Tonight was pizza night at our house and I had so much fun coming up with this recipe.  I had a vision of a pizza with no red sauce and ricotta cheese.  What I came up with is a pizza with an olive oil and garlic sauce, marinated artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes and ricotta cheese, sprinkled with a bit of freshly grated parmesan cheese.  My husband loved, loved, loved this pizza.  He originally said he was going to eat the pepperoni and mushroom pizza I had made for him and Kylie. As it turned out, he loved the artichoke and sundried tomato pizza so much, he only ate from that one.  It was really good!  The crust turned out very crispy, which I love.  It was thin and crispy.  This pizza actually felt like a really healthy dinner option.

I went to Home Goods last week and piked up a couple of new pizza pans.  I have two pizza pans that I always use, but wanted to look for pans that have the ventilation holes.  Let me tell you, this was the secret to a crispy and not soggy crust.  I’m so glad I grabbed these pans when I was there.  They had two left on the shelf, and I bought both of them.

For my pizza sauce, I mixed together olive oil, fresh garlic, kosher salt, crushed red pepper and oregano.  This was so flavorful!

For the toppings, I used about 6 artichokes from a jar of marinated artichokes and about a quarter of the jar of sundried tomatoes.  I placed about 10 dollops of ricotta over the pizza and finished it with freshly grated parmesan cheese.  Not too much, I didn’t want an overly cheesy pizza.

Ingredients

Artichoke, Sundried Tomato, and Ricotta Pizza

• 1 fresh pizza dough (I used Trader Joe’s)

• 6 marinated artichoke hearts, chopped

• 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes

• ricotta cheese, 10 teaspoons

• parmesan cheese, grated, 1/8 cup

Sauce

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

• 1/4 teaspoon oregano

• Directions

Set dough out on a bread board, with a bit of flour to keep it from sticking, for 30 minutes to let rise.

While the dough is rising, prepare your pizza sauce.  In a small bowl, mix together olive oil, minced garlic, kosher salt, crushed red pepper flakes, and oregano.  Set aside.

Stretch your dough on a pizza pan and bake in a preheated 475 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.  Take crust out of the oven and spread your sauce over the top.  Add your toppings to the pizza finishing with the freshly grated parmesan.  Put back in the oven for another 10-12 minutes.  Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris