Joanne's Kitchen: Chicken Artichoke Pizza

I have an interesting history with this particular recipe. I first found it by accident and passed by it quickly without much thought (other than thinking it was an odd combination for topping a pizza)

You see I was trying to find a recipe for a pizza similar to one I had eaten out. It had been topped with among other things chicken and artichoke hearts. It was so good and I really wanted to make one like it. So I did the natural thing I went to Google to try to find a recipe. The thing is the pizza I am sharing today was what came up. And boy did it come up, there were what seemed like an unlimited number of pages with recipes for this pizza. Then I bought a copy of my favorite cooking magazine a week or so later and right there in the pages of my magazine yet another version of this pizza. I might add here that I still hadn't found the recipe I was looking for.

So I decided that since so many people were so enamored of this recipe that it was the only chicken and artichoke pizza I was finding I should probably give it a chance. (even if the toppings seemed a bit unconventional)

My youngest son was still living at home at the time so we talked about it and he was up for trying it. So I picked one of the many versions of the recipe and made it. We were cautious but hopeful that we would like the end result.

Well, one bite and were were both addicted to this pizza. We also figured out what the draw is. That strange combination of topping ingredients, well they just happen to be the same ones that make up artichoke dip. Yeah, that wonderful gooey concoction that I can not be trusted around. I will eat the entire dish given the opportunity. So this pizza takes that dip, puts it on a pizza crust adds meat and allows you to call it dinner instead of an appetizer. It even takes the work of dipping out of the equation, its on a crust so it is even easier to eat than a dip.

So needless to say we ended up having that pizza fairly often. Then the day came when my son moved out. I didn't want to not eat this pizza, but I knew I couldn't be trusted around the “family sized” version. I simply had to reduced this recipe ASAP.

The only ingredient that I was concerned about was the artichoke hearts, since they come in a fairly large can and I wasn't going to need all the can for the smaller recipe. Then I remembered that I had noticed frozen artichoke hearts at the grocery store. I decided to try those and they work perfectly.

The recipe I am sharing is how I make a small version of this pizza and it is based on the recipe I worked out for my son and I using our preferences and likes.

For the crust on this any 6” pizza crust will work, you could use the recipe for par-baked individual crusts that I shared in my Pizza Kit blog post, a Greek pita bread (the kind meant to be folded) or a pre-baked crust from the store (like the ones from Boboli)

I find I love having the frozen artichoke hearts in my freezer, they keep well and are nice to throw into a lot of recipes besides this one. I just put the opened package into a reclosable freezer bag.

A small note, I normally use green onion for the topping but the day I made this I had forgotten to get any at the grocery store so I used some chopped yellow onion. Any onion you have on hand will work just fine.

Chicken Artichoke Pizza

1 small (about 6”) pre-baked pizza crust