Spinach Broccoli Pizza

I hosted a girl's night at my house suggesting we make our own pizzas.  When coming up with ideas, I thought of everything but your typical cheese or pepperoni.  The BBQ chicken pizza was one of them, plus this veggie pizza, and a caramelized onion, pear, and gruyere.  All of them were delicious!

With this pizza, you want to make sure you have a good crust and a flavorful white sauce.  There is not much sauce used in comparison with the amount of veggies, so it needs to stand out.  I start with infused milk.  Infusing milk is a really easy way to add flavor without calories.  You heat milk over the stove (careful not to boil).  You add peeled garlic cloves, chunks of onion, bay leaves, cloves, and parsley stems so the flavor leaks into the milk.  To thicken this milk, you then need to make a roux (equal parts butter and flour cooked together in a sauce pan).  Let the milk cool slightly and gradually add it to the roux stirring constantly.  Let that milk come to a low boil, then lower the heat to a simmer.

Spinach Broccoli Pizza

What you'll need:

- 1 whole wheat pizza crust (store bought or made)

- 1 cup nonfat milk

- 1/4 cup cream

- 3 garlic cloves, peeled

- 2 bay leaves

- 1/2 small onion, peeled

- 1/2 tbsp dried cloves

- 4 parsley stems

- 4 whole peppercorns (or later add in 1/2 tsp ground pepper)

- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour

- 1 tbsp butter

- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, divided

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1 1/2 cups chopped broccoli (easy fix is to buy frozen)

- 2 packed cups spinach

- 1/2 tbsp olive oil

What to do:

1.  Preheat oven to 350*F.  If using a baking stone, preheat for 30 minutes.  Roll out the dough to ~1/3" thick.  Let stand.

2.  Combine milk and the next 7 ingredients (through peppercorns) in a medium sauce pan.  Bring to a low simmer and keep simmering for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Let cool slightly.  Remove all onion, cloves, etc.

3.  In a sauce pan, melt butter.  Add the flour and mix thoroughly.  Continue stirring  and cook the flour 2 to 3 minutes. Slowly add milk to flour mixture stirring constantly.  You can use a wire whisk, but a small rubber scraper does a better job of getting the flour mixture from the corner of the pan.  Add 2 tbsp parmesan cheese, then bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer; simmer 5 minutes stirring occasionally.  Mixture should be thick enough to stick to the back of a spoon.

4. Reserve 1/4 cup of sauce, and pour the rest over the dough.  In a bowl, mix olive oil and 1/4 cup sauce over the broccoli and spinach.  Spread veggies over the pizza.  Top with the remaining parmesan cheese.  Bake 12 minutes until crust is golden brown.  Recipe makes 4 servings.