Naan Pizza

When the craving for soft or crispy dough topped by tangy tomato and gloriously stringy cheese hits I find that it is often at an inconvenient hour. And given that I sadly don’t live in an urban area where pizza-by-the-slice is readily available even at the witching hour, I need to resort to other measures.

Making pizza at home is often fraught with problems, thick premade pizza bases are often doughy with an unpleasant chemical aftertaste, and fail entirely to replicate the italian heaven I so often crave. Ready rolled dough is also available, and though it is ultimately inoffensive in itself, conventional household ovens rarely get hot enough for the dough to crispen and brown, leaving an unfortunate soggy bottom. If your passion for pizza is so great that you have installed a wood fired pizza oven in your garden, and are willing to light it whenever the craving hits, then by all means use ready-rolled pizza dough.

For those of us without such dedication, Naan bread makes a fantastic substitute for pizza dough, it is already cooked, so these flatbread pizzas will cook in no time. I try to always have naan breads and a tin of tomatoes in my pantry, so as to be prepared whenever the craving hits. As for the rest of the ingredients, I have given an example here, but you can of course use whatever you have leftover in your fridge, this recipe is but a guide and an idea.

Start by spreading the naan bread with the tomato puree, drain the chopped tomatoes and top the naan with two tablespoons of the tomato. Roughly dice the courgette and fry it lightly in olive oil, and add this to the pizza.

Finally add the cheese, peel the mozzarella ball into thin leaves and strew them atop the naan, and finally top with grated cheese. Place in a hot oven straight onto the oven rack for about 3 minutes, or until the naan has crisped and the cheese has melted, and serve

Ingredients

1 Naan bread
2 tbsps tomato puree

1 can chopped tomatoes, drained

1 courgette

1 mozzarella ball

50g grated cheese