Pesto shrimp pizza with Parmesan starts from prepared pizza bases, so the whole thing runs to about 30 minutes. Green pesto scented with basil, shrimp cooked with onion and bell pepper, grated Parmesan over the top, then into the heat until golden.
The hardest part is keeping the shrimp from turning rubbery, since they cook twice, once in the pan and once under the heat. Three minutes in the pan and then off, with the rest of the cooking saved for the oven. Brushing the pesto on once the base is already hot is what brings its scent up rather than drying it at the edges.
This batch weighs about 1.3kg, at roughly 193 calories per 100g.
Method
Trim and deseed 1 large onion and 1 bell pepper, wash them and cut them into dice.
Peel 450g of shrimp, remove the heads, legs and tails, wash them and score along the back to pull out the dark vein.
Put 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil in a pan and, once hot, cook the onion and bell pepper with 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of MSG for 5 minutes over medium heat, then turn it into a bowl.
Add another 1 teaspoon of olive oil to the pan, cook the shrimp for 3 minutes, then return the onion and bell pepper mixture and stir through.
Set 6 pizza bases of 15cm across and 0.5cm thick on an electric grill, cook for 5 minutes and brush 120ml of traditional pesto sauce evenly over the surfaces as they heat.
Arrange the shrimp, onion and bell pepper mixture on top and scatter about 30g of powdered Parmesan cheese over each one, using all 180g.
Cook another 5 minutes, turn each base 90 degrees and cook a further 5 minutes so they cook through evenly and crisp.
Tips
Shrimp to look for curl slightly, feel firm in the flesh and have tightly folded tails, which rules out any that have been pumped with water.
Frozen pizza bases need about 10 minutes of thawing first so they do not crack.
Pesto blended fresh at home gives the brightest flavour for this one.
Three minutes in the pan and then off is right for the shrimp, since they keep cooking in the oven.
Turning each base 90 degrees partway through browns the surface evenly, as every oven has a hotter corner.
Cutting after a 2 minute rest is better, since cutting straight from the oven drags the cheese into strings and slides the topping out of place.
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