## Florentine Pizza: A Taste of Italy with Spinach, Creamy Bechamel, and Crispy Crust ##
Originating from the vibrant region of Florence, Italy, the Florentine pizza is a delightful culinary creation that combines a crispy, golden-brown crust with a medley of flavorful toppings. The star of the show is the fresh spinach, which is sautéed until tender and vibrant, capturing its earthy essence. A creamy bechamel sauce, made from a roux of butter, flour, and milk, adds a rich and velvety texture, while a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese contributes a salty, nutty dimension. Completing this symphony of flavors is a generous layer of mozzarella cheese, which melts and bubbles beautifully in the oven, creating an irresistible golden crust.
**Beyond the classic Florentine pizza, this article presents a diverse collection of recipes that explore different culinary traditions and flavor profiles.**
* **Florentine Pizza with Roasted Red Peppers:** This recipe amps up the classic Florentine pizza with the addition of roasted red peppers, adding a sweet and smoky depth of flavor.
* **Florentine Pizza with Sausage:** Meat lovers will rejoice over this recipe, which incorporates savory sausage into the mix, creating a hearty and satisfying pizza.
* **Florentine Pizza with Mushrooms:** For a more umami-rich experience, this recipe features a combination of sautéed mushrooms, adding an earthy and meaty dimension to the pizza.
* **Florentine Pizza with Pesto:** This recipe introduces a vibrant and herbaceous twist with the addition of homemade pesto, capturing the essence of Italian herbs and nuts.
* **Florentine Pizza with Artichoke Hearts:** Artichoke hearts bring a slightly tangy and briny flavor to this recipe, creating a unique and memorable pizza experience.
CHICKEN FLORENTINE PIZZA
On pizza night, we like to switch things up with this chicken and spinach version. One taste of the ricotta cheese base and you won't miss traditional sauce one bit. -Phil Corder, Monroe, Louisiana
Provided by Taste of Home
Categories Appetizers Dinner
Time 25m
Yield 8 servings.
Number Of Ingredients 9
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 425°. Stir together Italian seasoning and garlic powder; toss with chicken. Spread ricotta cheese on pizza crust. Top with chicken, spinach and tomatoes. Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Bake until crust is golden and cheese is melted, 10-15 minutes.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 311 calories, Fat 11g fat (5g saturated fat), Cholesterol 65mg cholesterol, Sodium 423mg sodium, Carbohydrate 26g carbohydrate (3g sugars, Fiber 2g fiber), Protein 28g protein.
FLORENTINE PIZZA
There is a restaurant called Papalucci's here in Belmont Shore that serves an awesome florentine pizza. I've tried to duplicate it for years and I think I finally got it! It's not like most florentine pizzas and it's sooooo good and can be topped with chicken or mushrooms or whatever else strikes your fancy. I hope you like it. This recipe does not include the pizza dough. If you are not using store bought, there are dozens of great pizza dough recipes already posted on 'Zaar to try.
Provided by Hunkle
Categories Spinach
Time 40m
Yield 1 12 inch pizza, 4-6 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 10
Steps:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- For the alfredo sauce.
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.
- Add the minced garlic and saute for a minute.
- Add in flour and stir until it is evenly incorporated with the butter making a loose paste.
- Add in the half and half cream. Bring to a simmer over low heat, whisking constantly until thickened. Do not allow the sauce to boil.
- Simmer for minute or so over low heat stirring continuously until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.
- Mix in the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses stirring constantly to melt them evenly. Be sure to reserve the remaining mozzarella for the topping.
- Season with white pepper to taste.
- For the spinach topping.
- Squeeze as much of the water from the spinach as possible.
- Puree the pesto sauce and spinach together in a food processor until the pesto and spinach are combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the food processor with a rubber spatula to ensure all the pesto is incorporated. The final product should be a paste that will hold a shape.
- Place the prepared pizza dough on a lightly oiled baking sheet or pizza stone.
- Spread the alfredo sauce evenly over the pizza dough.
- Spread the spinach/pesto mixture over the alfredo sauce.
- Top with the remaining mozzarella cheese.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until crust is brown and cheese is bubbly.
SAUSAGE FLORENTINE PIZZA
Provided by Food Network
Time 30m
Yield 4-6 servings
Number Of Ingredients 11
Steps:
- Preparation Instructions:
- Position oven rack in center of oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.
- In a large skillet, saute sausage, mushrooms and garlic until the meat is browned.
- Drain off fat and remove excess with paper towels.
- To skillet, add pizza sauce, oregano, basil, spinach, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Cook, stirring frequently, until hot.
- Place pizza crust on a lightly greased baking sheet.
- Bake for 5 minutes and remove from oven.
- Spread meat mixture evenly over pizza crust.
- Top with cheese. Bake for an additional 8-10 minutes until cheese is bubbly.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle with fresh cut basil or other fresh herbs, cut and enjoy!
- *Always cook sausage to internal temperature of 160 degrees F
FABULOUS FLORENTINE PIZZA
This pizza has tons of flavor. The recipe will make 1 15-inch pizza. The baking time assumes you will be using a pizza stone. If you are using an aluminum pizza pan (or a smaller pizza stone), you will have to compensate. The pizza dough calls for the use of a bread machine, but feel free to make your dough the traditional way as well. Also, although this looks like a long recipe, it comes together quite quickly...especially if you prepare the pesto and toppings while the pizza dough is in the bread machine. Prep time includes rising time as well as cooking time. If you make this completely from scratch, you will have a nice gormet-quality pizza. Alternately, you can take some shortcuts, and throw this pizza together in no time. Use a purchases pizza shell, some pesto from a jar, and even some well drained frozen spinach, and you can have this pizza ready in minutes!
Provided by MsBindy
Categories < 4 Hours
Time 3h
Yield 8 slices
Number Of Ingredients 17
Steps:
- Put the pizza dough ingredients in to a breadmaker (in the order specified by your breadmachine), and process on pizza dough cycle.
- When cycle completes, remove the dough from the machine and put it in a bowl sprayed with cooking spray; cover it and let it rest for about 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, roll out the dough and put it on a greased 15 inch pizza stone sprinkled with some corn meal.
- Bake in 375F oven for about 5 minutes. Because the toppings on this pizza will generate some moisture, pre-baking the crust for a few minutes will prevent the pizza from becoming soggy. There's nothing worse than a soggy pizza! After pre-baking the crust, remove the pizza from the oven, and raise the temperature to 430°F If your pesto and toppings aren't ready yet, cover the crust with a cloth and set aside while preparing the toppings.
- While pizza dough is processing, make the pesto. You will have more pesto than you will need for the pizza. But, it is better to have a little too much, than to come up short! Just save the extra in the fridge and use for something else. In a food processor or blender, blend the basil, garlic and pine nuts.
- Slowly add the oil and continue to blend.
- Add the parmesan cheese and blend until creamy.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Set the pesto aside.
- Prepare the pizza toppings. Slice the mushrooms, chop the spinach fairly fine, julienne cut the sundried tomatoes; shred the 2 cheeses and mix the cheeses together.
- Prepare the pizza! Spread the pesto on the pizza dough. Depending on your preference, you will probably want between 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup of pesto. Spread it right out to the edges.
- Add the toppings; first the spinach, then the mushrooms, then the sun-dried tomatoes, and finally the cheeses.
- Bake in a 430F oven for about 15 minutes.
CHICKEN FLORENTINE PIZZA
Make and share this Chicken Florentine Pizza recipe from Food.com.
Provided by pines506
Categories Chicken Breast
Time 35m
Yield 1 pizza, 8 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 9
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces.
- Heat garlic oil in large skillet to medium. Add chicken and cook 10 minutes or until done.
- Stir in seasoning and remove from heat.
- Combine ricotta and mozzarella; spread on prebaked pizza crust.
- Spread spinach over cheese mixture; top with chicken and tomatoes.
- Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
- Bake pizza 10-15 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.
TRADITIONAL FLORENTINE PIZZA CRUST
from "Tuscan Recipes" - http://www.tuscanrecipes.com/recipes/florentine-pizza-margerita.html
Provided by ellie3763
Categories Grains
Time 1h50m
Yield 2 pizzas, 8 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 6
Steps:
- Mix the water with the sugar and yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes until dissolved and the yeast starts to bubble.
- Add the salt, olive oil and 1 cup of the flour and mix well.
- Add 2 more cups of flour, dough should be still a little sticky but should be able to form a ball.
- Turn out onto floured surface and start to knead, adding a little bit of flour as needed, until your dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
- Form a fall, place into an oiled bowl and cover with a cloth napkin. Let dough rise for 45 minutes. Punch down and divide in half.
- Preheat oven to 400°F If using a pizza stone, be sure to put the stone in the oven while it heats up.
- If using a baking pizza pan, lightly oil your baking pizza pan. Otherwise, shape pizza on a lightly floured surface. With your hands, press on the dough to spread it out to about 1/2 cm high (very thin). Top pizza with toppings of your choice. Allow to rest for 10-15 minutes. If using a pizza stone, transfer to pizza stone.
- Drizzle olive oil over the top of the pizza before placing into the oven and bake for 18-22 minutes if using a pizza pan, 8-5 minutes if using a pizza stone, or until the cheese has melted and the crust is golden.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 217.5, Fat 4.1, SaturatedFat 0.6, Sodium 294.3, Carbohydrate 38.7, Fiber 2.2, Sugar 1.7, Protein 6.2
Tips:
- Use fresh, high-quality ingredients: The quality of your ingredients will greatly impact the taste of your Florentine pizza. Use fresh vegetables, flavorful cheese, and a good-quality pizza dough.
- Don't overload the pizza: Florentine pizza is typically a light, delicate dish. Don't overload it with too many toppings, or it will become soggy and difficult to eat.
- Bake the pizza at a high temperature: A high temperature will help to create a crispy crust and prevent the pizza from becoming soggy.
- Use a baking stone: A baking stone will help to evenly distribute the heat and create a crispy crust.
- Let the pizza cool slightly before slicing: This will help to prevent the cheese from oozing out and making the pizza difficult to eat.
Conclusion:
Florentine pizza is a delicious and unique dish that is perfect for any occasion. With its light, delicate crust, flavorful cheese, and fresh vegetables, it's a pizza that everyone will enjoy. Whether you're making it for a party or just for a weeknight meal, Florentine pizza is sure to be a hit.
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