At one time pizza meant tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and pepperoni. Maybe a few mushrooms or green peppers if you were feeling adventurous.
Not any more.
Not you can get just about anything on a pizza. If you can dream it, there is probably a pizzeria that will do it. Mango Tandoori Chicken, Pear, Gorgonzola Cheese, Jamaican Jerk, Crab, Lobster, Greek Veggies, Eggplant, Pesto, BLT and Shrimp are just a few of the ideas and choices available.
Often known as "California Style", these anything goes pizzas have taken the country by storm and show no signs of letting up.
One of the major players in this movement is the California Pizza Kitchen. And their bestseller is the BBQ Chicken Pizza.
Now you can make it at home.
Make at Home Version of California Pizza Kitchen's BBQ Chicken Pizza
Ingredients: (See first note below)
Chicken:
1/2 to 1 pound of boneless/skinless Chicken Breasts cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
2 tablespoons BBQ Sauce
Pizza:
1 basic Pizza Dough
Some Cornmeal, Semolina or Flour for easy handling of the Dough
1/2 cup BBQ Sauce
2 tablespoons shredded Smoked Gouda Cheese
2 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 cup Red Onion Pieces - sliced into 1/8 inch pieces
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Cilantro
Directions
Preheat the Oven to 500 Degrees (see second note below)
Cook the Chicken:
Fry the Chicken in the Olive Oil over medium heat until just cooked - about 5 to 6 minutes. Do not overcook.
Set in refrigerator until chilled.
Add the two tablespoons of BBQ sauce and toss to coat.
Set aside.
Assemble the Pizza:
Using a large spoon, spread BBQ Sauce evenly over the prepared dough.
Sprinkle Smoked Gouda over the Sauce.
Cover with 1 1/2 cups Mozzarella.
Distribute Chicken pieces over cheese.
Sprinkle onion pieces over top.
Bake the Pizza:
Place the Pizza in the Preheated oven and bake until the center is bubbly - about 8 to 10 minutes.
Remove pizza and sprinkle with Cilantro.
Slice and Enjoy.
Note: The amounts listed above will make a LARGE pizza (up to 18 inches.) If you crusts, oven or appetites are smaller, either halve the ingredients or make two pizzas using half the ingredients on each.
Note: The hotter you can make your oven, the better it is for cooking pizza. This is the major difference between Pizzeria pizza and homemade pizza. The professional ovens in a Pizzeria will crank up many times hotter than the average home oven. One thing you can do is to buy a good Pizza Stone. A Pizza Stone is a big piece of tile you stick on the bottom shelf of your oven and just leave there. It does several things to help with baking but mainly it holds and concentrates the heat, thus making the oven hotter and more efficient. This is especially good when cooking pizza.
