Ok this is going to sound random, but this was one of the first meals I had when I was in Christchurch, NZ as a stopover locale for a work trip. Chicken apricot and brie pizza. I know, you are thinking well that’s pretty odd for pizza. And when I first saw it I was thinking, “What kind of crazy food do these Kiwi folk eat?”. But if you ever talk to a New Zealander about food, trust them. They know what they are doing. Just like they know how to make great beer (sorry my GF friends, I know there is no such thing as good GF beer, and I am very thankful that it’s just my husband and not me who has no choice about the gluten issue). And of course, traveling back from the trip, you have to postpone your return flight across the ocean for at least a week so that you can go galavanting about backpacking and meeting locals and enjoying views like this:
But that is neither here nor there. On to the food!!!! I have tried GF pizza crusts before, and failed MISERABLY. In fact, I had all but given up hope that I would ever successfully be able to create an edible pizza dough. I had tried following recipes, and creating my own, to no avail. But then I came across this post by Gluten Free Day, and immediately bookmarked it. The magic here I believe lies in the simplicity of the recipe. Usually when I create something GF that normally would use wheat flour, my first rule is combine as many different ingredients as possible in the hopes that it might all stick together and resemble the original intended food in the end. In this case, there is only one flour used. Quinoa. That’s it! Nothing else. Amazing. So if you are searching for that elusive pizza crust recipe, go check it out, because your hunt is over! I love that this uses quinoa. I know I’ve talked before about how wonderful quinoa is for you, even if you arent’ gluten free, I would recommend trying this.
*Note – I didn’t have psyllium husk powder, and so used xantham gum instead. It worked just fine.
If you are not a gluten free person, give this crust a try, you just might like it! Otherwise, go ahead and make your normal pizza dough crust (I suggest this pizza dough recipe from 101 Cookbooks), and try out some crazy yummy toppings!
I love these toppings, because they are different. Not having a tomato/marinara base on the pizza makes them seem exotic and fresh, and reminds us that with pizza, there really are no rules. You can be as creative as you want! Pesto sauce on pizza is probably one of my absolute favorite ways to eat pizza. If you are a traditionalist when it comes to your pizza, I challenge to you step out of your comfort zone for a bit and be adventurous. You might just find a whole new appreciation for a classic 
Jenn Cuisine
Chicken Apricot & Brie Pizza
Ingredients:
1/2 lb. chicken tenderloins, sliced
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1 med. onion, sliced
2 tbs. EVOO
1 cup white wine
salt & pepper
marjoram and tarragon
4 oz. brie, sliced small
2 oz. mozz., sliced small.
Directions:
1. Start on pizza dough, and when it is rising then start on the pizza toppingness.
2. Heat up a skillet or pan with large surface area and pour in the EVOO (med-high). Then add in onions, and let them brown, stirring occasionally. Turn heat down to med. and keep stirring occasionally, until they start to caramelize.
3. Add in the wine, and 1/4 cup of the apricot preserves, and let reduce until sauce is thickened.
4. At this point, add in the sliced chicken, salt & pepper, and herbs, and turn the heat back up to med. high until the chicken is thoroughly cooked, and set aside.
5. Follow directions and roll out pizza dough. I used half of Gluten Free Day’s recipe for each pizza, and made 2 about 10″ diameter pizzas with about 1/4″ thick crust. To roll out the dough if you are doing gluten free, roll it between parchment or seran wrap. This is critical or you will be very frustrated trying to get it to stay together. If you are using regular dough, you can just roll it out.
6. Remove the top cover of the dough, and carefully flip it onto your olive oiled pizza stone. Then, very carefully so as not to poke holes in the dough, use a knife or spatula to spread the rest of the preserves onto the pizza. Then spread out the chicken/apricot mixture. Finally, top with cheeses.
7. Put pizza in the oven at 400F. For the thickness my crust turned out, 25 min was perfect for this.
Jenn Cuisine
Sausage Parma Pesto Pizza
Ingredients:
1/4 lb. ground pork or veal (I used veal cause that’s what I had, and I highly recommend it!)
2 tsp. salt, healthy amount of pepper, dried parsley, dried italian herbs
2 cups fresh spinach
1 bunch fresh parsley
1 bunch fresh basil
4 tbs EVOO
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup grated parmesean
1 oz. mozz sliced small
Directions:
1. Start on pizza dough, and when it is rising then start on the pizza toppingness.
2. Use your hands to mix dried herbs salt & pepper into the ground meat. Heat up a skillet on med-high, and add the sausage, and cook, stirring and breaking up the sausage into bite sized amounts until cooked. Then set aside.
3. In a food processor, blend spinach, parsley, EVOO, garlic, and pine nuts. At some point it will start to look like pesto, you may need to mix it up a bit between pulses. You will make a lot more pesto than you need. Feel free to use it in other creative ways!!
4. Follow directions and roll out pizza dough. I used half of Gluten Free Day’s recipe for each pizza, and made 2 about 10″ diameter pizzas with about 1/4″ thick crust. To roll out the dough if you are doing gluten free, roll it between parchment or seran wrap. This is critical or you will be very frustrated trying to get it to stay together. If you are using regular dough, you can just roll it out.
5. Remove the top cover of the dough, and carefully flip it onto your olive oiled pizza stone. Then, very carefully so as not to poke holes in the dough, use a knife or spatula to spread the pesto evenly onto the pizza. Then sprinkle the sausage on, then the cheeses.
6. Put pizza in the oven at 400F. For the thickness my crust turned out, 20 min was perfect for this because the pizza stone was already hot from cooking the first pizza.
And there you have it! Two very successful gluten free pizzas, with toppings that are pretty unique that are just fantastic
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
YUM! The first one looks especially good to me, I’m a sucker for any combo of fruit and cheese.
I love parm, pesto, and sausage pizza, made on last week. I must try your apricot and chicken one!
how creative!
Those both look amazing!!
Both pizzas look delicious! I’ll be sure to pass the crust recipe on to my brother who has a wheat allergy. I know how hard it is to find tasty gluten free products.
Great post!
My friend pass this along to me and I’ll definitely have to try those combos. I did want to interject that there IS in fact such thing as good gluten free beer. Here are a few of my favorites, in order of preference (and most real-beer-like!). Happy Beer Drinking!!!
http://www.glutenfreebeers.co.uk/
http://www.redbridgebeer.com/
http://www.bardsbeer.com/
What a delicious combo for pizza!
I too have a husband who cannot eat gluten! This pizza looks fabulous — he is dying for pizza (and beer — sad). Thanks for sharing
I would gladly come over for dinner!!! My husband cant have gluten either, so I eat that way too
Great pizza’s girl!!! Love your blog!
That doesn’t sound like a strange combination at all- unique, yes, but defiantly not odd. We just made one last week with left over turkey breast, carmelized red onion, and chevre- kind of going on your “poultry, sweet, and a cheese-other-than-mozzarella” theme.
Thanks a lot for sharing,
Siri
Yum, my kind of pizzas! You take some amazing pictures.
I love apricot and brie together, so now I can’t wait to try it on a pizza! Great suggestions!
I love your ideas for toppings, the chicken one especially.
It’s great to hear that the pizza crust worked out; I haven’t had all that much feedback from it so I have been wondering how it works out for others.
YUM! I love the Apricot and Brie pizza! So unique. I work with Alouette cheese and I am always sharing recipes. We have a new Baby Brie that this will go great with, Thanks! Stumble and a Digg from me!
That chicken apricot and brie pizza sounds so amazingly good!
Oops! Wrong reference site for Baby Brie Recipes http://www.alouettecheese.com/recipes/baby_brie.php
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