P.I.Z.Z.A.

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Roasted Garlic and Ricotta Pizza

I am a huge pizza fan and I tend to make pizza once a week. Once tomatoes are fully in season that number will probably go up quite a bit! It’s such an easy quick dish to throw together and there are so many amazing pizzas you can create. Most grocery stores sell pre-made dough now if you are weary of making your own. I love garlic and the roasted garlic and ricotta give this pizza a bit of a sweet, softer taste which I love!

Ingredients:

1 head of garlic

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

1 (8 ounce) can of crushed tomatoes

1 clove garlic, diced

¼ cup olive oil

1 Tablespoon oregano

½ Chili pepper, dried (or 1 tsp dried red pepper flakes)

Sea salt, to taste

Pizza dough

 1 (8 ounce) container part skim or low fat ricotta cheese, drained

½ cup shredded mozzarella

8 fresh basil leaves

Fresh basil, sea salt and dried chili pepper!

To Roast Garlic:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F
2. To roast the garlic take an entire head of garlic and cut off the tip of the head, exposing the cloves.

3. Brush cloves with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Wrap in aluminum foil and place on cookie sheet or straight in the oven.

4. Bake for 45 minutes. Open foil and let garlic cool for about 10 minutes. Once cooled the roasted garlic cloves can be easily squeezed from their skins.

To Make Pizza Sauce:

1. In a saucepan heat olive oil and add in garlic to sauté. Pour can of crushed tomatoes. Bring tomatoes and oil to a simmer and add oregano, chili pepper and salt. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes, or until sauce is reduced. Let cool to room temperature.  

To Make Pizza:
1. Roll out pizza dough onto cookie sheet or pizza stone. After you have removed garlic cloves from their skin spread head of garlic onto the dough. Place in oven and bake about 5 minutes, or until dough is starting to crisp.

2. Remove dough from oven and spread the ricotta. Next spread the sauce on top of the ricotta and sprinkle with mozzarella and basil.

3. Place in oven and bake for 7-10 minutes (depending on your oven).

4. Serve immediately