cook: lemon pizza

I’d had dough gifted by Cecilia in my freezer for a couple months and spied the chevre in the refrigerator drawer earlier this week. Ah yes, one of my favorite white pizzas! Martha Stewart usually uses shaved parmesan, but I substituted goat for cow cheese. I didn’t want the pizza too bitter, and so I zested the Meyer lemon, which is softer and has more sugar than a cooking lemon like a Eureka, and then sliced into wheels and trimmed the white pith away. Next crumbled goat cheese and tiny thyme leaves. I had already parbaked the dough with lots of olive oil for 15 minutes and then back into the 400 F degree oven for another 15 more minutes to get hot and a little melty.                                  

My other favorite white pizza is garlic olive oil and shaved parmesan atop the same sourdough pizza crust popped into a hot oven to melt and crisp and then removed from the oven and immediately topped with salty prosciutto and baby arugula dressed in lemon juice and grated parmesan. The contrast between the hot bread and cool unctuous pork and crisp, tartly dressed greens is mind blowing delicious. Perhaps next week’s pizza will be another tomato less pie.