look at me. look at me in the eyes right now. i know you want pizza. which is great cause i have the perfect recipe for you.
is it pizza? yeah. could it also be considered flat bread? probably!
“but saph!” you say. “i don’t have a pizza stone.”
great! neither do i!!!
“but saph!” you say, “i don’t like tomato sauce that much.”
perfect! this involves exactly zero tomatoes.
it is yummy and delicious and vegetarian and perfect for all your summer ish pizza needs. so much so that there was one year where we made his recipe literally once a week for a whole summer. it’s that good. i’m tired of gatekeeping.
first you will buy or make your dough. making dough isn’t that hard actually. simply take a tablespoon of yeast and a tablespoon of sugar and put it into a cup of warm but not boiling water and let it froth out for five minutes before gently stirring in a tablespoon of olive oil and some salt and then adding in exactly 2.5 cups of white flour and mixing/ gently kneading the whole thing together before throwing it in an oiled bowl in a warm place (like the top of your preheating oven) covered with a damp cloth until he is big and fluffy. ba da bing ba da boom. dough.
then. you will take a full size baking sheet. preferably with a dark bottom. and cover it in parchment paper and add to it at least one maybe two nice sized zucchini cut into strips, one cut up red pepper and one onion chopped into medium ish pieces. red onion works best literally any other one will do. you can also use pre roasted red peppers if you want. toss these with olive oil salt and pepper, onion salt if you’re feeling adventurous, balsamic vinegar if you’re feeling really adventurous, and throw them into an oven set to 350F. cook these until the pepper skins show some color (30-40 minutes) then remove. you could also grill them. unfortunately i’m fresh outta grills.
on the very same baking tray that you just used for the vegetables you are going to oil the bottom of the tray with a bit of olive oil then spread out your dough to all corners. it may take a few tries, oiled dough is slippery. to this! add a very thin layer of pesto.
“but saph!” you say, “this doesn’t sound like a pizza”
hush. stick with me.
on top of the pesto, sprinkle some parmesan cheese. or pecorino, or cheddar if you’re really desperate but the first two work way better
then!!! you arrange the vegetables Like So:
this is very important. we are ensuring each slice gets some of each Thing. also make sure you remove the skins from your peppers after they are done roasting please and thank you.
next you’re going to cut some mozzarella into twelve even pieces. put one piece on each mound of vegetables. then sprinkle with salt, pepper, italian seasoning and a sprinkle of balsamic if you feel like it. (as a balsamic hater, it tastes amazing on this)
should look like this:
then bake. at 500F. for around 13 ish minutes. the edges should be browned and the cheese should be bubbly.
remove from tray. cut into twelve Equal Squares (as guided by the cheese and vegetable piles) and consume.
this recipe has converted people i know into red pepper stans. it’s joined nations together. it’s delicious. make it. love it. consume it.
all hail pesto pizza
