Baker's Corner: Mixed Vegetable Pizza with Roasted Garlic White Sauce

Today was one of those slow-paced, enjoyable weekend days - the kind that felt a little bit extra special because my husband and I turned culinary collaborators. We decided to make pizza from scratch at home which is a bit of an event in our household because we don't cook together very often (either I take over completely or else he does). 

To be fair to him, he did 80% of the work with me floating in and out to offer minimal support and unsolicited advice 😂 Whenever we make pizza at home, it tends to be an elaborate affair with the whole process from start to finish easily taking up half the day. It doesn't feel like a chore rather a fun kind of edible art project....thought I'll admit that the cleaning up is a different story altogether.

We decided to switch things up today and make two kinds of pizza - a classic Margherita Pizza with Marinara Sauce and a Mixed Vegetable Pizza with a Roasted Garlic White Sauce. The latter pizza was a deliberate departure from our usual tomato-based pizza, just to add some contrast and variety. 

We previously tried making a white pizza sauce using mayonnaise (inspired from the yummy cool lime mayonnaise sauce they served at Singapore's Pizza Hut eons ago) but our homemade version didn't appeal to me. Confession time: I don't like mayonnaise that much, especially the kind that comes out of a bottle. I can handle small quantities in sandwiches, burgers, wraps and such but a heavy slathering of mayo is just not my thing. My husband on the other hand, loves the stuff. But keeping in mind my preferences, he began searching for an alternate white sauce recipe and found Emeril Lagasse's Roasted Garlic White Sauce. The marinara sauce that we make for our Margherita Pizza is also adapted from Emeril's recipe so we tend to trust any recipe credited to him. This is a really simple recipe but takes some time to make only because you need to roast a whole bulb of garlic in the oven. But the resultant sauce is smooth, thick, spreadable and has great flavour so I think it is totally worth the extra time required. 

We kept it simple and chose a few toppings such as bell peppers, button mushrooms, red onions and yes, pineapple chunks (we DO like pineapple on pizza so judge away!). You can customise your toppings depending on whatever floats your boat. You could throw in sweet corn kernels, jalapeños, baby corn, olives, zucchini, asparagus, broccoli and your choice of greens (baby spinach, kale, arugula) or herbs (basil, oregano, thyme). 

The pizza tasted amazing and I'm pretty sure it will feature as a regular in our household from now on. The crust turned out a little thicker than what we expected so rolling the dough out to a larger size is what we should have done to get it absolutely perfect. Oh well! 😛

I'm going to skedaddle out of here now. Check out this recipe, try it and let me know if you like it.

Mixed Vegetable Pizza with Roasted Garlic White Sauce

Preparation time: 1.5 hr (includes inactive time)

Baking time: 20 min per pizza

Makes: Two large (12-inch) pizzas; Serves: 3-4

Recipe category: Main course/Italian

Recipe level: Medium

Recipe Source: Adapted from recipes by Alton Brown, Bobby Flay, Emeril Lagasse

For the Pizza Crust:

Refer my previous post on Margherita Pizza where the detailed recipe with directions has been provided. 

For the Pizza Sauce:

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk, heated till simmering

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp plain flour

1 whole bulb of garlic, roasted in the oven, flesh squeezed out and thoroughly mashed

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper powder (you can substitute with red chilli powder)

a pinch of nutmeg

Salt to taste

1 heaped tbsp mayonnaise

Method:

1. In a saucepan, heat the butter on low until completely melted. 

2. When the foam subsides, slowly add in the flour and mix until the mixture is smooth (I would suggest using a whisk for this purpose). Cook out the flour for 1-2 minutes.

3. Now gradually add in the hot milk, whisking continuously until the mixture bubbles and begins to thicken. You can raise the heat to a medium when this is happening. 

4. Now turn the heat on the lowest possible setting. Add in the cayenne pepper powder, nutmeg, salt to taste and mashed flesh of the roasted garlic. Mix well. 

5. Add in the mayonnaise and mix until the sauce is smooth. 

6. Take off from the heat and cool to room temperature. You can stir the sauce occasionally to prevent the formation of skin on top. 

I would suggest not waiting too long to assemble the pizza after the sauce is ready since it tends to thicken further and get kind of gloopy. Do NOT refrigerate the sauce.

For the Pizza Topping:

8-10 slices of mozzarella cheese (or you could shredded mozzarella or any cheese of your choice)

Roasted garlic white sauce (recipe above)

1 cup chopped colored bell peppers

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup chopped red onions

1/2 to 1 cup diced pineapple (adjust quantity according to your liking)

1 cup of grated pizza cheese (you can use mozzarella or a combination of cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan)

Salt to taste

A sprinkling of red chilli flakes

Assembling the Pizza:

1. Once you have rolled out the pizza to the desired size and thickness, spread a thin layer of olive oil all over the surface. 

2. Spread the pizza sauce generously and uniformly all over the surface, leaving a 1/2 inch border. 

3. Roughly layer the pizza base with the mozzarella slices leaving about a half inch of empty space on the edge. If you don't have mozzarella slices you can use shredded mozzarella or any pizza cheese.

4. Arrange the ingredients mentioned in the pizza topping list (bell peppers, mushrooms, onions and pineapple slices). Season with a tiny bit of salt if desired. Note that the sauce is already seasoned and the cheese is salty anyway. 

5. Sprinkle some grated cheese all over the top. Your pizza is now ready for baking.

6. Place the pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 250 deg C. It's important to place your pizza stone into a cold oven and let it heat up gradually or else it will crack due to sudden thermal shock. Once the oven is heated up, it's time to put your pizza into the oven. Gently slide the pizza onto the (well-floured) stone taking care not to disturb the toppings and also watch out for the hot pizza stone. Bake the pizza for about 20 mins or eyeball it till you see the edges of the pizza turning a beautiful golden brown. 

Note: If you don't have a pizza stone, that is fine. Just pop your pizza onto a rack placed in the middle of the oven and bake as directed. 

7. Once done take out of the oven and rest for a few mins. Use a sharp pizza cutter or knife to cut the pizza into slices, season with chilli flakes, parmesan cheese (optional) and dig in!

Notes:

• For more tips on pizza, refer my Margherita pizza post
• For directions on how to roast garlic in the oven, refer this previous blog post on Oven Roasted Garlic 

Cheers,

Megha