Radicchio Pizza with White Truffle Oil

note: cheese is optional. If you leave it off, it is vegan

OK, this is seriously good. We went to a BBQ at my in laws for Memorial Day and it was one of those deals where you bring your meat, or whatever it is you want to grill and a side dish or appetizer to share. Danielle, my friend thankfully brought this. It's not so much a "pizza" as it is like whole wheat pita bread with spread on top, even though, I'm pretty sure she used whole wheat pizza dough. Whatever it was, it was delicious and easy and you could pretty much put this topping on anything (crusty bread anyone?) and it would be fabulous. As for me, I brought an arugula, watermelon and feta salad that I was planning on blogging about originally, but it fell short. I think it needed more mint mixed in with the greens and balsamic instead of the citrus based dressing I used, and besides, after one bite of this pizza I knew that this would have to be what I wrote about and nothing else. Want to hear the crazy part? It was vegan until Danielle put the Parmesan cheese on top, which I do recommend because it adds a great salty bite. It could easily be an appetizer, cut into squares instead of wedges, or a healthy dinner, take your pick. Let's just face it, anything with white truffle oil tastes good so why not give this one a try?

Radicchio Pizza with White Truffle Oil

adapted from The Kind Diet, Alicia Silverstone

1 large head radicchio

olive oil

fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

white truffle oil, to taste (Danielle said she used the littlest bit)

1 fresh pizza crust (preferably a healthy, whole grain variety

freshly shaved Parmesan cheese (optional)

Preheat the oven to 415 degrees

Cut the radicchio in half, then slice each half crosswise into thin ribbons (as thin as possible). Dress with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a few dashes of white truffle oil to taste.

Toast the pizza crust in the oven for 7 minutes or until it is heated through and slightly golden but not crunchy.

Scatter the dressed radicchio over the pizza crust and return to the oven for another 3-5 minutes, until the radicchio is warm and starting to wilt. Top with Parmesan cheese shavings and serve immediately.

I love recipes like this. Ones that take all of 5 minutes, dirties 1 bowl and taste stellar. Danielle added some spinach to the radicchio mix and thats why you can see green in the picture. Feel free to do so yourself if you have some. By the way, you don't have to serve this hot. The wedge I ate was room temperature and look how I have raved. I can only imagine what it is like hot and fresh out of the oven. I couldn't even really eat the pizza crust because my cleanse is on going, although I did indulge in the cheese on top (you can't win them all and honestly I have been so good up until this last week...sigh) and still it was THAT good. Jeremy thinks, and I agree, that I have a way of going on and on about things, especially food, when I get excited about it and so I end up ruining it. I'm sorry if I talk things up. I try to be conscious of it. I just can't help it sometimes. :)