Week 17: Recipe #1--White Pizza

As you can tell from the lengthy absence, I took most of the summer off from cooking.  I used it to make past favorites.  We also did a lot of traveling and eating out, but now school's starting and I'm ready to get back into the groove.  I found this recipe on the Food Network website (see link below).  It was pretty easy to make and tasty, too.  I served this with a green salad and fruit.  Makes 4 servings.

Photo from foodnetwork.com

You'll Need:

• 1 store-bought pizza dough--or pick one up from your favorite pizzeria (I used the garlic and basil dough from Trader Joe's--yum!)
• extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• 2 cups whole or part skim ricotta
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• handful of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (I used dried parsley from the spice rack, was still tasty)
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella or provolone, 1 pouch
• 10 fresh basil leaves, 1/2 cup, shredded

Preparation:

1. Preheat a pizza stone if you use one, along with the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Stretch dough to form a pie and transfer to stone or pizza baking tray.  Pierce the dough with the tines of a fork in several places.  Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil around the crust.  
3. Mix the ricotta cheese with garlic and parsley and season it with salt and black pepper.  Spread the ricotta across the dough.
4. Top the pizza with mozzarella or provolone.  Bake until crispy, 20 minutes.
5. Top the white pizza pie with the shredded basil leaves, cut and serve.

Recipe and link:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/white-pizza-recipe/index.html