when my friend melissa and i lived on 8th street and avenue c together (aka loisaida !!) there were many nights when we opted to stay in and watch movies with snacks and central air conditioning rather than drag ourselves out to a hot, sketchy bar and get hit on by hot , sketchy dudes. one night we made this crazy vegan-pesto-whole wheat-pizza. well, we were huuungry.
(if you don't get my reference, watch this video immediately. it's hilaaaarious!)
i never make the same pizza twice so this recipe is very loosey-goosey
ingredients you will knead (pahaha i crack myself up sometimes)
1. pizza dough (i've been lazy and using trader joe's whole wheat, but there are so many easy recipes)
2. pizza "base" (the one pictured bellow is an adzuki bean-based pesto that i made because i shit ton of them and also because pine nuts are really expensive right now! there are sooo many different options to choose from like:
-classic tomato sauce either with veggies on top or, although i've never tried this before because i'm not the biggest fan of food replacements, you can sprinkle some vegan cheese on top. i've heard really good things about daiya)
-go mexican theme by using refried beans and then top with avocado, pico de gayo, corn, jalapeno and bell peppers, taco seasoning...ayos mios!
-take a Mediterranean twist with a hummus base topped with mushrooms, kalamata olives, parsley or whateva floats yr boat.
3. toppings!! i kinda covered this already, but ya you can pretty much use what you like/ have on hand. i normally chop up some veggies and saute them in garlic and olive oil so that they're nice and cooked through to avoid burning the crust. another tip is to slice them very thin.
some optional additions:
-nutritional yeast (adds a nice cheezy flava and is packed with vitamin b12, which is hard to find in a vegan diet)
-pan-toasted nuts
-fresh or dried herbs
-dried chili pepper flakes
STEPS:
when your dough is all kneaded and set a side to rise, roll it out on a floured surface and spread your pizza base on nice n thick.
whole wheat crust with adzuki bean pesto and sprinkled with nutritional yeast
add the topping of your choice, here we used sauted veggies
for the left side of the pizza we used leftover veggies we had from take-out!
next, pop the whole thing in the oven and bake according to the instructions on the package (about 10 minutes, or longer if you like it extra crispy!) then, the hard part; letting it cool off before digging in (this is important because it allows the crust to get, well, crusty) may i suggest doing this by an open window (although i think its counter-productive when it's the same temp as your oven outside...but it makes me feel domestic :)
everyone on avenue C can totally smell this thing from the forth floor
i think you know what to do next! mmm i can't wait to make this again. i wanna try making a mexi-cali pizza next time. this is also the perfect dish to make for a non-vegan dinner party (melissa is an omnivore, and two people totally count as a dinner party!) oh, did i mention the left overs freeze really well?
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