Sunday, September 12, 2010

Pizza? Or Chicken? Hum..what about pizza + chicken?

I bought a real nice 4 pound chicken today.  Man, it's a good looking chicken.  I was planning on roasting this bird to perfection tonight.  It's a skill I have--I actually CAN roast a chicken to perfection.  Thank the Grill Gawds and The Chicken Gawds for that Gift.  I'd be worthless without the Many Blessings of the Grill & Chicken Gawds.

But, whatever, I digress.  Anyway, I was planning on roasting a chicken but somehow I had a change of heart.  I decided to dive into pizza once again.  Afterall, I had a LOT of sliced and diced grilled chicken already sitting right smack dab in the fridge.  So, I decided to combine pizza AND chicken.  It wasn't real difficult.  First I had to make the dough.  At first I was perplexed.  Where could I find a warm place to let it rise a full hour?  Ah, The Zuki!  I put it in the little Zuki and the temp inside there had to be in the 90's and, sure enough, the dough doubled in 50 minutes.

Then I really greased my hands and my pans and let 'er rip as far as stretching that dough thinner than a dime.  I even used some cornmeal mix to put between the dough and the greased pan.  Then, I spread out the meanest pizza sauce you ever saw.  It was half a can of tomato paste, a lot of extra virgin olive oil, a single chipotle pepper (with no adobo sauce), a clove of garlic and a LOT of pizza seasoning and some specially seasoned black pepper grind.  I added enough water to make this all work and blended the heck out it it.  WHOA, Nellie, it was the best pizza sauce I ever made!

Once I got the dough spread thinner than thin inside an 8-inch diameter pan, I spread out the sauce and then layered on chopped red pepper, chopped red onion, sliced baby bella mushrooms and then a nice layer of the grilled chicken before finally topping it with a generous layer of pizza cheese (shredded Romano & mozzarella).  I baked it just right and the bottom of the crust as perfect both times.  The smell of this pizza was divine.  It's the same smell I hope to whiff when I get to the Pearly Gates!  It would prove to me that Saint Pete and Gawd love pizza, too!

Cheers, jp

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