First Week Back: Basil Pesto Pizza

What better way to start the year off than to whip up a gigantic batch of pesto (think 6 packages of basil big) to store away for all those late studying nights when there's no time to make a fancy dinner. This is our first pesto recipe of what I'm sure will be many, and once you have your batch made up it's so easy to make!

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You will need:

1 cup of Amy's Superfluously from Scratch Basil Pesto

Pizza Dough - we used Pillsbury because it's fast (though mostly because it makes that fun POP when you open it) but bonus points if you make your own crust!

2-3 Tomatoes

Mozzarella Cheese - shredded or sliced

Extra Basil for Garnishing

Slice tomatoes and Mozzarella. Follow the instructions on your pre-made dough-of-choice package. (This usually involves pre-baking the crust for a few minutes before adding the toppings). For Pillsbury: preheat the oven to 400 degrees and pre-bake the crust for 8 minutes. Add the toppings and pop back in the oven for 10 minutes until the crust is lightly golden brown.

Garnish with fresh basil after it comes out of the oven (otherwise it will get all dried up). We completely forgot to do so because we were too busy salivating over how amazing it smelled

Half Almond, Half Pine Nut Pesto

Delicious both straight out of the oven and cold a day later!

Serves 3 really hungry people, or 4 if you have some veggies on the side 
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For something so simple, this pizza is unbelievably delicious. We actually made half the pizza with the almond and half with the pine nut pesto. Both were incredible. I swore after my first slice of almond pesto that I was never going back, but then I had a pine nut slice and, well, that resolution went out the window.

We had ours with green beans adapted from my new favorite cookbook, Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything." We lightly steamed the beans, "shocked" them in ice water to stop the cooking, sauteed the onions and beans separately in oil and butter, and sprinkled leftover almond slivers on top.

Things we learned:

Make sure to keep your mozzarella refrigerated and cold until you use it! Otherwise it starts to melt, gets a little gooey and then leaks cheese water all over your pizza once it starts to cook in the oven! (Thankfully this was easily blotted up with a paper towel)