Jesse's Pizza

As a self-diagnosed food addict, I realize that I am at high risk for also being afflicted by food snobbery. And in some ways, I welcome it. However, I actually do make a conscious effort to not let it "go to my head." (Thighs or love-handles, sure...go ahead.) I've asked my friends to slap me if I ever make a dish with gold leaves or foam. (No offense to those of you who use these ingredients. I know they have a time and place. I just don't think it's very often...) As I've mentioned before, Portland is a mecca for high quality grocery stores and markets that offer high quality ingredients, so when you're lucky enough to get something naturally fabulous...don't mess with it! Here's a great recipe that lets your awesome veggies shine. It's healthy, flexible, simple, AND always delicious.

First of all, one of my favorite Food TV pastimes is making fun of Sandra Lee with my mom. (Please also slap me if I ever start coordinating my outfits with my kitchen decor.) That being said, she does have a point. There is nothing wrong with taking short cuts if they don't take away from the quality of the result. If you are lucky enough to have a Trader Joe's in your town, check out the refrigerated section for their fresh pizza dough. You can buy it in plain, whole wheat, and garlic and herb, and it's always really good. This is short cut #1. For Jesse's pizza, we like whole wheat. (But if you think whole wheat dough is sacrilege, go ahead and use whatever you deem appropriate.) While we're talking about TJ's, their Mediterranean hummus is also chronic. Yes, chronic. We love it. We should probably buy stock in it. This is short cut #2. You can make homemade dough and homemade hummus for this recipe if you want, which I've done, but it's a lot more work and honestly, not THAT much better...

So here's what you need:

-one ball of fresh pizza dough
-your favorite hummus
-your favorite vegetables
-feta cheese
-your favorite herbs

What? I said it's flexible! OK, more accurately, here is what I used for this recipe:

-one ball of TJ's fresh whole wheat pizza dough
-Oregon crimini mushrooms
-Roma tomatoes
-Washington sweet onions (eat your heart out, Vidalias!)
-fresh spinach
-broccoli florets
-low fat crumbled feta cheese
-dried oregano
-freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
-freshly ground black pepper

Roll out the dough and spread with hummus. Top with veggies, cheese, oregano, and black pepper. Bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until the crust bubbles up and browns and the toppings begin to caramelize. Serve with crushed red pepper flakes and sea salt. We make this at my house almost weekly, and it's literally different every time. It's like a salad, but it's pizza, so it's fun!


(This is called Jesse's pizza because Jesse actually invented it. He would probably bathe in hummus if he could.)