Courtney's Famous Greek Pizza

Aiken, South Carolina is one of the horsey capitals of the world, or at least of the Southeastern United States, especially if you're an eventer. I used to be an eventer, and therefore, I used to go to Aiken a lot: Sporting Days and later Paradise in February, Jumping Branch in March, Hopeland over Labor Day weekend (this is where I was when Princess Di died, Hopeland), Sporting Days again in November.

For a town its size, Aiken has a surprisingly vibrant restaurant scene - or it did the last time I was there, which was in 2001. There was this one Caribbean place that had the most amazing crab ravioli...I think that one went out of business, or at least I only remember being there once, the Year It Was Cold at Jumping Branch. Every visit, though, our barn would make it a point to stop by a little Greek/Italian place called the Acropolis, conveniently located across the street from our usual hotel. Despite the fact that we lived three hours away, the owner seemed to consider us regulars, since we tended to be there at least once every four months, and sometimes multiple times in a weekend.

Why the Acropolis? Why, because of the Greek pizza, of course.

Eventually, barn friend Amanda moved into my house (my parents moved out; long story) and we had an epiphany: we could recreate the Greek pizza from the Acropolis. Armed only with taste memories, we hit up the local Kroger. Repeatedly. Over the next few months, we tinkered with the Greek pizza, trying obsessively to get the exact version from the Acropolis. Finally, we nailed it...or so we thought. The next time we went to Aiken and ordered the pizza, we realized that our Greek pizza was nothing like the original.

That was about ten years ago. I've been making the Greek pizza ever since, tinkering endlessly with the recipe (because I can), and it never gets old. There are only two hard-and-fast rules: one, the pizza may only have vegetables (although, as we realized on our return visit to the Acropolis, the original is topped with gyro meat), and two, it requires ample amounts of feta cheese.

Look, if you ever find yourself in Aiken, you should totally go to the Acropolis and order the Greek pizza. However--and I'm not just saying this because I'm an egomaniac--my version is better. A few weeks ago, I posted a step-by-step guide to my new specialty pizza (roasted red pepper and goat cheese) on Facebook, and Amanda requested a similar treatment for the Greek pizza. So here's the classic version. I'll call it "The Classic."

I'll start off by saying that as long as you follow the Two Rules, the pizza will be delicious no matter what else you do to it. Seriously. But this is my recommended treatment. And since I've been doing this for ten years, I'm probably right.


1. You want a whole wheat crust. I use the recipe from the Joy of Cooking, but with 2 cups whole wheat flour and the rest white. You might want to prebake the crust for about five minutes.



You never, ever want to use marinara sauce on this pizza. (Although the Acropolis uses marinara.) For the Classic, I recommend spreading about two tablespoons of olive oil, then sprinkling with granulated garlic, granulated onion, pepper, oregano, and basil. Tasty and approved alternatives: Browse through the premade bruschetta-type spreads at the grocery store. Sundried tomato spread is always good - or you can use the excess oil from a regular jar of sundried tomatoes. Eggplant spread is good too.


2. Layer on your shredded mozzerella.



We initially didn't think the Acropolis version used mozzerella. Turns out we were wrong. This is the only significant adjustment I made after retrying their version.


3. You want a variety of appropriate vegetables.



Here we have (from blue bowl) roasted eggplant pulp, sliced mushrooms, sliced onions, roasted red peppers, sundried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts. Red onions make the pizza prettier, but normal yellow ones are fine. Not pictured: spinach, kalamata olives. I'll explain how to get the eggplant pulp in a bit.


4. You don't want to put all the vegetables on one pizza. Trust me, I've tried.

The Classic calls for mushrooms, onions, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and kalamata olives.



I have to leave mushrooms and olives off half of mine, because the weirdo boyfriend unit doesn't like them. He is a weirdo. THE ARTICHOKE HEARTS ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE. YOU MUST HAVE THE ARTICHOKE HEARTS.


5. Then you crumble excessive amounts of feta cheese over the top.


6. Bake according to pizza crust directions. Usually 10-12 minutes at 475.



You might notice that there aren't olives on this pizza. I thought I had some in the fridge. I was wrong. The next day, I remedied that situation. God bless kalamata olives in all their briny deliciousness.



My camera has this "close focus" feature, which I'm maybe enjoying a little too much.


Anyway, that's the Classic. But, as I said before, pretty much anything is delicious on this pizza. So here's another combination I like (same crust):



Roasted eggplant pulp, spinach, roasted red peppers, onion, and a little crumbled goat cheese in addition to the feta. (I had some in the fridge. I don't think you need it, though.)


To get the eggplant pulp, wash and dry your eggplant, then poke some holes in with a paring knife. Cut slivers of garlic out of your garlic cloves (you do have garlic cloves around all the time, right?) and wedge those into the holes. Put the eggplant in a pan and bake at 350 for an hour or so, until it collapses.



Let it cool off until you can handle safely. The skin should slip right off. Mash the eggplant "meat" and whatever garlic stays in it in a bowl, then move to a strainer and let the extra liquid drain off. (You can see this happening in the vegetable picture above.) You need about half an eggplant's worth for the pizza. Just put it on in little gobs.

I successfully turned the other half of my eggplant mush into pasta sauce last night with the addition of tomato paste, olive oil, white wine, various herbs and spices, and a touch of cream.

Media Pairing: Look, I call it the Greek pizza, but it's hardly authentic Greek food. So I'm not going to go with a Greek film. Toy Story 3 has been my favorite movie of the summer. Therefore, you get Pizza Planet trucks.