Thai Chicken Pizza

Pizza. I adore it.

I'm also not very picky about it.  I've had "the real thing" in Naples, and enjoyed it just about as much as the 2 for 1 pies from the place down the street. 

For awhile, I tried to be a purist.  I denounced places like CPK.  You can't put bacon and avocado on pizza!  Pizza is Italian!  It must be kept pure and authentic!

Yeah, that didn't last long.

I've had some pizza dough in my freezer for a few weeks now, and in my quest to branch out and work my way through more of my cookbooks, I kept it off my weekly menu.  But then I made Thai food, and that got me thinking about Thai chicken pizza, which I feel like I shouldn't love, but I do.  Oh, so much.

So thanks to my friend Google, I stumbled across this recipe and it's divine.  I didn't change too much about it, and it came out really well.  It has just a light sprinkling of cheese, which I prefer, but you could always use more.  I think next time I might add some chopped peanuts, but other than that it's hard to beat!

(adapted from cdkitchen.com)

Crust: use your favorite (homemade or not) - you will need enough dough for two 10" pizzas.  I used 1/3 of this recipe .

Toppings:

3 1/2 tablespoons peanut butter
3 tablespoons brewed tea
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons Siracha
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 medium boneless skinless chicken breast, cut in 1/4-inch strips
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 carrot, shredded
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
3 tbsp thinly sliced green onion

Preheat oven to 500 F and prepare crusts.
To make peanut sauce: combine peanut butter, tea, vinegar, soy sauce, Siracha, ginger, honey and sesame oil in a blender and process until smooth.

Sprinkle the chicken with a pinch of salt and saute in a saucepan coated with nonstick spray over medium-high heat.

When the chicken is just about done, turn the heat down to low and stir in two tablespoons of the peanut sauce.

Cook, stirring, for about a minute, then remove from heat.
Spread a few tablespoons of peanut sauce over the surface of each of the doughs. 

Distribute 1/2 of the cheese over the sauce. 

Repeat with other pizza. 

Distribute 1/2 of the chicken and 1/2 the carrots over the cheese. 

Repeat with other pizza. 

Place the pizzas in the oven (on a pizza stone if you have one, otherwise just use a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a Silpat). 

Bake until crust is crispy and cheese is bubbling (8-10 minutes). 

Remove pizzas from the oven and sprinkle each with green onions and cilantro.