Thea's Artichoke Pizza
From The Cooking Channel show, "Pizza Masters" - Season 2 Episode 1, "Miami Slice". In 2015, they travel to Miami to Thea's. The restaurant closed in 2017, but the Cooking Channel's website had the actual recipe from Thea. It's a good thing I'm an old person that prints out recipes with paper and ink. The Cooking Channel website now redirects to the Food network site and this recipe is no longer there.
Servings: 1 12"-14" Pizza
Equipment
- 1 Pizza Peel (Wooden)
- 1 Pizza Stone or Pizza Steel
- 1 offset spatula for spreading the cream sauce as it is a little thick
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 14 oz Pizza Dough for 14" pie (See dough recipe link in instructions below.) 12 oz for 12" pie) (See dough recipe link in instructions below.)
Artichoke Cream Sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 1 medium Spanish Onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic smashed
- kosher salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 8 oz artichoke hearts marinated, quartered, strained (see notes)
- 1½ cups heavy cream
Pizza Toppings
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 4 quarters artichoke hearts marinated, quartered, strained (see notes) (photo shows 6 quarters, but I only used 4)
- 6-8 oz shredded mozzarella
- freshly cracked black pepper
- 4 oz baby arugula
- 3 oz aged Parmigiano-Reggiano shaved slices
Instructions
Pizza Dough Base
- See my Pizza Dough Recipe: https://pizzaismylife.com/pizza-dough-recipes/easy-ny-style-pizza-dough-recipe/
- See my How-To on Shaping the Dough: https://pizzaismylife.com/pizza-dough-recipes/how-to-form-the-pizza-round/
Artichoke Cream Sauce
- Strain the artichokes and weigh out 8 oz.
- Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan set over medium heat.
- Add the garlic and onions and sauté until translucent.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the artichokes and cream, and stir.
- Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper again.
- Let cool for 10-15 minutes.
- Puree in a blender until the sauce is smooth.
- Move sauce to a bowl for easier topping of pizza. Set aside.
Preheat Conventional Home Oven
- I baked this in a conventional home oven. I have a pizza stone on the bottom rack, and a pizza steel on the top rack. The oven gets preheated to 525º F, and then holds for one hour before baking the pizza. (If your oven will go to 550º, do that.)
Topping the Pizza (Pre-Bake)
- Strain 4 artichoke quarters. (Six are in the photo, but I only used four.)
- Stretch the dough to 12 inches in diameter.
- Spread the artichoke cream evenly over the dough leaving a 1/2-inch border for the crust. (An offset spatula is a good tool for spreading the cream sauce.)
- Sprinkle the dried oregano over the top.
- Pull off individual leaves from the artichokes and distribute evenly over the sauce.
- Cover the pizza with the mozzarella.
Baking the Pizza
- Bake at 525° F 7-8 minutes
Topping the Pizza (Post-bake)
- Slice the pizza first
- Add black pepper
- Spread arugula
- Add Parmigiano-Reggiano
Notes
I bought Vigo artichoke hearts, marinated, quartered 24 oz jar.
You will use some for the artichoke cream, and some for the toppings. I suggest straining the artichoke hearts as you need them.
I made the cream sauce a day in advance, and only strained what I needed for that so the rest of the artichokes could stay marinating until I used them for the pizza toppings the next day.
Between the two uses most of the jar will be used. I had six quarters left. I also had some leftover cream sauce that I later mixed with the leftover artichokes and cooked chicken thighs over pasta.