Recipe: Artichoke and Pepper Pizza

Quick Tips For Enhancing Your Menu
for Pizza, Vegetables, and Burgers

Vegetables

"Grate" Cheese-Topped Veggies: sauté or steam fresh vegetables, then top with Real Butter and sprinkle with a freshly grated piquant cheese, such as Parmesan, Romano or Asiago.

Hot Cheese Tomatoes: Top sliced tomatoes with a slice of cheese—Cheddar, Mozzarella, Brick and broil.

Veggie Melt Sandwich: sauté mushrooms, onions, green peppers, tomato slices, broccoli and other seasonal veggies; place on a thick slice of grilled honey-oatmeal bread; top with Cheddar, Muenster or Provolone Cheese; broil and serve.

Cheese Saucery: Enhance almost any vegetable with a creamy cheese sauce.

Havarti Heaven: Top prepared brussels sprouts or cauliflower with melted Havarti cheese.

Creamy Cheesy Broccoli Topping: Blend cream cheese with shredded Provolone as a topping for broccoli or asparagus.

Gouda & Beans: Add cubes of mellow Gouda to a calico bean blend; serve hot or cold.

Provided by Dairy Farms of Wisconsin

Pizza

Four-Cheese Pizza: If one cheese on your pizza is good, more varieties will be even better. Serve a Four-Cheese Pizza made with Mozzarella, Provolone, Asiago and Parmesan.

French Bread Pizza: Create a scrumptious French bread pizza using basil, Blue cheese, tomato sauce, Italian sausage and vegetables.

Cheesy Pita Pizza: Serve a pizza pita: stuff a pita pocket with Mozzarella cheese, crumbled sausage or sliced pepperoni sliced olives and onions mixed with pizza sauce.

White Pizza: Create a White Pizza that needs no tomatoes: fill an egg-rich pizza crust with Provolone, Ricotta, Mozzarella, Romano, spinach, salami and spices.

Elegant Brunch Pizza: Serve a Brunch Pizza: brush a pizza crust with melted butter, then top with lots of Mozzarella cheese, romaine lettuce leaves, tomatoes, smoked salmon, zucchini slices and sliced onion. Bake and serve hot.

Provided by Dairy Farms of Wisconsin

Artichoke and Pepper Pizza

Makes one 12-inch pizza or 6 servings.

Ingredients

2 medium California artichokes
1 medium green pepper, thinly sliced (about 1-1/2 cups)
1/2 medium red pepper, thinly sliced (about 3/4 cup)
1 small onion, sliced vertically (about 1 cup)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
Pizza dough* (recipe follows)
1-1/2 cups (about 6 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup ricotta or farmers cheese (pot cheese)
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Bend back outer petals of artichokes until they snap off easily near base. Edible portion of petals should remain on artichoke hearts. Continue to snap off and discard thick petals until central core of pale green petals is reached. Cut off stems and top 2 inches of artichokes; discard. Trim off outer dark green layer from artichoke bottoms. Dip or rub all surfaces with lemon juice. Quarter artichokes lengthwise. Remove center petals and fuzzy centers. Cut each quarter into 4 slices; rub again with lemon juice. sauté artichokes in oil 10 minutes; add peppers, onion and garlic, and sauté 5 minutes longer or until tender. Sprinkle with oregano. Shape Pizza Dough into 1 2-inch circle on greased baking sheet,* sprinkle with mozzarella; dot with ricotta. Add artichoke mixture; season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 450 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes.

Pizza Dough: Combine 1-1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour, 1/2 package (1/4 oz.) active dry yeast and 1/2 teaspoon each dried thyme and salt in mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup warm water (120 degrees F) and 1 tablespoon olive oil; beat with electric mixer until smooth. Knead until smooth and elastic. Cover; let rise 30 minutes.

Quick Variation: Substitute 1 loaf frozen bread dough, thawed, for Pizza Dough.

*If desired, prick crust and pre-bake 5 to 7 minutes. Add toppings and bake additional 10 minutes.

Recipe courtesy of California Artichoke Advisory Board

Burgers

Jack-Stuffed Mexican Burger: Stuff a burger with creamy Monterey Jack cheese and salsa, then top with guacamole.

Double Cheeseburger: Make sure your cheeseburgers are doubly good: make them with two varieties of cheese. Offer customers a choice of Cheddar, Swiss, Mozzarella, Muenster, Blue, Provolone, Brick or Monterey Jack. Serve cheeseburgers open-face, with two alternating colors of cheese for example, a slice of White Cheddar overlapped with a slice of Golden Cheddar.

Buried Blue Burger: Add excitement to your gourmet burger offerings with a huge, juicy burger wrapped around crumbly Blue cheese.

South of the Border Cheeseburger: Add spice to your burger menu by topping a burger with jalapeño-Flavored Cheddar cheese.

Italian Cheeseburger: Form beef patties around Smoked Provolone cheese; top the grilled burgers with olive spread.

Provided by Dairy Farms of Wisconsin

This page originally published as a FoodDay article in 1997.