Here’s a Friday Night Pizza Night pizza for you to try! >> White Clam Pizza
Do you do that on Fridays? Friday Night Pizza Night? I have some friends who have made it a weekly thing. It’s something for the family to look forward to on Friday nights, and it can be fun to come up with some different varieties of pizza. It doesn’t have to be difficult either. You can certainly make your own pizza dough (it’s easy), but if you’re not into that then you can find balls of pizza dough at a lot of markets (check Trader Joe’s).
Tonight’s pizza was inspired by the beach and the last lazy days of summer. White pizza with clams and garlic and parmesan cheese may seem a little bit unusual for Italian-style pizza purists, but I insist that you must give it a shot. It’s delicious!
I made this for a cookout that we were sharing with some neighbors. There were a lot of kids at that cookout, and guess what? The kids all LOVED the pizza. I brought it as an appetizer, and they all completely gobbled it up. So I guess you can call it a kid-friendly kind of pizza too. It was nice to see that kids were totally willing to try it, and then to discover that they totally liked it too. I love kids like that!
So what kind of pizza will you be making for Friday Night Pizza Night??
White Clam Pizza
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 large shallot, peeled and minced
- 1 large garlic clove, peeled and minced
- 1 cup canned chopped clams, drained
- 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
- freshly ground black pepper
- cornmeal (for dusting)
- olive oil (for brushing)
- ⅓ cup grated fresh Parmesan
- 1 ball pizza dough (store bought or your favorite recipe)
Instructions
- Place your oven rack on the bottom location, and preheat oven to 450℉.
- In a medium skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the shallots and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes, until softened. Stir in the garlic and sauté for another minute. Turn off the heat and stir in the clams and parsley. Let cool.
- Roll out pizza dough into a circle. Move to a cornmeal-dusted baking sheet or pizza stone. Brush with olive oil and give it a few pricks with a fork. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, just until the pizza begins to get golden brown (how quickly it browns will be based on how thin you rolled the dough). You really want to check the middle and make sure that is somewhat baked through...because there is nothing worse than soggy, uncooked dough in the middle of a pizza!
- Pull out the pizza dough and set it on a heat resistant surface. Use a slotted spoon to add the clam mixture to the top of the partially baked pizza and spread evenly around almost to the edges. Sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese, and finish it off with a few grinds of pepper.
- Return to the oven to bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or until the pizza is sufficiently golden on the edges and the dough is cooked through. Remove from the oven, let sit for a few minutes, then slice and serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made this last week when we had access to a pile of fresh clams. I have tried other variations of clam pizza but absolutely love this one! Thanks for sharing!
I live near New Haven, CT and white clam pizza is all the rage. One of my favorites. This post has me craving one from Pepe’s!
White clam pizza is one of my favorites, and yours looks amazing!!
Ohhhh Lori. This pizza speaks to my heart!
I could do pizza pretty much any night, so why not a Friday pizza night? Plus, with awesome pizza’s like this to choose from we’d never get bored.
Being Italian there isn’t a pizza I don’t like. Making our own pizza dough is a breeze – we use the “OO” flour and it is marvelous. For years we fought the dough but this dough is sooooo loosey goosey. Definitely trying the clam.
The white clam pizza looks yummy! Can I use yellow onions instead of shallots?
Why DON’T i do pizza every friday night?? That sounds like a great excuse for carbs–It’s family time! 🙂
Um Yum!!! White clam pizza to go with the chicken avocado pizza that pioneer woman posted this week! It’s going to be a good night! thanks for sharing!
Friday night, is normally pizza night at our house — this would be such a great spin to our usual!