Pesto, ham, roasted red pepper, and tomato pizza

I guess you could say that I felt like favoring the red portion of the color wheel with this pizza. And also, Boar's Head Honey Maple Ham was on sale at the deli counter. Regardless, the reds, pinks, and purples were among my choices for today's pizza pie!

Pizza toppings:

• 1/4 - 1/3 cup pesto sauce
• 1 - 2 cups pizza sauce
• 1 red onion
• 5 or 6 slices of ham
• 6 oz. jar of marinated roasted red bell peppers
• 1 or 2 roma tomatoes
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella

Okay, I wasn't planning on it but I added bacon too. While I was attempting my online yoga video in the morning my spouse was over in the kitchen making bacon, eggs and toast. He offered to make some for me, and since I'm "so healthy" I said no and got back to my yoga. Okay hold it right there - have you ever tried to do yoga while smelling bacon? My name should appear in some world record book for achieving that. Trying to find my chi when all I could sense on every deep inhale was sizzling bacon...dear God it was torture.

Well, my husband even made extra bacon thinking that I would cave and come stuff my face with the fatty delightful stuff. Somehow, I actually resisted this one time. He conceded that I wasn't going to succumb to the heavenly scent of cooked pig and put the two deserted leftover pieces of bacon into the fridge. And that's where I found them about 5 minutes later and decided that today would be a great day to take a break from said "healthy" practices.

Instructions:

• Place the pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500 degrees. I like to let it sit in there for a few minutes after it's reached 500, just to be sure it's thoroughly good and toasty.
• Chop the red onion into medium/small bits, and sauté that in a touch of olive oil in a skillet. 
• Cut the slices of ham into smaller pieces. I prefer ham pieces that are cut into squares about 2"x2" so they're not too tiny. Actually that's sort of big. 
• Slice the tomatoes into rounds.
• When everything in the oven is nice and hot, carefully take the stone out and place it onto your work surface. Place your rolled out dough for the crust on top of that.
• Spread the pesto on first, evenly, all the way to the edge. Okay, I like to spread the toppings out as far as possible, but if you want a little edge to hold onto while eating the za, then leave half an inch or so.
• Spread the sauce on next, evening it out with the back of a spoon. 
• Sprinkle on the rest of the toppings - sautéed onions, bacon, ham, peppers, tomatoes, then cheese on top. 
• Carefully place that all back into the oven, and leave it there for 10-12 minutes. I actually cooked this pie for 13 minutes because the water content was pretty high from all those veggies. 

The pesto layer. Careful, that stone is HOT!

Whatever sort of pesto that was that I used (something in a jar from the store) was  pretty good, but not fantastic. Next time I go pesto shopping I'll probably just pass on by that brand and try another one. Still, it added some tasty flavor, but overall it didn't taste super tasty, like you'd normally expect from a pesto sauce.  

Za, are you ready for your close-up?

The mistake I think I made on this pizza was using too many of the roasted red peppers. Actually, I used an entire 12 ounce jar. The flavor they added was great, but since I used jarred ones they were very water-filled and added extra moisture to the pizza. Next time I'll definitely use less if they come from a jar, or I'll just get a fresh bell pepper and roast or sauté it myself.

The tomatoes also added extra moisture to the za. If I hadn't been rushing to slice and toss them on there, I would have let them sit on a paper towel for a few minutes after slicing to wick away some of the water. 

Oh, all these pizza mishaps! It was still very good and will be even better when I re-heat the leftover slices in the toaster oven. Yup, the toaster oven. Or you can use the big oven if you don't have a toaster oven. Pizza re-heated in the microwave is just soggy and the crust turns tough. Keep the crust crispy by heating it back up in the oven.