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Pistachio Pesto Pizza

A slice of pizza being lifted out of the whole pizza
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A creative take on the common pizza slice. Fresh herb and pistachio pesto will liven things up for your palate.

  • Author: Veg Girl RD
  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Cook Time: 15 mins
  • Total Time: 45 mins
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x
  • Category: Dinner
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegetarian

Ingredients

Scale

Pizza

  • 1 pound pizza dough (I used Essential Baking Company’s The Essential Pizza Original Pizza Dough)
  • 1 recipe Pistachio Mixed Herb Pesto (see recipe below)
  • 4 ounces low moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese, grated
  • 1 ounce Pecorino Romano cheese, grated on a microplane grater
  • 1 large tomato, sliced or diced (about 1 cup)

Pistachio Mixed Herb Pesto

  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley (it’s OK to have a few stems)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme (it’s not OK to have a few stems)
  • 4–6 fresh sage leaves
  • 1 teaspoon dried tarragon leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
  • 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
  • 1/3 cup roasted, unsalted pistachios, shelled
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

Instructions

Pizza

  1. Preheat oven to 450° and if you have one, place pizza stone on center rack.
  2. Remove thawed dough from wrapper, set on a floured surface and let rest for 30 minutes. While dough is resting and oven is preheating, make pesto.
  3. Roll dough into a ¼-inch-thick circle or to match the size of your pizza stone (mine is 13 inches across). Place dough on pizza peel (if you’re going to bake on a pizza stone) or large baking sheet/pizza pan sprinkled with cornmeal, to keep it from sticking.
  4. Spread pesto over dough to within 1/2 in of the edge. It’s going to be a pretty thin layer and I find that a small offset spatula is perfect for spreading if you have one. Sprinkle with cheeses.
  5. Use peel to scoot pizza onto stone or place baking sheet/pizza pan in the oven. Bake time will vary, but start checking after 8 minutes. It may take up to 14 minutes. You want the cheese and crust to both be golden brown.
  6. Cut into 8 slices.

Pistachio Mixed Herb Pesto

  1. Put all ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor. Pulse until coarsely chopped.
  2. With the food processor running, drizzle in the olive oil until incorporated and pesto is thick and spreadable.

Notes

The pesto makes about 1/2 cup and is adapted from Alton Brown’s recipe. Because you’ll probably have extra herbs on hand anyway, you could double the pesto so you’d have the fixings for a quick pasta dinner the next time you were in a hurry to get dinner on the table. I’ve also used it here with great results:  Focaccia with Spiced Pears, Pesto and Brie.

In the interest of calories, I’ve kept the cheese on the lighter side which means your pizza won’t be as ooey-gooey as you’re used to. That’s why I specify using a microplane grater if you have one. It helps a small amount of cheese go a long way over a big surface.

The recipe calls for unsalted pistachios but you could use salted if that’s what you have. I might just add less salt to the pesto to compensate.

 

Nutrition

Find it online: https://www.veggirlrd.com/pistachio-pesto-pizza/