The Pig & the Goat Pizza

So a pig and a goat walk into a bar....and wouldn't you know I googled pig and goat bar jokes and came up with nothing remotely funny? I suppose that doesn't matter because this pizza itself fills the void of a good raunchy joke any day. Besides, is it even appropriate to make a raunchy joke when talking about food? This isn't a rhetorical question, someone really needs to answer that question for me.

Even if I could somehow come up with a funny pig and a goat in a bar joke, it wouldn't apply here because the pig was the sacrificial swine that pretty much makes this pizza worth eating in its entirety [let me be clear, pizza is always worth eating in general, but not always in its entirety by 1 person in 1 night]  so the goat would've been on his own, therefore ensuring whatever joke could result would most certainly be too raunchy for a food blog. So I guess I just answered my own question. Rauchy jokes+food=no bueno.

Meatless Monday: Roasted Pepper & Onion Pizza

Do you know what I love about pizza? Well aside from the obvious reasons [cheese, crust, CHEESE]. It's the fact you can make a pizza with just about anything so long as you have a some form of crust and bountiful cheese [do you see a pattern here?]. Seeing as how pizza has been a recurring theme on this here blog, it should come as no surprise that I've created yet another pie of epic deliciousness, and literally with everything that was inside my refrigerator which somehow turned out to be vegetarian.

Really it all started with some green peppers that I bought at the farmers market and then forgot about, even though they had been sitting in plain sight for a whole week. Well it's not so much that I forgot about them, as that I had no time to cook, what with all the simultaneous car shopping and apartment hunting that was wreaking havoc on my life for a few weeks.

Bruschetta Pan Pizza

I freakin' love pizza, as indicated here and here. I love pizza so much I wanna marry it [and have an illicit affair with bacon during the duration of our marriage]. So it should go without saying that pizza gets made in the Eat, Read, Rant home fairly regularly. And now I'm on a quest to create the perfect pan pizza. I will admit, I'm not the most creative person in the world, but then again, I'm a purist, so simplicity in creation suits me best. Hence, my bruschetta pan pizza, it's simple, quick, and damn good. Oh yeah.

Ingredients
1/2 giant pita
Pesto
fresh mozzerella, sliced OR cheddar, goat cheese, and fresh parmesean
1 medium tomato, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
4-5 leaves fresh basil, thinly sliced
Olive oil
Sea salt
Black pepper

Prepare your bruschetta by mixing tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil salt and pepper together in a bowl. Set aside in refrigerator. Spread a thin layer of pesto on one side of the pita. Add pita to skillet with layer of olive oil, pesto side up. Layer cheese(s) and bruschetta topping on pita, turn on medium-low flame and cover skillet with lid. Rotate pita around in pan to avoid burning on the bottom*. Once cheese is melted, remove from heat immediately. I made this pizza two different ways, one with just mozzerella, the other with the three cheese blend. I can't decide which I liked better because they were both awesome.
*I add a few drops of water to the hot pan to create steam and speed up the cheese melting process and further prevent burning.

Pan Pizza

Now that summer is unofficially here, I've had to vow to NOT turn on my oven until the temperatures drop to 60, and by the time that happens, I won't be in my current apartment [if I speak it, it will happen]. Which means I've had to get a little creative when it comes to making one of my favorite foods, pizza. I honestly could eat pizza every week of my life and be quite happy.  I've been having a grand time experimenting with pizza varieties during the last week.

Basic Building Blocks
to make an awesome pan pizza at home, I recommend the following ingredients, always

Pita bread--I found these giant pita's at Wegman's, which I like because half a pita is the perfect serving size for me, and a whole pita feeds two
Mozzarella-- its a must have for pizza because its melts so well
Any variety of cheddar--mozzarella is pretty bland by alone, cheddar adds great flavor, and the more cheese, the merrier
Parmesan--I just personally love fresh parm, but it is expensive so its negotiable
Olive Oil--because it has great flavor and its good for you
Tomatoes--not tomato sauce, just sliced tomatoes. Trust me on this
[sea] Salt and [fresh cracked] Black Pepper--the basic seasoning for ANY dish
Heavy frying pan--not non-stick.

pardon me looking a hot mess

Margherita Pizza
It's one of my favorite pizza varieties, its pretty hard to mess up.
Just add fresh basil* to the base ingredients and this is the one instance where mozzarella alone is all you need.
*I bought a fresh basil plant last Tuesday. I threw away its withered remains yesterday. Dead in less than 7 days...I think I've set a new record

3 Cheese Pesto with Caramelized Onions
This was really REALLY good. I kinda threw everything was in my fridge that sounded pizza friendly onto one pita, and what I ended up with was awesomeness.
Start with your base ingredients, all three cheeses included. Add caramelized onions [which I forgot to blog about, my bad, recipe found here], jarred pesto sauce [which I will discuss in further detail soon], and baby arugula.

 The Process
Hey mambo, mambo Italiano! Actually it's so easy, a caveman could do it...

Coat your pan with a layer of olive oil, turn on heat (medium-high), place pita in pan and swirl it around the bottom of pan to ensure the bottom is fully coated [not saturated] with oil . While bottom of pita is browning, drizzle olive oil on top side of pita, spread around with a (spoon, food brush, whatever you got), crack some pepper and a little bit of salt on top side. Flip pita over when bottom is browned and slightly crisp, and reduce heat to low-medium. Arrange all your pizza toppings on pita. Place lid over pan.  Because pitas aren't completely flat, occasionally rotate your pita in pan, to avoid burning in spots.  When cheese is melted and pita crust is crisp, remove from heat.

Cut, serve, and enjoy. I sure did, about 4 times in the last week, yum!

So tell me, what's your favorite type of pizza? What would you eat as often as possible and never tire of?