I’ve always wanted to master the simple chicken-and-rice dish that almost every food culture has. Murgh pilau, Dajjaj wa ruz, Arroz con Pollo, etc. So, after years of watching my mom do it, plus a lot of self-reassuring and instructional phone calls from my mom, i finally decided to attempt it.

Success! This was the most yummy one pot meal I’ve ever made. For the chicken, I used skinless chicken drumstick pieces. For the vegetables, I used eggplant, peas, and carrots. I guess this one was more Arab style then desi style because I put vegetables in it and toasted nuts on top. With some raisins and shredded carrots, it could be an Afghani murgh pilau. The possiblities are endless!

This works well with any pizza dough you freeze. The process is simple – roll it out, fill it, fold it, crimp it, and bake it!

Chipotle Chicken and (Turkey) Bacon Calzones

I don’t remember the exact recipe, so we’re just gonna go with some approximation.

1. Marinate chicken in chipotle-in-adobo. Grill. Cube.
2. Mix ricotta with mozzarella and dried herbs.
3. Crisp (turkey) bacon in a pan and chop.
4. Roll out pizza dough till it’s pretty thin. Put down the ricotta, then (turkey) bacon, then chicken. Put some more mozzarella on top.
5. Wet the edges of the dough. Fold over the dough and crimp the edges. Brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle some Parmesan on top.
6. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, until golden brown on top.
7. Serve with tomato sauce.

So Angela and I spent a whole afternoon emailing back and forth about these toppings. We may or may not have been at work at the time.

We had four types of pizzas.

1. Plain tomato sauce and mixed cheese
2. Roasted vegetable and mozzarella
3. Chipotle chicken and pineapple with colby jack and cheddar
4. White pizza with onions, tomatoes, olives, topped with arugula and drizzled with balsamic vinegar (o.m.g.)

Firstly, you roll the dough out or spread it with your hands. If you overwork it at this point, the dough might start getting an attitude, like 3-year olds who just won’t move, no matter how much you try to drag them out of their chair. If this starts to happen, just leave it alone and let it sit for a few minutes to let it relax (this usually works with 3 year olds too), and then it’ll roll out nicely again.

Angela says: Heat oven to 415°F and grease a pizza pan. Stretch the pizza out by hand, fitting it to the pan. [me: for some extra oomph, we sprinkled the dough with garlic powder and herbs before baking.] Bake the dough for 7 or 8 minutes or until it turns a little brown. Add toppings and bake for another 8 to 10 minutes.

All the toppings are pretty self explanatory. The roasted veggie pizza had balsamic-roasted red onions, eggplant, bell pepper, tomatoes, and mushrooms. I’ll elaborate on my two favorite pizzas in detail.

Chipotle chicken and pineapple pizza with colby jack and cheddar

1. Chicken: Overnight, marinate chicken in a mixture of pureed chipotle-in-adobo, cajun seasoning, and ranch dressing. Grill and cut into chunks.
2. Sauce: Into normal marinara sauce, mix in a bit of pureed chipotle-in-adobo, as much spice as you enjoy
3. Top pre-baked pizza dough with chipotle sauce, chicken, little bits of pineapple, and cheese. Something tangy would work best here – the bag I had was a mixture of colby jack and cheddar. Pepper jack would work great too.

White pizza with onions, tomatoes, olives, topped with arugula and drizzled with balsamic vinegar
Pictures are in Lightbox – click the first on the left to start the slideshow.

1. Prebake a pizza crust.
2. Spread on top of the pizza dough: very thinly sliced red or white onion, thinly sliced tomatoes, chopped olives, cheese (parmesan or some Italian blend), and parsley. Bake till cheese is melty and delicious.
3. When it comes out of the oven, top the pizza with fresh arugula. Put pizza back in the oven to wilt the arugula a little.
4. Before serving, drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

I’ve wanted to know how to make homemade pizza for a very, very long time. I was too chicken to try it myself though because frankly, yeast scares me a little. I scoped out my target carefully. I narrowed it down to Mario Batali, because he just cracks me up, and Angela, because she used to bring delicious looking homemade pizza for lunches. Mario was busy when I called, so I asked Angela for help.

Now, to give you a little background, Angela and I both love to cook. In fact, we spent much of our 8:45 am Professional Responsibility class talking about food over G-chat (while sitting next to each other). But, the first time we actually got together to cook something……the Infamous Brownies happened. They were…..well, quite possibly the worst thing I’ve ever baked. We won’t talk about it any more than that. It’s quite traumatic.

BUT since then, the score is in our favor. Food – 1. Angela and Taiyyaba – 3 (one for the pizza, one for the focaccia, and one for the calzones with the leftover dough – coming later!)

I told Taiyyaba that making pizza is unpredictable and all improvisation. This is especially true when you forget to bring the trusted recipe with you for Girls Only Pizza Night. I decided to wing it.

Also, I always have trouble making a really great batch of dough when it is humid outside – it gets icky and sticky. Naturally, I was worried when I noticed the weather that day.

In short, we had all the odds stacked against us as we made the dough.