Tomato and Mozzarella Pizza

I’ve been convinced by just one homemade pizza that it is worth it to make pizza at home.  I’ve always been the slightest bit reluctant to put the effort and time (both of which turn out to be minimal) into making pizza that would be missing that extra little something that makes that veggie pizza from your favorite local pizza place the one you come back to every time.  But no longer.  I’ve been convinced by just one pizza and I’ll continue to strengthen my convictions about the wonders of homemade pizza as I use up the pizza shells patiently waiting in my freezer.

Here’s the pizza that changed my life forever.  Melodramatic?  I think not.

Tomato and Mozzarella Pizza

Ingredients

• Pizza dough – I got the recipe from Martha Stewart (I shaped the dough into 8 shells and froze the ones I didn’t use for this pizza)
• Canned, diced tomatoes (plan on having a good amount left over)
• Fresh basil leaves
• Fresh, sliced (to the best of your ability, my ability isn’t very good) mozzarella

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 500 F.
2. Oil a baking sheet that has flipped upside down.
3. Arrange pizza shells on baking sheet (I fit two at a time at most) and spread with diced tomatoes.
4. Top with basil leaves.
5. Top with mozzarella slices.
6. Bake in oven until mozzarella is bubbly and the edges have browned – 18 to 20 minutes.
7. Let cool, transfer to a cutting board, slice, and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Turkey Parmesan Burgers

I wonder how chicken parmesan must feel all cramped up like that.  It must miss the days of roaming free as a chicken tender with it’s friend pasta.  But yet here it is, in burger form.  What will those  brilliant people at bon appetit come up with next – a chicken parmesan sandwich?  Wait?  What?!  Those already exist!  Wow, I’m behind on my things to cook list.

Yes, these really are as delicious as chicken parm, but in my case as delicious as turkey parm because I couldn’t find ground chicken.  Ground poultry is ground poultry, right?  And a delicious idea, such as chicken parm is delicious served free range with a side of pasta or captured between two slices of bread, right?

Chicken (Turkey) Parmesan Burgers from Epicurious

Ingredients

• 10 1/2-inch-thick slices French bread (4 inches in diameter); 8 slices toasted, 2 slices (crust removed) diced – I made my own spelt olive bread from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day.
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 tablespoons minced fresh basil, divided, plus 12 large basil leaves
• 3/4 cup purchased refrigerated marinara sauce
• 12 ounces ground chicken (white meat) – I only had turkeys in my backyard the day I made these so that’s what I used
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 tablespoon grated onion
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces whole-milk mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
• 4 large radicchio leaves – I was too lazy to buy an entire head just for 4 leaves, so I didn’t use this.

Directions

1. Blend diced bread and Parmesan in processor to fine crumbs. Transfer to pie dish; mix in 2 tablespoons minced basil.
2. Mix marinara and 2 tablespoons basil in small saucepan. Transfer 1 1/2 tablespoons sauce to large bowl. Add chicken, 1/2 tablespoon oil, onion, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Sprinkle with pepper; blend. Shape into four 1/2-inch-thick patties; coat with crumbs. Heat sauce over low heat.
3. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook patties until bottoms are crusty, 4 minutes. Turn patties over; top with cheese. Cook 3 minutes. Cover; cook until cooked through and cheese is melted, about 1 minute.
4. Assemble burgers with bread, radicchio, basil leaves, and warm marinara.