Recipe #24: Potato Leek Pizza

Recipe: Potato Leek Pizza
Source: Pioneer Woman Cooks
Time: 45 min (if you have a ready pizza crust)
Ease: 6
Taste: 7
Leftover Value: 4
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!

When I must face vegetables like leeks, I always wonder who it was that first decided that a leek was food.  Who was it that observed this strange green plant and imagined that it might be worth eating?  And who later realized that it was a great flavor inducer for meals like soup and apparently pizza, too?

I'm pretty sure if I belonged to the people of the ancient days, the guinea pigs as I like to call them, I would have been one who had a very limited diet.  I would have refused to try something different for fear that it would be inedible and either taste horrible or kill me.

That said, the star of this meal is the leek.  A strange, seemingly worthless bunch of green.  The hidden star, however, is the potato.  Hubby didn't even realize there were potatoes on the pizza until he was half way through his first slice.

I, however, was more excited about the bacon.

Bacon on pizza...can life get any better?

The reason I gave this pizza a '6' for ease is because there are a lot of prep steps.  The leeks need to be sliced and fried, the bacon needs to be fried then chopped, the potatoes need to be sliced (into thin slices with a mandoline), the cheeses need to be sliced, shredded, and crumbled, and that doesn't even include making the pizza crust and pressing it into the pan.  

Needless to say, it's a lot of work! 

Though red potatoes are my favorite, I went with the Yukon gold ones because that was what I had on hand.  I scrubbed the five small potatoes the recipe called for, but only needed two to cover the dough, so that is something to watch for with this recipe.  There is nothing worse that scrubbing down a potato that isn't going to be used, do you know what I mean?

If you don't, you must be much better at planning and organizing than I am.

Good for you.

Slicing the potatoes should be saved for last to prevent them from turning color.  

Though I doubt I'll ever have interest to seek out a recipe with leeks in it again, I will admit they had a very appealing aroma as I fried them in the pan and then scattered them on top of the cheese.

Then again, so did the bacon.  I had to restrain myself from nibbling the especially crunchy looking pieces.

From this pizza and this recipe that you might remember from summer, I have determined that I do not prefer goat cheese.  It isn't unbearable, but it isn't a flavor which I prefer.  It is a little too strong for me and I always find in recipes that call for it, I wish in the end that I had used half the amount called for. 

Parmesan, on the other hand, I can never have enough of.

More than likely, I won't make this recipe again, but I would certainly eat it again.  Reason being, it was simply too much work for pizza only.  I might even say it falls into the fried chicken category.  I'd love to eat a gourmet pizza of this sort, but I don't find the need to spend my own time making it.  I'd rather pay for it.

Or have a good friend cook it for me.

However, I do think I will experiment in the future with potatoes on my pizza, sans leeks, sans goat cheese, perhaps with the addition of ground beef and a white or pesto sauce.