Top | Vegetarian Main Dishes

Pizza with Red Peppers and Black Olives

(recipe, Carrie Floyd)


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Introduction

I make this pizza a lot, mostly because I have the ingredients on hand and can put it together easily. Although I've described how to make two pizzas, I often make small individual pizzas instead.

Ingredients

  1. Olive oil
  2. 1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
  3. 2 red or yellow bell peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
  4. Pinch of red pepper flakes
  5. ½ cup Kalamata olives, pitted and halved
  6. Prepared pizza dough, such as Perfect Pizza Dough or Cornmeal Pizza Dough
  7. Prepared pizza sauce, such as Pizza Sauce or Pizza Tomato Sauce
  8. 2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated (part-skim is fine)

Steps

  1. In a large sauté pan, heat enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Sauté onions for about 5 minutes, until they begin to soften, then add the sliced peppers and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Cook the onions and peppers until they are browned on the edges and limp. Take off the heat and set aside.
  2. If you have a pizza stone, place it on the middle rack of your oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each disk of dough into a 12-inch circle, about ¼-inch thick. Transfer dough to a pizza paddle or a baking sheet dusted lightly with cornmeal.
  4. Spread a thin layer of sauce over the dough, distribute half of the cheese over the sauce, then half of the sautéed peppers and onions, and half of the olives. Slide the pizza from the pizza peel directly onto the pizza stone, or if you are baking the pizza in a pan, place the pan in the middle of the oven. While the first pizza is baking, prepare the second.
  5. Bake each pizza for 12 to 15 minutes, until the crust is crisp and the cheese has melted. Serve hot.

Note

Feel free to use your favorite prepared pizza dough (look for it in the refrigerated section of your market).