Justin and I stayed at a bed and breakfast in southern Maryland on the bay last weekend. We biked, ate seafood, hiked, relaxed, visited a couple of wineries, and just had a great time. We had planned to stop at a restaurant on our way home yesterday, but we were just too tired to find activities to do until dinnertime, so we headed home early. Knowing that we had a pizza shell and leftover grilled chicken in the freezer, we stopped at a farm stand to get some veggie toppings. We ended up with some beautiful tomatoes and a fine looking bunch of spinach.Since we brought back with us some leftover red wine from Cove Point Winery, I decided to make a sauce. I started with some onions and garlic, added diced tomatoes and spices, and simmered it in red wine until the mixture was reduced and very fragrant. It turned out to be quite flavorful and made the perfect amount for one pizza. Use this sauce on your favorite whole wheat pizza dough recipe or store-bought shell (I prefer Trader Joe's).
For toppings, we kept it pretty simple: cheese, tomato, spinach, and grilled chicken. Sometimes less is more. The flavor of the sauce is what really makes the pizza, so the toppings were light and fresh to enhance the sauce. We love to put goat cheese on our pizza -- the creamy richness adds so much to the other flavors!
Sauce
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Quarter of a medium onion (about 1/2 cup), diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium ripe tomato, diced
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 tablespoon oregano
salt and pepper
Heat oil in small saucepan over medium heat. Add diced onions and minced garlic, cook for about 4 minutes until onions are tender. Add tomato, oregano, salt, and pepper. Let flavors cook together for about 2 minutes. Add wine and simmer over medium-low heat until most of the liquid has evaporated (about 10 minutes).
Toppings
About 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
About 1/2 cup goat cheese
1/2 of a medium ripe tomato, sliced into half moons
leftover grilled chicken (about 1/2 breast) cut into strips
2 cups loosely packed spinach, rinsed
Preheat oven according to package/recipe directions (if using a Trader Joe's crust, preheat oven to 450 degrees). Steam spinach until wilted. Brush edges of pizza shell with olive oil. Spread sauce over shell, add cheeses, tomato, chicken, and steamed spinach. Bake according to package/recipe directions (Trader Joe's pizza shell says to put pizza in oven on bare rack, reduce heat to 425 degrees, and bake for 10-12 minutes).
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