Pizza seems like the official default meal in my house. No, we aren't calling in an order every week and waiting for someone to deliver a sad, cold, soggy pizza to our door. Even if those pizzas were great when they came out of the oven, by the time they get to my house, "great" is not the adjective I'd use to describe them.
When we eat pizza, it's almost always the homemade variety, and it's no surprise why.
Pizza is so easy to make at home. The crust can be made from scratch with just a little effort, and the toppings can be anything you want. Best of all, you'll get to eat it while it's hot and the crust is still crispy and chewy.
At this point I'm imagining some of you rolling your eyes and thinking, "Make my own crust? That's exactly what I want to do when I get home from work." OK, I get it, but that doesn't mean you can't have a homemade pizza on a Tuesday night.
Let me introduce you to an easy and perfectly delightful alternative — naan pizza.
Naan is an Indian flatbread that is now sold in almost every grocery store. It's thin and flavorful, and while it was originally meant to sop up curry, it also doubles as a respectable pizza crust, ready to be topped with sauce, cheese and pepperoni, or anything else that makes you happy.
What made my family happy this week was a Roasted Summer Vegetable Naan Pizza.
Yes, summer is coming to an end, and with it goes all the wonderful local produce, including tomatoes, corn and zucchini. In order to get our fill of our favorite seasonal vegetables, I try to find a way to include them in every meal possible, even if that meal is pizza.
Since naan pizza crust can cook quickly, I precook the toppings when necessary to ensure that everything gets done at the same time. In this case, I roasted the zucchini and tomatoes, which draws out their natural sugars and intensifies their flavor, before combining them with the quick-cooking corn.
This veggie medley tops our naan, which has been slathered with a cheesy, garlicky white sauce made with fontina and Parmesan cheese, along with sour cream and minced garlic. It's baked until golden brown and showered with fresh basil just before serving.
The fact that I can get a fresh, hot pizza, made with quality ingredients, onto my table before the delivery person can ring my doorbell makes it all the more satisfying.
Meredith Deeds is a cookbook author and food writer from Edina. Reach her at meredith@meredithdeeds.com. Follow her on Twitter at
@meredithdeeds.
