A Thyme To Eat: Summer Veggie and Chicken Pizza

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Summer Veggie and Chicken Pizza

So it is the middle of the summer. We have hit day 26 of 100 plus degree temperatures in a row. I have forgotten what rain is like. I know, I live in Texas, I should expect this in the summer, but for some reason, this summer feels hotter and longer and I am just ready for it to be over! So, in an effort to look at the bright side of things, I made a summer grilled veggie pizza the other night, and indeed, it helped soothe my summer woes. It was fresh, light and yummy! A perfect lazy Saturday night dinner. I hope that you enjoy it too!

I utilized a mandolin to cut my veggies. It is an essential tool to have in a cooking kitchen, as it slices very thin, evenly and quickly (and more safely than I can cut with my poor knife skills). I also used a pizza stone, it honestly does make a difference in the texture of the crust and the timing of the cooking. Because you pre-heat the oven with the pizza stone inside, the stone is evenly heated, and therefore, when you place the pizza on the stone, the pizza is also evenly heated and thus no spots that are over or underdone! Both of these cooking devices were given to me by my mom! Thanks mom!

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Ingredients:
1 Pillsbury pizza crust
1 thinly sliced and grilled zucchini
1 thinly sliced and grilled squash
1/2 cup of sweet corn
2 breasts of grilled chicken, cut into bite sized squares
1/4 cup of reduced balsamic vinegar for drizzling
1/2 cup sliced Parmesan cheese for sprinkling

Steps:
1. Grill the thinly sliced zucchini and squash (I used the indoor grill as it was just too hot outside). You just want to get light grill marks so that the veggies start to soften and gain some flavor. I brushed mine with olive oil and sprinkled salt and pepper.
2. Grill the chicken and dice into bite sized pieces.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. If using a pizza stone, then place the pizza stone in the oven during pre-heating.
4. Once the oven has preheated, carefully remove the pizza stone from the oven with oven mitts (or just use a cookie sheet with non-stick spray or cornmeal to prevent sticking) and unroll the pizza dough onto the stone with some cornmeal between the stone and dough.
5. Quickly add the prepared ingredients: Evenly spread out the zucchini, squash and chicken. Then sprinkle the corn over everything and then finish with a heavy drizzle of reduced balsamic vinegar and shaved Parmesan cheese.