Like everyone we have spent most of our time at home since this pandemic back in March. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably spending a lot of time in the kitchen preparing meals, snacks, looking to make new recipes and family favorites more exciting. Especially these days when kids are off school for summer and a lot of us are staycationing at home. These are without a doubt strange and tough times, we are trying to make the best by vacationing at home doing different projects, playing games, cooking together, reading, watching movies etc. Having more time at home also means more time to experiment new recipes and being more creative in the kitchen.
We love homemade pizza and are always looking for new toppings that we’ve not tried before. A few years ago we invested in an outdoor pizza oven and it has come in very handy this summer. A lot of our meals are cooked outdoors and pizza is definitely one of them. If you’re familiar with my blog you know how much we love Mediterranean flavors. This pizza is insanely delicious and has that lovely Mediterrean vibe to it, not to mention healthy. I teamed up with Mezzette who have the most delicious, high quality range of olives, marinated and pickled vegetables, pasta sauces and all kinds of condiments to make delicious summer recipes. Today I’m using their marinated artichokes, olives and basil pesto to make this pizza that our family loves. If you don’t have a pizza oven or a grill, regular oven will work perfectly well. Get the heat up to 400 °F or more and you’ll have delicious pizza.
Pesto Pizza with Artichokes, Olives and Arugula
INGREDIENTS
- 1 jar Mezzetta basil pesto
- ½ jar pitted Mezzetta Castelvetrano olives, sliced
- 1 jar Mezzetta marinated Artichokes drained
- 8-10 oz pizza dough, homemade or store-bought
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella sliced or grated
- crushed red pepper flakes as needed
- Sea salt and black pepper as needed
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly torn
- 2 cups loosely packed fresh arugula
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest, from about 1 regular lemon
- 2 tablespoons toasted sliced almonds, optional
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 450° F or more with a baking stone if you have one or large greased baking sheet.
- On a lightly floured surface, stretch/push/roll the pizza dough out to form a thin 10-12 inch circle. Make sure the edges are a bit high.
- Transfer the dough on a parchment paper (for easy sliding) prepared baking sheet.
- Spread pesto on the dough and top evenly with olives, artichokes and cheese.
- Transfer to the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the crust is golden, the pizza had puffed a little and cheese is bubbling.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon zest, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. Add the arugula, basil, and sliced almonds, toss to combine.
- Remove the pizza from the oven and top with arugula salad. Sliced and Enjoy!
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