Mama’s Greek Chicken Pizza

I LOVE pizza.  It incorporates some of my favorite food groups:  starch, fat, salt . . . . but I will confess to you that I don’t make pizza at home very often.  One of my big issues with at-home pizza prep is the crust.  I’m a control-freak and I like my own crust the best, but it’s time-consuming.  I cannot stand Boboli and the like – too bready and tasteless.  So when my friend M. started raving about Iggy’s pizza shells, I sat up and took notice.  For those of you not familiar with Iggy’s, it’s a Cambridge, Mass. company that makes fantastic breads.  These pizza shells are sold in a 1.1 lb. package with 2 shells – plenty of palatte for pizzas for a family of 4.  They’re thin and fresh and they cook up crispy on the bottom, with just the right amount of doughyness left behind.  It is, hands-down, the best pre-made crust I’ve ever had.  I will definitely buy it again.

So between the Iggy’s shell and this post on Macheesmo, I was fired up to make my own pizza.  These measures below are approximate – you can tweak them to your liking.  The result is a hearty, flavorful, inventive pie that had D. making those happy snuffling noises he’s so famous for . . . they’re the signal that he’s tucked into something really delicious.

Greek Chicken Pizza

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Put the lemon juice and olive oil in a medium-sized bowl and whisk to combine.  Add a bit of salt and pepper, and place the chicken in the bowl to marinate for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the spinach in a covered, microwave-safe bowl and cook for 1 minute.  Stir and cook 30 seconds more, if needed, until the spinach is wilted.  Uncover and let sit to cool slightly, and then squeeze all of the moisture out of the spinach. Chop it coarsely and set aside.

Get all your other ingredients ready.  Meanwhile, remove the chicken from the marinade (discard remaining marinade) and place it in a large skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook for approximately 3 minutes per side, or until no longer pink in the middle.  Remove from the pan and cut the chicken into ½-inch chunks.

Put your crust on a cookie sheet (line it with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray for easy cleanup and pizza lift-off).  Spread some olive oil in a thin layer over the pizza crust.  Sprinkle the mozzarella evenly over the crust.   Continue with the spinach, onion, chicken and feta. Sprinkle the dill over the top, and add a sprinkle of salt (go easy, the feta’s salty) and a few grinds of pepper.

Put it in the oven and bake until the top is lightly browned, approximately 25-35 minutes.

Makes a light meal for 4.  Serve with a tossed salad with a lemon/olive oil vinaigrette.

8 Great Ideas For Pizza Toppings

1. Layer smoked salmon, fresh dill, rinsed capers and red onion atop ricotta cheese and drizzle with extra virgin olive
2. Top tomato sauce with mozzarella, bits of freshly cooked, thick-cut bacon and red onion
3. Barbecue sauce topped with chicken and crumbled bleu cheese, garnished after baking with baby arugula dressed in a bit of extra-virgin olive oil, Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4. Top bottled peanut satay sauce with grilled chicken, grated mozzarella, slivered green onions, shredded carrots and chopped cilantro, and a little more mozzarella on top
5. Naked crust topped with red onions, grated mozzarella cheese, black beans, corn-off-the-cob, grilled chicken, chopped cilantro and more mozzarella. After baking, top with salsa, sour cream and guacamole.
6. Prepared pesto sauce topped with grated Parmesan, artichoke hearts and grated fontina cheese
7. Sauce-free crust layered with havarti cheese, topped with par-cooked asparagus and wafer-thin slices of proscuitto.
8. The sky’s the limit!

© 2010, Sarah. All rights reserved.

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