Oregon Transplant: Arugula Prosciutto Pizza

What is it about the holidays? There never seems to be enough time. I've been baking, pretty much non-stop, for the past 2 days. And I'm still not done! I guess this means the hubby and I will be mailing the cookies tomorrow morning instead of this morning. I've decided that I have to be ok with this, mainly because I'm not done. I should know better by now, 2 days is just not enough. Do you hear that, Future Jessica? 2 days is NOT enough!

We can only hope I remember that next year.

I wanted to have my cookie pictures done, so I could start sharing all the new (and delicious!!) recipes I've tried. But, c'est la vie, the pictures are not done. I'm gonna try my darndest to have those pictures ready for the rest of the week.

And what is needed more after you've been on your feet baking for 10 hours than a quick, delicious dinner?

Pizza. That's what.

This is kind-of a cheater recipe, because I used store-bought crust. Gasp! It's something I don't do very often. But I saw this variety, made by the same company that I like naan from, so I thought I'd give it a try.

2 thumbs up! It tasted great, and you can't beat the convenience. I had pizza in 15 minutes using this crust, and that's a win when you are short on time and energy.

This pizza doesn't have a traditional red sauce. Instead, it starts with a base of garlic and rosemary olive oil. I know, I know, you're thinking about how much I hate rosemary. I can handle rosemary in the smallest of doses, so this pizza is a-ok. After the garlic oil, you spread about 1/2 cup of ricotta on the pizza. Followed by cheese, glorious cheese-

I used fresh mozzarella. I heart fresh mozzarella :-)

It's a fairly simple pizza, in that you put it in the oven from there. Yep, just the herbed olive oil, ricotta, and mozzarella are baked on the pizza.

Then, when the pizza is out of the oven, you load it up with the arugula salad, prosciutto, and shaved parmesan.

All you gotta do now is slice and eat. Easy. Melty. Crispy. Yum.

And that's all folks! I've gotta leave you guys kind-of on the short side here, only because I have a million and one things to do. I have a million and one pictures to take, which means, you got it, a million and one pictures to edit. Argh! The holidays. You can see why they drive people crazy, yes? I feel guilty having used the time I did to bang out this short post, little as it was. Back to work!

Have a great day everyone!

Recipe adapted from The Food Network.

Ingredients (makes 1 pizza):

1 (12 inch) prepared pizza crust, such as Stonefire or Boboli
3 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
scant 1/8-1/4 tsp rosemary leaves, minced
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
4 cups arugula
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp Poppyseed dressing (sub your favorite store-bought Poppyseed dressing)
3 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
shaved parmesan cheese (for topping)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450º, with a pizza stone on the top rack.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, garlic, and rosemary. Spread olive oil mixture over top of crust. Spread ricotta over the top of the olive oil. Sprinkle the mozzarella evenly over the pizza. Place prepared crust on pizza stone. Bake in preheated oven for 6-7 minutes, or until cheese is melted, bubbly, and starting to brown. Remove from heat.
3. While pizza is baking, combine arugula, onion, and Poppyseed dressing in a large bowl. Toss to combine. Spread arugula mixture over pizza when it comes out of the oven. Top with prosciutto and shaved parmesan. Slice into eighth's, and serve immediately.

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