This recipe was inspired by Arabic Bites Safija (lentils pizza’s).
Spanish food is highly influenced by the Arab world including Jews and Moors. The Moors invaded Spain in AD 711 and stayed for nearly 800 years leaving behind their culinary influence especially in the South of Spain we all know as Andalucia. It’s completely evident today as I visit Arab food blogs and see the similarities in spices, stews, and use of legumes. When I visited Arabic Bites and saw their Safija, I was taken away. I decided to make my own lentil topping a bit more traditional to Spain by including chorizo sausage and Spanish paprika called pimenton.
Lenteja Chorizo Pizza
A crispy pizza topped with Spanish flavors of lentils and chorizo sausage.
Ingredients:
- 2 teaspoons yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 1/3 cups warm water
- 1 1/2 cups white flour
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2tbl Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 3 small Palacios chorizo sausages, diced, casings removed
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 2 large tomatoes, finely chopped
- 2 tsp Spanish paprika (pimenton)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3/4 cup brown lentils, cook according to package directions
- cilantro to garnish
Dough
Lentils Topping:
Method:
- Combine all dough ingredients.
- Knead to make a soft dough. Knead dough about 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
- Place dough in oiled bowl, cover, and allow to sit in a warm place about 1 hour.
- In a pan, heat 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and saute the onions until transparent.
- Add the chorizo, crushed garlic, and tomatoes. Stir until the tomatoes have cooked down and released their juices.
- Add the Spanish paprika, salt, and lentils and simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Add a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and mix through.
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Divide the dough into 4 personal sized pizza rounds.
- Sprinkle cornmeal onto 2 pizza stones or pans and place the pizza rounds on top.
- Top each pizza with the lentil toppings and oil the crust of the pizzas.
- Finish by sprinkling cornmeal on the crusts.
- Bake at 400F for 15 minutes or until browned.
- Once the pizzas have been cooked, garnish with cilantro.
For the dough
For the Lentil Topping
Assembly
©Copyright, A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa
Buen Provecho!
Wow, Diana! This sound delicious, my mum makes et least once a month a lentil-chorizo stew. In pizzas it must me so… good!
I'm a big fan of lentils but I would never have tought of using it on a pizza. Great idea!
What a great idea! I'm going to have to try beans on a pizza sometime soon.
A typical dish in my house…but not topped in a pizza, what a glorious and delectable idea, yummmmm 🙂
Cheers!
Gera
Looks delicious! I love lentils in soup. But this recipe is very interesting with lentils and chorizo.
I love the background information that you gave. Food is truly amazing. And even during wars, dishes are exchanged and later on they are adapted into different cuisines. I just think food history is fascinating…
Anyway, onto that pizza, OMG! Looks super delicious and that crust looks phenomenal. My kind of pizza.
lentils and chorizos are 2 of my favorite things…but I never thought of putting them on pizza dough (another of my favorites!)
Thanks so much everyone! The inspiration for this goes to Arabic Bites 🙂 This pizza was sooo yummy especially with the garnished cilantro.
Diana you have opened up a whole new world of taste for me. I've never had lentils on pizza before. Thanks for sharing this post.
Oh, this pizza looks too good for words. We love tasty chorizo.
Howdy Diana, congratulations! You made it to the top 9. Yippie! I'm so happy for you:)
top 9 way to go!