potato pizza

when i first mentioned the idea of a pizza with potato topping to my husband he was appalled. he had no idea how it could possibly taste good, and thought that the two starches should be kept segregated. let me just say that it's lucky for both of us that i ignored him.

there has been a lot of talk about potato pizzas, and the combination of potato and other starches is not new, potato bread is one of my favorite treats. i decided to take a slightly different approach to this and utilized a "convenience food", which i would usually abhor. in the frozen food aisle, they sell shredded potatoes, which are intended to be used for hash browns (in fact, that's what they are called) but i used them for a more noble purpose...

ingredients:
2 pieces of naan
2 cups of frozen hash brown (or fresh shredded) potatoes
1/2 block gruyere cheese, grated
5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
olive oil (about 3 tablespoons, plus more if needed)
red pepper flakes
fresh thyme (2 sprigs, leaves picked)
salt and pepper

directions:
place the naan on a baking sheet (unlined and ungreased), and preheat the oven to 425.

in a large pan heat the oil over medium heat and add the garlic. slowly cook the garlic so that the flavor infuses the oil, but the garlic doesn't brown, stir through. after about 2 minutes, add in the potatoes and the thyme and salt and pepper and then stir them through. you will need to move them around the pan, the idea is to slowly cook them, but not let them fully brown. they should get soft, but not "done" and certainly not hash browned. remove from the heat and set aside.

put a thin layer of cheese on the center of each piece of the naan, and then top with the potatoes - dividing them evenly among the two pizzas. then, top with the remaining cheese. finally, crumble a small amount of red pepper flakes between your fingers onto the top of the cheese.

pop into the oven for about 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. enjoy!

notes:
i am a pizza lover to the nth degree. seriously, i'm obsessed with the stuff. and, i can honestly say that this is one of the best pizzas i've ever had. it's certainly the best pizza i've ever made. my husband is a big fan of tomato sauce, and so he dipped his, and thought that was a good compromise. by the way, he loved this too. it has the perfect blend of the potato flavor that we all know and love, the tangy cheese, and then the spice from the red pepper. it's excellent, go for it, really.