our house party--Megan declares it looks better. I admit, some tweaks were improvements. However, those improvements do not include the missing garlic (which I blame on this person without any real proof) and hiding our doorbell in one of the cupboards. I digress. The pizza was great, except for the crust. I bought it freshly made at the Rotella's factory down the street from my office (garlic bread day is the best!). But the crust didn't come with directions, so the first time I made it I couldn't get it to stretch flat enough and then it didn't cook through. The second time was better, though if I do it again I'll set the oven on the highest temp. We scarfed down some of the pizza right before our party started. To clean up, Eric and I just threw it back in the cooled oven and forgot about it until the next day. I live on the wild side when it comes to food, but I drew the line with chicken that had been sitting out all night. Had to throw it away. Garlic-Chicken Pizza: 2 tablespoons butter 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 green onions, finely diced 1 teaspoon dried basil salt and pepper 1 chicken breast 2 roma tomatoes, diced 2 cremini mushrooms, sliced pizza dough parmasan cheese Pre-heat the oven to 500. In a small sauce pan, melt the butter and add the garlic, onions, basil, salt and pepper. Sautee until garlic and onion are barely browned. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a couple minutes. Meanwhile, place chicken breast in a skillet and cover with water. On stovetop, bring water to boil and then reduce to simmer. Simmer until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, allow to cool for a few minutes. Once cooled, tear chicken into bite-sized pieces. While the butter is cooling, work on the pizza dough. Grease a baking sheet and work dough gently so that the dough is spread to an even thickness throughout. Go back to the butter. In a small mixing bowl, stir together butter mixture and ricotta cheese, adding more salt and pepper to taste if necessary. Spread cheese mixture over the flattened dough. Top pizza with chicken, tomatoes and mushrooms. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until crust is browned and crispy and cooked through.

3 comments:

Jamie said...

I love garlic too. I use it in just about everything. Your pizza sounds like it was very good.

Maria said...

My mouth is watering.

I may come to Omaha next year for my spring break, by the way. If so, I expect you to make me all of these yummy dishes.

Jess said...

you DO live on the wild side with food. that caught my attention when i first started reading your blog. i love it! and the pizza looks great . . .