Smoked Chicken Pizza With Red Pepper Pesto

Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1 head garlic, top third sliced off and discarded
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more
• extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup basil leaves
• 1 tablespoon oregano leaves
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lb pizza dough
• all-purpose flour, for dusting
• 1/2 lb smoked chicken breast, shredded (2 cups)
• 1 small red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 6 ounces manchego cheese, coarsely shredded (2 cups)
• 4 ounces soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled (1 cup)
• arugula leaf, for garnish

Recipe

• 1 make the red pepper sauce:
• 2 preheat the oven to 350°. place the head of garlic, cut side up, on a double sheet of foil and drizzle with olive oil.
• 3 wrap the foil around the garlic and bake until the cloves are very soft, about 1 hour. let cool.
• 4 squeeze the garlic onto a plate.
• 5 roast the red pepper directly over a gas flame or under the broiler, turning frequently, until charred all over.
• 6 transfer the pepper to a plate to cool. discard the charred skin, seeds and core and coarsely chop the pepper.
• 7 in a food processor, puree the pepper with the roasted garlic, basil, oregano and the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. season with salt and pepper.
• 8 make the pizza:
• 9 on a lightly floured work surface, cut the pizza dough into 4 pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
• 10 flatten each ball, dust with flour and roll out to a 5-inch round. cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes.
• 11 set a pizza stone on the bottom of the oven and preheat the oven to 500° for at least 45 minutes. flour a pizza peel.
• 12 place a dough round on the peel and roll it out to an 1/8-inch thickness. spread 2 tablespoons of the red pepper sauce over the dough to within 1/2 inch of the edge.
• 13 scatter 1/2 cup of the shredded chicken and one-fourth of the red pepper strips over the pizza, then top with 1/2 cup of the manchego and 1/4 cup of the goat cheese.
• 14 slide the pizza onto the hot stone and bake until browned on the bottom and bubbling on top, about 6 minutes.
• 15 transfer to a cutting board, scatter some arugula leaves on top and cut into pieces. repeat with the remaining dough and toppings.