Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Chicken Pesto Pizza


I am IN LOVE with this Recipe. Well 3 recipes in one. Please try it NOW. So- delish. And guess where it came from... ya... the Sisters. They rock, huh? I think I may be their biggest fan. :)
They suggest you marinade the chicken and make the pesto the night before.This helps and makes it pretty simple to assemble this delicious dish.

Preheat Pizza Stone in 400° oven.  (NOTE: My pizza stone cracked, sad day! So... I used just a cookie sheet and it rocked. )
Roll out dough on pizza stone and layer pizza in this order:
Pizza
1) Pesto (LIBERALLY spread pesto over the pizza, so you can’t see the dough through it, and up on top the edges so the crusts will have pesto on them as well.)
2) Feta cheese (about 4 oz)
3) Red onion slivers (about 1/3 onion)
4) Chicken pieces (about 1 1/2 Grilled Lemon marinated breasts, petite diced and cooked)
5) Tomato slices (1-2 tomatoes, bite-sized slices)
6) Mozzarella cheese (to your liking)
7) Pine nuts (sprinkle over top)

Bake in 400° oven for 18-20 minutes.
Pesto from Barefoot Contessa.
I agree with the Sisters, decrease the olive oil to 1 cup to 1 1/4 cup olive for best results.

¼ c. walnuts
¼ c. pignolis (pine nuts- I found mine at Costco)
3 T. diced garlic (9 cloves)
5 c. fresh basil leaves, packed
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ c. good olive oil
1 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese

Place the walnuts, pine nuts, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Process for 30 seconds. Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube and process until the pesto is finely pureed. Add the parmesan and puree for a minute. (I added extra because I ♥ Parmesan) Serve, or store the pesto in the refrigerator or freezer with a thin film of olive oil on top. Makes 4 cups.
Pizza Dough
1 c warm water, divided
1 tsp sugar
1/4 oz package active dry yeast
3 Tbsp oil (olive oil or canola)
2 ½ c flour
1 tsp salt

Put warm water in bowl, mix in sugar & yeast and let proof until bubbly (about 10 mintues.) Stir in rest
of ingredients. Mix until a ball, knead 10 minutes. Put additional oil in bowl and let rise in oil bowl for 1 ½ hours.

Lemon Delish Chicken
Juice of one lemon (3 Tb lemon juice)
3 Tb oil
1 tsp minced garlic ( 2 medium-large cloves)
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper (fresh of course!)
½ tsp oregano
1 lb chicken breasts

Marinate chicken overnight. I dice it really small and then just pan-grilled it. It was delish just like the name I gave it! :)