SPINACH & FRIED EGG BREAKFAST PIZZA (SERVES 2)
Believe it or not this is week 5 in the 52 week pizza challenge, and the first of 2009. To usher in the New Year this week's selection should be easy to digest. Just in case some one out there still has a...ahem..."sensitive stomach" left over from all the celebrating. This would be a welcome addition to any brunch. Happy New Year!
CRUST
Use one third of pizza dough (enough for one medium pizza)
SAUCE
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
- 1 garlic clove - minced
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 ½- 2 bunches fresh spinach - washed and coarsely chopped
- ½ of a 15 ounce can diced tomatoes - including juice
- ¼ cup red onion - chopped
TOPPINGS
- 4 strips bacon
- 1 cup cheddar cheese
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3 pastured eggs
Preheat oven to 500°. Shape your dough into the desired shape, adding as little flour as possible. Poke several small holes in the crust with a fork to prevent bubbling. Transfer pizza dough to whatever, pan, stone, etc you will be using for cooking, set aside until oven is preheated. Fry bacon over medium heat in a large skillet, cooking until desired crispness. In a separate medium sized skillet add EVOO, once hot add garlic. Stir until fragrant, add spinach, and pepper flakes. Sauté spinach until it is wilted. The oven should be preheated now, brush crust with olive oil, and cook for 5 minutes.
Once spinach is wilted, remove from heat and strain off any excess water. To spinach pan, add spinach back, tomatoes and red onion. Stir to combine; this will be the "sauce".
Once pizza has cooked for first 5 minutes add the spinach sauce mixture layer first, followed by cheddar and mozzarella cheese. Place pizza back in oven for 10 minutes more, or until edges are browned.
At this point the bacon should be cooked. Remove bacon from heat and roll up in a paper towel to remove excess grease, set aside. Now fry the eggs. Heat medium sized skillet over medium-low heat. Once hot, add butter, when butter is melted crack 3 eggs, one at a time over saucer, removing any shells, and slide eggs from saucer into buttered skillet. Cook on one side, covered, about 5 minutes.
Remove pizza from oven and top with bacon and fried eggs. If you are not spelling something, it would be appetizing to crumble bacon on top and serve eggs on the side.
If you would like to view the other weeks in this series click here.
