Galentine’s Day: Caesar Salad Pepperoni Pizza

Galentine’s Day: noun,  an annual (not) nationally recognized holiday celebrated by human females on February 13th, the day before the over commercialized, bummer-of-a-holiday-for-single-women traditionally known as Valentine’s Day.  Galentine’s Day was made popular by Leslie Knope, a fictional character portrayed by Amy Poehler on American television comedy Parks and Recreation.  Galentine’s Day is known as a day when lady friends gather, wear comfortable pants, and eat as many waffles (among other things) as they’d like. 

See also:  Treat Yo Self.

All week we’ll have a Galentine’s Day menu, from pizza to waffles, because this seems like a very fine way to gather in delicious ridiculousness with our lady friends.  Also, keep an eye on Instagram because later this week we’ll have a sweet heart-shaped giveaway from LunaSky jewelry.  (Talk about treat yo self!) 

In my experience, few things delight women more and upset men more than salad-pizza.  The lines have been drawn.  

Think of salad pizza along the lines of going out to lunch with a girlfriend and ordering a salad and a basket of french fries.  Balance and communion. 

Here’s what we’ll need: 

•  Pizza dough.  It’s easy enough to make no-knead and fresh.  I used this recipe, here. You can also buy a little dough round at Trader Joes, or go to your favorite pizza shop and ask to buy one of their dough portions.  I say make it easy on yourself, whatever that means to you. 
• Pizza sauce, melty mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni rounds.
• Romaine lettuce hearts, Caesar dressing, croutons, and grated parmesan cheese for a down and dirty Caesar Salad. 

The pizza crust is rolled thin.  The yeast will have the dough spring back because of the yeast, but roll as thin as possible. 

I tried to toss the pizza like a pro.  That’s harder than it looks.  Some gently curled knuckles will help stretch the dough to very thin. 

Bottled pizza sauce.  Nothing too sweet.  

Spread to your desired sauciness. 

Shredded mozzarella cheese and plenty of pepperoni.  

I sprinkled on grated Parmesan cheese and into a hot hot oven it goes! 

While the pizza bakes, we’ll grill the lettuce in a grill pan before slicing to salad. 

Romaine hearts are sliced in half lengthwise and drizzled lightly with olive oil. 

I heated a cast iron grill pan to hot hot hot and grilled the lettuce until juuuust charred. 

Grilling lettuce!!  I had never done this before.  Easy and charry and I’m really glad it happened. 

The grilled lettuce is slightly wilted, with grill marks, and chopped coarsely for the salad. 

Caesar salad dressing, parmesan cheese, and plenty of croutons. 

Something about a melty, greasy, bubbling homemade pizza is somewhat janky and exactly right.  

Cold salad atop warm pizza and serve immediately.  

For the gals- as an appetizer to the chocolate waffles!  Yes.  Pizza as appetizer to waffles because Galentine’s Day is only once a year and chocolate waffles don’t happen often enough. Treat yo self! 

Photos with Jon Melendez

Galentine’s Day: Caesar Salad Pepperoni Pizza

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• Author: Joy the Baker
• Prep Time: 120
• Cook Time: 20
• Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes

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Ingredients

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For the Pizza

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2/3 cup lukewarm water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup pizza sauce
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella sauce
• 20 pepperoni slices
• red pepper flakes and grated parmesan cheese

For the Salad

• 4 romaine hearts, sliced in half
• scant 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup caesar salad dressing
• 3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup croutons

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Instructions

1. To make the pizza dough, in a large bowl mix together flour, salt, water, and olive oil. The dough will be firm but wet. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest at room temperature for 2 hours or until bubbled and doubled in size. Use the dough right away for pizza or place in the refrigerator overnight. Just bring it to room temperature before rolling out.
2. Gently knead the pizza dough on a lightly floured work surface. Roll out to 1/2-inch thickness.
3. Place on a flat baking sheet.
4. Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
5. Spread sauce over the pizza crust. Sprinkle with cheese and dot with pepperoni. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes and parmesan.
6. Bake until browned, puffed, and bubbling, 16 to 20 minutes.
7. To make the salad, slice romaine hearts in half lengthwise. Drizzle with olive oil.
8. Heat a grill pan over high heat and sear romain hearts cut side down until charred, about 3 minutes.
9. Remove from heat and coarsely chop. Drizzle with dressing, cheese, and croutons.
10. Slice pizza.
11. Spoon salad over slightly cooled pizza and serve.

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 6