Chimmichurri Pizza

I had some left over chimmichurri sauce laying around and decided to create a Pizza!  The pizza has a homemade crust, chimmichurri as the sauce, herbed harvarti cheese, grilled chicken and roasted red pepper. 

Pizza Crust:

1 tlbs instant dry yeast
1c. warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tlbs vegetable oil
2 1/2 - 3c. All Purpose Flour

1) In a large bowl dissolve yeast with the warm water
2) Add the sugar- Mix
3) Stir in the Vegetable Oil
4) Add one cup of flour and stir until incorporated
5) Add another cup of flour and the salt, mix until incorporated
6) Add enough of the remaining flour until the dough is easy to handle and not sticky
7) Shape the dough into a ball

Note: The Salt should be added with the second cup of flour to keep it away from the yeast because it prevents the yeast from rising as well if added near the beginning. 

Put the dough in a bowl greased with shortening.  Roll the dough top around the bowl so that it is covered with the shortening and cover loosely with plastic wrap.  Leave the dough to rise; double in size.  This will take up to an hour.

You may want to make the sauce earlier in the day or the day before to let the flavors blend but it is not necessary.  The sauce is simple and to some extent needs to be done to taste. I don't have a lot of pictures for this just the finished product since the left over sauce was my inspiration for this pizza.

4 cloves garlic
1 tsp red chili flake
1/2 - 1 tsp salt ( add half a tsp first and more at the end if needed)
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
2 each bay leaves
1 tlbs extra virgin olive oil
1 sprig oregeno, stemmed
1/4 bunch Italian Parsley
1/2 shallot
1 tlbs red wine vinegar
1 tlbs lemon juice ( I used more)
3 tlbs extra virgin olive oil

Procedure:

1) Puree first 6 ingredients in blender
2) Add next 5 ingredients and pulse until bright green and mostly smooth (taste at this point and determine if you need more salt; you can also add a little water to the mixture)
3) Drizzle in remaining 3 tlbs extra virgin olive oil

Preheat your grill at this point.

What you need:

2 chicken breast
plastic wrap
meat mallot
Salt and Pepper

Trim the chicken breast.  Place a piece of plastic wrap over the chicken on a cutting board and flatten the chicken.  Season both sides with salt and pepper.

Take a  papper towl and dip it in oil and grease the racks before adding the chicken and bell pepper to the grill.

Place chicken on the grill and cook until it reaches 165 degrees or is firm to touch.

Char the bell pepper on all sides on the grill.  When pepper is done; place in a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap for 15 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

1) When dough is doubled punch down and transfer to a pizza sheet. 

2) Spread the dough to the edges of the pan.
3) Place crust in oven and bake for 15 minutes.


You can use a pizza stone if you would like.  I chose to use one of my bigger round pizza pans so that the crust would be thinner and crispier. 

Bell Pepper:

1) After 15 minutes of resting in a tightly sealed container, remove bell pepper and peel the skin off with your fingers.
2) Once the skin is removed cut open the pepper and remove all of the seeds.
3) Cut the pepper to the thickness of your liking, I cut it julienne

Chicken

1) Slice Chicken and set aside

Cheese

1) Grate your cheese.  I used herbed havarti because that is what I had on hand.  You can use plain havarti if you would like or another cheese of your liking.

After the crust has pre baked for 15 minutes it should have a little brown on top.

Remove from the oven.

Add the Chimmichurri sauce.

Next add the cheese.

Then add the chicken and roasted red bell pepper.

Place back in the oven and bake for another 15 minutes.