Sunday, February 17, 2008

Quick and Easy Pizzas

There's nothing quite as delicious as homemade pizza. But making pizza dough from scratch is messy and time-consuming. Premade crusts are usually expensive or bland tasting and end up soggy after cooking from the pizza sauce and toppings. I've found an alternative crust substitute that's affordable, tasty, easy to use, and ends up being crisp and crunchy: frozen garlic naan from Trader Joe's.

Naan is a staple bread in central and south Asia and is a common menu option at Indian and Middle Eastern restaurants. It's a round flatbread made from white flour. Garlic naan, as you may have guessed, it naan baked with garlic.

The naan for sale at my neighborhood Trader Joe's runs $1.99 for four pieces, and each piece is the perfect size for a single-serving of pizza. In addition to the naan, I also buy all the other pizza ingredients at Trader Joe's, so I often refer to this pizza as TJ-Style Pizza.

To make one of these pizzas, you'll need about 5 minutes of prep time, 15-20 minutes of cooking time, and the following ingredients:
  • One frozen garlic naan slice per pizza
  • Pizza sauce of some kind. You may make your own, or use any commercial spaghetti sauce. I typically use Trader Joe's basil marinara base sauce, but I've used Prego in the past as well.
  • Cheese. Trader Joe's sells a four-cheese blend that includes Parmesan and asiago, among others. Occasionally, I add regular mozzarella cheese to this mix.
  • Toppings. Add whatever toppings suit your fancy. I like mushrooms, onions, and oregano. Every now I then I buy Trader Joe's frozen turkey meatballs, and cook and cut up one of those and put it on top.
To make the pizza, start by pre-heating the oven to 400 degrees. Next, get a baking sheet out, line it with aluminum foil, and give it a spritz of Pam cooking spray. Put the frozen garlic naan slice on the tray and then add the sauce. Next, put a thin layer of cheese and then sprinkle on the toppings. Finish the pizza off by adding another thin layer of cheese.

Once the oven's ready, pop the pizza in and let it bake for 15-20 minutes. After baking, let it cool for about 5 minutes, then enjoy! It doesn't get any tastier or easier than this!

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