Best New York Style Spinach And Ricotta Pizza Recipes

RICOTTA SPINACH PIZZA (PIZZA BIANCA)

Steps:

• Make a batch of the rustic pizza dough.
• Smash the garlic cloves with the side of a chef's knife and peel.
• In a large skillet add a lug of olive oil and roast the garlic cloves on medium low flame until golden. Add the spinach with a pinch of sea salt and using a pair of tongues toss to coat in the oil and roasted garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes until wilted and remove from heat. Makes her not to overcook it.
• Add the ricotta and fontina cheese to the bowl of a food processor together with a lug of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. Process until combined and set aside.
• Preheat your oven with a pizza stone in it to 500"F or as high as it will go.
• Form the pizza pies as instructed in the rustic pizza dough recipe and brush each one with a thin layer of olive oil on top. Leave about 1/2 inch at the edges. Sprinkle with some of the parmigiana region cheese on top and bake in the preheated oven on the pizza stone for 3 to 4 minutes.
• Quickly and carefully spoon some of the ricotta fontina mixture over the top of the pizza pie and bake an additional 5 minutes to your desired doneness level.
• Once the pizza comes out of the oven you want to top it with the sautéed spinach and some of the roasted garlic cloves. Shave some parmigiana reggianno over the top and serve with freshly cracked black pepper.

RICOTTA PIZZA

Steps:

• While the dough is rising, position an oven rack in the upper third (4 to 5 inches from the top). Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F (or as high as your oven will go). If using a pizza stone, place it in the oven while it preheats.
• If the sun-dried tomatoes are oil-packed: drain them and pat dry. If they are dry-packed, place them in a small bowl and cover with hot water to rehydrate. Let rest for 5 minutes, then pat dry. Set aside.
• In a large skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the spinach and garlic powder. Sauté until the greens are soft and wilted, a minute or two for spinach. Stir occasionally. It will look like way too many greens at first but will cook down significantly. Set aside.
• Turn the pizza dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll into a 12-inch circle. If the dough stretches back on you, let it rest for several minutes, then try again (you can't rush stubborn dough).
• If cooking on a pizza stone: transfer the dough to a sheet of broiler-safe parchment paper placed on the back of a flat baking sheet (this is what I do) or a cornmeal-dusted pizza peel. If you do not have a pizza stone, lightly dust a regular baking sheet with flour or cornmeal, then place the shaped dough directly in the center.
• Assemble the ricotta pizza: scatter the sautéed spinach over the top, then dollop with ricotta. Sprinkle the kosher salt evenly over the top. Add the mozzarella, then sun-dried tomatoes.
• Carefully slide the pizza onto the stone, either with the peel or by sliding the sheet of parchment and pizza onto the stone together. (If using a baking sheet instead of a stone, simply pop the pizza into the oven) Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the crust is golden and slightly blistered, rotating 180 degrees halfway through. Transfer to a cutting board and finish with chopped basil. Sprinkle with a final pinch of salt (Note: do not use table salt or the pizza will be too salty). Slice and enjoy hot.

NEW YORK-STYLE SPINACH AND RICOTTA PIZZA

Steps:

• Position an oven rack on the second-lowest level in the oven and place a baking stone on the rack. Position another rack in the upper third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 500°F.
• Coat a 12-inch pizza screen or perforated pizza pan with the cooking spray. Remove the dough from the plastic bag and place on a lightly floured work surface. Lightly dust the dough with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 10-inch round without rolling over the edges. Lift the dough and check to make sure the dough isn't sticking to the work surface. Shake the excess flour from the dough.
• Toss the dough until it is stretched to a 12-inch circle and place it on the prepared pizza screen or pan. Alternatively, lay the dough on the prepared screen or pan and gently stretch the dough into a 12-inch round.
• To top the pizza, brush the dough with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Spread the pizza sauce evenly over the dough, leaving a 1/4-inch border. Sprinkle the Parmesan over the top. Scatter the spinach over the top and sprinkle the garlic over the spinach. Cover the spinach with the mozzarella. Using a teaspoon or your fingers, arrange little globs of ricotta evenly over the top. Drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over the top.
• Place the pizza in the oven on the upper rack. (Work quickly to slide the pizza into the oven and close the door so the oven temperature doesn't drop too much.) Bake the pizza until the crust is crisp and golden brown, 10 minutes. Using a pizza peel, lift the pizza off the screen or pan and place the crust directly on the baking stone.
• Using the peel or wearing thick oven mitts, remove the screen or pan from the oven. Continue baking the pizza until the bottom of the crust is golden brown, about 3 minutes longer. Using the peel, remove the pizza from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Arrange the tomato slices over the top, if desired. Slice the pizza into wedges and serve immediately.

PIZZA WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS, RICOTTA AND CHARD

Steps:

• Thirty minutes before baking the pizza, preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy skillet. Add the onions. Cook, stirring often, until tender and just beginning to color, about 10 minutes. Add the thyme, garlic and a generous pinch of salt. Turn the heat to low, cover and cook another 10 to 20 minutes, stirring often, until the onions are golden brown and very sweet and soft. Remove from the heat.
• While the onions are cooking, stem and wash the chard leaves, and bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Fill a medium bowl with ice water. When the water comes to a boil, salt generously and add the chard. Blanch for one to two minutes, just until the leaves are tender, and transfer to the ice water. Drain and squeeze out excess water. Alternatively, steam the chard for two to three minutes until wilted, and rinse with cold water. Chop the chard medium-fine.
• Roll out the dough, oil a 14-inch pizza pan and dust with cornmeal or semolina. Place the dough on the pan.
• In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, egg yolk, Parmesan and chard. Spread over the pizza dough in an even layer, leaving a 1-inch border around the rim. Spread the onions over the ricotta mixture.
• Place in the hot oven, and bake 10 to 15 minutes until the crust and bits of the onion are nicely browned. Remove from the heat, and serve hot or warm.

SPINACH AND RICOTTA PIZZA

Steps:

• Position an oven rack on the 2nd-lowest level in the oven; place a baking stone on the rack; position another rack in the upper third of the oven; preheat oven to 500°.
• Coat a 12-inch pizza screen or perforated pizza pan with cooking spray.
• Lightly dust pizza dough with flour; lay dough in prepared pan and gently stretch into a 12-inch round.
• Top the pizza: brush the dough with 1 tablespoons olive oil.
• Spread the pizza sauce evenly over dough, leaving a ¼-inch border.
• Sprinkle the Parmesan over the top; distribute the spinach evenly over the top and sprinkle garlic over the spinach.
• Cover the spinach with the mozzarella.
• Using a teaspoon, arrange little globs of ricotta evenly over the top.
• Drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoons olive oil.
• Place pizza in oven on the upper rack.
• Bake 10 minutes, until crust is crisp and golden brown.
• Using a pizza peel, lift pizza off the pan and place the crust directly on the baking stone; remove pizza pan from oven.
• Bake about 3 more minutes, until bottom of crust is golden brown.
• Using the peel, remove the pizza from the oven and transfer to a cutting board.
• Arrange tomato slices over the top; slice and serve.

HEALTHY SPINACH AND RICOTTA PIZZA

Steps:

• For the dough: Combine both kinds of flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Stir 1 1/4 cups warm water with the olive oil and yeast and pour into the well in the flour bowl. Stir until a soft and shaggy dough forms and then turn out onto a lightly-floured board and knead until smooth and the dough springs back when pressed with your thumb. Transfer to a bowl coated with nonstick cooking spray, mist the dough ball, cover and let stand until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Divide the dough into 2 pieces and roll each into a ball. Cover loosely and let rest an additional 30 minutes.
• For the sauce: Combine the oregano, tomatoes and garlic in a small skillet and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Continue to cook, stirring and lightly mashing the tomatoes with a spatula, until the tomatoes have released their liquid and the sauce has become thick and jammy, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, season with salt and pepper and stir in the basil.
• For assembling the pizza: Place 2 baking sheets in the oven and turn the oven to 500 degrees F. Stretch and/or roll each piece of dough until very thin and place each on a piece of lightly floured parchment paper that is the same size as the baking sheets heating in the oven (the dough will be a rustic oval shape). Rub each piece of dough with 1 teaspoon of the oil, sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and carefully transfer to the hot baking sheets. Bake until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and evenly spread each pizza crust with the sauce, spreading about 1/2 inch from the edge, and then top with the mozzarella, Parmesan and spinach. Return to the oven and continue to bake until the crust is crisp and the cheese has melted and is browned in spots, 6 to 8 minutes, rotating the pans if necessary. Remove from the oven and place small spoonfuls of the ricotta on the pizzas and sprinkle with fresh basil. Sprinkle the pizzas with salt and crushed red pepper flakes, if using.

ROASTED GARLIC & SPINACH WHITE PIZZA (WITH OPTIONAL CHICKEN)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Drizzle a baking sheet with a little olive oil and place the pizza dough on top to rest before working. (Trader Joe's pizza dough requires 30 minutes sitting at room temperature, so I usually do that first).
• Lay out a large square of foil and place the garlic cloves on top (be sure you leave the peel on!). Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle with a couple of pinches of kosher salt. Fold the foil into a sealed packet and place in the oven (put it on a baking sheet if you're worried about leaking). Roast the garlic until soft, golden, and fragrant, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle, peel the cloves and discard the skins. Increase oven heat to 450 degrees Fahrenheit to prepare it for baking the pizza.
• Add 8 of the peeled garlic cloves to a small bowl. Smash with a fork. Add the ricotta, 2 teaspoons olive oil, basil, honey, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and pepper. Mix well.
• If using chicken, heat the outdoor grill or an indoor grill pan on medium-high. Rub the chicken with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook, flipping occasionally, until cooked through (we always check the internal temperature, which should register 165 degrees Fahrenheit). Set aside to cool. Once cool, cut into chunks.
• Stretch the pizza crust into a large (approx. 14-inch) round and place on greased cookie sheet or a pizza stone. If creating one meatless version and one chicken version, split the dough in half and stretch each into smaller rounds, approximately 8 inches or so, and place each on an olive-oil-greased cookie sheet.
• Top the crust(s) with tablespoon-sized mounts of ricotta, as evenly spaced as possible (but it doesn't have to be perfect!) Scatter with spinach and remaining garlic cloves. Top with cooked chicken chunks if using (you may only want to use half of the chicken if you're making two smaller pizzas). Scatter mozzarella cheese over the top(s).
• Bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit until the crust is crisp and golden and the cheese is melted and bubbling, 9-10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a couple of minutes before slicing into wedges with a pizza cutter and serving.

TORTA RUSTICA WITH RICOTTA AND SPINACH

Steps:

• Make the dough: In a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar and salt. Add butter and pulse until the mixture forms lima bean-size pieces. Alternatively, mix together flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl, then add butter, working the pieces into the flour with your hands, squeezing and pinching them until the mixture looks like oatmeal.
• Add egg, egg white and lemon zest, and pulse after each addition. If working by hand, whisk together egg, egg white and lemon zest in a separate bowl, then mix into the butter mixture. Slowly add iced wine, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse or mix by hand until the dough just comes together. You may not need all the liquid. The dough should be moist, but not wet.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and gather and press it into a ball. Divide into 2 portions, one slightly larger than the other, and shape into disks. Wrap the disks tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 5 days.
• When ready to bake, heat oven to 375 degrees.
• Make the filling: If your ricotta seems watery, put it in a sieve and let it drain while you cook the spinach.
• In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add spinach and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Stir in garlic and a large pinch of salt, and continue to cook until spinach is very dry, about 2 minutes longer. Transfer to a large bowl to cool. If any liquid accumulates as the spinach sits, pour it out of the bowl (you don't want it to water down the ricotta).
• In a food processor, purée drained ricotta and eggs until just combined and smooth. Add to the bowl with the spinach and fold in mozzarella, pecorino, ham (if using), parsley, black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt, red-pepper flakes and nutmeg. Set aside when rolling out dough (or chill for up to 4 hours).
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out the larger pastry dough disk to a 14-inch circle, about 1/8-inch thick. Fit dough into a 9-inch springform pan, pressing the dough up the sides of the pan. Scrape filling into crust and spread evenly. Roll out second pastry disk to a 12-inch circle, about 1/8-inch thick. Cut 1/2-inch-wide strips and weave into a lattice on top of the filling. Seal, trim and crimp the edges. Brush the top of the torta with the egg wash.
• Place torta on sheet pan and bake until crust is crisp and brown, and filling is firm, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool on a rack for at least 45 minutes before serving.