Best, Fast, Easy- Food

History

Thoughts

My favorite late night pizza in college was this super hearty, thick crust veggie at a place called Pizza Colore on Pearl Street. It was my dirty little secret. I felt shame at eating spinach, broccoli, eggplant, mushoom and others instead sauce oozing gyros or an Illegal Pete’s burrito. But I loved it. I would like to say that that bump of nutrition made me feel better the next day but I have no idea.

It has led me to a love of veggie pizza in general. I know there are those that will cringe and yell that I am obviously deranged but I think no-meat pizzas are just better.

So, as i started making my own pizza, I know i had to try to recreate the magic. This pizza is piled thick with roasted veggies. I learned that if I was going to put that many veggies on a pizza, I needed to get some of the moisture out so i didn’t make pizza soup. I also learned that the veggies wouldn’t cook before the dough burned. I learn these thing the hard way. So, don’t skip the roasting! I also cook the dough before topping it so that i don’t end up with mooshy uncooked dough. I also put the tomato, thinly slice garlic and oil on to condense the tomato and make sure the garlic is cooked. Again, don’t skip this part.

My wife loves this pizza. I have been feeding to my kids and I think it is part of the reason they eat vegetables.

Ingredients

  • 8-10 cloves of garlic, thinly-sliced

  • 2 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil

  • 1/2 cup Crushed, pureed, or sauced tomato (your Preference)

  • 6 oz Mozz

  • 1 oz shredded parm

  • 1 oz shredded peccorino

  • 1 TSP Kosher salt

  • 1 broccoli, cut into florets

  • 1 cauliflower, cut into florets

  • 1 bell pepper, chopped thin

  • 1 red onion slice thin

  • 8 oz mushrooms sliced

  • 1 4 oz can of black olives

Instructions

Roasted veggies

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400.

  2. Cover sheetpan with parchment.

  3. Cut all vegetables

  4. Toss veggies in a bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper

  5. Arrange in a single layer on sheet pan. (Piling will lead to uneven cooking)

    1. To roast all the veggies you will need 2 sheet pans. I roast all the veggies the day before and reserve what I need for pizza. I serve them over rice or quinoa with beans, chicken, sausage or fish.

    Building the Pizza

  6. On another parchment covered sheet pan, slowly stretch the dough starting from the middle out. I like it to be a rectangle about the size of the whole pan.

  7. Let it rest 20 to 30 minutes.

  8. Lightly coat the stretched crust with oil.

  9. Spread thinly sliced garlic of crust.

  10. Bake for 5 minutes

  11. Remove crust from oven, and spread tomato over the crust. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

  12. Bake another 5 minutes.

  13. Spread a thin layer of mozzarella over crust and evenly distribute roasted veggies. If they are cold, allow to come to room temp or warm them a bit.

  14. Bake 5 minutes

  15. Remove and top with remaining cheese.

  16. Bake until crust is golden and cheese is nicely melted and bubbly

  17. Let the pizza cool for 10 minute before eating. If you actually pull this step off, know that I am proud of you.