Dish of the Week: Roasted Garlic-and-Spinach White Pizza

Since we were on vacation last week I didn't have a chance to post a dish of the week. So this week I am going to try and post two. This dish is another pizza for my garlic lovin' friends. I got this recipe from my March issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray Magazine.

Ingredients:

12 cloves of garlic (unpeeled)
4 tsp EVOO
1 tbsp cornmeal
12 oz refrigerated pizza dough
2 slices bacon, cut into 1” pieces
1 10oz pkg frozen spinach, thawed & squeezed dry
1 cup ricotta cheese
¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Place the garlic on a sheet of foil; drizzle with 1 teaspoon EVOO and 1 tablespoon of water. Seal and bake until soft, about 30 minutes; let cool slightly. Squeeze the garlic cloves from their skins into a small bowl; add 2 teaspoons EVOO and mash into a paste.

2. Meanwhile, grease a baking sheet with the remaining 1 teaspoon EVOO; dust with cornmeal. Stretch the pizza dough into a large rectangle and transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes; stretch again to almost fill the pan.

3. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 425°. In a medium skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat, stirring often, for about 5 minutes; drain and transfer to a plate. Add the spinach to the skillet and cook over low heat until warmed through; season with salt and pepper.

4. Brush the pizza dough with the garlic paste. Top with the spinach and dollops of ricotta. Sprinkle with bacon and mozzarella. Bake for 15 minutes, lower temp to 400° and bake until the cheese is brown and bubbling, about 10 minutes.

The Verdict:
This is a great pizza. I love that the garlic paste is the sauce. I would even recommend adding a little extra drizzle of olive oil before adding the other ingredients to the pizza. This was the second time I made this pizza and it came out better the second time because I only used a half cup of ricotta cheese. Next time I'll probably just omit it all together because we're not huge fans of ricotta cheese here. This is the Doc's favorite pizza I have made that isn't plain bacon & cheese! I have also made a chicken parm pizza that was really good but I need to make some modifications to that one as well.

Another deviation from the recipe is that I use a pizza stone when I make my pizza's. I am sure I have mentioned this before but if you don't have a pizza stone then you need to go out and get one. Not only does it make the best pizza, it is also fantastic for baking chocolate chip cookies.