Spinach Alfredo Pizza

As you devour your Chicken Caesar Pasta leftovers, you are probably wondering what the heck you are going to do with all that extra spinach in the fridge.  The answer, my friends, is Spinach Alfredo pizza. 

Spinach Alfredo Pizza
Makes one pizza
Start to finish: 30 minutes

Your favorite pizza crust (could be a pre-made crust, store-bought mix, store-bought dough, or maybe you are brave and make your own dough from scratch)

For the sauce:
2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup 1% milk
1/2 tsp flour
1/4 cup marinara sauce

For the pizza:
1 packed cup fresh spinach
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4-1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese OR 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella + 1/2 cup fresh mozzarella pearls
1 tsp Italian seasoning

Prepare your pizza dough as instructed.  Prebake your crust for 7-10 minutes, or until it has just started to brown on top.

While your crust is pre-baking, you will have time to make what I am going to call "Pink Alfredo Sauce".  It's a Katie original.  Watch out. 

Melt your butter in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat. 

When it is completely melted, stir in the parmesan. 

Whisk in 1 tsp flour into your milk, then whisk the milk mixture into the sauce pan.  Turn the heat up to medium-high and keep whisking until the sauce thickens up.  It should only take a couple minutes. 

Once the sauce is thickened turn the heat off and add the marinara sauce to it.  It should be... pink.  :-)  Ok so maybe it's orange but pink sounds prettier.  If you prefer plain old alfredo sauce just double the butter, milk and cheese, omitting the marinara sauce.  All the cool kids use pink sauce though so you have been advised.

Assuming you have pulled out your crust by now, cover it with the pink sauce. 

Then layer half of your spinach and the fresh mozzarella pearls. 

I got these on sale at the grocery store and they are so much better than shredded mozzarella.  When you bake them they melt into these gooey cheese pockets that are perfect on your pizza.  If you can find them, I would use them instead of every day shredded mozzarella.

The only thing about using the pearls is that they won't completely cover your pizza.  So if you use them, you will need to "fill in the blanks" with the parmesan cheese, and 1/4 cup of shredded mozzarella.  Sprinkle the rest of your spinach on top. Finish it off with a teaspoon of Italian seasoning.

Bake your crust until it is crispy and the cheese has completely melted, about 7 minutes.

Slice and enjoy, preferrably with a glass of white wine.  This is not your every day beer pizza.  It is special, and therefore deserves something with a little more class.