3 Ways To Spice Up Your Pizza

One fact rings true: people love pizza. No matter if it’s traditional Chicago deep dish or a thin New York slice, pizza is one of the world’s favorite meals.  If you’re enrolled in cooking schools online, you’ve probably already learned how to perfect a pizza crust or curate a delicious sauce. However, lately people are being more adventurous with their pies. Here are some exotic takes on pizza for you to try:

Try eggplant as a topping
Sure, you’ve probably had eggplant parmesan before, but have you ever thrown this vegetable on top of a pizza? This purple food can add the extra punch that you’re pie has been missing. In addition, this veggie is about to be in season (early fall), so be sure to snatch it from your local grocery store or farmers market. Eggplants pack earthy flavors, so they don’t require many added spices. Unfortunately, they can be easily overcooked and lose their great taste. To ensure this isn’t the case, try sprinkling your eggplant with salt before grilling it. This will guarantee a crispy, but not overcooked, eggplant. Then, try brushing the eggplant with olive oil and pepper. Grill it until it has been browned, and then flip to do the same for the other side. Cut the eggplant in pieces and top it onto your pizza to bake with the crust and any other toppings. It should be crispy on the outside but creamy and sweet on the inside.

Incorporate seafood
You might be skeptical of a pizza and seafood combination, but Japan has been doing it for years. Okonomiyaki is a Japanese-style savory pancake that looks similar to pizza. However, it uses octopus as its main topping. Some even replace our idea of traditional sauce with squid ink. If you don’t have fresh squid or octopus at your disposal, spring for something more accessible. Shrimp, scallops and clam are all great additives to your pizza special. A great way to give your pizza a flavor boost is clam juice. Because you can lose some of the natural flavors of seafood by cooking it, try sprinkling clam juice before and after you bake it to conserve that fresh taste of seafood.

Do it the dessert way
Pizza has been known as a classic dinner or lunch meal for decades. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done as a dessert. The great thing about dessert pizza is that you can use your leftover dough or create your own after-meal treat. This shortbread dough is a sweet favorite and contains ingredients you probably already have like flour, salt, sugar, vegetable oil and milk. To make the filling all you need is:

  • 12 ounces of cream cheese
  • 3/4 cups of sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 of teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3-4 cups fresh strawberries, washed, dried and sliced
  • 1/4 cup agave syrup

The “sauce” or filling is creamy, but the strawberry toppings make the dessert light and refreshing. Depending on what season it is, you can even add more fruit. Blueberries and kiwis would be a nice touch to round it out as the perfect fruit dessert pizza.

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