A NEW TWIST ON PIZZA

photos by Sumi L.

Last week I wanted to make pizza, but didn't want to use tomato sauce as the typical first layer. So I decided to use chopped spinach as a base and then put on my toppings of choice. The pizza came out well and it was breeze to make.

Note: This version easily becomes vegetarian with the omission of the sausage or ground turkey.


Spinach Pizza
serves 3-4

olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 16 oz. package, frozen, chopped spinach
salt to taste
1 12-inch whole-grain pizza crust
Italian sausage (your choice), crumbled and cooked, or, about 1/3 pound ground turkey sauteed and seasoned with chopped garlic, salt, pepper, oregano
grated mozzarella or crumbled feta cheese
sliced red onion
dried oregano

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a 10-12 inch frying pan, pour some olive oil and lightly saute garlic 1-2 minutes. Add spinach, stir occasionally until softened and cooked. Add salt to taste. If necessary, drizzle more oil over spinach. With a large spoon, spread spinach mixture over pizza crust up to the edges. Top with sausage or turkey, cheese, red onion. Sprinkle with oregano. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until cheese is melted and the crust is golden.

Other variations might include:
tomatoes
cubed pineapple with red onions
sliced olives

When I make pizzas, I always think of contrasting colors, such as green topped with red, or red topped with white etc. It's also fun to experiment with different types of onions from yellow to white. How about just a spinach and onion pizza? Or white on white--white onions, white cheese (goat, feta, mozzarella), and then a bold dash of oregano? The sky's the limit when it comes to making this American favorite!

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