Smoked Salmon Pizza

I have to confess that I am a creature of habit and for a very long time, I refused to eat any pizza that was not “traditional.” To me, pizza meant crust, sauce, mozzarella cheese and perhaps a few veggies. As a kid I was incredibly stringent on this rule. It was a huge step when I finally began to eat sausage on my pizza, but no one was crazy enough to think I might try a pesto or white sauce pizza.

Nowadays I tend to be much more adventurous. I like pizzas with different sauces and I experiment with every ingredient I have in my refrigerator for toppings.  This pizza, however, might be the biggest leap I’ve ever made.  There isn’t any red sauce or mozzarella.  Instead, it contains cream cheese and smoked salmon. I decided to give it a try, however, since those two ingredients make up my all-time favorite morning munch and boy am I happy I did.

Trust me, you’re gonna want to give this a shot.  And if anyone gives you a discerning look while you are in the process of making it, order a take-out pizza for them… that way you won’t have to share yours!

Ingredients

Pizza dough (either store bought or homemade)
Extra-virgin olive oil
Pepper
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup finely chopped shallots
1/4 cup drained capers
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3/4 pound sliced smoked salmon
1/3 red onion, finely sliced

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°. Drizzle the crust with olive oil, season with pepper and bake for 10 minutes. Let the crust cool slightly.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, shallots, 2 tablespoons capers, 1 tablespoon dill and the lemon juice.
3. Spread the cream cheese mixture on the crusts. Top with the smoked salmon, red onion, remaining 2 tablespoons capers and 1 tablespoon dill.  Cut the pizza into wedges and enjoy!

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