Appetizers, Pizza

Speck and Mustard Green Pizza

Jul 8, 2014 by Gabriele Corcos

DIFFICULTY

Pizza is the perfect template for being creative with food. You can pretty much put anything you want on the dough, sweet or savory, bake it and at the very least it won’t be bad and it’s always a lot of fun. To make it really good, however, can be a little trickier.

Pizza is a great vehicle for trying new and unique flavor combos, but generally I like to stick to the what works and pair ingredients on top of pizza that I would normally prepare together when not used as topping. Sausage and peppers, eggs and bacon, mushrooms and prosciutto, or in this case speck and mustard greens. The salty, smoky, bitter combination of the meat and greens when cooked together in a skillet are delicious but when baked in a wood fired oven on top of a crispy dough the pairing is simply magical and a great way to not only try a different pizza but get in your veggies.

Serves: 4 pizzas / Prep time: 15 minutes / Cook time: 10 minutes

1 bunch mustard greens, washed well
All purpose flour, for dusting
4 (12 ounce) ball pizza dough, room temperature, recipe follows
Extra virgin olive oil
8 ounces mozzarella, grated
4 ounces fontina, grated
6 ounces thinly sliced Speck

1Preheat wood fired pizza oven to very hot 4 hours before cooking.

2Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the greens and cook about 3 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Chop into large pieces.

3Sprinkle some flour on your pizza peel. Using a rolling pin, stretch your dough to a very thin 10-inch round.

4Drizzle olive oil on crust, leaving an inch crust. Sprinkle with ¼ of the mozzarella and a handful of fontina. Place the pizza on the wood oven floor until the cheese is just melted, about 2-3 minutes. Remove the pizza and top with ¼ of the greens and 1/4 of the slices of speck. Place back in the oven and bake for another minute.Remove the pizza and drizzle with olive oil. Slice and serve immediately.

5Repeat with the remaining 3 balls of pizza dough.

COOKS NOTE: Alternately, you can use a preheated pizza stone in your home oven. It’s best to heat it for one hour at 500 degrees before baking.