Ricotta Pizza with Fresh and Roasted Tomatoes

Oh sure... I'm aware that I can order pizza right from my computer nowadays and have it brought to my front door.  And believe me, there are nights when we do that.  But sometimes, it's just fun to buy the stuff and let the kids make their own.  Times when the "doing" and the time spent together is just as valuable as the actual eating.  When we do order pizza, I pretty much eat whatever the kids want.  But I'll be darned if I have to do that when its a make-your-own-pizza night.  

Suffice it to say that I am quasi obsessed with roasting cherry tomatoes.  The roasting makes them SUPER sweet and bursting with a much more complex flavor than they were born with.  I am also replacing the traditional red pizza sauce with an herbed ricotta and Parmesan base - smooth and creamy to showcase the big bright flavors on top.  And for an extra pop of color and flavor, fresh basil and oregano on top.  

For this, I'm not even bothering to make my own dough.  It's been a long day at work, and the kids and I are using pizza dough from a can.  I know, I know.  Some people will bad mouth me for that.  You are certainly welcome to make your own.  This was just one of those easy, breezy evenings with the kids. 

I adapted this recipe from one I found in Everyday Food - From the Kitchen of Martha Stewart Living.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• kosher salt, cracked black pepper to taste
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1 can of pizza dough
• or 1 pound pizza dough, thawed if frozen
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes
• I used the heirloom cherry tomatoes because they are beautiful
• 1 large tomato, preferably heirloom, cut into half moons
• I can usually find the large yellow heirloom tomatoes, which are beautiful; but today, there were none, so I used roma tomatoes instead
• ~ 1 Tbsp aged balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp fresh oregano leaves, for serving
• 2 Tbsp fresh basil leaves, cut into thin ribbons, for serving

Step-by-Step:

Start on the tomato topping -

Add to a rimmed baking pan

Season to taste with kosher salt, cracked black pepper

Create the ricotta-Parmesan base -

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

1 large egg

Season to taste with kosher salt, cracked black pepper, dried basil

Mix cheese mixture well

Prepare the crust -

On a baking sheet, stretch or roll the pizza dough into a 16-inch oval.  

• If you have a pizza stone, I would suggest sliding your prepared dough onto the preheated stone in the oven.  I used the same pant the kids used... because guess who gets to clean up?  Exactly.

Drizzle the dough with about a tablespoon of olive oil, and spread around.   

• For recipe purposes, I would recommend making your pizza crust a little thicker than I did here.  In reality, however, I got the leftover dough after the kids were finished making theirs.  That's what mom's do, right?

Spread the ricotta mixture over the dough, leaving a 1-inch border.

Ricotta, Parmesan mixture

Bake the cherry tomatoes on the bottom rack and the pizza on the top rack until the tomatoes are soft and the skins begin to burst - about 15 minutes.

While the crust is baking -

Slice your larger tomatoes...

Remove roasted tomatoes after about 15 minutes.  Skins will begin bursting and they will get really soft inside.  Yum.  (I wish I had made double this amount of them.)

Assembly -

Toss the roasted tomatoes with the fresh tomatoes.  Season with salt and pepper.

Drizzle with a little aged balsamic vinegar.  The older the better.

Garnish before serving with oregano leaves and basil leaves, cut into ribbons.

This is practically a salad! :)

And yes, the kids did get to make their own.   

• They have been learning a lot about shapes lately, so they let that be the theme tonight.  Canon made a triangle pizza, and Lily went with a square.

 

Written Directions

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F, with your oven racks in the upper and lower thirds.  Combine the ricotta and the Parmesan, add in the egg, and season with salt, pepper, and dried basil.  On a baking sheet, stretch or roll the pizza dough into a 16-inch oval, and drizzle with about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Spread the ricotta mixture over the dough, leaving a 1-inch border.
2. On a rimmed baking ban, toss the cherry tomatoes with remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.  Bake the cherry tomatoes on the bottom rack and the pizza on the top rack until the tomatoes are soft and the skins begin to burst - about 15 minutes.  Remove the tomatoes from the oven but leave the pizza dough in until it is a deep golden brown (maybe another 5-8 minutes).  
3. Toss the cherry tomatoes with the sliced fresh tomatoes and season them with salt and pepper.  Transfer the pizza to a cutting board and top with the tomato mixture.  Garnish with fresh oregano leaves and fresh basil leaves, and drizzle with a bit of aged balsamic vinegar.

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Looking for more pizza ideas?

I have some other fun pizza options for you, if you aren't in the mood for the pizza delivery guy. 

• Skinny Mexican Pizza (written recipe)   or   Video Recipe to Skinny Mexican Pizza
• Every bit as awesome (more so according to my readers) than the one from Taco Bell!  Still not fat free, but this one makes use of lower fat ingredients than the fast food one.

• Dip Up Pizza (aka Pizza Dip)
• Grab some hot bread sticks and dip in to this appetizer!

• Grilled Pizza
• Throw your pizza ingredients on the grill outside for a smoky, almost charred crust that makes your home pizza experience really cool.

• Homemade Pizza Dough
• If you really want to go all from scratch... make your own pizza dough.

• Prosciutto and Spinach Pinwheels 
• An easy and cool grab-on-go appetizer or party pleaser.  (and pepperoni for the kids)

• Italian Sausage Calzones with Homemade Marinara
• Perfect for a party where everyone makes their own. 

Or perhaps another ricotta and tomato combination? 

• Zucchini, Ricotta, and Tomato Tarts 

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Toasted Chicken Pesto Flatbread Sandwiches

You certainly don't have to bring the same old boring cold sandwich to work everyday... nor do you have to go out for lunch to have something awesome.  This chicken pesto flat-bread will bring a bit of gourmet to your desk when that plain ham and turkey has been leaving you with the Winter blahs.   

Prep ahead!

Speaking of eating out, I notice an almost immediate difference in the scale when I start grabbing lunch "out there" in town rather than bringing my own.  For one thing, the portions are a lot bigger than I would pack for myself.  Secondly, I'm sure they put some secret ingredient in there that makes you fat - extra butter, extra fat, extra something that gets you addicted to the toasted flat breads at Tropical Smoothie Cafe..... oh wait.  I'm telling on myself.  And thirdly, it gets expensive really fast!

My toasted chicken pesto flat bread sandwich is a snap to put together from convenience items.  It's just as fast as putting together a PBandJ, so it won't leave you late for work in the morning.  Alternatively, you could just bring the cut up components in small snack baggies straight from the fridge and throw them together at lunchtime. Then, rather than grilling it, you could pop it right into the microwave to warm it all up and melt the mozzarella.  Seriously, are there really many things that I love more than melted mozzarella?!

Ingredients:

Packaged up for a great lunch!

• Pita bread (or your favorite type of flat bread) 
• Jarred basil pesto
• Fresh mozzarella, cut into slices
• Roma tomato, cut into thin slices
• Italian Style, fully cooked grilled chicken breast, cut into slices

Step-by-Step:
Prep all of your ingredients and bag them separately for a quick make-ahead lunch or dinner.

Slice your roma tomatoes

Slice your chicken.  This product is SO convenient... not to mention juicy and very well seasoned.

Yum.  Jarred basil pesto. 

Fresh mozzarella.  Throw a few slices in a baggie for an assemble-at-work sandwich.

Convenient.  Tasty.  And pretty healthy, too!

HOT grill pan.  Notice, I am adding NO OIL to this.  Just heat.  You won't miss the extra fat.

Spread some of that lovely basil pesto on the bread.

 Try to keep all of your toppings on half, although the pesto would be fine spread all over.

Add mozzarella slices

Add the slices of fresh roma tomatoes

Add the cooked, seasoned chicken breast strips.

Fold in half over the filling

Press the HOT panini press on the top half.  Careful.  It's hot!

You can see the heat/steam rising up.  The filling is getting all hot and melty. 

The grill marks on the top show you that the top part has been toasted as well.

Mmmm.... look at all that goodness.

And here we have it!  Doesn't this look like a delicious lunch?

I wrapped mine in waxed paper, then aluminum foil to eat it.  The foil helped hold the heat in. The waxed paper helped to hold in the drips... it was SO juicy!

You can see the basil pesto has sort of liquified under the heat.

And the mozzarella is SOoooo melty.

Definitely not bad for less than 10 minutes work of work, huh? 

In the case that you having this as a dinner-for-one (or two), all you need is a nice glass of wine.  It's like having your own Italian bistro in the comfort of your own home. 

Tell me this doesn't look SO awesome!  The chicken is so juicy.  The bread just the perfect amount of crunch.  Fresh tomatoes, melted mozzarella.  Huge flavor from the basil pesto!

Written Directions

To a hot grill pan, add the flat bread.  Spread on a spoonful of basil pesto.  Add sliced mozzarella, sliced tomatoes, and sliced chicken.  Fold the flat bread in half and grill under pressure. That's it folks!  If you have a panini maker, by all means, throw it in there.  I used my grill pan and a manual panini press.  I put my panini press on another burner over the fire, so when I added it to the top of the flat bread, it effectively "grilled" the top without me ever needing to flip it.  That's a time saver, as well - cook both sides at once!

Can you use a regular pan?  Of course.  Don't have a press?  You can use another heavy pan on top or even a brick covered in aluminum foil.  Don't sweat it. 

In my opinion, there are times when it's lovely to make things from scratch - all the way.  Other times, it is perfectly fine to make use of convenience items.   If it means getting a home-prepared meal into the people you love, then go for it.

There is research showing that there are lower obesity rates among people who are cooking and eating home cooked meals, rather than eating out.  (See my miscellaneous page)  At home, YOU control the portions.  YOU control the ingredients.  YOU are in control of your health.  And YOU are responsible for the health of your family.  Make the most of that responsibility.

If you want to get industrious and make your own basil pesto, check out my -

• Classic Basil Pesto  

Or, for a different spin on this...

•  Sun Dried Tomato Pesto 

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