The first night we moved into our new apartment in San Francisco, we shamelessly tried to order our favorite guilty pleasure and drunken midnight snack- Dominos. To our dismay, there is not a Dominos Pizza within the *required* delivery distance to our apartment. We ended up ordering delivery from a great mom & pop Italian restaurant down the street, but guess how much it cost for ONE medium pizza and ONE caesar salad?! $75.00 whole dollars.
Toto, we aren’t in Colorado anymore…
Growing up with two parents who have the best baking/cooking skills (I might be biased), I quickly learned that everything you order in a restaurant or for take-out can be made in the comfort of your own kitchen.
But do you dare try???
ABSOLUTELY!
This is how we came up with the Mean & Green Spicy Pesto Pizza.
(Inspired by Tieghan Gerard’s, Half Baked Harvest)
RECIPE
Lemon Basil Pesto
Makes 1 cup
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves
- 2 tablespoons toasted nuts or seeds (I used pine nuts)
- 1/3 grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
- Zest & juice of 1 lemon
- Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- Kosher salt
Pizza Dough
Makes 2 rounds of dough
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 beer (12 ounce)
- 1 tablespoon EVOO
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the beer and the olive oil and mix with a wooden spoon until all combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap & let sit at room temp. until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.
Once the dough has risen, turn the dough onto a floured work service. I throw it straight on to my kitchen counter. Divide dough in two pieces, and save one for later unless you want to make 2 pizzas (No judgement).
Preheat oven to 450. Grease a baking sheet.
Now let’s get the rest of the ingredients for your pizza ready to go!
Mean & Green Pizza
- EVOO (for greasing)
- 1 round of the pizza dough
- 1/2 cup of spicy tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup of lemon basil pesto
- 1 cup shredded fontina cheese
- 1/2 cup pecorino cheese
- 2 green onions
- 1 cup greens of your choice- arugula is best!
Using a rolling pin or a wine bottle, roll out the dough to about 1/2 an inch, or the size of your pinky.
Carefully transfer dough onto greased baking sheet.
Spread the spicy tomato sauce over the dough and then the pesto, leaving about an inch border for the crust.
Sprinkle the fontina and pecorino cheeses all over the sauce!
Bake the pizza until the crust is golden and the cheese has melted, 10 to 15 minutes.
Top with green onions and the arugula.
Slice, serve, and enjoy!