this is a surprisingly easy pizza to make, and i’m excited to finally find a pizza that doesn’t involve hours of prep work. my secret? trader joe’s premade pizza dough. it’s bagged, and you do have to let it sit to room temp for twenty min or so, and then knead it briefly, but oh man, so much faster than my previous attempts at making pizza from scratch.
let’s be honest, you can put whatever you want on pizza dough and it’s going to be great. since i am lactose-intolerant, i do goat cheeses. and luckily, you can find goat brie, goat chevre, goat cheddar, etc. i find that playing with toppings makes for a fun night. you could probably make mini pizzas here too.
but if you haven’t noticed a pattern in what i eat… it’s peppers, spinach and goat cheese. the essentials i think.
what you need:
1 package trader joe’s pizza dough (refrigerator section)
1/2 cup pesto
4 baby bell peppers
4 peppadew peppers
1 cup spinach
crumbled goat cheese
portobello mushroom(s)
balsamic vinegar, reduced
what you do:
set the oven to 350. pull dough and let sit til room temp, then spread a little flour on the counter and roll out the dough, kneading it into a roundish shape. pour a little olive oil on a round pizza pan and your dough on it. spoon on your pesto and spread around. put your mushrooms and peppers on, making sure that you get good coverage across the pizza! cover them with the goat cheese and stick the pizza in the oven. while that’s cooking, heat a small frying pan and put the spinach in. once it cooks, reduce the heat and add the balsamic vinegar. let simmer until your pizza is done (13-14 min) and then fork out the spinach evenly on to the pizza. drizzle the remaining balsamic vinegar on to the top of the pizza.
wine pairing:
because this is pizza, it’s pretty much a must that you pair it with wine. i drank mine with some sparkling wine tonight, but to really impart the balsamic flavor, and the meatiness of the portobello, i actually recommend a sangiovese. if you prefer white wine, you can’t go wrong with a sauvignon blanc. a nice oregon sauv blanc will balance the creaminess of the goat cheese and the herbaceous nature of the pesto.
total time to make this delicious pizza? 45 minutes.