Sun Dried Tomato, Spinach and Shrimp Pizza

As I mentioned here I cooked for an Italian family style restaurant in my first job and every lunch break I ate pepperoni and black olive pizza. I did that for almost two years and I never tired of it. Nor have I tired of pizza. I find bread, red sauce and cheese to be one of the most perfect combinations ever created.

Yet, over the years I have slowly gained respect for thin crust pizzas (Mazzatta's pizza was typical Sicilian style, a thick crust). And more recently I have become a convert to pizza without the red sauce, which I never thought would happen. It turns out that a cheese pizza with the addition of vegetables and the key ingredient of goat cheese is a wonder all to itself.

This version uses Peter Rheinhart's perfect crust and having a couple bags of it in the freezer allows me to indulge my pizza cravings far to easily. This version was made with what I had on hand: a few cooked shrimp, some fresh spinach and oil cured sun dried tomatoes. Hard to go wrong with those toppings!

Sun Dried Tomato, Spinach and Shrimp Pizza

1 pre-made pizza dough
1/2 cup mozzarella, shredded
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
2 oz goat cheese, crumbled
2 cups fresh spinach, washed well and chopped
5-6 sun dried tomatoes, cut into strips
6-8 cooked shrimp
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 450. On baking sheet, sprinkle coarse corn meal (or grease with olive oil.) Stretch dough as thin as possible without tearing. Sprinkle mozzarella, followed by parmesan cheese. Scatter shrimp and sun dried tomatoes, sprinkle goat crumbles around. Sprinkle freshly washed spinach with water still clinging to leaves. Bake until crust is browned and cheese begins to brown. Remove from oven and salt and pepper (the spinach appreciates it) allow to sit a minute. Cut and serve.

Hugs!