Hi everyone!

So in case you didn’t notice before, I love me some pizza 🍕. I’ve been making good use of all the prosciutto I got last week by making pies like these. Here’s a couple different recipes to check out when you get a craving for some crust.

Cauliflower Crust Red Sauce Pizza with Prosciutto

You’ll need a cauliflower crust, a cup or so of cheese (I used a blend of different ones but shredded mozzarella is great too), a few spoonfuls of red pizza/spaghetti sauce – go for the pizza if you have it since it’ll be easier to spread but I didn’t have any so pasta sauce it is, a slice or two of prosciutto, a few leaves of basil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and olive oil.

Ok friends – this pizza is going to have a couple extra steps due to the different crust. Before starting to “dress” your pizza, you need to cook the crust first – it is very squishy and easy to break otherwise. With that being said, follow the directions on the back of the box to insure quality results but also watch it carefully too, as mine got a little too crispy on the edge for my liking and I wouldn’t have taken it out early had I not been checking on it. Take out the crust and let it sit while preheating the oven/toaster oven back to 425 degrees.

Now that we have that settled, here comes the best part: the toppings! Since the crust is not going to be the most flavorful part of the meal, these will certainly help with that. First, grab your sauce and spread an even thin layer across your crust. Then, add your cheese and make sure it is also spread evenly throughout the pizza as well. Next, take your prosciutto and tear a slice into pieces to put across the pizza. If you want to add a rose like mine below, simply take a whole slice of prosciutto and spiral it in your hand like a cone. Add that to the center of the pizza and put two basil leaves next to it to make it look like it has “leaves”. I will say as pretty as this looked it was very salty with both options so I would pick one or the other (rose or strips). If you do strips only, spread a few leaves of the basil across the pizza so you can still have that flavor. Another tip to add is that you could also just cook the cheese and sauce first, then add the meat and basil afterwards – you’ll get a stronger basil flavor this way and the meat tastes good either way.

Now that everything is added, pop it in the oven for 8-10 mins, again keeping a close eye on it since you’re now cooking the crust for a second time. Once done, remove from the oven and season to taste with all dry spices and a little bit of salt (remember it’s already salty from the meat). Top it off with a very little drizzle of olive oil across the pizza and voila!

Breakfast Pizza Topped with an Egg

For this pizza and the one following it, I used an actual bread crust this time so no extra cooking needed here. I used Naan flatbread since it’s super fluffy and doughy plus it’s easier to find than a plain regular pizza crust (and smaller so better for a personal pizza). What you’ll need here is one slice of Naan, one egg, 2 slices of prosciutto, a few slices of fresh mozzarella, grated parmesan cheese, a dash of pesto, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and olive oil. Preheat the toaster oven/oven to 425 for this.

While the oven is heating up, grab your Naan and start with a thin even layer of pesto, add your prosciutto on top and then add your mozzarella and parmesan. For the mozzarella, I used mini balls of it but if you have one big ball instead since its more common, slice it in four or more slices so it covers the pizza.

Cook for about 8-10 minutes and remove from the oven. While it cooks, throw your egg on a greased pan and fry until the clear egg white becomes white and the yellow yolk becomes more golden. Top the pizza with the egg and add all dry spices to taste along with a tiny bit of salt (mainly for the egg since the rest of the pizza will already be pretty salty with the meat and pesto). Drizzle a little bit of olive oil on top and enjoy!

Hard Cheese Pizza

This next one is a little different than your average pizza because the cheese is not soft like mozzarella and so will not spread out as much. This is basically the same ingredients as the cauliflower pizza but swap the crust for Naan and the cheese for a block of Pecorino or Parmigiano Reggiano (the king of cheeses, no wood shavings here) – If you want a nuttier flavor go for the parm. I only had pecorino so I went for that – I love both but prefer parm. Preheat the toaster oven/oven to 425 again.

Take your Naan and add a thin layer of red sauce, add one slice of prosciutto and cut up little bites of your cheese and add on top. You can also add basil either now or after cooking. Cook for about 8-10 mins. 

Once out, look at how the cheese has a nice little caramelized crust on it – it adds a nice woody flavor to it. Top with spices and a little bit of salt as well as a drizzle of olive oil.

That’s all folks! I think next time I’m going to throw in a couple “sauceless” pizzas with just olive oil as the sauce and see how it goes. Happy National Pizza day and save a slice for me.

See you in the next post!