sweet corn shumai pizza

DESCRIPTION

ok, i know some of these are pretty strange, but i'm just using shit that's been in deep freeze for a while. i had this "sweet corn shumai" in the freezer for an ungodly length of time. looks like it was purchased in some japanese mart. pretty good on its own, but we're all about stretching things here...

the idea is that the sweet corn marries with the mozzarella to imply a kind of cornbread dish. i suppose a person could substitute some canned/creamed sweet corn, but i'd have to test that out to confirm its viability.

i know this one's genuinely strange; perhaps even stranger than the edamame pizza... but it's even easier to make and it's surprisingly good. the vinegar in the salsa gives it a nice tart flavor (of course, hopefully you're using a salsa you like). the taste of corn is light and not nearly as "weird" as you'd expect. it's a crispy, cheesy, corny, tex-mex-japanese wonderland! what the fuck are you waiting for?

INGREDIENTS

Basic Pizza Dough
corn meal
1 package sweet corn shumai (about 15 pieces)
1 package shredded mozzarella
salsa
extra virgin olive oil (e.v.o.o.)

DIRECTIONS

preheat oven, 500 degrees F.

heat up the shumai according to the package. (i assume there aren't that many brands of frozen sweet corn shumai out there; mine was about 4 minutes in the microwave.) set aside to cool down.

start that dough. 2 halves. cornmeal on the cutting board. roll out the first half nice and thin to accomodate the pan you're using. the cornmeal gives it an extra crunch and connects it with the whole "cornbread" idea here.

when the shumai is room temperature, toss it into your food processor with the entire package of mozzarella. give it a few pulses till everything's incorporated. should end up with a clumpy mix. (if the shumai's too hot, it'll melt your cheese into goop before you can put it on the pizza...) remember, this here's about stretching ingredients so they feed more/longer.

lay rolled-out dough in cornmeal-sprinkled pan. pour a little e.v.o.o. atop the dough. sprinkle half the corn/mozzarella mix on the dough. (laying down the cheese first makes it stick to the pizza; you avoid the "sliding cheese" syndrome of a lot of other pizzas.) sprinkle salsa over that. a last drizzle of e.v.o.o. and pop it into the hot oven for about 10 minutes or till bubbly/brown.

remove. set to cool on a rack while you do the same thing to the other ball of dough.

cut into pieces. go buckwild. wrap up leftovers in foil and shove it RIGHT BACK INTO THE FUCKIN' FREEZER where that shumai started! stupid fucking shumai... i showed you who's boss... *sniffle*...