Crudité Pizza

Of the many, many things in the world that SoupAddict doesn’t understand, the human memory is one of them. How is it that you can forget something for years on end and then suddenly, out of the blue, it pops into your brain?

That’s a mystery that won’t be solved today, but that’s okay, because the strange phenomenon did conjure up the memory of this appetizer: vegetables with a cream-cheesy-ranch spread on bread, in the guise of a pizza.

Mother of SoupAddict served this at Christmas many moons ago, when SoupAddict was merely SoupAdvocate. It’s super easy to pull together and can be partially made the night before.

Use your favorite vegetables. These are SoupAddict’s. They’re yummy. BTW, see those orange things? Those are baby carrots.

Actual baby carrots.

Did you know that those cellophane bags of “baby carrots” in the grocery store are actually large carrots that have been peeled and whittled down by machine? Believe it, it’s true.

Slice or grate the vegetables very finely. A mandolin makes almost paper-thin slices of carrots, radishes and cukes. Just watch your fingers at all times. Mandolins freak out SoupAddict way more than her super sharp Shun knives do. Way more. SoupAddict likes her fingertips right where they are: on her fingers. Not in the pizza.

So pretty. No matter the time of year, I never get tired of photographing vegetables. Mother Nature knows what she’s doing.

The ranch dressing mix usually comes in a 1 oz. package. I’m doing a half recipe here as a test run, so I use my digital scale to measure out a 1/4 oz. of dry mix.

The sour cream/ranch mix, cream cheese and a little mayo, ready to mix and refrigerate. The longer you can let this set, the better it will be.

Originally, I was going for the pizza dough in the refrigerated biscuit aisle, but when I saw the crescent rolls, I grabbed those instead. I really can’t remember what the original recipe used, but the flaky layers were light and delicious.

Flatten out the dough in the pan to form the crust and press the seams together. It doesn’t have to be perfect: the ranch mix will cover it all up.

Bake up the crust according to the regular directions on the can, and let cool.

If the ranch spread is too stiff to spread, thin it with a little milk and stir well. Then coat the crescent roll crust with the spead. Sprinkle the veggies on top. If you have picky veggie eaters, you can divide the pizza into quadrants and use different veggies in each section.

Use a bench knife to cut the pizza into easily-handled squares. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

So yummy. It’s like dipping your favorite veggie stick into ranch dressing and then shoving it and a piece of bread in your mouth at the same time.

Only, you know, classier.

Crudité Pizza

Ingredients:

1/2 oz. dry ranch dressing mix (often sold in 1 oz packages; you’ll need half, or to taste)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
2 8 oz cans crescent rolls
Vegetables, your favorite, sliced or cubed.

Instructions:

Combine the dry ranch dressing mix with the sour cream. Add the mayo and cream; stir well. Refrigerate at least one hour, preferably overnight.

Lay the sheets of crescent roll dough into a half sheet pan and press to completely cover the bottom of the pan. Bake according to the package directions. Allow to cool, leaving the bread crust in the pan.

Stir the refrigerated ranch spread to loosen (thinning with a little milk, if necessary) and spread over the crust. You don’t want it really thick, but you want it thick enough so that the veggies will stick to the spread.

Cut the pizza into small serving sizes, then refrigerate the pan until ready to serve.