Italian Inspired Pizza

I'm clearly in a "I miss Italy" mood.

This is my take on Italian pizza. I don't bother to make my own crust, I like Baboli's thin crust and, while making from scratch is MORE delicious, I'm a person who thinks that pizza is pizza and, to a certain degree, it should be easy to make and easy to eat.

Spending a LOT of time and energy on a phenomenal pizza when I could call and order one that's also delicious doesn't make too much sense to me. 

So, I pretty much never make my own crust. Unless I'm in the mood to really get into cooking that night while also craving pizza. But with a premade crust or at least premade dough, tossing some delicious toppings of your own making on is simple, quick, and phenomenal.

Plus, people get impressed for no reason. All you've done is chop and top and yet, people will rave for your pizza.

And yes, I do realize this pizza has no sauce. It has a LOT of chopped tomatoes though so, I just think of it as sauce in the raw. 

Enjoy!

Italian Pizza

-Pizza Crust

-Proscuitto 

-Hard, corrto, salami

-Artichokes

-Asparagus (optional, I put it on the pizza picture because I had some on hand and thought it added nice color and flavor but, easily can go without)

-1 carton grape tomatoes

-Shredded Mozzarella

-Olive Oil

-Italian Spices

(I like: rosemary, oregano, garlic, thyme, majorm. Or, McCormick's salt free italian seasoning)

-Salt/Pepper

-1 egg

First, layer meats on crust. Then add vegetables, diced to bite size, tomatoes cut in half. Use ALL the tomatoes if you can, will add rich but light flavor of a sauce without having a sauce. Drizzle entire thing with olive oil. THIS IS IMPORTANT IN CHANGING THE FLAVORS! DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THE FAT CONTENT, DRIZZLE LIGHTLY, DON'T DROWN IT, AND THEN DON'T WORRY ABOUT CALORIE COUNT! Add cheese to your liking (as you can tell by the image, I like and recommend extremely light cheese on this pizza because I don't want to drown the other flavors). Add spices. Break one egg over center of dough. Bake at 400 til Egg is cooked to liking- that's when you know it's done :)

And sure you can lose the egg. But egg adds a lot to the pizza flavors, especially if you cook it slightly runny so you can dip each piece and smear. It's delicious and a fun way to cook. The kids I nanny for get a kick out of an egg on their pizza. Just be a brave soul and give it a whirl.