Friday, May 9, 2014

Garlic Scape Pesto Cheesy Flatbread Pizza (Pizza Night!)

Garlic Scape Pesto Cheesy Flatbread Pizza (Pizza Night!)

Mild garlic flavor from the garlic scape pesto, plus plenty of shredded cheeses, makes a Cheesy Garlic Scape Flatbread--a seasonal treat that can be enjoyed year round thanks to your freezer.

Mild garlic flavor from the garlic scape pesto, plus plenty of shredded cheeses, makes a Cheesy Garlic Scape Flatbread--a seasonal treat that can be enjoyed year round thanks to your freezer



 Follow me | Pinterest | Instagram | Facebook


I want to talk about making pizzas at home, and share a way you can keep it innovative.
Having a stash of pizza topping options in the fridge and freezer keeps our weekly pizza nights interesting.  It's super simple to throw some leftover protein (chicken, ham, ground beef--links to some of my pizza posts) onto a meat-containing pizza.

It's a breeze to add fresh vegetables (peppers, spinach, or mushrooms--more links to suggested recipes) and/or preserved vegetables for a vegetarian pizza.

I store a lot of pizza cheese in the freezer [NOT always a good idea to use in a pizza], have a vat of feta standing by, and sometimes you don't even need cheese [this would be the place where I'd link to the Beef and Broccoli Pizza if it had been posted].


Mild garlic flavor from the garlic scape pesto, plus plenty of shredded cheeses, makes a Cheesy Garlic Scape Flatbread--a seasonal treat that can be enjoyed year round thanks to your freezer.


It takes some time to build up that pizza topping stash, but it's worth it.  Preparing a batch as each vegetable hits peak season means that I'm not constantly slaving away in the kitchen [it only seems like that in August-September with the tomato canning, though, like childbirth, I'd do it again] yet I get to enjoy a wide variety of homemade, locally grown sauces on our pizzas throughout the year.

I don't want to tell you what to do want to subliminally brainwash you to consider trying to put up one pizza topping in your freezer this summer. Here's some suggestions, in order of when they're ripe and ready throughout the season--all of these store well in the freezer.

Think about it and get back to me.  In the meantime, here's one way you could use your bounty: pizza.

Mild garlic flavor from the garlic scape pesto, plus plenty of shredded cheeses, makes a Cheesy Garlic Scape Flatbread--a seasonal treat that can be enjoyed year round thanks to your freezer.



I'm not sure if regular readers noticed, but it's turning into Garlic Scape Week around here. I'm preparing a Garlic Scape Recipe Round Up for my next post and wanted to include some of the ways I feed my family garlic scapes from our garden and the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share.  [In order to include my recipes in the round up, I kinda needed to post them first.]




Mild garlic flavor from the garlic scape pesto, plus plenty of shredded cheeses, makes a Cheesy Garlic Scape Flatbread--a seasonal treat that can be enjoyed year round thanks to your freezer.


I started off by sharing how I put up my scapes in the form of pesto, combined with a variety of leaves (I'm partial to parsley and basil) as well as an assortment of nuts (I'm partial to pistachio and sunflower seeds).  I use this pesto in all sorts of things, from Hummus to Shrimp Scampi and now, because it's a Friday and my family likes our Friday Night Pizza Nights, on a pizza.


Mild garlic flavor from the garlic scape pesto, plus plenty of shredded cheeses, makes a Cheesy Garlic Scape Flatbread--a seasonal treat that can be enjoyed year round thanks to your freezer


I made two pizzas using this Garlic Scape and Pistachio pesto:  a plain cheese one and a more involved Sun-dried Tomato, Artichoke, and Olive with Fresh Mozzarella pie.  Since I was making a number of pizzas, I told the kids to go ahead and eat the cheese one while it was hot.  By the time I joined them they'd nearly demolished it and my son told me "this tastes just like cheesy garlic flatbread". Well, now I don't have to come up with a creative title--thanks!

For more recipes using garlic scapes, please see my Garlic and Garlic Scapes Recipes Collection. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.

I'm sharing more recipes on my Pinterest boards, follow me there. If you like a good peek behind the scenes like I do, follow me on Instagram. Need a good read? I'm sharing articles of interest on my Facebook page, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?


Mild garlic flavor from the garlic scape pesto, plus plenty of shredded cheeses, makes a Cheesy Garlic Scape Flatbread--a seasonal treat that can be enjoyed year round thanks to your freezer.


For general hints, tips, and photo collages please check out my Pizza Primer post, a brain dump of all things related to making pizza in my home kitchen.

NOTE: This recipe is not gluten free as written, because I used pizza dough containing gluten. To adapt this recipe for a gluten free diet please substitute the gluten free pizza dough of your choice.
Check labels to confirm that your other ingredients are also gluten free. Good sources for determining gluten free products can be found here:
http://knowgluten.me/2012/03/31/other-names-for-gluten/
http://glutenfreedoctor.com/gluten-free/
http://www.celiac.com/categories/Safe-Gluten%252dFree-Food-List-%7B47%7D-Unsafe-Foods-%26amp%3B-Ingredients/


Garlic Scape Pesto Cheesy Flatbread Pizza


Ingredients


  • 1 pound pizza dough (some suggestions from my Visual Pizza Dough Recipe Index)
  • olive oil for brushing on the crust (about 1 Tablespoon)
  • ½ cup garlic scape pesto (this one used basil for the leaves and pistachio for the nut)
  • 1½ cups shredded Italian cheese blend--one containing fontina is most excellent

Instructions


  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, and if you've got a pizza stone, preheat that as well. If not, use a cookie sheet. Here's an Amazon affiliate link to a stone similar to mine.
  2. On an oiled piece of parchment, which has saved my bum many a time for utter pizza catastrophe, stretch out the dough into a shape that pleases you. Put it on the floor and take a picture
  3. Brush the dough with some olive oil, then spread pesto across the top in a thin layer.  
  4. Scatter cheese across the top. 
  5. Bake for 5-8 minutes on the parchment, then shimmy the crust off the parchment and bake directly on the stone (or cookie sheet) for another 3-5 minutes until the cheese is browned and bubbly. 
  6. Slice (Amazon affiliate link to my favorite pizza slicer--it's a workhorse) and serve. Save any leftovers to serve alongside spaghetti--it's an excellent combination.


This post is shared on the From the Farm Blog Hop, Clever Chicks Blog HopTasty TuesdaysWhat's Cookin' WednesdayEating Inside The Box

17 comments:

  1. I will see you your one pizza topping (regular pesto, garlic scape pesto, and tomato pesto) and raise you one more: caramelized onions. That can make an equally delicious topping.
    I like garlic scape week, and I can't wait to get some at the farmers market. I also planted three bulbs this week since the one I planted last fall didn't make it. I cheated though and got some starters at the store so I may get my own scapes after all. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, caramelized onions on pizza sound amazing. Caramelized onions is amazing, period. But Meghan, I'll see your caramelized onions and raise you the onion marmalade. To die for! Give it a try.

      Delete
    2. Meghan and Angie,
      You're both right (though technically I've not tried onion marmalade). Caramelized onions are easy to make, store in the freezer--label them, or else--and are delicious on pizza.
      Angie I planted 80 red onion sets in my front yard flower bed, and though Mama Bunny unearthed one or two to plant her babies, the rest are growing fine. I'm going to need to investigate this onion marmalade.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  2. I can't wait for garlic scapes! Never ventured much beyond stir frying. Garlic scape pesto sounds pretty awesome. What about using them in place of scallions in Chinese scallion pancakes? Anybody tried that?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Angie,
      That's a brilliant idea--I was thinking Korean vegetable pancakes for this year, but if you do Chinese scallion pancakes w/ garlic scapes I'd love to add your link& photo below.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  3. Holy yum! I've seen a lot of recipes for garlic scapes recently, but I haven't used them yet. I am going to have to change that this summer!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jennifer,
      Every day I check my garlic bed, waiting for the first appearance of scapes. I know, I know, I should be patient--and I have no choice, really--but yeah, big plans here too.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  4. I'm so impressed by how organized you are, keeping the fixings for such creative pizzas in your freezer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lydia,
      If you could see the bag of newspaper clippings I'm supposed to read and the general lack of dusting of the mantels you would not be so impressed. However, pizza is a priority around here, so I do have a stash ;) .
      At times I wish dusting was a priority, but sadly it's just not.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  5. Wow, what an awesome variety of ideas for pizza and storing of ingredients.
    Thank you for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop! I hope you’ll join us again next week!

    Cheers,
    Kathy Shea Mormino
    The Chicken Chick
    http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kathy,
      Thank you for hosting! I'll be there with bells (on) & burgers (on a plate)!

      Delete
  6. I need to start making roasted garlic in bulk and putting it up in my freezer... It's delicious and I love it, but it's so maddening when a recipe calls for like, a tablespoon of it for a recipe, because it does take awhile to make. And it's much easier to make a larger batch of it at a time. Thanks for posting this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Julie,
      It really is a timesaver--and since I get my garlic crop once a year it's also a way to ensure I don't end up with dried out husks (ok, I'm hearing this in the voice of the overly made up girl from the IT crowd FriendFace episode, which probably speaks to my nerd-ness).
      Anyway--thank you!

      Delete
  7. So incredibly delicious! Thanks for linking up with What's Cookin' Wednesday!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Karly,
      You bet--garlic & cheese is just an amazing combination.
      Thanks for hosting!

      Delete
  8. Garlic caramalised onion so many amazing flavors:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vidya,
      These flavors are just so good together!
      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete