This is what taking a week off of work gets me… a renewed sense of creativity! I’m sure I’m not the first person to look at a combination of fishes and think “pizza” but it’s the first time *I’ve* done it and I have to say it was a tasty line of thinking! Our Seafood Combo packs are made up of steamer clams, rockfish, scallops and shrimp so it seemed the best idea to make the white sauce from the clam broth and the pile the fish on the pie! It was a home-run with my family.
~serves 4-6 for dinner~
ingredients
- one seafood combo pack (2/3# steamer clams, 1/3# rockfish, 1/3#shrimp, 1/3#scallops)
- pizza crust (we actually used a Boboli crust for the tester)
- 2 T finely chopped onion
- one clove of garlic, minced
- 2 T butter
- 1 cup milk
- 3 T flour
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
- 1 tsp dry basil
- 1 T olive oil
- salt, pepper
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Rinse your clams in a colander, and the place in a small pan over medium-high heat. Put a lid on the pan, and then keep a close eye on your clams. Once they heat, they’ll start to release their juice, which will make them steam a bit and cook in about 2-3 minutes. Once the clams are open, set the pan aside and pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil (what I do, because I don’t own a fancy pizza stone) or get out your fancy pizza stone! Place your crust on the pan, and then return to your clams - by now they should be cool enough to handle… shuck the clam meat onto a cutting board, leave the juice in the pan, and discard the empty shells. Give your clam meat a quick chop, then set aside while you build the sauce.
Into the clam juice, add the minced onion, garlic and butter. Place the pan back on the stove and return to medium-high heat. As the butter melts, swirl it all together and let it bubble, reduce and get fragrant for about 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat again and stir in the cold cup of milk. Sprinkle the flour over the top and whisk to combine. Return to the heat and stir continually until the sauce thickens considerably. Remove from the heat for the final time, stir in the cheese, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle generously with chopped dry basil.
Open up your seafood combo pack and pour about a tablespoon of olive oil in the bag, and a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. Toss it around until everything is nicely coated.
Now, back to the crust! Pour the sauce over the crust and spread evenly. (You might have a couple of tablespoons of extra sauce, depending on how saucy you like your pizza…) Sprinkle the chopped clams evenly over the sauce, then place the shrimp, scallops and rockfish evenly over the pizza. It might get crowded depending on the size of your crust, so take care not to overlap thicker pieces of fish so that they cook evenly.
Place your masterpiece in the oven and set your timer for 8 minutes. At about 6 minutes you should see the shrimp turning orange and the rockfish turning white - a sign that they’re cooking up properly!
Once the timer rings, open up the oven and top your pizza with cheese and another quick sprinkle of chopped basil. Return to the oven for an additional 2 minutes to melt the cheese and for everything to finish cooking up perfectly.
Let the pizza rest for a minute before slicing, and… enjoy!!
