Cooking for Zo

Taste Level: TF

Cost: $20 and under

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 40-45 min.

Cook Time: 25-30 min.

Difficulty: 2

Since I got back into making pizzas I have been wanting to make a pizza with shrimp.  Why you ask?  When I was little I would want to order a BBQ-ed shrimp pizza and my mother would say that was disgusting and to order something else.  Now I admit I would want to order these pizzas at places that had no business making pizzas in the first place but still it made me always want to have shrimp on pizza.  So when I was tossing together pizza  ideas I just had to come up with a shrimp pizza idea.  In fact I came up with an entire seafood pizza idea but that is for another time.  This pizza is defiantly as of this moment tied for my favorite pizza of the year.  With its spicy linguica, amazing shrimp and a healthy helping of red onion it was just plain amazing!  Crank up that oven, heat up those pizza stones and enjoy!

(For instructions on how to make your own sourdough pizza skin check posting dated 7/7/09.)

Ingredients:

4 oz smoked linguica (sliced)

7 large shrimp (butterflied)

1/2 cup red onions (Juliane)

6 oz fresh mozzarella

1/2 cup smoked mozzarella

fresh crack pepper (to taste)

1/3-1/2 cup vodka sauce

1 portion of sourdough pizza dough check posting for 7/7/09 or pre-made crust

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

What works best for me is I strongly throw the ball of dough down on a solid flat surface covered with a piece of wax paper until it is large and flat enough for me to easily balance on top of both of my fists. Then I make an X with my arms keeping my fists close together (backhand to backhand, the dough atop of them both) and I fling the dough upwards with my fingers as I simultaneously bring my arms quickly parallel (palm to palm) about 3-4 inches apart. As the dough falls I remake my fists and catch the dough atop them again in the X position and repeat until the dough has formed a 12-14 inch crust.

(Alternately you can lay dough on a solid flat surface covered with wax paper and squish flat with hands. Roll into a ball and slam the dough down onto your solid flat surface covered with a piece of wax paper. Using your fist mush the dough down repeatedly as if you were punching it softly but firmly (this helps get any air bubbles out of it.) Now using your finger tips press and stretch dough until you have formed a 12-14 inch circular pizza skin (you can also make an easier rectangle skin.)

Sprinkle corn meal onto a baking sheet and lay skin on to it. Brush the sauce over the entire crust. Evenly sprinkle mozzarella over the sauce. Now evenly spread out linguica slices, red onion and butterflied shrimp over the mozzarella. Crack fresh pepper over the shrimp and then sprinkle Smoked mozzarella evenly over pizza.

Place pizza on baking sheet lightly coated with corn meal. Arrange your oven racks to where they are on the upper and lower thirds of the oven. If you are using a baking stone as we do place it directly onto the floor of a preheated oven for 45 minutes (but you will be less likely to ruin your pizza stone if you place it on a rack at its lowest position.) Place baking sheet with pizza on the lower oven rack and bake for 7-10 minutes, move pizza on baking sheet to upper rack and bake 7-10 minutes (if cooking a second pizza you can put it on the lower rack now on a separate baking sheet.) Slide Pizza off of baking sheet directly onto baking stone and cook for 3-8 minutes or until crisp and bottom is browning (if you were cooking a second pizza you would move it to the top rack on its baking sheet once you slide the first pizza onto the baking stone and of course you would move it to the baking stone once you have remove the first pizza and cooked the second one 7-10 minutes on the upper rack.) Slide pizza onto a cutting board or baking sheet and use a pizza slicer to cut into 8-10 slices and serve hot with your favorite pizza sides, seasonings and sauces!