I grew up in New York – Long Island to be precise. We don’t take pizza lightly over there, it’s a serious affair. When I think of pizza, I think of Little Vincent’s or Rosa’s (LI), Grimaldi’s or Dozzinos (NJ), Alligator Lounge (Brooklyn) or any of the thousand’s of pizza shops on the side of the street (NYC). I’ve heard the reason that pizza in the NYC area is so good is because of the water. The east coast has certain minerals (or lack of minerals, not sure which) in the water which help the dough maintain a perfect chewiness and achieve a crisp texture when baked. The same theory applies to bagels. In any case, I longed for homemade pizza the other day, so I purchased some Whole Wheat Pizza Dough from Trader Joe’s. Not only because it’s $1, but also because it’s not pre-baked so you can do anything with it. It needs (pun intended) a bit of working but eventually the dough gives in and takes shape. By no means is this an authentic New York pizza, but at least the crust was thin and crispy. As much as I love a plain slice of Little V’s, something about BBQ chicken pizza always gets me. Now step on in and take a look at Peanut Butter Boy’s version…

Ingredients:Print
1 ball of pizza dough
12 oz chicken breast, poached and shredded
Spicy BBQ sauce (I use Stubb’s)
3 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
1/2 red onion, sliced thin and cut in half
10 oz sliced mushrooms
8 oz (2 cups) shredded cheddar cheese (or mozzarella)
1 cup ricotta cheese
olive oil

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Split the dough in half (if desired) and place on a floured surface (I used whole wheat flour). Work the dough with your hands, folding it over and pushing it down with your fingertips repeatedly until it begins to hold its shape when flattened. The dough will want to form a ball again, so add flour liberally to prevent this. Also, make sure that the surface underneath the dough is always floured or it will stick. Using 1 ball of dough, I made 4 of those pizza’s you see above, so don’t be afraid that the dough is too thin. Press out to desired thickness and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 7 minutes.

2. While the dough is pre-baking, sauté the mushrooms in a pan with cooking spray, salt and pepper until the mushrooms are tender. Mix the peanut butter with enough BBQ sauce to make a spreadable sauce.

3. When the dough is done, remove and spread with PBBBQ sauce to cover the crust within 1/2 inch of the edge. Add the mushrooms, chicken and onion rings to the pizza, then dollop the ricotta evenly and top with cheddar cheese. Drizzle the top with a bit of olive oil. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and begins to brown.

Additional Info:

Don’t throw out those crusts! Keep the container of ricotta next to your plate and spread some on each bite of crust. Or do what I did as a kid and spread butter on the crust. Or, dip the crust in olive oil and salt.

Filed in Main Course, Peanut Butter

23 Responses / Leave a comment »

  1. VeggieGirl says:

    Ah yes, New York-style pizza reigns supreme; and hey, your pizza looks great as well, loaded with peanut butter goodness :0)

  2. Celine says:

    thanks for the award, Nick!
    you deserve an award for loving dark-ish chocolate too. :)

  3. Naomi Devlin says:

    Thanks for the award and tag – will try to get to it this week. I have several responses to your meme;

    Firstly, ack to your final project. I had no idea you were such a brainiac and now have newfound respect for your paper that blurred into indecipherable jargon after the first paragraph!

    Secondly, if you really mean it about the family and girlfriend and peanut butter then I think you should run for president.

    Thirdly, Hola! Does your sojourn in Madrid mean that you speak Spanish? I have to say, I’m more of a Barcelona girl myself, but I’m looking forward to visiting Seville next April for the orange blossom, Nick says it’s a lovely city.

    I also forgot you were 23, when you answered the 10 years ago question with – well I was 13, it took a moment before I realised I was 25 – ten years ago – eek! Luckily I have good genes so nobody but me and you knows about that okay?

    x x x

  4. VeggieGirl says:

    Nick!! I definitely commented on your post BEFORE you included the award/meme part, haha – congratulations on the well-deserved award, and thank you for passing it on to me as well!! :0)

    I love your answer to the “Five things you would do if you were a billionaire” question – too perfect/sweet!!

  5. RecipeGirl says:

    Pizza is definitely something that I’ve never thought to put pb on before :) Sounds… interesting for sure!

  6. Jessy and her dog Winnie says:

    Looks delicious! Bbq pizza is always the best!

  7. mom says:

    Don’t forget Nick that ten years ago you were playing saxophone with The National Wind Ensamble at Carnegie Hall. You were by far the youngest person there! It was wonderful! And you were wearing your first tux!

  8. Joanna says:

    Haha, hi from another mechanical engineer who grew up in NY and went to school in California! How funny! I’m back in NY now, though, and if anyone tries to take away my bagels again I will NOT be happy.

    This pizza, on the other hand, sounds like it would be worth trying even with the tasty options available here… the typical tomato sauce and cheese can get a little repetitive and who doesn’t love BBQ sauce?

  9. Anonymous says:

    I totally agree! I am originially from NJ, now living in SoCal. I MISS PIZZA!!! BENNY’S IS THE BEST!!!!!!! My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

  10. kat says:

    Interesting take on bbq pizza. I like the Trader Joe’s dough as well but we finally resorted to just making our own to get one we like best.

  11. Christie says:

    I was so shocked when I read the post and you said you grew up in Long Island. I live in Nesconset in Suffolk County! Such a small world.. i too love PB haha and I am also 23. Love the blog

  12. Nick says:

    celine, no prob! But what do you mean by “dark-ish”. Do you eat even darker chocolate? I have a Lindt 80% Peru that I keep in stock, but above that and it’s not always enjoyable, although it really depends on the brand and quality at that point. For example, my sister brought me a %90 cocoa bar from Xocoa in Barcelona that was incredible. Apparently the brand is well known for extremely high quality chocolate because generally 90% is a bit high for me.

    Naomi, Yea the final project was intense. It took me the better part of a week to fully understand what was going on. I was really impressed with myself, by the end I fully understood what was going on and the results I got made sense.
    About the billionaire thing, I asked the same question of myself – did I truly mean it? But when I first read the question it’s the first thing that came to mind so I think so.
    Yes I do speak some Spanish! I actually studied abroad in Madrid for 4 months. But one of my favorite places I visited was Barcelona. I absolutely love that city. Sevilla is very nice, that’s actually the first vacation my girlfriend and I went on together (we met while studying in Madrid). This was 3 years ago, so my Spanish is a bit rusty but I maintain a decent amount of it.
    Nobody shall know except for me and the 3 other people that read this blog =)

    veggiegirl, You’re crazy! I had clicked publish instead of save draft and had to add in the other parts but already noticed a comment before I was done, what crazy timing! I always assume I have like 10-15 minutes at LEAST to edit my posts in case I make some big blunders or leave out half of it or something!

    recipegirl, Interesting and delicious! I recommend putting the “peanut butter spiked” sauce on like 1/4 of the pizza to try it out, then use it next time if you like it. Although I don’t see how anyone couldn’t =).

    mom, Yes, but I thought that was in 9th grade, not 8th. Either way it was definitely close to that time, something I’ll never forget!

    joanna, Haha, yea it’s amazing how different food can be from one coast to the other. You would think someone would figure out how to make them like NY, unless it really is the water in which case I guess there’s nothing you can do.

    kat, Yea I prefer homemade, but for only $1, it’s just so much quicker! Given the time though, I’d make my own too.

    Christie, I’m from Huntington. Funny how two same-aged peanut butter lovers from the same island can come together out of the blue. Go to Little Vincent’s pizza if you get a chance, there’s one in Huntington town but another one in Ronkonkoma I wanna say.

  13. Lisa says:

    Hey, check out my blog. I just came up with a recipe for homemade doggie treats and I used peanut butter! Hum, wonder where I got that idea! LOL! Of course, the smelled wonderful cooking and my dog loved them!

    Lisa :)
    http://www.glutenfreelicious.blogspot.com

  14. Simply...Gluten-free says:

    Ok, now I think I have seen it all! Peanut butter pizza!

  15. Zusiqu says:

    Round Table used to be good but isn’t anymore. If you see a place called New York Pizza Kitchen, give that a shot! Their pizza rocks but there aren’t many of them. I’ve had authentic pizza in New York and very little on the West Coast even comes close!

  16. Kevin says:

    Pizza with bbq sauce and pb sound pretty good!

  17. bakingblonde says:

    YUM! I saved this recipe for my sister and I. We will make it on our next Movie night! She loves PB as much as I do!

  18. Rosiecat says:

    Dude! Weeks after you tag me, I finally dish the dirt. Through some electronic magic, my post has already announced itself as linked to yours: To the Limit.

    I really think you ought to review The Ultimate Peanut Butter Book. It seems only fitting. Have you flipped through it at all?

    And just for more tagging fun, I’d like to hear about your cookbook collection. Culinary bookworms everywhere need to know!

    http://lifeloveandfood24.blogspot.com/2008/06/gastronomic-hedonists-library.html

  19. John vacarro says:

    You guys need to Check out Dozzino in hoboken… I’m a huge fan of there pizza and concept. I’m pretty positive that they have no freezers and they use all local products.. Speaking to the owners one night they told me what they eat, they want there customers to eat.. I know there cheese is made in house and they use pat la freida and Salumeria Biellese for their meats. Also, there espresso beans are made fresh from a local roaster that drops it off the day it’s roasted… I def would recommend Dozzino to anyone who loves pizza.. I would say there is a new king of pizza in hoboken.. Good luck guys, john

    • Nick says:

      Agreed – Dozzino is probably our favorite pizza place ever. We absolutely LOVE that place. I even prefer it over the “best” pizza places in NYC.

      If you haven’t tried this yet: ask for an Uncle Leo pie. We created it a while ago (but they changed the name on us). Apparently they put it on the menu after we created it and it sold SO well that the cooks got tired of making it, so they removed it from the menu. I haven’t seen it listed since. But some of the older servers still know what it is, and if they don’t, just tell them it’s a white pizza with roasted garlic. Everyone we bring to Dozzino agrees it’s the best pie there. Simply amazing! Thanks for stopping by.

  20. Cynthia says:

    I have to tell you I was a little dubious about this combination–even though I love both PB and pizza, I never would have thought to put them together!! But curiosity got the better of me, so I made it…AND I LOVED IT!!!! Thanks so much for sharing that!!!!!

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