We made these delicious pizzas for dinner a few weeks ago just when the spinach in our garden was at its peak.  I picked about 3 cups of baby spinach leaves (almost wiping out the whole crop but that’s ok… I was making room for pepper plants and basil!) and rinsed and dried them well before using them in this recipe.  Fresh spinach leaves from the garden are juicy and bright green – very different from the bagged stuff you buy in the store!  I’ll definitely be planting more spinach when the weather cools off in the Fall so we can continue to enjoy this delicious leafy green.

Herbed Pizza with Spinach and Feta

You will need…
1 Red Onion
Olive Oil
3 cloves Garlic, chopped
3 cups Baby Spinach Leaves
1 package Trader Joe’s Fresh Herbed Pizza Dough
4 Ciliegine Mozzarella Balls (each approx. 1” in diameter), broken into several small pieces
½ cup Feta Cheese, crumbled
8 Cherry Tomatoes, quartered
Salt and Pepper to taste

Roughly chop ¾ of the red onion and thinly slice the remaining piece of onion.  Saute the chopped onion in a frying pan or wok with the olive oil for 8-10 minutes until tender.  Add the chopped garlic and sauté 2-3 minutes, just until garlic starts to brown.  Add the spinach leaves and stir constantly for 2 minutes or until spinach wilts.  Remove from heat.

Fresh Spinach with Sauteed Onions and Garlic

Meanwhile, stretch out the fresh pizza dough into two individual-sized pizzas and place on a cookie sheet.  (See this pizza recipe for my recommendations on how to do this.)  Brush or smear a very light coating of olive oil onto the top of each crust – I actually used some of the wilted spinach leaves to smear some of the garlic-infused cooking oil onto the dough.

Bake the dough in a preheated 425° oven for 6-8 minutes until it is just starting to firm up.  Remove from oven and top each pizza with the ciliegine mozzarella pieces, wilted spinach mixture and crumbled feta cheese.  Add the thinly sliced red onion, quartered tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste, then reinsert the pizzas into the oven for another 5-6 minutes until the crust is golden brown.  Remove from oven and enjoy!