Shrimp Pizza with Mozzarella and Basil: Step-by-Step Recipe

Name: Shrimp Pizza with Mozzarella and Basil: Step-by-Step Recipe
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: Pizza dough 400 g; Shrimp (medium) 15; Tomato 1; Young basil, arugula to taste; Olive oil 3 tbsp; Mozzarella 200 g; Parmesan 50 g; Green olives 8; Garlic 2-3 cloves; Salt, oregano to taste

Shrimp is a wonderfully versatile ingredient. Shrimp soup, shrimp risotto, shrimp pizza.

I remember that as a child, on a Black Sea beach in some small town, tiny shrimp were sold by the glass, and quite cheaply too.

When you asked “where did you catch them?”, the sellers would start spouting the kind of nonsense that husbands tell their wives when they come home at dawn after a night out. Now shrimp are sold in shops in a perfectly civilized way, so all that is left is to make a sauce for them.

Shrimp are an affordable seafood, a gift of the sea. They are caught in the ocean by the millions, sorted by size and cooked in the same water they were caught in. At least, that is what it says on the package. Shrimp are also farmed in ponds. Unfortunately, the quality is not always good: sometimes the dye simply runs off them, and the only place for them is the trash bin. In any case, a pizza with poor-quality shrimp is no pizza at all.

You can make plenty of dishes from shrimp: excellent appetizers, pasta or risotto, and also the famous dish attributed to Giacomo Girolamo Casanova, an appetizer of zucchini and shrimp that is considered an aphrodisiac.

Besides, the Italians would not be such skilled cooks if they had not come up with the shrimp pizza recipe. Just think of the seafood pizza Pizza ai frutti di mare and the mussel pizza Pizza con le cozze: wonderful combinations of the usual pizza ingredients with seafood.

More with shrimp

Shrimp SaladEasy shrimp salad with greens, cherry tomatoes, green olives and a balsamic olive oil dressing. Ready in minutes — a light appetizer or Mediterranean breakfast.

Mexican-Style Seafood RiceSpicy Mexican-style seafood rice: rice simmered in chicken stock with vegetables, paprika and saffron, then finished with mussels, shrimp and squid.

Fish Soup with ShrimpCreamy fish soup with shrimp on a salmon or trout stock with onion, carrot, tomato and herbs. Easy step-by-step recipe with photos.

How to Boil ShrimpHow to boil raw shrimp tails: thaw under cold water, simmer in water with dill, garlic, ginger and bay leaf, boil 30 seconds after they float, then ice bath.

Rice with ShrimpRice with shrimp, corn, bell pepper, carrot and celery root, cooked in olive oil with paprika and nutmeg. An easy step-by-step recipe with photos.

Ingredients

34 cm pizza

Pizza dough 400 g
Shrimp (medium) 15
Tomato 1
Young basil, arugula to taste
Olive oil 3 tbsp
Mozzarella 200 g
Parmesan 50 g
Green olives 8
Garlic 2-3 cloves
Salt, oregano to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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Shrimp pizza should have soft, fairly thick dough. Make the dough first. The yeast pizza dough recipe we use at home is simple and clear. Read “Pizza Dough”.
Once the dough has risen, knead it again and stretch it into a flat round 5-7 mm thick. Place the dough on the pan, lightly greased with olive oil beforehand. Be sure to prick the dough with a fork in several places. For the dough to rise a little more and become fluffy, cover it on the pan with a towel and let it rise for at least 15 minutes.
The pizza has no tomato sauce, so I think it can well be called a “white” pizza. For the sauce spread on the dough we will use one similar to pesto, but a more budget-friendly version.
The pizza will have a basil sauce. Grate a piece of Parmesan. Peel 1-2 cloves of garlic. Wash and roughly chop the leaves of young basil. Put everything in a blender and add 1-2 pinches of fine salt.
Blend the cheese and herbs until they look like fine grain. You should get a slightly sticky, fragrant, bright green mixture. You can add 1 tbsp of olive oil so the sauce is not too dry and spreads well.
Spread this sauce over the dough on the baking pan.
Scald the tomato with boiling water and remove the skin. Then cut it open and remove the seeds. Cut the flesh into small cubes. Spread the tomato over the dough, distributing it evenly.
Sprinkle the whole pizza with dried oregano, 2-3 pinches.
Cut the pitted olives lengthwise into quarters and spread them over the pizza.
Cut the mozzarella balls in half or into quarters and spread them evenly as well.
Pour boiling water from the kettle over the shrimp and wait until they thaw. Drain the water and peel the shrimp, tearing off the tail, so you keep only the shrimp tails (the meat). If the shrimp are large, cut the peeled meat in half lengthwise, removing any remains of the vein along the tail on the curved top side. If the shrimp are small, you can use them whole.
Arrange the shrimp over the pizza, trying to place them between the pieces of mozzarella, so the pizza turns out even.
Sprinkle the pizza with olive oil and put it into an oven preheated to 200 degrees. The pizza bakes for up to 20 minutes. It is worth checking it by lifting the edge of the dough. It may bake faster, and it is bad if it burns.
The finished pizza can be decorated with a few leaves of arugula or basil. Shrimp pizza is served cut into 6-8 slices with a pizza wheel.
Serve hot; it is better not to reheat it.