Shake Up Pizza Night with this Riff on the Classic “Grandma Slice”

Christine: My love of pizza is an established and well-known fact. Round pizza, square pizza, pizza with red sauce, pizza with white sauce, vegetarian pizza, pepperoni pizza, any kind of pizza. Bread, sauce, cheese! It’s my happy place.

This is my riff on a traditional New York “grandma slice.” It’s also a perfect recipe, in those early days, to hand off to any newly minted grandma who happens to be nearby. If you have a batch of frozen dough or G-Ma feels like rolling up her sleeves, great; otherwise, most super- markets sell pizza dough, and that works just as well. Feel free to swap out the toppings with whatever you have on hand—for me, arugula is always a must; the crunch and the peppery leaves keep the oozing cheese in balance and make me feel sort of like I’m having a salad.

(Related: Spice Up Your Brunch With Chilaquiles)

Greens and Cheese Grandma Slice Recipe

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

• 1 batch Pizza Dough
• ¼ cup (60 mL) Pesto
• 1 cup (250 mL) Wilted Greens, roughly chopped
• 4 ounces (115 g) stracciatella or buffalo mozzarella cheese, sliced
• Handful of baby arugula
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) extra- virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) red chili flakes
• 2 teaspoons (10 mL) flakey sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Grease a baking sheet with oil.
2. Using a rolling pin, roll out the pizza dough into a rectangular shape about the size of the baking sheet.
3. Carefully transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet. Gently spread the pesto over the dough in an even layer. Arrange the wilted greens on top.
4. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Remove the pizza from the oven and place the cheese evenly on top. Return to the oven just long enough for the cheese to puddle a bit, 1 minute tops.
5. Top the pizza with the arugula, olive oil, chili flakes and salt. Serve warm if you can, but this pizza is also excellent served cold or at room temperature. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also cut the pizza into squares and freeze it in zip-top bags for up to 3 months.

Excerpted from How to Eat with One Hand. Copyright © 2020 by Christine Flynn and Emma Knight. Photography by Suech and Beck. Published by Penguin Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

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