Pizza with artichoke hearts, arugula, and dried tomatoes – 13 May 2011

This is from The Edible Italian Garden.

I used half a frozen white pizza dough. Defrosted in the morning, transferred to an oiled bowl about 5pm, and set in warm water. It turned out really well. I cooked the dough about 1 1/2 minutes at 500 – after poking with a fork – before adding any toppings.

First topping is 3 moderate cloves garlic, minced and put into 2T oil. Then one ball (about 4.4 oz) of Gustosella mozzarella di bufalo, sliced – I cut the ball in half, set each half on its cut side, and sliced it into about 6 pieces; distributed these around the pizza. I used an entire small (6.5 oz) jar of Passport artichoke hearts (not so acidic as some) sliced into 2 o 3 pieces each. Distributed these around the pizza. I poured warm water over about 8 slices of dried tomatoes from The Gardener at the Ferry Building (a gift from my friend A) and left for for 10minutes, weighed down with a small juice glass so they would be submerged. Drained on a rack over a plastic cutting sheet. I halved (lengthwise, if you must know…) 10 pitted Kalamata olives, and arranged them in and around the cheese and artichokes. On top of everything, I tossed on a lot more than the tsp of oregano the recipe calls for (Greek, from the garden).
I baked the pizza another 6 minutes or so at this stage.

I removed the pizza from the oven and placed on a bread board while tossing on 1 cup baby arugula – this was “wild arugula” from the Bowl – not soft, round leaves, but these spiky kind. Over the top I strewed a bit more than 1/2 cup aged Asiago – the brand is Stella. I think I would use more Mozz and less Asiago (strictly limit to 1/2 cup) next time.

Another 2 minutes in the oven wilts the arugula and melts the asiago.

Hm. I wrote this out the other day. May as well leave in…

Cook pizza dough 1min 30 seconds, or actually use that timer to realize you haven’t found the tongs yet, find them, and then retrieve the pizza dough to a cutting board. Top: garlic and oil; mozzarella; artichokes; tomatoes; olives; chopped oregano (rcp: 1 tsp; moi: who needs to measure Oregano? It was more like 1T I suspect.) cook about another 6 mins. remove to cutting board, toss on arugula and shredded asiago, cook another ~2 mins to melt the cheese and wilt the oregano. The “wilting” part worked better with our round, soft leaves than with the spiky little wild oreganos, but wilting may be overrated 😉

D chose a Duero we got awhile ago at a Bowl wine tasting, and it was perfect with this pizza. Great wine!

Here’s my nice pizza pan after dinner:

{Written the 15th, from notes written the 13th}