- Pizza dough (your favorite or try Trader Joe’s-it’s really a great substitute and nothing at all like Boboli. My apologies to Boboli fans :-))
- Pizza sauce (I like the Pomì Strained Tomatoes from Parmalat–I just add a little salt before using)
- Pesto Sauce
- Mozzarella cheese
- Pancetta
- Anchovies (optional)
- corn meal for pizza peel
What’s your favorite pizza? Do you like a thin crust, or a thick one? Do you lean towards a simple, single-topping pizza or one topped with everything but the kitchen sink? I think that the countless ways pizza can be created lends to its mass appeal. Plain cheese or pepperoni pizzas are definite kid pleasers but the more sophisticated adult versions are quite appealing, too. Growing up, I belonged to the pepperoni camp; even then I didn’t like the multi-topping variety. Now, while I still occasionally enjoy my childhood favorite, I prefer the simplicity of either a thin, crisp pizza Margherita (tomatoes, mozzarella, basil) or one with tomatoes, mozzarella and anchovies topped with lots of fresh arugula.
If you’ve never made your own pizza at home, I encourage you to try it. You’d be amazed by how simple it is. I would suggest, however, that you invest in a pizza stone and a pizza peel for optimum results. Made of terra cotta tile, a pizza stone effectively absorbs moisture and distributes heat evenly, resulting in a crisp crust without the use of a brick oven. In turn, its sidekick, the pizza peel (paddle), makes easy work out of transferring the uncooked pizza to the hot stone in the oven with the help of corn meal (so the dough doesn’t stick to the peel). These two tools have also made it very easy for me to make my own artisan bread from this book, so they’ve become valuable in my kitchen. The key to great results is to make sure that the pizza stone is very hot before you use it. I put my pizza stone in the oven before I pre-heat it and I wait a few minutes after the oven has reached the required temperature before I use it. The heat is what “activates” the stone’s wonderful pizza-making properties.
I had a craving for this recently but I didn’t have the fresh greens to prepare my favorites. Instead of going the store, I decided to clean out the fridge a little. I had some pancetta, leftover mozzarella, pesto sauce and tomato puree. I even had fresh, ready-to-use pizza dough from my last trip to Trader Joe’s (TJ). Have you tried it yet? I used to make my own using Mario Batali’s recipe but because this book suggested it, I started using TJ’s and haven’t looked back. For under $2, you get a wonderful time-saver without compromising on quality. The fresh dough comes in a small bag and will keep in the fridge for a couple of days. As I mentioned, I like thin crusts, so I divide the dough to yield three, thin personal-size pizzas. This works quite well because it allows for variety–I usually make two to three different combinations of toppings. Notice also that my pizzas aren’t round; I haven’t figured out how to make them so, but I think their homemade rustic look makes them a little more special.
I was pretty pleased with the results using my leftovers. I have always made the two versions I mentioned earlier but the pesto and the pancetta (and yes, the anchovies) delivered nicely. The pancetta pieces aren’t very visible in my pictures because they were diced into small cubes but my taste buds were aware of their presence. The pesto was a nice surprise too. I know that it’s widely used on pizzas already but I’d never done it before. The basil-loaded pesto worked well as a substitute for the fresh basil I didn’t have and its rich, nutty quality balanced well with the light tomato puree.
While I’m certain you have your favorite version, consider trying this and you might be just as pleased as I was with the results.
Rustic Pizza with Pesto and Pancetta
cherine says
This pizza looks so tempting!!
Jennifer says
Looks delicious! I’m looking forward to getting a BBQ and trying to make grilled pizza this year 🙂 But I’ll definitely need to invest in a pizza stone at some point.
Lisa { AuthenticSuburbanGourmet } says
This looks amazing and I want to make some right now. Is Trader Joe’s not the best store? Thanks for sharing.
The Housewife says
That looks so crispy and cheesey! Yum! I love using TJ’s pizza dough too. It makes it so easy!
Naomi says
This sounds amazing. The crust looks great and I love love pesto. What a great combination. I’m so glad to have discovered your blog. You have so many great recipes.
You have yourself a new Twitter follower.
lemonsandanchovies says
Naomi, thanks so much. I just did the same.
Liv Wan says
ohh….This pizza looks so tasty. I’m hungry now.
Anna says
OMG! This pizza looks amazing, love the combination pesto and pancetta. Yummm!
turkey's for life says
We’re most definitely thin, crispy based pizza people – oh, and as many hot and spicy toppings as possible! Your pizzas look great. We’ve often thought about making our own but Turkish pizza (pide) made in a stone oven is available so readily here and is really cheap. It somehow seems better to leave it to the experts and concentrate on learning other Turkish dishes.