When I lived in Brooklyn, there was a pizza shop down the street that sold Caesar salad pizza that was fantastic. You could even trick yourself into thinking it was healthy. So last night, we recreated this meal, with chicken on one side for A, and vegetarian on the other side for me. I adopted the recipe from Notions and Notations of a Novice Cook, though I found the directions for the dough were a little off. Pay attention to my dough instructions to figure out what will work best for you.
Ingredients:
1 head of Romaine lettuce
1 cooked chicken breast fillet, sliced
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, plus a drop or two more, to taste
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 oil-packed anchovy fillet, finely chopped
Directions:
1. Wash and spin the salad leaves. Set aside.
2. Whisk all dressing ingredient except the oil. And then gradually whisk in 1/4 cup olive oil so that it emulsifies. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Don’t toss the salad yet to prevent the leaves from wilting.
4. Cook the chicken in whatever way you like. We grilled A’s.
Pizza assembly:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. If the pizza dough is homemade, roll it out into a 12-inch circle. Place on a baking sheet or pizza stone. If using store bought pizza dough, just place it on a baking sheet. There is no need to bake it.
3. There are two options here. I followed Notions and Notations of a Novice Cook’s direction, which says:
Brush crust with the dressing and top with the mozzarella cheese. Bake for about 5 - 8 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Remove from the oven and place on a cutting board.
But after doing this, I found that I had to cook my storebought dough for far longer than 5-8 minutes. By the time the dough was cooked (about 15 minutes), I felt the cheese had cooked a little too much. Next time, I will:
Cook the dough with nothing on it for about 10 minutes. Take out dough, and then brush crust with the dressing and top with the mozzarella cheese. Put the pizza back in the oven until dough has lightly browned and the cheese has melted.
4. While the dough is cooking, toss the lettuce and grilled chicken slices with about 2 tablespoons of the salad dressing in a bowl.
5. Top pizza with the salad and cut into wedges. Top with freshly ground pepper or pepper flakes if desired. Serve immediately.
