I will admit to being a total sucker for marketing – if something sounds good or has a cool/clever name … color me intrigued. The name of this pizza sort of underscores this truth about me: Crispy Potato & Burrata Pizza with Honeyed Tapenade. How good does that sound? H o n e y e d Tapenade. Ahhhh, I loves it. It just has such a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
This is such a great pizza guys, and I’ll tell you why. For starters, it’s got a very well-rounded flavor profile, checking all the boxes and hitting all the marks that I tend to look for when I’m writing a recipe. It gets its saltiness from those glorious crushed olives in the (store-bought) tapenade/bruschetta as well as the crispy potatoes that you pile and shingle up on top. They will cook on their own pan at the same time as the pizza. Those potatoes, incidentally, also bring the crunch – which is fantastic on a pizza, I think. I’ve tried several potato pizzas in the past and the potatoes always get soft and sad on top. By baking them on a second baking sheet, underneath the pizza, they really get nice and crunchy, which is far superior, I believe.
Lastly, I mellow out the tang and briny punch of the tapenade with a good squeeze or two of honey, and it really is amazing how well it all just works together. It is a perfect snack with some cocktails or as part of a dinner, served up alongside a simple, crunchy green salad.
But here’s the real kicker – it’s the boring ole store-bought pizza crust that we’re using here that really swoops in and steals the show. I mean, I knew the toppings were going to be killer (if you love olives you HAVE to make this), but I was so pleasantly surprised by the little bit of magic that happened to the crust while everything bakes away in the oven. These crusts lack some luster, let’s be real. But on a busy Monday night, I’m not going to make my own, even though I do happen to love it and I do happen to have a great recipe for fresh pizza dough. I leaned on a pre-baked store-bought crust to make this and was ready to be a little underwhelmed but to my surprise, the most wonderful thing happened.
You see, these pre-baked crusts have lots of little perforations all over them – little pores, if you will – and the flavorful, salty oil from the tapenade/bruschetta seeps down through them as the pizza cooks (you can literally see it happening). The pizza sits in this deliciously tasty oil and literally frizzles and fries away, getting all crunchy and flavorful and frankly, incredibly delicious. You can certainly do this with fresh pizza dough, but the way it all works with the store-bought is so easy and well-timed that it almost seems like the better option. Uncanny!
This trick – using a tasty olive oil to flavor both the top of the pizza as well as to fry the crust on the bottom (all at the same time) is a brilliant My Kitchen Little trick that truly puts these simple ingredients to use in as many ways as possible.
I think you’re going to love this one.
Crispy Potato & Burrata Pizza with Honeyed Tapenade
Maybe one of the easiest “gourmet” pizzas you will ever make, this uniquely delicious pizza has got it all: crunchy, salty potatoes, briny, bright olives, creamy burrata and a kiss of sweet honey. The oil will seep down through the crust’s pores and lightly fry it, creating an incredibly delicious effect that makes this pizza a total winner.
Ingredients
1/2 large russet potato, very thinly sliced in 1/8” slices
2 TBSP olive oil
Salt and pepper, as needed
1 store-bought pizza crust (a pre-baked crust, not dough)
1 cup green olive tapenade or bruschetta (store-bought)
2 TBSP honey
1.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (or however much you like)
8 oz burrata
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Place a baking rack over a large sheet pan. Adjust your oven racks to the middle and lowest positions.
In a bowl, toss together the sliced potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Arrange the sliced potatoes over the baking rack in a single layer.
Place the pizza crust on a separate large baking sheet (not a pizza stone). Combine the honey and the tapenade (or bruschetta) and spoon over the crust, spreading it out so it covers the whole surface and seeps down through the pores. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella and bake on the middle rack for 12 minutes (or until it’s done). Bake the tray of sliced potatoes on the bottom rack underneath the pizza until light brown and crispy, rotating once about halfway through; about 12 minutes (just keep an eye on them and take them out when they look done; will vary from oven to oven).
Top the finished pizza with the crispy potatoes and pieces of torn burrata (which will melt into the pizza as it sits …). Slice and enjoy!
