Making Gourmet Pizza At Home - Salmon and Tzatziki Pizza

My friends and I made some really, really good pizza last night! Of course we had a couple of classics, like pepperoni and pizza margherita. But the gourmet pizzas were the big stars of the evening. In fact, the three gourmet-at-home pizzas were so good that I can only share them one at a time. Each deserves to be savored and appreciated on its own.


You know I'm crazy about thin and crispy crust and I like to make it myself, just to be sure it's perfect. I actually had four crusts in the freezer from last week's brick oven pizza party, which had been pre-baked -- the secret to great pizza at home. With one additional crust made from leftover dough and pre-baked before everyone arrived, we were ready to make five pizzas for the seven of us to sample.

Partially pre-baking the pizza crust is a good idea for so many reasons:
1. saves time
2. makes it easy for people to handle while adding toppings
3. easier in and out of the oven
3. assures a crispy crust, without blackened toppings
4. freezes nicely so any time is pizza time


This is Linda proudly showing off her pizza -- Salmon Pizza with Tzatziki. It was, quite simply, O-U-T-S-T-A-N-D-I-N-G! The recipe is based on one I found in a wonderful little cookbook, Delicious Pizza (publisher is Paragon Books Ltd, in the UK, but I couldn't find it listed at Amazon or Barnes and Noble - I picked it up at a discount garden center). I decided to add some feta to the other toppings and then I adapted Kalyn's delicious Tzatziki recipe for the topping. The result was just perfect. Really! Do I need to say it again? Make this pizza if you like salmon, or feta, or tzatziki. I guarantee you will love it! And if not, I will come to your house and take it off your hands.


SALMON PIZZA WITH TZATZIKI
(adapted from Delicious Pizza)
1 lightly pre-baked 10-12 inch pizza crust
2 small tomatoes, diced
2 shallots, diced
1 6-oz. salmon fillet, baked
2 oz. feta cheese, diced
Tzatziki – see recipe below

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Sprinkle the tomatoes and shallots evenly over the pizza crust, almost to the edge. Break salmon into small pieces with a fork and spread on top of tomatoes and shallots. Top the salmon with diced feta. Bake for 5-10 minutes, until crust begins to brown around the edges. Remove from oven and cool briefly before slicing. Serve with Tzatziki to spoon over pizza.

TZATZIKI
(adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen)
16 oz. Greek* yogurt
juice of 1 lemon
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely diced
½ tbsp. kosher salt (to salt cucumber)
2 tbsp. fresh dill, chopped
freshly ground black pepper

Place diced cucumbers in a strainer or colander and sprinkle with Kosher salt and let stand for 30 minutes to reduce moisture. After draining, press firmly with dry paper towels to blot out moisture. In a bowl, mix yogurt, lemon juice, cucumbers, garlic, dill and freshly ground pepper until well-blended. Check seasoning to know if any more salt is needed. Refrigerate for several hours before serving. Tangy and refreshing served with grilled meats, poultry or fish.
*Note: If you can't find Greek (Oikos, made by Stonyfield Farms, is my favorite) yogurt, you will need to strain regular yogurt through a coffee filter for about 30 minutes, to remove some of the liquid. Greek yogurt is much thicker than regular yogurt and makes a much nicer sauce.