I’ve been a tease, and frankly, I kind of enjoyed it. There’s something to be said for building suspense: the anticipation, the excitement, the raw desperate hunger (too much?). It’s like foreplay, and what’s not to like about foreplay.
Bok choy and Mr. Garlic. I like his pheromones.
So without further foreplay, here is the recipe for my Veggie Loving CSA Pizza, and even though it has no tomato paste or any tomatoes for that matter, this one would actually count as a serving of vegetables; no debate necessary (I should let Congress know).
Smack it, flip it, rub it down….Oh No.
Chef’s note: I don’t actually measure out ingredients (oops) unless I’m following someone else’s recipe, even then it’s questionable, or baking, so the below is an approximation of what I did. Feel free to deviate and use whatever veggies you have handy. If you’re at all familiar with cooking, you’ll be fine. If you aren’t, you’ll still be just dandy because it’s hard to mess up pizza (squash fritters are a different story). If you’re unsure, just dump a bunch of cheese on top and you won’t know any better. Seriously, when all else fails, cheese won’t. I know, I know, it’s an unhealthy fat, but I don’t eat any meat, so I’m allowed some extra cheese (and I do mean extra; this is pizza after all). This is my science: no meat = double cheese. Gotta get my protein (Beef Cake).
Veggie Pizza with Bok Choy, Carrots and Green Beans
Ingredients
- Pizza Dough*
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 cup green beans, chopped into one inch pieces
- 3/4 of a bunch of bok choy, stems chopped into half an inch pieces and leaves cut into ribbons. The easiest way to “ribbon” your greens is to stack all the leaves on top of one another, and then roll them up like a cigar (strange imagery, yes I know). Once you have them in this form, you can easily cut your stogie, about every inch or so, and the end result is a pile of “ribbons.” See top picture, bottom left corner.
- 1 hungarian hot pepper (or other hot pepper of your choice)
- Splash of Balsamic Vinegar (about 1 Tbsp)
- 1 1/4 cup Mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup additional cheese(s) of your choice (I used Asiago and Parmesan)
- 1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
Instructions
- Roll out defrosted pizza dough on a floured surface (very important). I also put flour on the rolling pin to prevent stick-age (like shrinkage, but worse).
- Heat oil in a saucepan on medium heat until warm. Then add garlic and cook for 30 seconds or less stirring often to prevent burning. Add diced carrot and cook for 3 minutes. Add chopped green beans and cook for another 3 minutes. Add bok choy stems and hungarian pepper and cook for additional 2 minutes. Add bok choy leaves and balsamic vinegar and cook until done, maybe another four to six minutes. The bok choy stems will be translucent, the leaves will have cooked down and the carrots and beans should be soft with a hint of crispness still. This is your pizza sauce.
- Top pizza dough with “sauce.” Spread cheeses evenly over the top and sprinkle with red pepper flakes.
- Bake according to pizza dough directions. I cooked mine for 10-15 minutes at 425 degrees.
*For pizza dough, I use Frickaccios which is a local business at the Westside Market in Cleveland. While I love the Westside Market, I pick up Frickaccios at my grocery store, Nature’s Bin, because they rock and they stock local suppliers (Holla’). They make all different flavors all to tantalize your taste buds (whole wheat, roasted garlic, traditional, and gluten-free if you’re into that kind of thing). I’ve tested pretty much all of them (for scientific purposes of course) and loved each and every one.
Best of all, while scouring the internet for a link to share, I discovered you can order their frozen dough balls (their words, not mine) online. If you buy some, you won’t be disappointed, so have at it, and to be clear, there are no plugs found here (although I would gladly accept pizza dough as payment). They don’t know me from Adam (who is this Adam and why do we compare everybody to him?).
What pizza dough do you use? What are your favorite pizza toppings?
That pizza looks tasty! I love lots of vegetables on my pizzas. I am gluten-free so I like to use a quinoa crust.
What a great idea. I’ve also seen a lot of cauliflower crusts in the blog world. Thanks for stopping by and saying hello.
i’ve been using Trader Joe’s pizza dough– it’s pretty good, but I don’t have a rolling pin and so it’s impossible to get it into a neat pie. Your pizza looks great!
You have to buy a rolling pin. It makes all the difference with pizza dough and pie crusts. I usualy do a couple pies this time of year, so I’ve had a rolling pin as long as I can remember. Now, I need a pizza stone so I can actually have circle shaped pizza (it pulls on my sense of order). Have agreat weekend.
I have a rolling pin but have found it better to stretch the Trader Joe’s pizza crusts by hand and then push out to the edges. The best way to do that, in my experience, is to do a first stretch by letting it hang in your hands and move your fingertips around the circle at the top. Place it on the stone (where the dough will just tend to shrink back) and then let it rest for 10 minutes or so. It will relax a lot. I dip my fingertips in oil and gently push it out from the center. I also par-bake the crust for a few minutes before putting the sauce on. To me, the TJ crust gets soggy easily and stays too doughy in the middle if I don’t pre-bake it slightly.
Those are awesome pizza toppings. I forgot to use my fresh veggies for pizza and I always have some tortillas that toast up to an easy crust! BTW, the can’t go out because my bra is off comment had me litterally laughing out loud. My boyfriend even paused the tv i was laughing so hard : )
I’m so glad I made you laugh. It was a successful post then. I like to think I’m in the funny business but sometimes I’m not sure if others will necessarily agree! Thanks for letting me know, and have a great weekend. Enjoy your Sunday!
I buy dough at Publix since my homemade dough is almost always a fail. Fave pizza combos are : white pizza with garlic (lots), spinach, tomatoes, and sharp provolone, OR spicy hot red sauce pizza with an egg cracked on top, veggie bacon, spinach, and cheeeeeeeeese.
The fact you even try homemade dough is amazing. The Hubby loves pizza with an egg on top. I may have to do this for him next time. Provolone is always good and so underrated.
Looks awesome! My husband makes our pizza and dough (yay!). I love bell peppers and mushrooms on my pizza. Annnnd yes, I devour the cinnamon balls he makes as desert too. Yum.
Homemade dough and cinnamon balls. Well I’m just jealous!! Bell pepper and mushrooms huh. I may have to send some bell peppers your way.
Hello veggie pizza paradise! Mmmmm! I have NEVER thought to add bok choy OR green beans to my pizza but why the hell not? Love it! And I agree, the more cheese, the better…as long as it’s a GOOD cheese…sharp and in yo face!
I used to use TJ’s whole wheat pizza crust ALL the time, but nowadays I’m kinda fixated on the cauliflower pizza crust…it’s just so frickin good! And even though I’ve already made it a handful of times, I STILL can’t get over how much it actually tastes like pizza crust!
Favorite toppings: cheese (duh…I’ve never understood how people can eat a pizza without cheese!), onions (caramelized are the BEST), olives (black, like my soul), and peppas (spoken in the heavy New York accent of my co-worker since we were just talking about pizza and peppas the other day! ;))
It has to be a fabulous cheese or you sunk before you even started. I keep reading about the cauliflower crust and I love cauliflower so I may give it whirl. On the other hand, I have no wheat, carb, bread restrictions so I might just stick with my store bought crust, but local and hand crafted crust for $1.99. I can’t beat that.
Love your pizza toppings; even your comments are funny! I’m making the same pizza again today to finish off my Bok Choy and get back into the green beans. Since that post, I’ve got two more bundles of the beans.