What's For Dinner: Polenta-Crust Pizza

For tonight's dinner, I opted to make a new twist on one of my favorite entrees -- pizza. I was initially inspired to make this pizza after a recent post on The Front Burner Blog, one of the many food-related blogs I've been reading these days. I decided to make my pizza a little differently by cooking the crust separately from the pizza. The resulting crust is definitely different than a typical pizza crust -- it initially has a little crunch, but is soft on the inside. Even though it's a bit different I think I kind of like it!

Polenta-Crust Pizza (printer-friendly version)

makes 8 servings

For the crust:

2 cups organic skim milk

1 cup water

1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

1 cup cornmeal

1 tablespoon olive oil

organic olive oil cooking spray

white cornmeal

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Combine the milk, water, salt, and cornmeal in a medium sauce pot. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Continue to cook until the polenta becomes thick and begins to pull away from the sides of the pot.

3. Remove the polenta from the heat and stir in the olive oil.

4. Coat a pizza pan with organic olive oil cooking spray. Sprinkle with the white corn meal.

5. Spread the polenta onto the pizza pan evenly.

6. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the polenta has set.

7. Remove from the oven. Let cool, or use immediately.

For the pizza:

1 tablespoon olive oil

3/4 cup sliced portobello mushrooms

1 cup chorizo sausage (pre-cooked)

1/2 cup broccoli florets

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

3 tablespoons freshly-grated Parmesan cheese

4 slices heirloom tomato

3/4 cup tomato sauce

polenta crust

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

3. Saute the mushrooms in the oil until lightly browned and softened. Add in the broccoli florets and chorizo and cook for a few minutes more. Remove from the heat and set aside.

4. Spread the tomato sauce evenly over the crust.

5. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of the grated Parmesan cheese over the sauce.

6. Add the slices of heirloom tomato in a circular pattern on the pizza and cover with a light layer of mozzarella cheese (about 1/2 cup).

7. Add the remaining toppings and spread out in an even layer.

8. Top with the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.

9. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the toppings are lightly browned.

10. Remove the pizza from the oven and allow to cool for five minutes before serving.