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9/13/10

Chicken and Smoked Gouda Pizza with Creamy Basil Garlic Sauce

Arriving home last night after working an event all day, I was starving, it was 6:pm and my kids were waiting for me to make dinner. While I would have loved to have picked up pizza on the way home I knew it was neither frugal nor needed when I could make my own.

I immediately got the ingredients for pizza crust mixing in the electric mixer with a dough hook while I pulled random ingredients out of the cupboard. Craving a pizza with smoked cheese and chicken I knew the perfect sauce - a creamy garlic sauce I had made previously for pizzas. Because I had just arrived home at 6:pm since being gone that morning at 8:30 am I had neither cooked nor thawed chicken at my disposal. As I went to the freezer to see what I could improvise with I saw that I had picked up a package of Tyson's grilled fajita chickens trips on my last trip to the store. Yeah for me! (Or yeah for my 14 year old who asked me to keep some on hand for after school snack wraps, chef salads and mini pizzas).

I improvised on the sauce and added minced basil this time instead of parsley and the end result was fabulous! - Remember - improvise and use more/less ingredients based on your own personal tastes.

Grilled Chicken and Smoked Gouda Pizza with Creamy Garlic Basil Sauce

Pizza Crust - dough or store bought* (your choice of course)
4 T butter
1 T fresh minced or chopped garlic
1/4 t garlic salt
1 1/2 T flour
3/4 heavy cream or milk if you want to cut some of the fat (won't be as thick)
1 T fresh minced basil or about 2 t jarred variety
1 c smoked Gouda cheese, shredded
1 c provolone or mozzarella, shredded
3/4 c diced cooked chicken (I used fajita style this time from Tyson and diced the strips)

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the garlic and flour. Whisk or stir briskly about a minute or two but don't burn it (burnt garlic is gross!). Add the cream and basil. Whisk til smooth. Spread on pizza dough in pan.

Top with grated cheeses and chicken. Bake at approximately 410 degrees for 20 minutes or as you usually bake your pizzas as everyone's pans and ovens are different. When the top is golden, remove, set for a minute or two and slice and serve.



whisking in the basil and waiting to thicken over medium high heat

Spreading on top of the dough

Top with cheeses and chicken and bake!

*if you use a store bought pre-baked pizza crust like Boboli - then only bake about 8-9 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden.Print Friendly and PDF