Pizzettas- A little dish that carries big flavor

Pizzetta means "little pizza" in Italian. It's a perfect vehicle to use up bits of cooked vegetables, meats and cheeses. This recipe is amazingly easy to pull together and have dinner on the table in a flash. I am sharing 2 recipes, one that I recently made for tv and one I got from a restaurant in Honolulu from a cooking demonstration there. The second one works best on the grill for those upcoming warm days of spring.

Pizzetta

Chef's note: 2 tablespoons of Tomato paste can be a quick stand-in for pizza sauce.

Ingredients:

Pizzetta Shells: Makes 2 8 inch Pizzettas

1 cup self-rising flour

1 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt

Toppings for 2 pizzas

1/2 cup pizza sauce or tomato sauce

4 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced and cooked

1/2 cup bell peppers, sliced thin and cooked

1/8 cup chopped pitted olives

1 teaspoon nutritional yeast

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (or plant-based cheese)

4 tablespoons Parmesan Cheese (or plant-based equivalent)

4 tablespoons of jarred pesto

1 tablespoon of cornmeal

Preheat oven to 450F

Instructions:

Mix self-rising flour and yogurt together to make form a dough. Knead for 2 minutes until smooth and pliable.

Divide dough in half and roll or press out onto a floured surface. Roll or press until the shell is about 8 inches.

Sprinkle cornmeal on peel or pan and place the shell on the cornmeal to keep it from sticking.

Spread half of the sauce on each shell, followed by half of the rest of the ingredients. Bake for 10-12 minutes until cheese is bubbling. Take out and let cook for a couple of minutes before cutting.

Pizzettas on the Grill

This recipe is adapted from the famous Indigo Restaurant in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Makes 4 individual pizzettas

Ingredients

¼ cup olive oil

2 large onions, thinly sliced

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 ½ Tablespoons brown sugar

1 ½ Tablespoons cider vinegar

1 ½ teaspoons garlic, minced, plus 1 tablespoon

Salt and pepper to taste

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, diced small

2 Tablespoons sweet Thai chili sauce

6 Tablespoons chopped cilantro, divided

2 tubes 10 ounce pizza dough from they refrigerator case in the grocery store

3 large plum tomatoes, seeded and diced (1 ½ cups)

1 cup shredded mozzarella

1 cup shredded Swiss cheese

1 cup shredded provolone cheese

Instructions

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat, add onions and saute until soft, about 2 minutes. Add garlic, brown sugar and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook until a golden brown color about 30 minutes.

In the same pan, place chicken thighs sprinkled with salt. Add additional garlic and cook for 3 minutes or until firm. Add chili sauce and cook an additional 2 minutes coating chicken as it cooks. Add 3 Tablespoons of chopped cilantro and take off the heat. Let cool to room temperature before adding to pizza.

Preheat grill to medium and keep lid closed until ready to use. Stretch dough from tube and cut in half to form 2 small pizzas. On a cutting board, sprinkle a generous amount of cornmeal and stretch dough as far as you can without tearing it. Open grill and slide dough off the cutting board onto the grill, turn down the grill to low and close the lid. About 5 minutes later, the dough will start to puff up and develop golden grill marks on the bottom of the pizza shell. Take the shell off of the grill and turn it over on a generously coated cutting board with cornmeal.

Add the caramelized onions, chicken, tomatoes and cover with cheese. Slide back onto grill and let cook until cheese melts and bottom of pizza is cooked about 5 minutes or longer. When ready slide the cooked pizza back on the cutting board and sprinkle with remaining cilantro. Cut into slices and enjoy!