About 2 weeks ago, pizza dough was on sale, $1.25 each if you bought 5. Plus an additional $3.00 off if you bought 10. Even though I don't mind making pizza dough from scratch...you really can't beat $1.25 for refridgerated dough. So I've been scheming and dreaming of new pizza recipes.
Well...shrimp was on sale this past week too...16-20 count for $5.99/lb. That means there's 16-20 shrimp per pound. The higher the count, the smaller the shrimp; the smaller the count, the bigger the shrimp. I don't like itty-bitty shrimp, so I really stock up when decent sized shrimp is on sale. I only now have run out of the shrimp I bought up during Lent this past spring. I think if you really want to eat well and healthy in a recession, you can...but you have to pay attention and buy pricer proteins (like seafood) when they're on special. And using it on pizza (or with pasta) is a great way to make it stretch.
The kids love plain cheese pizza...I know...boring if you're an adult, right? Rebecca's favorite toppings are Canadian bacon and pineapple...which is also my favorite combination. David loves a real meaty pizza...sausage, ham, pepperoni, with red onions. But I wanted to make a white pizza this time...which is usually made with either an alfredo-type sauce, or no sauce at all.
Roasting the garlic doesn't make the garlic flavor stronger...it actually makes it very mellow, buttery, almost caramel-like. If you don't like the smell of roasted garlic in every room of your house...this is not the recipe for you. But I'm telling you right now...you're missing out ;-).
White Pizza with Shrimp and Roasted Garlic
1 head garlic
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 pound shrimp, peeled, deveined, rinsed, and patted dry
salt and black pepper
1 tube refridgerated pizza dough (I like Philsbury's thin crust)
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1/3 cup prepared alfredo sauce
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese
1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning blend
We're going to roast the garlic first. This is the easiest thing in the world!
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove as much of the thin, papery skin, but don't peel the individual cloves, or pull them apart.
Now use a small, sharp knife to cut off the tips off each clove. Just turn the head on its side and cut off a bit of all the cloves in the middle. There's a ring of cloves around the outside of the bulb, so you'll have to do those individually. Place a small sheet of aluminum foil under the garlic. Then pour 1 teaspoon of olive oil over the garlic, making sure to get a bit into each the clove.
Now wrap up the garlic bulb and place it in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until the garlic is completely soft.
Let the garlic cool while you cook the shrimp.
Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a large, nonstick skillet. Make sure the shrimp are very dry. Any residual water will make the shrimp "stew" instead of getting a nice sear. Season them with salt and pepper on both sides.
Now sear the shrimp for just 2 minutes on both sides. We don't want to cook the shrimp completely...a tad under done is fine. They'll finish cooking in the oven once we add them to our pizza.
Remove to a cutting board and let cool for just a minute. Cut the shrimp into bite-sized pieces if they were on the larger side like mine. I think pizza toppings should be small-ish so it's easier to eat.
The garlic should be cool enough to handle now. Use your fingers to gently squeeze out all the roasted garlic from the cloves. Cutting each clove with a small knife may help, but I didn't bother. Then mash the garlic with a fork...it's so soft, it's like buttah people!
Preaheat the oven again to 400 degrees (or whatever your dough directions say). Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray, and then sprinkle with the cornmeal. Roll out the dough and press it to the edges, or as much as you can. Spread with the roasted garlic, and then the alfredo sauce. Sorry I didn't take a picture until this point...I was feeding the kids their pizza and making the ours (the grownups) at the same time. The garlic will be a VERY thin layer, but you should have enough to cover the dough.
Now sprinkle on the cheese...
then the shrimp...
And then the pasta sprinkle...now that I'm on Penzey's mailing list, (and a regular customer) we got a voucher in the mail for a FREE jar of this stuff...and it's awesome on homemade pizza. An italian spice blend, some dried basil, or oregano would be fine too.
Bake the pizza for 13-15 minutes or until the top is lightly golden brown and the crust is nice and crispy on the edges.
Let stand for a few minutes before serving.
This pizza was AWESOME. The roasted garlic added a wonderful, creamy, mild flavor...you could tell it was garlic, but it was a deep, nutty, buttery taste. After doing more research on the internet, I can't wait to use roasted garlic with pasta, bread, homemade hummus, mashed potatoes, blended with cream cheese, soups, veggies...yum!
Allrecipes.com always has good recipes, so click here if you want more ideas. Let me know if you try any...I'll be trying some myself!
God bless your table tonight!
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