Pizza for the busy I-don't-have-time-for-no-knead-pizza type #1

I adore pizza, and after growing up eating Falco's Pizza (Psssst! Don't go to the downtown location, go to the original in Cicero) and other Chicago pizzas (besides the tourist traps that are Uno's and Lou Malnati's) I can't imagine ever trying to eat Pullman pizza again. Let's just say our options are the major chains (Little Caesars, Pizza Hut, etc.) and local CRAP (Pizza Perfection/Pizza Pipeline--shouldn't the names alone be a sign?) so I often make pizza at home when the craving hits me. The only problem? No time to make my own dough. Refrigerated home dough works just fine for this grad student/teacher/editor extraordinaire.



Ian and I had been craving pizza, and while when I eat out in Chicago I usually order sausage, I had some chicken that needed to be used. After perusing some posts on tastespotting.com for pizza sauce ideas, I found Laura Flowers's blog and was astounded--she's from Moscow, Idaho!!!!! That's my stomping grounds!!!! After pumping my fists in the air 80's love ballad-style, I decided to make her pesto cream sauce for a chicken pizza. The sauce was incredibly tasty, but I did adjust a tiny bit.


For the pizza making, I spread the sauce on two refrigerated pizza dough forms, and then added shredded chicken, shredded homegrown basil, chopped roasted red bell peppers, and mozzarella.



Here's my revamped version of Laura's awesome Pesto Cream Sauce for Pizzas:

Pesto Cream Sauce
Original source: http://www.thecookingphotographer.com/2009_04_01_archive.html




Pesto Cream Sauce
1 tbl. unsalted butter
3/4 cup fat free half and half
1/4th tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons prepared pesto (I used homemade--I'm sure Laura did too, but it's worth mentioning!)
1 1/2 tbl. grated Romano Cheese

Mix all the ingredients in a sauce pan. Stir constantly until consistency is desired.