LocknLock ceramic cookware and Pizza... awesomeness with a pop of color!!!

 Its time...to test second set of items from lock and  lock. It is ceramic pan's turn this time. I received a 7 cup 

Cookplus Ceramic Sauce Pan and 10.2 inch Cookplus Ceramic Frying Pan.

The better part,  it has non-toxic, eco-friendly coating (ZERO PFOA i.e PFOA is  not included  in manufacturing process of coating liquid). I can see the question marks and head scratching... well almost. PFOA is a man made material thats used to bond non-stick coating to utensils. This can get harmful when the coating starts peeling off and is absorbed in the food from the cookware. Read more about it here.  Now the best part, it's yellow!!!! It brings a pop of color in the kitchen, amongst boring black nonstick and shiny stainless steel cookware. More colors for ceramic cookwares are available on LocknLock website.

When I received them, I immediately had to use them. It was pizza night... so they were perfect for making sauce and topping for the pizza. And they were...easily sauted mushroom and chicken without having to worry all the time that it would stick.

My twist to pizza sauce - add sauted finely chopped mushrooms. I really don't care about biting into mushrooms in pizza toppings and my husband loves it.  I had to find a middle gound somewhere! So lets get on with cooking, shall we. This is going to be a long post, so grab your cuppa coffee.

Ingredients

Pizza Sauce
1 cup tomato puree
1/4 cup +  1 tsp olive oil
2/3 cup water
1 minced garlic clove
1 tbsp italian seasoning  (adjust according to taste)
1 cup finely chopped mushrooms
Salt and pepper to taste.

Pizza topping
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp meat masala
1/2 tsp each - ginger and garlic paste.
1 cup small chunks of chicken
1 1/2 cup cheese (I used cheddar)
Slices of mozzarella cheese.
Salt to taste

11 oz pizza dough (I used store bought dough)

Get Cooking

In sauce pan, heat olive oil and add minced garlic to it. Fry for few seconds....only seconds. Add tomato puree, water, italian seasoning and salt and pepper to taste. Be careful about salt as cheese is salty as well. Simmer until the mix thickens to sauce consistency. Set it aside.

In frying pan, heat  a tsp of oil and chopped mushrooms. Saute until completely dry. Lightly salt it. Transfer this to pizza sauce. Let the sauce sit for a couple of hours. It will thicken some more. If possible make this a day ahead, it tastes even better.

Again, heat a tsp of oil in frying pan. Add meat masala to oil, immediately after a second add the ginger garlic paste. Fry for a  minute. Add chicken pieces.Fry until completely cooked and liquid has dried. Fry some more until brown.

Preheat oven to 400F. Stretch out the pizza dough on pizza pan or pizza paddle. I stretched it thin. If you prefer thin crust, pre-bake pizza dough for 10 minutes. Ladle the sauce onto the dough and spread it around, leave about an inch around the edge. Sprinkle cheese. Add more if you want extra cheesy. Add chicken pieces over the cheese. Top that with mozzarella slices.

Tranfer pizza to preheated over and bake about 10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Take it out of oven and let it rest for 5 minutes or so. Cut in square slices or wedges. However you prefer, they are still going to taste heavenly.

Meet ooey, gooey and chewey. Get your drink and pop in a DVD.. its movie night!

Note:

1. Easily make this a vegetarian affair. Add sliced onions, sauted bell pepper, broccoli, sliced baby corn, sauted spinach...just about anything you fancy on your pizza. How about small pineapple chunks....they taste divine when baked. 
2. If you think the sauce is too thin, simmer it open for few more minutes.