Venerating
Vegetables - Take 3
PIZZA
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Roasted Vegetable Pizza with Cheaters' Cheese |
Are
you sick of For The Culinarily Challenged's
series on Leftover Vegetables? Great! This the last one!
Pizza
is a GREAT way of using leftover veg. Not only is it fast, easy, delicious, low
fat, looks fancy, and is vegetarian
and kid friendly, but you can even use
the leftovers of leftover veg!
Let
me show you.
Roasted Vegetable Pizza with
Cheaters' Cheese
Difficulty
Level: Easy
Total
Prep and Cook Time: 15 minutes
Serves 2
Before
we begin, I feel I should clarify what I mean by "Cheaters' Cheese".
When
you think pizza, you usually think of tomato sauce, vegetables, pepperoni and
other meats, all topped with a nice soft neutral tasting mozzarella.
Unfortunately, good mozzarella tends to be pricey, so I came up with a cheap
alternative that's just as tasty and, once baked, will pass for pizza cheese.
Ingredients
1 Large Regular or Whole Wheat
Pita Bread - This will
give you a thin, crispy crust pizza that you can bake according to my
instructions below. If you prefer a thicker, softer crust, try a store bought
pizza crust - these come already shaped and prebaked in the bread section of
the grocery store, or as balls of dough in the freezer section. IF you go with a store bought crust,
FOLLOW THE BAKING INSTRUCTIONS ON THE PACKAGE. Food manufacturers have
scores of experts testing the best way to get the most mileage out of their
products, so bake at the temperature and for the time they recommend.
1/2
a Cup of Roasted Vegetables - Have
some leftover vegetables from when you were making pasta? Some leftover grilled
veg. from a BBQ? Use 'em.
1
Head of Roasted Garlic - It
may seem like a lot of garlic, but remember that roasting sweetens it and removes
its harshness, making it ideal for a quick pizza sauce.
1 Can of Tomato Paste (5.5
oz - 156 ml) - Plain, herb,
or garlic flavor - it doesn't matter. Choose the one you like.
1/4 Teaspoon of Sugar - this will kill that bitter right-out-of-the-can taste of the tomato
paste
Salt and Pepper - to taste
1/2 Teaspoon of Dried Basil
or Oregano + more to sprinkle over top
2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
- Divided - 1 Tablespoon
is for your sauce, the other is for drizzling over the pizza right before it
goes in the oven
6 Tablespoons of Water
1/4 Cup of Grated Cheese - This can be any hard cheese you have
lying around. For the pizza in the photo, I used old cheddar, but if you have
some parmesan in the fridge that you keep for pasta, that works too. You could
also use regular cheddar, swiss, gruyere, or asiago (that's a Spanish cheese
that was popular for a while). Is the cheese a little dried out? No problem! If
1/4 Cup of PLAIN (unflavored)
Greek or Thick Yogurt - Greek
Yogurt is much thicker than regular yogurt and can be found in the grocery
store with the other stuff for a little more money. Yogurts tend to have phases
of popularity among foodies, and right now Greek Yogurt is in its heyday. I
prefer it to regular yogurt because I find it makes a more convincing
substitute for sour cream that is both rich, stomach-friendly (yogurt contains
a bacteria that helps your stomach, and is easier on people who are a little
lactose intolerant), and comes in a variety of degrees of fat content i.e. 0 %,
2%, and 14%. If you don't want to splurge on Greek yogurt, try the regular
stuff, just make sure it's not too runny.
Cooking Spray or Olive Oil -
for greasing your pan.
Equipment
1 Baking aka Cookie Sheet
Measuring Spoons
1 Box Grater
2 Regular Bowls
2 Regular Spoons
1 Regular Fork
Preheat
your oven to 425 oF .
Grease
your baking sheet and put the pita or pizza crust on top.
In
a regular bowl, combine the tomato paste, sugar, roasted garlic, salt, pepper, basil
or oregano, water, and 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil, slowly mixing and mashing everything together with an ordinary
spoon to make sure the garlic, water, and oil is well incorporated. Mix too
fast, and you'll end up with a shirt that looks like you wore it while
committing an axe murder.
When you're
done, the sauce should be spreadable. If it isn't, add a little more water, a
tablespoon at a time until you get a spreadable consistency.
In
a separate bowl, combine the yogurt and grated cheese with a fork. This is your
cheaters' cheese.
Using
the same spoon you used to mix the tomato sauce, spread said sauce over the
pita bread or crust.
Top
with as many roasted vegetables as you like.
Spoon
the cheaters' cheese over the top of your pizza in any pattern you like.
Drizzle
the pizza with the remaining tablespoon of Olive Oil and a pinch of basil or
oregano.
Bake
for 10 minutes.
Cool
for 3 minutes and serve!
Stay
tuned for next time when I'll be showing you how to repurpose leftover meats!
-Samantha R. Gold
Questions? Comments?
Requests?
Bring it on!
I can be reached at: for.the.culinarily.challenged@gmail.com
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