Roasted Garlic and Veggie Pizza

I know I haven't posted in a while... studying for the bar has been taking up way too much time.  I keep finding time to cook... just not to take pictures or write anything up.  But tonight, I decided to share... mostly because this is the first time I've ever made roasted garlic.  And it was AWESOME.

I roasted the garlic earlier this afternoon so that it had a couple of hours to cool before dinner.  I just left it in its foil pouch until I was starting to make the pizza... then I squeezed its guts out. :)

I made this vegetarian because it's what we wanted tonight... this would be delicious with any combo of veggies/meat you wanted though.  The roasted garlic added a nice flavor to the whole pizza which is completely different than adding fresh or granulated garlic.  I will definitely be doing this again.

The whole apartment ended up smelling like roasted garlic today.  I even caught Jeremy opening the pouch to steal some.  I told him not to, he said he wasn't, and then I saw him chewing and licking his fingers... garlic thief!  Then again, it really is hard to resist... I may or may not have licked my fingers after rubbing it on the pizza (don't worry... I washed them before continuing to make the pie...).

2 of the 3 slices I ate.  Jeremy polished off the other 5...

Recipe:
1 batch of pizza dough (the recipe we used is here but any dough you like will work... even store-bought)
2-3 tbs. cornmeal
1/4 c. pizza sauce
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flake
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tbs. grated parmesan cheese
1/2 small onion, sliced thinly
1/4 green bell pepper, cut into small pieces
1 head of garlic
1 tsp. olive oil

1. To make the roast garlic: preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut the very top off of the garlic head (just to expose the cloves).  Place the garlic on a piece of foil and drizzle with the olive oil.  Wrap the foil around the garlic.  Bake for 45-50 minutes until the garlic is tender and golden.  Set aside to cool.  When cool, squeeze the cloves out of the garlic head.  (Yum.)
2. When ready to make the pizza: preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Put a large pizza stone in the oven to heat with the oven and don't start the next step until the oven is hot -- you want a nice hot stone to put the pizza on.*
3. Sprinkle cornmeal onto a pizza peel.  Using your hands or a rolling pin, stretch/roll the dough into a 18" circle (doesn't have to be perfect).  (Make sure the dough isn't stuck to the peel by giving it a couple of shakes.  If it doesn't move, pick it up and sprinkle more cornmeal down until the dough will slide easily around the peel.  Nothing worse than a beautifully constructed pizza that won't come off the peel...)
4. Rub the roasted garlic onto the dough, spreading it evenly around the dough.  Top with pizza sauce, crushed red pepper flake, oregano, black pepper, and salt.  Continue topping the pizza with mozzarella and parmesan.  Distribute the veggies evenly over the pizza.
5. Carefully transfer the pizza to the pizza stone.  Bake for 15-18 minutes until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly and browned in spots.
6. Remove the pizza from the oven and allow to cool on the peel for about 5 minutes before slicing and enjoying.

*If you don't have a pizza stone or don't want to use one for this, you can add 1-2 tbs. of olive oil to a large baking sheet (enough to lightly coat the sheet).  Then just press the dough into the baking sheet and top as above.  Cooking time will be approximately the same. Pan pizzas are delicious too -- every so often I make it this way just for fun. :)