Pesto Prawn Pizza

One of my very favourite things I like to order when I go to Earls, a popular chain restaurant here in British Columbia is their pesto prawn pizza. Seems like I've been ordering it a lot lately in fact. 

I wouldn't normally go to Earls so regularly but since we've moved to Burnaby we just so happen to live quite close to an Earls and so we find ourselves there fairly often these days. Plus, now that we have a child we are banned from all pubs, not that there are any good ones here in South Burnaby anyway, no offence. Go ahead and call me a snob but we seem to be living in the Wings pub district..pubs called Wings and House of Wings are all within 2 blocks walking distance of our home. I know what you're thinking...classy area right? It's not so bad. And maybe their wings are actually the best in town, but I'll never know since I can't tote a child in there anyway.

So Earl's it often is. There's no shame in it. The food is always tasty and FAST and always always reliable. I emphasize FAST because I think they must serve everything on a timer or something. One time I ordered steak and fries (I must have been pregnant) and seemingly 5 minutes after I placed the order and server came running out and apologized profusely for the tardiness of my meal and so they comped my whole meal! Unbelievable. I couldn't even get a latte on Robson St. in that amount of time.

Anyway, I had a hankering for my favourite pizza and so I decided to attempt to make it myself.  I started out by making Jamie Oliver's pizza dough recipe which was pretty easy and tasted great but I'll admit it made a heck of a mess on my kitchen counter, seriously cleaning my counter was the most labour intensive part of this whole meal! Anyway, once the dough is done the rest is easy and takes very little time. 

I will definitely make this pizza again, prawns and pesto is one of my most favourite combos. The Earls pizza also used feta cheese which I suspect would take this pizza to the next level but alas I forgot to pick some up. Next time for sure.

Pesto Prawn Pizza (serves 2)

Pizza dough - I used Jamie Oliver's recipe here. (I substituted in 1 cup of whole wheat flour which worked well)

pesto

prawns

capers (about 8 capers)

mozzarella

chili flakes

cracked pepper

1. Prepare pizza dough or if you feel like it use a store bought pizza shell or use whole wheat pita as I often do. 

2. Pre-cook the prawns separately in order to remove some of the excess water, this will prevent your pizza shell from getting soggy. 

3. Spread pesto onto pizza shell. place prawns and capers evenly onto pizza shell. 

4. Place mozzarella on pizza. Sprinkle with chili flakes and pepper.

5. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes or until cheese starts to bubble and pizza dough is cooked all the way through.

6. Let cool for a few minutes and serve.