My Version of the Hangover Pizza

Theirs (image by Meg Cotner)

Mine

Some of you might have heard about Vesta's brunch specialty, the Hangover Pizza. It's a non-traditional thin-crust pizza with a fried egg on top. And while I haven't yet tried it, the idea was intriguing enough to make my own version.

There are a lot of differences between the two, the main one being that Vesta's is made by a talented professional chef and mine was made by curious, hungry me. Other differences include the dough texture (theirs is thin and crispy, mine was thick and doughy) toppings (theirs contains potato, pancetta, caramelized onions, a fried egg and spicy tomato sauce and mine used traditional tomato sauce, smoked Swiss cheese, a runny egg and fresh basil).

Here's the recipe for my version - and I'll give you some helpful hints I learned from the faux-pas I made along the way.

Foodista's Runny Egg Pizza (serves 2-4)

Ingredients:
1 lb of pizza dough - I usually buy it at Rose and Joe's for a mere $1.25
About 1/4 cup of tomato/marinara sauce (can be homemade or store bought)
1/2 cup of smoked Swiss cheese - or any cheese that you like. Could be mozzarella.
1 egg
Fresh basil torn into medium-sized pieces
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

Roll out pizza dough to desired shape (I like a rustic round pie--it does not have to look perfect). Top with tomato sauce and cheese and place in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until the dough gets golden and the cheese melts. Open the oven and break an egg right on top of the pizza. Be very careful not to move the pizza too quickly when sliding the oven tray back into position--the egg might roll off. This happened to me and as a result, I had to break another egg, just gently pushing the oven tray back into place. Bake for another 5 minutes or according to your egg preference (I like them runny). Remove from oven and top with fresh basil, salt and pepper.

Enjoy the runny egg as it melds with the smoky cheese and the tangy sauce. Mmmmm...

Thanks for a great idea Vesta!