So, last night, before attending the 3rd annual Psychedelic BBQ & Bike Party in the Milk District, we (Marisa, the fab Chris, and the wonderfully manly James, and I) stopped off at The Social Chameleon, a lovely local and luscious tapas restaurant, featuring mouthwatering pizzas and refreshingly cheap beer. After spotting a seven cheese flatbread pizza on the menu, I decided that I would love try my hand at a cheese pizza that was not only healthy but deliciously simple. So, I set forth…
Knowing that cheese alone would lead to what would more accurately be called a quesadilla from death, I chose to diversify the simple canvas by adding sundried tomatoes, basil, and caramelized garlic (I also chose to use goat cheese as the capstone—creamy cheese on a pizza is truly dreamy!).
After purchasing the ingredients below, I set out to turn these singleton ingredients into a pleasure fest of flavor. Note: the garlic and sauce I used are not pictured.
I began by sautéing the garlic—I could take my time with this as I was waiting for the use of Chris’s camera (thanks, Chris!). I placed ½ tsp. of olive oil in a pan with ¼ cup of white wine. I set the heat to medium and walked away for 10 minutes. When I returned, the wine had all but evaporated, so I turned the heat down to low and continued sautéing (with about a tablespoon more of wine) for another 10 minutes. There is something warming and comforting about sauteing garlic--the smell permeates the house, but to me, it is not an unpleasant smell, but the smell of real cooking--like the kind poor people have been doing for years. Garlic makes mundane, bland food become a feast, a celebration of the palate.
After sautéing the garlic, I began the process of putting this legendarily delicious pizza together.
I took one Flat Out flatbread (I work, people, no time to make flatbread from scratch). I use the Mutli-grain plus Spelt variety as I love the extra bit of heartiness. I took two tablespoons of spaghetti sauce (that’s it; wet Flat Out = FAIL) and spread it over the flatbread; I love saucy pizza, so I made sure to reach each of the sad, dry corners.
Then, I spread ½ of approx. ¼ cup of six cheese Italian blend I had measured out previously over the surface of the crust. At this point, using a ¼ tsp measuring spoon, I spooned small pebbles of roasted garlic 1/3 reduced fat Chevre cheese over the surface of the crust.
At this point, were I making a strictly cheese pizza, I would have stopped, but the pull of freshly picked basil from our downstairs community garden and the sweet tartness of sun-dried tomatoes called to me, and I invited these two to the party.
Finally, I sprinkled the garlic pieces over the surface of the pizza and spread the remainder of the ¼ cup of cheese over the rest of the pizza. As a finishing touch, I added crushed red pepper and a bit of salt to the surface.
To bake the pizza, I placed it into a preheated 450-degree oven for 10 minutes. After which, I marveled at the delicious goodness I had just created. I felt invincible! 100 feet tall…then I felt hungry, so I ate half of the pizza.
At times, I would still rather have my delicious pizza made by others, but in this case, I was thankful that I’d given it a shot. Yum!
7-cheese Sundried Tomato Basil Flatbread
1 Flat Out flat bread
2 tblsp. Chevre roasted garlic goat cheese
¼ cup of Sargento Six-cheese shredded cheese
1/4 cup of white whine
2 tablespoons of spaghetti sauce (1 fresh tomato will do here as well—just be sure and remove the excess moisture and seeds)
julienned sundried tomatoes (I will say ¼ cup—probably less)
6-8 large basil leaves
2 garlic cloves
salt
crushed red peppers
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