Leaf-Footed Bug Pizza

Leaf-Footed Bug Pizza 1/2 pound wheat flour
4 eggs
1 pinch bread yeast
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 pound leaf-footed bugs, frozen or live
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound mozzarella cheese
3/4 pound tomatoes
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
herbs (thyme, marjoram, bay leaves, oregano), to taste

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Place the flour in a mixing bowl and stir in the eggs, one at a time, to form dough. Add a pinch of salt and a pinch of bread yeast and knead the dough thoroughly. Dough should rise minimally while preparing other ingredients. Roll out pizza dough to the desired thickness. Grease a baking sheet or pizza pan with the butter and sprinkle with flour. Place the pizza dough on the greased cooking sheet.

If using frozen bugs, thaw ahead of time. If using live bugs, fry them in the oil. Shred cheese and spread generously over the dough. Boil some water and blanch the tomatoes for 1 minute. Take the tomatoes out and remove the skin, which should separate easily.

Place the skinned tomatoes in a bowl and mash with a fork, adding salt and pepper. Spread on top of the cheese. Lay the bugs evenly over the tomato sauce. Sprinkle the pizza with the aromatic herbs and bake in the oven until cheese and crust are brown.

From:
Creepy Crawly Cuisine
By Julieta Ramos-Elorduy, Ph.D.
Photographs by Peter Menzel
Park Street Press
ISBN: 0-89281-747-X
Softcover $16.00
Recipes Reprinted by permission.