Pinterest Win: "Naan Pizza"
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen this photo I snapped back in March.
One of my goals for this year has been to start actually TRYING some of the ideas I have pinned on Pinterest. With about 3,000 recipe pins, varying from extremely easy to Julia Childs level stuff, I figured this pin was as good of a place to start as any! Since March, I have made this recipe at least a dozen times and I can definitely confirm that this is a Pinterest Win!
This recipe comes from the food blog, In Sock Monkey Slippers and let me tell you, it is amazing! It's my favorite type of recipe: quick, easy and guaranteed to please. Serve with a simple salad and you've got a perfect weeknight meal! Basically, it's like any other homemade pizza recipe but 10,000x easier because she uses naan for the crust!
For anyone who isn't familiar with naan, it is basically the Indian version of flatbread or pita. Even better, instead of using canned sauce, you just brush the naan with olive oil, sprinkle with herbs and plop fresh tomato slices right on top! The original recipes uses all fresh mozzarella and rosemary, but I used shredded mozzarella and dried rosemary to keep things simple and save a couple bucks. I did spring for the expensive bacon though, and let me tell you, you really get what you pay for when it comes to buying meat! I don't know if we can ever go back to the sale brand now that we've experienced the deliciousness of thick-cut applewood smoked bacon.
You can find the original recipe here. The photography is beautiful, but I found the instructions part of the recipe a little lacking. It may just be because I am the type of person who needs EVERYTHING spelled out for me when it comes to cooking. If there is any way for me to screw a recipe up/make my life more difficult, I will find it without fail. Warning: The following admissions are guaranteed make me look stupid, but I am sharing just in case you have the same propensity for screwing up recipes that I do. There, you've been warned.
Number one, the instructions do not tell you to cook the bacon before putting it on your pizza. I had never made pizza before, so wasn't sure if it was ok for raw meat to touch the veggies. I scoured through the blog post, looking for further direction, but unless you notice in the pictures that the bacon is cooked prior to spreading on the pizza, you wouldn't know to do so from the written part of the recipe. Number two, I found out that cooking and then crumbling the bacon is not a good idea if you are an impatient person like me and don't want to wait for the bacon to cool down before trying to crumble it. The second time I made this recipe, I found it much easier and quicker to cut the raw bacon into small pieces before I cooked them. This made the cooking process much faster AND I didn't have to worry about about burning my hands while trying to crumble hot bacon... (I know, stupid but I warned you!)
I've tried a bunch of different variations of this recipe, using white, wheat and garlic naan (garlic is my favorite!) and switching up the toppings. Because I think this "Naan Pizza" idea is so great, I've written my own version of this recipe, with directions so detailed that even a novice cook like me can make this without worrying that they are missing something or screwing something up!
Bacon Avocado "Naan Pizza"
adapted from In Sock Monkey Slippers
Serves 2
- 2 slices of Naan, any flavor
- 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
- 1 bag of shredded mozzarella cheese (you won't use it all)
- 1 tomato, sliced
- 1 avocado, peeled and sliced
- 2 slices of thick-cut bacon
- Salt and pepper, to taste
First, preheat your oven to 425 °F. Next, slice the raw bacon into small pieces, about 1/2" in width. Fry bacon pieces in a non-stick pan over medium heat, just until bacon is thoroughly cooked, but before it gets too crispy (since this bacon will continue cooking as you bake the assembled pizza). Remove bacon pieces from pan and drain on a paper towel. Place slices of Naan on a cookie sheet or baking stone. Brush with olive oil (or drizzle and then spread with a spoon, if you don't have a basting brush) and sprinkle lightly with oregano. Sprinkle a handful of cheese on both slices of Naan, just like you would a pizza. Top with sliced tomato, sliced avocado and bacon and then add another light sprinkling of cheese. Season lightly with salt and pepper and then bake for 10 minutes (12 if you like crispier crust). Remove from oven and allow several minutes for cooling. Slice and serve!
This recipe is so simple, easy and fast to make, but amazingly delicious at the same time. I love it so much, I've been making these almost every week! I have a bunch of topping combos I want to try. I'm thinking barbecue chicken and pineapple, shrimp with lime, and kale with goat cheese will be next on my list. What toppings sound good to you?
Have you tried any Pinterest recipes that turned out to be fantastic? Comment below -- I'd love to hear about your "Pinterest Wins"!