Easy Baby Spinach and Ricotta Pizza Recipe

This recipe comes to us from Chef Angela Dimino. This spinach and ricotta pizza recipe is her answer to the question, “What do chefs eat at home?”

Angela is a working chef with a practical side. For this homemade white pizza recipe, you don’t have to make a homemade pizza crust. Angela’s directions are to use your favorite pizza dough recipe. But you can also use your favorite prepared or frozen dough. Although a great, homemade pizza dough always makes for an unforgettable pie, a ready-to-go-dough makes for good food, fast.

Don’t miss Angela’s recipe for Italian Sausage Risotto with Sweet Peas

Why ricotta pizza just might be an aphrodisiac

According to a study by the Smell and Taste Treatment & Research Foundation, that one-of-a-kind aroma of pizza increases blood flow.

Now you might be thinking, “This is significant to me…Why?” If this is where your mind goes, I would like to ask you to pause and just think for a moment about the significance of blood flow. Yes, it means you’re alive. But think about that hyper sensation of being alive you get when the blood flows to a certain zone called the erogenous zone. So basically, what the research is concluding is that pizza can give your body a boost in the sexual excitement arena.

The powerful aroma of cheese

Why would pizza of all foods do this? Perhaps it’s the fact that the smell of many cheeses resembles a female pheromone. And, of course, when cheese is heated, the aromas intensify. The intense cheese smell is particularly notable with a white pizza like this pizza with ricotta cheese, which calls for a blend of four cheeses. However I think we should also consider that the one-of-a-kind yeasty tang of freshly baked dough has something to do with it.

A spinach ricotta pizza recipe for a vegetarian date night dinner

Now I’ll bet that when you first clicked on this recipe for a homemade spinach pizza, the last thing you were expecting was a lesson in how to get the blood flowing to your nether regions. But besides being a one-pan meal, lets face it, this ricotta pizza is a potential form of foreplay. Try pairing it with a wine with pheromone-like aromas and you’re all but assured a home run with this easy homemade pizza recipe!

Baby Spinach and Ricotta Pizza Recipe

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This recipe from Chef Angela Dimino shows you how you can make good food fast. A one-pan vegetarian meal, it's easy and satisfying. 

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Dish Type pizza

Cooking Style Baking

Diet and Health healthy-ish

Seasonal fall, Father's Day, summer

Ingredient spinach

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 25 mins

Rising Time 1 hr

Total Time 35 mins

Servings 1 18” round pizza or one 13” by 9” rectangle pizza

Author Angela Dimino

Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh or frozen pizza dough*
• 12 oz sautéed baby spinach in olive oil with salt and pepper to taste and then cooled
• 15 oz ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup grated locatelli cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1 tbsp fresh oregano chopped
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp corn meal
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Place dough in an olive oil coated bowl covered in plastic. Allow to rise at room temperature for 1 hr.
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
• Take cornmeal and dust the bottom of an 8 inch round or 13” by 9” rectangle pizza pan.
• After dough has been allowed to rise, stretch out the dough to fit in the pizza pan that has been dusted with cornmeal on the bottom.
• Spread ricotta over the top of the dough evenly and then sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the ricotta.
• Take the spinach and evenly distribute it over the ricotta and then sprinkle the locatelli and mozzarella on top along with the chopped fresh oregano and red pepper flakes.
• Place pizza into the 500 degree preheated oven and cook for ten minutes and then lower oven temp to 350 degrees and cook until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown. About 10 to 15 minutes depending on your oven.

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