Olive Oil Fried Pizza Dough - Spinach and Pesto Style

Ingredients:

1 ball of pizza dough (16-oz.), thawed and allowed to rest at room temperature before beginning recipe (or a pizza dough recipe you prefer)

4 tablespoons (or so) basil pesto (homemade or store-bought)

A couple of handfuls of baby spinach, roughly chopped

4 oz. (or so) shredded mozzarella (or slices of fresh mozzarella)

2 tablespoons (or so) shaved Parmesan cheese

6 - 8 cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half

Freshly-ground black pepper

Olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut pizza dough equally in half.  Lightly flour a clean work surface.

Using you hands, press out dough and form into a circle or oval (roughly 6 - 8 inches wide).  It doesn't have to be perfect.

Heat a good drizzle of olive oil (roughly 2 tablespoons) in an oven-safe skillet (cast iron works best) over medium-high heat.

Lay pizza dough across the pan.  Once the underside is bubbly and beginning to fry (become crispy), flip the dough over and turn off heat.  (Watch the dough carefully on the first side so that it does not burn.)

Spread pesto across dough (or whatever sauce you're using).  Sprinkle on half of the mozzarella cheese you plan to use for one pizza - about 1 ounce.  Sprinkle on an even layer of chopped spinach.

Sprinkle on the remaining 1 ounce of mozzarella cheese.  Lay out 6 - 8 tomato halves.  Sprinkle on a tablespoon (a good-sized pinch) of shaved Parmesan.  Drizzle on a little olive oil and top with a healthy dose of freshly-cracked black pepper.

Finish in the oven until everything is nice and bubbly - about 5 - 7 minutes.  Repeat directions to make second pizza.

Serve immediately.  (We've found that pizza this way isn't the greatest as leftovers, so we try to make only what we plan to eat right away.)