Gourmet Pizza Recipes

Pizza is only an open sandwich that can be mashed up at home. You can use leftover chicken, ham, bacon, or even baked vegetables and top them with Swiss or Parmesan cheese instead of mozzarella.

While making a gourmet pizza, keep the following in mind:

• Even if it is your favorite sauce, spread it sparingly enough to cover the dough; else the pizza would have the flavor of ONLY the sauce.
• For the topping, decide on a main topping and one extra topping. For instance, cooked chicken pieces would go well with black olives.

• Use only one or two types of cheese. Do not use diet cheese as it would not melt quickly or well. Though mozzarella cheese is the most favored one, you could try using Cheddar, Swiss, Parmesan, or Monterey Jack cheese.
• You can use a pre-baked pizza base or make the base at home.

Using pre-baked crust saves time. Here is a simple recipe to make a grilled chicken pizza.

Ingredients

• 1 large pizza crust
• 2 cups grilled chicken (shredded or cut into small pieces)
• 1 cup broccoli (sliced)
• 1 cup Mozzarella cheese
• ½ cup Swiss cheese
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation
Start preparing by preheating the oven at 400ºF. Smear oil on the crust of the pizza and lavishly sprinkle the grilled chicken over it. Now arrange the broccoli above the grilled chicken. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the broccoli and bake it for 8 to 10 minutes.

When the cheese starts to melt, remove the pizza from the oven and sprinkle ½ a cup of Swiss cheese. Bake the pizza for 5 to 6 minutes or until the cheese turns brown. Serve hot with chili flakes or oregano powder.

Note: There are many ways to grill chicken and you could choose the one that best suits you.

Here is a simple recipe to make a ham and feta cheese pizza.

Ingredients

• 1 large pizza crust
• 1 cup Feta cheese
• 1 cup Mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup sliced ham (you can also use leftover ham)
• ½ cup pizza sauce of your choice
• ½ cup mushroom (sliced)
• ½ tsp. each of crushed oregano, red pepper and basil
• Salt to taste

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. On a greased pan, place the pizza crust. Smear the pizza sauce over the crust. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese evenly over the pizza and arrange the sliced ham over the cheese. Sprinkle the mushroom slices.

Over the mushroom, sprinkle the feta cheese evenly. Sprinkle salt, oregano, basil, and pepper over the cheese and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the cheese turns brown and the crust is crisp.

If you are a vegetarian, you could replace the ham, bacon, and chicken toppings with vegetables.