Oh my , you're running out of time to create a meal. what to do !!! call for delivery ??? or prepare this yummy , simple and healthy pizza!!!!
Gourmet Chicken and wild Mushroom Pizza (I)
Home made pizza dough, or store bought frozen bread dough
Home made or store bought jar of basil pesto
2 tbsp of sun dried tomatoes
1/3 cup of Kalamata olives
2 cups of sliced roasted chicken
1 cup of sliced wild mushroom
If you have the time to prepare your dough:
3 cups of unbleached flour, ½ tsp of salt (I add wheat and white flour)
¼ cup of olive oil
1 ¼ warm water + 2 ½ tsp of dry yeast + 1tsp of sugar or honey
Dash of mahleb spice (optional – can be found at Middle Eastern Store, gives the dough a nice flavour and aroma)
Add the oil and salt to the flour and mix well by hand to combine and the oil is distributed , what I do I grab some flour and rub it between the palm of my hands so I don’t have lumps and at the same time you help the oil and flour to combine. I learned this trick from my mom.
Add the yeast and sugar to the warm water, stir to help dissolves quickly, when it starts to rise, add it to the flour and knead by hand to combine and turns to nice smooth dough, put it in a well oil bowl, cover and let it rise in a warm place.
Prepare your stuffing for the pizza:
Since I do my own pesto in the summer, using organic basil and pine nuts and pure olive oil, and a squeeze of lemon juice to keep the bright green color, I don’t add the cheese to the pesto during the preparation time, instead I add the cheese when iam serving . The cheese turns the pesto to a dark color.
Cut the chicken into small pieces or cubes, pit and slice the olives, clean and slice the wild mushroom, and cut the sun dried tomatoes into small pieces.
When the dough rises, prepare your pizza pan, and on a flour wood board, sprinkle some corn meal, and start turning your dough by hand and stretch, I don’t like to use a rolling pin, if you are good, you can throw the dough in the air couple of times to stretch it, other wise use your fingers turn and stretch keeping it round as much as you can, I dip my hand in some oil, it helps working with the dough. Brush the surface with pesto, sprinkle the chicken, mushrooms, olives and sun dried tomatoes, and bake in a hot 425F oven for 15 minutes, then take it out and sprinkle the cheese on top and return it to the oven to continue baking.
serves 4
To save time you can use store bought bread dough and jar of pesto, and jar of pitted sliced olive
Enjoy.
