More pizzas

We had our friends Kurt and Dar over for dinner last night and we made more pizzas. Heh, what can I say, it's cheap and a crowd-pleaser.

Along with a standard pizza with yer basic toppings, we did a sort of "shrimp pad thai"-inspired pizza and a beet, goat cheese, and pistachio pizza. The former was a big hit, the latter was alright but was kinda dry and seemed like it was missing something. Maybe some other kind of cheese?

Sorry, no pictures, but approximate recipes below.


"Shrimp pad thai" pizza

• 3/4 lb uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp peanut oil
• 5-6 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 Thai chile peppers, minced
• 3 scallions, chopped
• 4 Tbsp chopped cilantro
• 1-2 Tbsp Thai green curry paste
• 1 14-oz. can coconut milk
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1/2 cup finely chopped peanuts
• 3 Tbsp basil chiffonade
• 1 med. orange or red bell pepper, sliced into rings
• small handful of bean sprouts
• your favorite pizza crust

Combine shrimp, soy sauce, 1/4 cup peanut oil, half of minced garlic, and about a third of minced chile peppers in a medium bowl. Toss to coat. Place in refridgerator to marinate.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 2 Tbsp peanut oil over medium heat and add scallions, half of cilantro, and remaining garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic and white parts of scallion start to soften, about 3-4 minutes. Add curry paste and stir until aromatic, about one minute longer. Add coconut milk. If desired, dilute with some chicken broth (I kindof wish I had done this...). Simmer until flavors start to combine, about 5-10 minutes. Add fish sauce and 1/4 cup chopped peanuts, and simmer a little longer, about 3 minutes. Add basil and remove from heat. Set aside.

Preheat broiler. Remove shrimp from marinade and place on broiler pan. When broiler is ready, place shrimp six inches from heating element and cook until starting to caramelize on the outside, about 3-4 minutes per side. Remove shrimp and set oven to 425 degrees.

You will probably want to pre-cook the crust a bit, as the ingredients on the pizza don't really need to cook much and there is no cheese to melt. When crust is fairly close to done, spread enough of the sauce on crust to cover it, and then evenly distribute bell peppers, bean sprouts, and shrimp over crust. Top with remaining 1/4 cup chopped peanuts. Bake about another 5-10 minutes, being careful not to let the peanuts get burnt. Remove from oven and sprinkle with remaining cilantro.


Beet, goat cheese, and pistachio pizza

• mixture of extra virgin olive oil and minced garlic¹
• 2-3 medium beets, roasted and then chopped into 1/4" cubes
• ~3 Tbsp goat cheese, crumbled
• 1/3 cup finely chopped pistachios
• 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped pea greens
• your favorite pizza crust

Spread olive oil and garlic mixture over crust to cover. Evenly distribute beets, goat cheese, and pistachios over the crust. Sprinkle Parmesan over top. Bake until crust reaches desired crispness. Sprinkle with pea greens just before serving.

¹I've started experimenting with mincing a bunch of garlic and putting it in a jar in the fridge with extra virgin olive oil -- you know, kinda like that jar you can buy at the supermarket, only way better because it's homemade from fresh ingredients with no preservatives or other funky shit. If you don't have this on hand, it should be fine to just spread the olive oil on the crust followed by a reasonable amount of minced garlic.


So, a couple problems with these recipes: The Thai pizza was delicious, but too heavy. As I mentioned in the recipe, probably it would be better to dilute the coconut milk with some chicken broth. Possibly also using low-fat coconut milk might be a good idea. Also, be warned, it's a bit spicy.

The beet pizza was interesting but a bit dry. Mariah thinks maybe adding some fontina cheese would have improved it. I had mozzarella on hand, but I think it would have been weird. Also, although I enjoyed them, Mariah didn't care for the raw pea greens on top. To each his own...