Green pesto pizza
One of my many non-lethal but vaguely annoying health issues is an allergy to tomatoes. Despite this, one of my favourite foods is pizza. Now surely, you might assume, the tomato is an essential pizza ingredient? For ready-made pizzas bought in a UK supermarket, yes, but if you go to a real pizzaria in the real Italy, you will see that they broadly group them into pizze rosse ("red pizzas") and pizze bianche ("white pizzas"). As you might guess, the former are tomatoey, and the latter more cheese-based.

But there's still a problem with authentic Italian pizzas in that they can be a bit plain and dry, and while eating out in Italy is quite an experience I have to say I prefer the juicy, mushroomy, crispy-edged creations that have been tailored to the British palate. So how to recreate that without tomato? The answer (as you will have guessed if you read the subject line) is green pesto - yummy, oily and suitably Itlian, it makes for ideal pizza-glue.

Here's how it works:

Ingredients:

* Blank pizza bases - I find the Napolina brand to be the nicest; they are available everywhere - look out for black boxes.
* Green pesto - Now, another pitfall for me is that I am allergic to eggs and many green pestos contain eggs. Egg-free green pestos that I know of are Sacla Organic (a bit pricey, but probably the nicest), Sainsburys own (again pricey, and annoyingly oily) and Bella Italia (the best value. Has a more solid, paste-like consistency which seems a bit odd but tastes good enough).
* Meat - Normally I have tuna, but an occasional alternative is salami. You could also use chorizo, or maybe some cunning combination.
* Veg - Normally mushrooms and onions for me, but can be varied according to taste.
* Cheese - You can get mozzarella if you want to Italian it up, but I think mozzarella is a bit bland. Ordinary cheddar will do.

1) Chop up your veg. Toss it into a pan with a little oil and lightly fry it over a low heat. Some people will just add veg to a pizza raw and let the oven do the work, but it can come out a bit dry and underdone.
2) While the veg is sizzling away, take out your pizza base(s). Apply the pesto to the base. Assuming you're using the proper large 10" (or thereabouts) bases, you'll need about a third of a jar per pizza. Scoop the pesto out with a teaspoon and spread it evenly across the base using the back of the spoon.
3) Now might also be a good time to start preheating your oven. 180 degrees C should do it.
4) Add the tuna or salami to the pizza. I find a normal sized tin of tuna will do two pizzas.
5) By now the veg should be lightly cooked - we're not looking to burn it to a crisp here, just soften it up a bit. Add it to the pizza.
6) Add cheese to the top of the pizza. Now, you can grate it but I prefer to slice it. If you don't have one, I'd recommend you get yourself a proper cheese slicer. They are a really standard utensil on the continent but for some reason seem pretty rare over here. Much quicker than grating and easier to wash up too.
7) Pop it in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
8) Nyom.

The best thing about my green pesto pizza recipe is that it isn't just for allergic freaks like me. A while back I made a selection of small pizzas for some friends, half with tomato paste and half with green pesto. Everyone preferred the pesto ones. So why not make your own? It will be yummy.
( Photoshop Bitch 2014 edition, Tue 3 Jul 2012, 15:17, 15 replies)

I never understood why more people don't have cheese slicers
My family always had one throughout my life, still use the same one to this day! They make cheese on toast lovely and symmetrical!
( SauronWibble I'll hold it, you lick it..., Tue 3 Jul 2012, 15:30, closed)

You can peel
carrots with them as well.
(username failed moderation, Tue 3 Jul 2012, 15:55, closed)

Wait, that's not what I
came in here to say.

I came to say 'Pesto. Yuk!'.
(username failed moderation, Tue 3 Jul 2012, 15:56, closed)

Plus cucumber, makes very fine slices for One's sarnies, wot wot

( SauronWibble I'll hold it, you lick it..., Tue 3 Jul 2012, 16:00, closed)

Whilst you're at it
Why not learn how to make your own pizza dough?
( wakeupandsmellthebacon, Tue 3 Jul 2012, 16:31, closed)

...easy...
only takes ten minutes, cheap meal too
( SauronWibble I'll hold it, you lick it..., Tue 3 Jul 2012, 16:32, closed)

And make your own pesto as well because it is easy.
Even my niece can make it, and she's only seven.
(louveciennes , Volvospotter, Wed 4 Jul 2012, 21:34, closed)

Egg in pesto?
Have I fallen through into a different and utterly moronic universe this week? Or are you all complete fucking idiots?
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Tue 3 Jul 2012, 19:06, closed)

Some green pesto has egg in, some doesn't
This is true.
( Photoshop Bitch 2014 edition, Tue 3 Jul 2012, 21:14, closed)

The world has gone to bollocks.
I hold you entirely to blame. I hope a chicken fucks your face to death with its eggy cloaca.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Tue 3 Jul 2012, 21:28, closed)

Ha ha
The very thought of you having to move a muscle to find yourself in a 'moronic' universe . . . pretty funny.
(username failed moderation, Wed 4 Jul 2012, 10:57, closed)

Sainsbury's does a pizza base mix. It's hard to find but worth it.
Lets you add ingrediants tothe base, gonna try pesto in the base some time.
( Crap Little Monkey Deathstar, so good they built it twice, Tue 3 Jul 2012, 20:01, closed)

Pizza base mix?
Fucking hell. It's flour and fucking yeast.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Tue 3 Jul 2012, 21:29, closed)

What the fuck!
Go to a real pizzeria in real Italy and they are grouped into WHAT?!
Are you completely taken leave of your senses? Fine, if you want to bastardise a traditional recipe to allow for your allergies or intolerances, but don't try to pass it off as anything other than the mutation it is.
Go to a REAL Pizzeria in REAL Italy and you will be frowned at for being a fucking foreigner philistine for asking for anything other than tomato, basil and mozzarella on your pizza.

Also eggs in pesto? What moron makes pesto with eggs it?
(Figmaus, Wed 4 Jul 2012, 0:43, closed)

Hello
1) See here for more info on white pizza. Or alternatively do a google image search for pizze bianche for lots of images of tomato-free pizzas. Or go to Italy and visit a non-touristy pizzeria.

2) If you read my post a bit more carefully, you'll see that I specifically don't try to pass this recipe off as Italian-style and compare it to the more juicy English-palate pizza.

3) And I really don't know what kind of moron makes pesto with eggs in, but check the ingredients list of a selection of green pestos (other than the egg-free ones I mentioned) and you will see it there.

Hope that helps.
( Photoshop Bitch 2014 edition, Wed 4 Jul 2012, 19:35, closed)