Tasting Tuesday: Raspberry, Brie, and Goat Cheese Pizza

Hi, Friends,

I hope you are staying warm out there. After all of my complaining about it being 80 degrees in October, I am now eating my words because we had a sudden temperature drop and I am FREEZING! Anyway, I’m excited to tell you about this new pizza that I just made. One of my friends had a pizza party for her most recent birthday and asked that each guest make a unique pizza recipe to bring to the party. She cut all the pizzas into small pieces so everyone could try them and then handed out an award to the winner (I had to leave before the award was given out, so alas, I’ll never know if this recipe was a fan favorite).

This recipe touches on the concept of fancy parties and crostini. We frequently put soft cheese and fruit compotes all over crunchy crostini, but we don’t put the same thing on pizza crust! Even though crostini and pizza crust contain pretty much the same ingredients! I like the idea of making my pizza classy AND I like it that pizzas are very resilient to really anything, so I just piled a bunch of stuff on. There is no need to be exact with ingredients-just add things until the pizza looks pretty and tastes good. The crust definitely takes longer to bake than the toppings, so rolling it out and pre-baking for a few is a good idea. The rest of pizza baking is all about your preferences.

So, ready to get fancy with your pizza? I got this idea from the blog, Because I Like Chocolate, by the way. 🙂

Here’s what you need:

• pizza dough (I got pre-made rolls from Trader Joe’s)
• fresh raspberries
• brie cheese
• soft goat cheese
• blue cheese
• fresh arugula
• crumbled walnuts
• ½ cup whipping cream
• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper, to taste

And here’s what you do:

1. Choose your pizza pan. Do you want a rectangle on a baking sheet, a circle on a pizza pan, or a square in a casserole dish? The choice is yours!
2. Grease chosen pan and roll pizza dough flat to fit pan and be desired thickness.
3. Pre-bake the pizza dough for about 5-10 minutes at 475 degrees. Pull out of oven while still doughy and fluffy and roll out again if there are any lumps.
4. Melt parmesan cheese into whipping cream on low heat on stovetop. This is now your sauce. Pour over the partially baked pizza crust.
5. Now it’s topping time! Go crazy with the raspberries, brief, goat cheese, blue cheese, arugula, and walnuts! Sprinkle with salt and pepper! Pretty pizza!
6. Bake for another 10 minutes at 475 degrees, or until it looks done. Each type of crust, amount of toppings, and oven temperature will vary cooking time.
7. Cool, slice, and eat!

And now you know how to make fancy pizza! I’m planning a blackberry and herb pizza for my next party. Let me know what you think!