Meatless Monday - Pizza with white sauce

>> Monday, July 20, 2009

Apologies for the lack of posts lately. Summer has gotten the best of me. It's hard to resist the call of a sunny day when you can already see months of snow and cold approaching. If you've e-mailed me lately or left a comment, thank you! All of your comments and ideas are greatly appreciated. Look for more answers to questions posed in the near future!

I love pizza. And while I like me some pepperoni, 99% of the time I prefer to have my pizza meatless. With two kids in the house and a limited budget, I make pizza at home a lot. Thanks to my breadmaker, I can make a decent whole wheat pizza dough in about an hour. I still don't make tomato based pizza sauce myself (one day...), but I've found a sauce that we all like that is HFCS free at the store - One Top Tomato. Because I can choose the quality and quantity of the ingredients, I consider my homemade pizza a healthy food and don't mind making it for my kids.

Last week I made a pizza that I've been obsessing about lately. There's a restaurant in my town that makes divine pizzas. The crust, the sauce, the ingredients...I love everything about these pizzas! Cafe Ponza has a pizza that is particularly delicious - the Fantasma. This pizza has a white sauce for a base and is topped with roasted garlic, caramelized onions, pancetta, and herbs. For my home version, I left off the pancetta and made a great meatless pizza.

My pizza was very, very good. It takes a bit of time to get all of the ingredients prepared for the pizza, but this is actually a very easy pizza to make. Cafe Ponza doesn't need to worry, though, because my crust doesn't even approach theirs. Still, I'll make this again!


Fantasma Pizza

pizza dough (my breadmaker dough recipe is at the bottom, but use whatever makes you happy for your dough or crust)
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 large head of garlic, roasted
1 cup milk (skim or whatever you have on hand)
2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
3 TBSP of thinly sliced fresh basil (or to taste)
olive oil
parmesan or romano, shredded (splurg on the real deal for this - no Kraft allowed!)

Caramelize the onions: Put the onion in a medium saute pan with a TBSP or so of oil and cook over medium heat until the onion is brown but not burned.

Make the white sauce: Gently heat the milk in a saucepan or in the microwave. Keep warm. In a medium saucepan, melt butter. Add flour and use a whisk to mix it in. Cook for 1-2 minutes. The flour shouldn't change color (this is a white roux). Slowly whisk the milk into the flour mixture. Cook the mixture, whisking continuously, until the sauce boils and is thickened. Remove from heat and add in 8-10 roasted garlic cloves. Put in a blender or food processor and blend to incorporate the garlic cloves. Stir in 1/2 tsp of dried oregano.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Prepare the pizza dough on a pizza pan. Spread a thin layer of the white sauce on the prepared dough. (You may have some white sauce left over.) Top with caramelized onion and basil. Place roasted garlic cloves liberally around the pizza. Finish with grated parmesan sprinkled over entire pizza - as much or as little you desire.

Bake pizza for 15 min at 425 F. Enjoy!

Breadmaker Pizza Dough
For a 1 lb batch of dough

3/4 cup warm water
1 TBSP olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 1/4 cups flour - can be completely all-purpose or a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat flour (I usually do about 1/2 white whole wheat)
1 tsp yeast

Combine water, oil, sugar and salt in breadmaker pan. Add in flour, and pour yeast on top of the flour. Put in breadmaker on "Pizza Dough" setting or consult your breadmaker's manual for the best setting.


Like white sauce based pizzas? Lori at Fake Food Free has an Asparagus Pizza with White Garlic Sauce that looks delicious.

And for more meatless meal ideas, check out the recipes at Meatless Monday and maybe jump over to one of the other blogs or sites that showcase meatless meals on Mondays.

9 comments:

Amy July 20, 2009 at 5:29 AM  

No need to apologize Cathy. My summer has been the same. I think people have less time to even read blogs, so its a win-win!

Lori July 20, 2009 at 7:21 AM  

Wow, thanks for linking to my pizza! Glad you liked it.

I say go out and enjoy those days! Honestly I've been reading and blogging less, but it is just because I'm trying to pick up extra work right now and dealing with our move in Oct. Sometimes I think we have to pace ourselves to give our blog longevity. We set out posting everything, but then realize we have to make it fit more into our lifestyle if we want to keep it going. At least that is what has happened for me.

Okay, now for that pizza. Fantastic! I picked up a crust at the bakery this weekend and now I know what I'm doing with it. Yum!

Kara July 20, 2009 at 8:04 AM  

I think everyone is blogging less - that's summer!

That pizza sounds deelish! I love a yummy white pizza, but rarely make them at home. I'll bookmark this one to try!

MammaDucky July 20, 2009 at 8:13 AM  

Homemade pizza is a favorite in our house. It's a tradition passed down from my Dad. I make my own tomato based sauce so I can control the content. I read a store bought pizza sauce label once and just about died.
That pizza sounds yumzo!!

cathy July 20, 2009 at 8:21 AM  

Y'all...this pizza looks complicated, but it really is a cinch to pull together. If you can fit it into your summer schedule, give it a try!

MammaDucky - care to share the recipe for your pizza sauce? I'd really like to start making my own. Pure laziness and the right recipe is all that has prevented me thus far!

Sagan July 20, 2009 at 10:43 AM  

I really like the idea of having pizza with a WHITE sauce, so original.

Hillary July 22, 2009 at 1:31 PM  

This pizza looks delicious. Unfortunately, I don't currently own a breadmaker so I'm very hesitant to make homemade bread products. :( I might have to give it a try with a store-bought brand for now though.

jenna July 22, 2009 at 4:11 PM  

your pizza post inspires me to renew my promise of friday night pizza night at home. i love home made pizza, but the home made crust, topping chopping and high heat of the oven make it a labor of (hot) love that i just don't follow though with weekly...

ps- my home-made sauce is a can of organic tomato sauce with salt, pepper, dried oregano stirred in. sauce is not king in my house as you can see, i'm a crust and cheese girl myself...

MammaDucky August 3, 2009 at 1:10 PM  

Madame Cathy,
Sorry this is super late to the party, I just didn't come back to read over the comments before now! Here is a link to my post with the recipe for my sauce. It follows the honey wheat pizza dough recipe! http://princessesandpickles.blogspot.com/2009/01/pizza-healthified.html
Just looking at your picture of the pizza makes me hungry!!!

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