Pizza salad: a revolutionary creation that you have probably heard about, unless you’ve been living under a rock like me. For those of you who aren’t up with the trends in the world of pizza, it’s exactly what it sounds like – a mountain of fresh baby arugula on top of a pizza hot out of the oven. So why is it that I had never heard of this dynamite combination?! That is, until one fateful night at Union Pizzeria…
Photo courtesy of flickr user iheartyum
I was on one of my bi-weekly food excursions with my roommate (because you can hide a food obsession from the world, but not from a roommate), and we decided to check out the fancy new pizza place near campus. While perusing the menu, that’s when I saw it: Prosciutto and Arugula pizza.
Reaction 1: That’s weird, why would anyone want to waste precious pizza space with arugula?
Gif courtesy of giphy.com
So, I passed it over in favor of the skirt steak. My roommate, on the other hand, decided to go for the prosciutto and arugula. Really my culinary discovery can be credited to her. 20 minutes and a couple glasses of wine later, our food finally made an appearance.
Reaction 2: Is that what Prosciutto and Arugula pizza is? It’s a pizza salad! I can dig that.
Gif courtesy of giphy.com
A hot pie with fluffy crust and perfectly melted cheese emerged in front of us, topped with a bed of fresh arugula and grated parmesan. Maybe it was the wine talking, but pizza had never looked better. After chomping on my meal while making that “pretty please give me your pizza” face, she eventually caved. Finally, it was my time to experience pizza salad.
Reaction 3: Let’s trade?
Gif courtesy of giphy.com
Oh. My. God. It was amazing. The melty cheese plus the arugula made for a stellar duo. It was kind of like eating salad and breadsticks, but a million times better because it was pizza. A healthy(ish) pizza – who could ask for more?
All in all, pizza salad was an enlightening experience. I now top all of my pizzas with arugula, even the ones I make at home. If necessary, take your own bag of arugula, make your way to the nearest pizza place and get yourself some pizza salad. HM would agree, it’s the best of both worlds.
Gif courtesy of giphy.com