Cook It! Homemade Nori-tuna Pizza

Friday, June 20, 2008 Jonette 2 Comments

We've lately been enjoying homemade pizza lunches and dinners on weekends for a good number of reasons. They're easy to put together, quick to cook, you can let your imagination run wild. We love how know what goes into our food, which makes it a lot healthier than dialed-and-delivered variety.

The first sausage-studded experiment was a success for lunch, true, but we found ourselves needing something lighter yet satisfying for dinner. (Not to mention we ran out of sausages to begin with. ) So, in times like this, it pays to use your imagination... and turn to the Japanese for some veritable inspiration.

Ok, I know that their idea of the Italian dish doesn't exactly jive with the rest of the Western world (or with a number of sensitive stomachs), but there's got to be a reason why these flavors were so sale-able on their islands. So, we experiment.


Nori-tuna Pizza (not for the fussy or unadventurous)

You will need:

•  1 Pizza crust. If you're on a budget, any frozen pizza crust will do nicely. For this experiment I used Gourmet Village's Gourmet Pizza Crust. It has a nice blend of onion, parmesan, garlic, and mozzarella chese. Smells quite nice too.
• 1 small packet of tomato sauce 
• 1 small can of sliced button mushrooms
• 1 small- to medium-sized can of tuna in vegetable oil, drained. Whether you go for regular or Hot n' Cpicy tuna is entirely your choice. 
• 250g of Mozzarella cheese, roughly grated
• 1 cup of seasoned nori, cut into itty-bitty strips ( 1 1/2 cup if you like it a lot)

Let's get to it!

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Lay out your pizza crust on a cookie sheet. Take your tomato sauce and spread it evenly on the surface of the crust. A circular motion helps here -- or, if you prefer to use a square-shaped crust, why not? Just make sure the tomato sauce coats the surface enough, with no side spillage. No sense wasting good food now.

• Sprinkle your grated mozzarella on the pizza. If you like a lot of cheese on your pizza, now's your chance! Don't worry if the grated mozzarella isn't "pretty" enough. Once you pop the pizza into the oven, the mozzarella pieces will melt together. You will want to spread the grated cheese evenly to get that cheese-y goodness all over your pizza, and have that nice stringy quality when you lift your first slice. 

•  Once you've done picking at the *ehem* leftover grated cheese, take your sliced mushrooms and spread them on your pizza.

• Next, take your drained tuna and spread it in an even, wide ring on your pizza. 

• Afterwards, take your nori and sprinkle generously and evenly. Hmm. Looking back, perhaps I should have made the tuna-and-nori ring wider. 

• Pop the pizza into the oven, and have it cook for 10-15 minutes. If you're unsure if it's entirely done, take a peek through the glass window. If the mozzarella is all melty, gooey-looking, and maybe even bubbling, It's good to go. Turn off your oven (unless you want to bake something else), and let the pizza cool for a bit. The cooling part is very important. At this point, common sense will tell you the cheese is very hot. You want to enjoy your creation, not sulk nursing a burnt palate or tongue at dinnertime. 

• 10) Slice the pizza as you see fit. If you have a circular pizza slicer and know how to use it, go for it. If you don't, a pair of kitchen shears will work just as well, and may even be easier to use. 

• Serve with cold drinks. Best shared with someone you love. ^_^