Naan Pizza

     Ciao, amici!  Sorry I've been gone so long; we had a busy week.  My squeeze's parents, my "out-of-laws," or, King and Queen, as I've come to call them, came down to old Milwaukee for a weekend of food, culture, and window treatment shopping.  This meant that my house became cleaner than it's ever been.  But honestly, having company is what it takes for us to do anything more than low-level maintenance.  

     So we had fun!  On the first night, I tried to recreate the seafood risotto I blogged about two weeks ago, we had some awesome Southern fare at Maxie's Southern Comfort on Saturday night, got two trips to Alterra in (one of my favorite places in Milwaukee), and then I whipped up some polenta and pasta sauce Sunday night for the final meal before they hit the road early this morning.  

 

     We also enjoyed two amazing theatre outings: Saturday night to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra's performance that included a 19 year old prodigy violinist who accompanied the orchestra through a Sebelius (Finnish composer!  We're all Finnish, if not by blood, than by marriage!) concerto, and then the full orchestra performed Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony.  If you've never been, I absolutely recommend it.  There's nothing better than live music performed by intensely talented musicians in a room so specifically designed to enhance the listening experience.  It was my first symphony and I loved it.  

 

     Then we attended the Sunday matinee performance of a hilarious show called "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged," which was so comically performed by three young men at hyper light speed.  There was audience participation, hyperbole, drama, and a tinge of political folly.  We were rolling.  Even our Doc Jones was (reluctantly) plucked from the audience, brought on stage, and coached into a hysterical Ophelia--whose scream I can still get goosebumps from thinking about!

     But anyway, you clicked on this link because I lead you to believe there was a recipe, right?  Right.  Let's get to that.  Last week, before the King and Queen's arrival, we made Naan pizzas.  But, what is naan?  I'm glad you asked.  It's a delicious, crusty Indian flatbread.  You can actually make it at home, which we haven't, or you can find it in most grocery stores' deli area.  

     The topping combinations for any pizza are countless, but there are a few things that I can't seem to get enough of: goat cheese, grilled veggies, and garlic.  Throw a little bacon and onion on for good measure, and you've got yourself one fine 'za.  I'm almost heartbroken to tell you that I bought pine nuts solely for this recipe, and forgot to use them.  Could've been overkill, though. 

     I began by making a garlic paste in my mortar and pestle.  This is pretty simple, it's just garlic gloves and salt smashed around until it looks like this.  Then I stir in some olive oil and spread it over each of the pizzas.

     Then I added the goat cheese.  Tip: buy crumbled goat cheese if you can find it; spreading the creamy stuff can be a little trying because it's so sticky.

     I sliced some zucchini, sprayed it with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and grilled (maybe 3-5 minutes each side, depending on the size and heat of your grill).

Then I topped it all with bacon, shallots, and crushed red pepper.  I should also mention that my preferred method of cooking pizza is actually grilling it.  Just make sure to keep an eye on it; I had the naan pizzas on for about 10 minutes on medium to medium-high heat. 

     I decided we should enjoy it with a bottle of my favorite Zinfandel, Edmeades. 

It was so dang good, it took us all of ten minutes to eat each of our pizzas.  I also garnished with a little bit of basil because I had it on hand.



     Seriously, this was the best combination of pizza flavors I've had: garlic, shallot, bacon, goat cheese, basil, baby bellas, grilled zucchini, crushed red pepper, and mozzarella--but you can do anything you want.  My best advice is to use what you like.  Maybe not peanut butter and olives on the same pizza, but let your appetite guide you!  Buon appetito!