Quick and Easy: Naan Pizza

I discovered this recipe years ago when I read Nigella Lawson’s cookbook Nigella Express. It’s a great book for quick meal ideas and techniques what are way more interesting than opening a package of some random processed food. While I hesitate calling this pizza (it’s really a flatbread) the addition of tomato sauce and melted cheese makes it resemble pizza, so I’ll stick with Nigella here.

What’s amazing about this dish is that it’s made up of easy pantry/refrigerator ingredients, it pulls together in less than 30 minutes, only requires you to assemble and bake, and yet the fresh herbs, melted cheese, and whole wheat naan make it feel both homey and gourmet. I’ve made these flatbreads, cut into pieces and served as a party dish, or I happily eat one myself on a ho-hum weekday.

This happily serves 2, add a salad, and you’ve got a dinner.

Ingredients
1 package of whole wheat naan (2 flatbreads)
2 tblsp tomato sauce
1/2 cup marinated mushrooms, sliced (from an olive bar or in the jar, just make sure you get the marinated ones, plain canned or jarred mushrooms are pretty nasty)
generous 1/2 cup shredded fontina cheese (I don’t measure, I just shred the cheese until I have a nice handful for each pizza)
fresh thyme, stripped from the stalks

Mushrooms and thyme.

The toppings I’ve included are my favorite combination, funnily enough, it’s Nigella’s preference too, but like her, I’ll say you can feel free to change them up however it pleases you. A couple of places I’ve diverged from Nigella – I  prefer whole wheat naan (vs white) and I heartily prefer plain canned tomato sauce for its ease of use and simple flavor.

Preheat your oven to 425 F. I like to bake these straight on my bread stone so I build them on my pizza peel, but if you don’t have a bread stone, place the naans on a parchment lined sheet pan.

Spread the tomato sauce over the naans, then add your mushrooms and thyme, then sprinkle over the shredded cheese. Nigella puts her thyme on last, but I’ve had the thyme burn on me, I prefer it under the cheese.

Bake for 5 to 8 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly, then enjoy. Just be careful, they are crazy hot.