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Posts Tagged ‘pizza’

What Is Glamping?

Are you familiar with the term glamping? It’s “glamour camping” where you might be in a tent but it has a Persian rug and you’re served with fine china. Typically, you would pay a LOT for these camping “adventures”.

Anybody who knows me knows that glamping just wouldn’t be in the style of The Outdoor Princess; I’m more of a get dirty kind of girl. But, that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t bring a bit of glamping to some camp cooking!

The difference between a glamping camp cooking recipe and a normal recipe would be that you might need exotic ingredients or more specialized equipment. And the final bit to take it from ordinary camp cooking to GLAMPING camp cooking? It has to be a to-die for recipe!

Fresh Basil Pizza

This is an absolutely decadent pizza that was shared with me by my friend Patty. Each month the 8 singles ladies that live on my street get together for a potluck dinner. Last month, Patty brought this pizza and I just had to share it with all of you.

The best part is that the fresh ingredients are in-season right now at your local grocery store or farmers market! But, in order to make this, you need to be in an RV with an oven. (Or just make it at home and eat it outside as a picnic!)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 frozen puff pastry dough (there are 2 in a package)
• Fresh mozzarella cheese
• Fresh tomatoes cut into chunks
• Fresh basil, washed and torn into bite sized pieces

Start by completely thawing the puff pastry dough. If it is frozen even a little bit, it will break as soon as you start to handle it.

Place the dough directly on a no-stick baking sheet. There’s plenty of grease in the dough so you don’t need to spray the baking sheet. If you had some, and wanted to get REALLY fancy, you could line it with parchment paper. (I don’t have any so I went without; it was fine!)

Cut the mozzarella cheese into chunks and layer onto the dough. Size doesn’t really matter as long as each chunk is more or less the same thickness. If you wanted, you could shred the cheese, but that seemed like unnecessary work to me!

Top the cheese with a generous layer of tomatoes. I brought mine from The Queen Mother’s garden so most were cherry tomatoes or Roma tomatoes about the size of my thumb. I just chunked them up and piled them on.

Layer on fresh basil. I used about a double handful but I REALLY like basil. As the pizza was cooking, I added more basil half-way through.

Pinch up the sides of the pastry. This is just keep the cheese from melting and escaping!

Bake at 400° until the crust is golden brown and flakey. It took me about 18 minutes. Keep an eye on it because it goes from perfect to burnt in the blink of an eye.

Serves 2 people (as a main dish); 4 people as a side dish.

The Outdoor Princess’ Final Thoughts

• I really like how there were pockets of thick cheese and areas with less. But if you wanted the cheese to be even, then you’d need to grate it and sprinkle evenly.
• When I make this again, I will layer the basil BELOW the tomatoes. When it was baking, the basil dried into aromatic little puffs of nothing. Smelled good but not a lot of flavor!
• To reheat, place directly on an oven rack with a baking sheet on the rack below. It toasts the bottom of the pizza so everything is crispy.
• Someone suggested sausage on the pizza. Between the puff pastry dough and the cheese, it’s just THIS far away from being too greasy. I wouldn’t put sausage on it. But that’s just me!