Last Spring, my friend Jessy came to visit and brought me a few pizzas as a gift.  I was so excited to eat them, I barely waited until she was out the door before I started warming the oven.  For days after her visit, I daydreamed about the delicious pesto topping, the mixture of caramelized onions and sun-dried tomatoes, the rich goat cheese.  I wanted more, and Moose & Sadie's, the restaurant where she works, is too far for me to just stop on in to get some.  So, with the memory of delicious pizza firmly in my memory, I set out to recreate the pizza.



The Crust
I started out with a whole-wheat pizza recipe by Martha.  It was very easy to make, and freezes well for use at a later time.  I've tried the recipe twice - once with instant yeast, once with active yeast - both with great results.  The crusts were just as great when made fresh as they were frozen.  Its a great crust to have on hand.

The Sauce
I set out to make a pesto using primarily a dark, leafy green.  I tried the recipe twice - once with kale, and the second time with spinach.  I thought they were both good, but the kale version was my favorite.  Using regular garlic in the sauce gave it a strong, spicy flavor - the version I made with garlic scapes was even better.  I'll use those whenever I can find them.  Since Sophie is allergic to dairy I left out the traditional parmesan.  I'm not sure if she's allergic to pine nuts, so I left those out just in case.

The Toppings
Jessy's pizza featured caramelized onions, sundried tomatoes, and goat cheese - so mine did too.  I didn't quite get the temperature down right to keep everything coming out cooked properly, so on the second batch of pizzas I omitted the sundried tomatoes.  It was still awfully good. 

The Verdict
I think I came pretty close to the original, especially in making the crust and sauce non-dairy.  If Sophie were to have this pizza, I would have made hers without the goat cheese.  And that's the beauty of individual pizzas - each pizza can match the tastes of an individual.  In reality - it didn't matter that I made this non-dairy because she didn't want to eat anything green, hates onions, and only wanted red sauce with black olives.  That's just the way it goes. 

Print it: Deep Green Pesto
Print it: Whole-Wheat Pizza Crust (by Martha Stewart)