Square Pizza - Two ways

I know I've already posted a recipe on some pizza I've made a while back but I figure, 

who doesn't love pizza.

I mean, really..

who doesn't LOVE pizza?

Bread, tomatos and cheese.

Sounds like heaven to me.

So I decided to post a couple more that I made for some friends.

~notice that only half of the BBQ Chicken pizza has chicken on it.
of course I wanted some, too!  so I left half 'vegetarian' so I could indulge as well~ 

As much as we all love the basics on our pizza,
 sometimes, there has got to be more than just tomatoes and cheese on your pizza.

Sometimes,
just sometimes...

there is BBQ sauce.

And chicken (if you fancy that sort of thing).

And sometimes, there is even cilantro and red onions.

In that case, we are talking about a BBQ Chicken Pizza which I'm pretty sure WOW's just about any one that you will be cooking this for.

People go nuts for this pizza.

It happens everytime I make it!

It's probably one of the easier pizza's you will ever make.

You buy your favorite BBQ sauce (or you can make it if you want to one up me on this one),

you roast or saute some of your favorite chicken (then shred it), you buy your favorite mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, cilantro, and red onions.

Then you spread it all on your pizza and you won't believe the flavor explosion!

It's absolutely delicious.

No.

Lie.

All men, women, children and pets will FLIP for this pizza.

Serious.

Then there's my personal favorite.

The Vegetarian.

I actually never like the vegetarian pizzas from pizza joints because they always seem to overflow their pizzas with all kinds of random veggies that I don't enjoy all at once.

And the veggies never seem to be cooked all the way.

And they are all watery and rubbery and ... blech.

Like for example, bell peppers on a pizza, in my opinion, are not ok.

I mean, I guess if they are roasted and caramelized and sweet and put with some goat cheese then it would be good.

But most places just throw the bell peppers on there and they come out all bitter and terrible.

Ewww.

So when I make a vegetarian pizza, I like to put just a few veggies on top as to not overwhelm the flavors of everything else the pizza has going on. 

Cuz believe me, this pizza has got FLAYYY-VAAA!

Here, I put zucchini, mushrooms and asparagus.

Before I bake the pizza, I do a couple of things...

I like to saute the mushrooms before topping them on the pizza and baking it. 

The zucchini I slice up pretty thinly and put on raw.

The asparagus is really thin and I cut it once in half before placing it on top. 

I put sun dried tomatoes on top for an extra little tang and then my favorite pizza is ready for the oven.
I bake it for about 15-20 minutes on 475, or until the dough is cooked through and the cheese is bubbly and golden.

When it comes out, I top it with freshly grated parmigiana reggiano cheese and freshly torn basil.

yum.

yum.

With pizzas, the possibilities are endless.

I used part skim mozzarella cheese and fontina.

I made my dough with this recipe minus the toppings.

I made a quick and easy tomato sauce like this:

I roasted about 5-7 tomatoes cut up, 1 sliced onion, 3 garlic cloves in olive oil with salt and pepper.

Put it all on a baking sheet on 500 degrees until tomatoes and onions are soft and caramelized, about 10-15 minutes.

Take it out and sprinkle some fresh or dried oregano and basil on top and puree the whole thing in a food processor.  Then slather it all over the fresh dough.

When I'm entertaining with pizza, I like to bake them on a baking sheet.

That way I get lots of pizza without having to roll out lots of individual round ones.

It cooks up beautifully, too.

And after all, square pizza is a fun change!

Be a square!