corn and basil pizza

It has been such a long, rough winter this year that I think I'm starting spring a little early in our kitchen. Even though lovely summer vegetables like corn and tomatoes and fresh herbs aren't quite in season yet, I'm craving them like crazy. So I'm making due with the supermarket variety until the farmer's markets (and the actual weather) catch up to my mindset, and I'm sneaking fresh, bright veggies into basically everything we eat.

Chad and I eat a lot of pizza (probably too much), and sometimes it's kind of a joke when we order it: I get fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, and other veggies with no cheese on my half, and he gets pepperoni or meat lover's or sausage or meatballs or something very much the opposite of mine on his side. You literally couldn't create a pizza with two sides that were a bigger contrast.

But when I'm cooking at home (and choosing the ingredients), he's not getting pepperoni pizza. I came up with corn and basil after one of those trips to the grocery store where I just threw things into my cart because they looked good, without thinking about how they'd go together. But they did, in fact, go together -- really well! So this was a pretty fair compromise between super-healthy and super-not-healthy, and totally delicious.

Corn and Basil Pizza Recipe

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup corn kernels (either use frozen corn that's been defrosted or cut it from the ears of fresh corn)

24 leaves fresh basil

6 ounces store-bought pizza dough

1/2 cup pizza sauce

1 cup grated mozzarella

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

In a medium size saute pan, boil the corn kernels for 3-5 minutes, or until their color changes to bright yellow. Remove from heat and set aside.

On a lightly floured surface, stretch or roll the dough as thinly as possible, into about a 14 to 15-inch circle. Evenly spread the pizza sauce over the dough. Julienne the basil by rolling up the leaves and slicing them into strips, and sprinkle them on the pizza. Add salt and pepper as desired. Sprinkle with the mozzarella and corn kernels. Bake until the pizza crust is nicely browned, about 12 to 14 minutes.

Remove pizza from the oven, transfer to a cutting board, cut into slices and serve immediately.