Last week we showed you two different ways to make vegetarian dumplings – so today, we’ll show you two different pizzas we made recently.  One is a super spicy version, made with hot peppers, and the other is a balsamic vinaigrette pizza.   They’re each pretty easy to make, and they’re really tasty.  Here’s what you’ll need for both pizzas:

• Yeast
• Salt
• Flour
• Olive oil
• Red sauce
• Mozzarella
• Spicy peppers
• A package of baby arugula
• Balsamic vinegar
• Red pepper flakes
• Rosemary
• Parmesan cheese

We first made our pizza dough using the tried and true dough recipe we’ve come to rely on, which you can find here.  Once the dough was done, we divided it in half and stretched one half onto a pizza pan.  Then we covered it in a thin layer of sauce.

We tore about 4 ounces of mozzarella cheese into slices and placed them on top of the sauce.

To make the first pizza, we took an entire package of spicy peppers and placed them over one of the flames on our stovetop, turning each pepper over with tongs to blister evenly on all sides.

This is what the peppers should look like when they’re done:

We sealed the peppers in plastic bags for about 10 minutes to steam and then sliced the skin off under cold running water so only the tender flesh underneath remained.

We cut the tops off the peppers, deseeded them (because these were really spicy peppers, and taking out the seeds helps make them less hot), and sliced them open so we could lay them flat on top of the sauce and cheese.

We baked the pizza on our pan for 10 minutes at 400°F, then transferred it directly onto a pizza steel on the top rack of our oven and baked it for another 10 minutes.

Here’s the pepper pizza when it was done:

For the second pizza, we baked everything the same way as above, except with only the sauce and cheese.  Once it was done, we took the pizza out of the oven and let it cool for a few minutes.

While we were waiting, we prepared the vinaigrette by pouring a cup of balsamic vinegar into a saucepan, along with a bunch of red pepper flakes and some rosemary leaves, and brought everything to a boil.  Then we let this mixture simmer for about 10 minutes, until it had thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.

When the pizza had cooled down, we arranged half the bag of baby arugula on top of the pizza …

… then drizzled the vinaigrette on top of everything and finished it all off with a healthy sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese.

Each of these pizzas turned out really delicious.  The pepper pizza was pretty spicy, which was a nice contrast to the creaminess of the mozzarella.  The balsamic vinaigrette version, meanwhile, had an interesting tang and texture that you don’t usually find in pizzas.  The dough does take some time to make, so you can’t just whip these pizzas up in a minute, but once the dough is done it’s pretty simple to put everything together.  So if you have a craving for unusual pizzas that are spicy or salad-y, or both, try these ones out.