Pizza for grown-ups

The Lilly males recently enjoyed some pizza from Andriano’s in Delmar – if you go there, I strongly recommend their white pizza.  In their absence, I took the opportunity to make a completely self-indulgent, throw-on-whatever-I-want kind of pizza for myself.  I started with purchased dough simply because it was BOGO at the Chopper and I had some on hand.  I really have no skills in manipulating pizza dough – if anyone has tips to share, or better yet, will provide me with a brief internship in a pizza shop to learn how to toss dough in the air with panache – I’m in.  Lacking dough talent, I’ve concluded that leaving the dough in a bowl draped with a kitchen towel on the counter for a few hours makes it easier to manage.  That’s my best suggestion – sorry, but that’s all I’ve got. 

I like to crank the oven to 450 and I  lightly coat the baking sheet with olive oil and a dusting of coarse corn meal.  After stretching and spreading the dough on the baking sheet, I ladeled on homemade tomato sauce with peppers and sliced meatballs, and then dropped on some hunks of fresh mozzarella.  I baked the pizza for about 10 minutes, then tossed on a mound of arugula and returned the pizza to the oven which I had turned off.  After about 90 seconds, the greens were beautifully wilted and I finished my pizza with a scattering of sliced jalepenos.  I only ate about a quarter of the pie, leaving plenty for late-night leftovers.