Frustrated Blogger...and Fusion Pizza

Fusion Pizza

 

Sigh….so what do you do when Typepad loses an entire blog entry that you spent hours working on?  One with lots of pictures and recipes that are in your head and not written down?  You sulk and swear not to spend another hour on the computer….at least for a day.  I am patiently waiting to see if the amazing little Typepad elves behind the scenes can retrieve this lost entry and so in the meantime I’m going to share with you what I did with the second half of my roasted chicken.  If by some miracle I get my Roasted Rosemary Chicken entry back I will put that up, if not I will retype it when I’m in a better mood about it.  But, today you get my version of a Rachael Ray rollover meal. 

 

Funny thing, I’ve been cooking like this for a long time, just never had a name for it.  I always try and get two meals out of a roasted chicken, and this time was no exception.  My family knows when a chicken is cooking that the next night means BBQ chicken pizza, but this week they were in for a second treat.  By poaching two chicken breasts in addition to what was left over from the roasted chicken, I was able to not only make the BBQ chicken pizza but tried my hand at a chicken curry pizza as well…can you say yum! (Okay so technically the kids didn’t even try the curry pizza, but trust me if you like Indian food you will like this pizza)

After promising that if you would go ahead and purchase the curry paste for Indian Curry Roast Veggies over Spiced Rice I would come up with some other recipes using it, I felt now was as good as a time as any.  With fusion food (defined as combining elements of various culinary traditions while not fitting specifically into any) you can get away with experimenting new tastes and flavors that normally do not go together, so I thought what the heck, Indian and Italian can’t be too bad right…and I was feeling a little daring so thus I present you with two great homemade pizza recipes:

BBQ Chicken Pizza and Curry Chicken Pizza

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 package Martha White deep dish crust pizza dough mix (1.00)

½ of chicken, chopped (combination of chicken left over from roasted chicken and 1 extra breast) (2.50)

½ of red onion or yellow onion thinly sliced (.10)

½ to ¾ bottle of favorite bbq sauce (we like the honey bbq) (.75)

1 Tbs. dried oregano (PI)

1 Tbs. olive oil (PI)

2-3 cups shredded mozzarella and/or parmesan cheese (or blend of your favorite pizza cheeses) ($2.75)
½ to 1 tsp. red pepper flakes (depends on how much heat you like) (PI)

1 thinly sliced green onion (.10)

 

Directions:

Mix pizza crust dough according to directions on back of package.  While dough is resting, caramelize onions in olive oil being careful not to burn.  Remove from heat.  Instead of placing down in cake pan or pizza pan as directed, carefully roll dough out into a large baking sheet, avoiding making any holes in the dough.  Dough will probably not fill whole sheet, but this gives it a nice rustic look.   Be sure to prick dough with fork before placing in oven.  Bake dough according to directions.  While pizza dough is baking.  Combine your chicken with enough BBQ sauce to coat it.  Add in dried oregano.  When pizza dough is done baking (approx. 5 minutes) remove from oven.  Lightly brush surface of pizza crust with olive oil to edges.  Spread BBQ sauce over pizza crust leaving approx. ½ to 1inch around edge of crust without sauce.  Lightly sprinkle a small amount of garlic powder over BBQ sauce and red pepper flakes.  Top with ¾ of cheese, caramelized onions, chicken and green onion.  Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and bake approximately 11-13 minutes, watching that it doesn’t burn.

  
Total Cost for BBQ Pizza: $7.20

Curry Chicken Pizza

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 package Martha White thin crust pizza dough mix (1.00)

½ of chicken, chopped (combination of chicken left over from roasted chicken and one extra breast) (2.50)

½ of red onion or yellow onion thinly sliced (.10)

1 can diced Italian tomatoes (.69)

3-4 Tbs. mild red curry paste (add more if you like spicier curry) (.50)

1 Tbs. olive oil (PI)

2 cloves garlic (.10)

1 cinnamon stick (.05)

1 ½ cups parmesan cheese (1.97)

½ can of chick peas (.40)

½ to 1 tsp red pepper flakes (add more if you like more heat) (PI)

2 thinly sliced onions (.20)

Directions:

In a small skillet place ¾ can diced tomatoes without draining.  To this add two cloves of garlic, 1 cinnamon stick and the curry paste.  Bring to a simmer and then reduce heat to low and allow to cook for several minutes so that the flavors can incorporate together.   While this is cooking, mix pizza crust dough according to directions on back of package.  While dough is resting, caramelize onions in olive oil being careful not to burn.  Remove from heat.  Carefully roll dough out onto pizza baking stone or onto a large baking sheet, avoiding making any holes in dough.  Dough will not fill entire stone or sheet, but this adds to a nice rustic look.  Be sure to prick dough with fork before placing in oven.  Bake dough according to directions.   After removing pizza crust from oven, brush lightly with olive oil to edge of crust.    Remove cinnamon stick from sauce and discard. Mix a small amount of the curry/tomato sauce into the chicken, lightly coating the chicken.  Place the remainder of the sauce on the pizza leaving approx. ½ to 1inch around edge of crust without sauce.  Sprinkle red pepper flakes over sauce. Drain remaining diced tomatoes, and spread the tomatoes over the sauce.  Spread ¾ of cheese over tomatoes.  Top with caramelized onions, chicken and chickpeas.  Sprinkle remaining cheese over chickpeas and top with green onions.  Bake for approximately 9 minutes, watching that it doesn’t burn.

 

 
 Total Cost for Curry Chicken Pizza: $7.51

Both of these pizzas each serve 4-6 people so you definitely could make two of these for a group; especially if you added a salad.  You could never buy these types of gourmet pizzas for under $10 each and by making them yourself you know exactly what is them and more importantly who made them.  These are also going to be way lower in calories and fat.  Next time you are hungry for pizza, considering keeping these ingredients on hand and you can whip your own up in no time!

 

 
Enjoy!