Maybe it’s a byproduct of my quarantine brain, but I find myself getting more easily overwhelmed these days. By the time I’m starting to think about what to make for dinner, I definitely don’t have the brainpower for anything complicated. A recipe with an ingredients list longer than my arm? No thank you.
Bless registered dietitian Toby Amidor, RD, to write a cookbook that completely gets me. Out on October 29, 2020, The Best 3-Ingredient Cookbook ($25) has 100 recipes that are quick, simple, and healthy for every meal of the day. Since dinner tends to be the most time-consuming meal to cook, I flipped to that section first. One recipe in particular looked so good I couldn’t look away: pesto pizza.
“My kids and I love making easy pizzas and like to switch out the toppings we use,” Amidor tells me. “One of our recent family favorites became this pesto pizza which is super simple to make and super easy to find all the ingredients.” The three ingredients you need: a pre-made pizza crust, pesto, and mozzarella cheese.
If you want to shop for your pizza crust and pesto like a registered dietitian, Amidor has a few tips to keep in mind. She uses a thin, whole wheat crust to make pie. “The thinner crust helps moderate the amount of the carbs in the meal and whole wheat crust increases the fiber,” she says. (You can also try a frozen cauliflower or chickpea crust if that’s more your thing.) As for the pesto, Amidor says to go for an oil-based one versus a cream-based one. It’s more likely to be made with nutrient-rich ingredients like olive oil, which is good for your heart, she says.
This pizza stands on its own, but if you want to round out the meal, Amidor says you can make a simple salad or steam some vegetables to enjoy on the side. But the pesto pizza, of course, is the star. Keep reading for Amidor’s recipe, excerpted from her new book.
Pesto pizza
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 cup pesto sauce
2 13-inch prepared thin-crust pizza crusts
10 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
2 Tbsp olive oil
1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. Brush the oil onto the pizza pans.
3. Spoon a half cup of the pesto sauce onto each crust. Spread evenly using the back of a spoon until one inch from the edge of the crust.
4. Evenly place five ounces of the cheese on top of the pesto sauce.
5. Bake until the cheese has melted and the crust is browned, eight to 10 minutes. Removed the pizza from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before cutting into four even slices. Serve warm.
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