Rigatoni with Chicken Thighs

Directions for: Detroit-Style Chicken Caesar Pizza

Ingredients

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

18 oz store-bought or homemade pizza dough

2 (4-oz) chicken breasts

4 strips thick-cut applewood smoked bacon

2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 red onion, sliced (1/2 cup)

2 tsp garlic, chopped (2 cloves)

cup Caesar salad dressing

Romano cheese, grated

garlic butter

1 pinch each salt and pepper

Directions

1. Using a paper towel or brush, grease baking sheet with vegetable oil.

2. Press dough firmly and evenly into the pan; if dough starts to shrink back, cover and set dough aside for at least 15 minutes.

3. Once dough has relaxed, press dough evenly into the pan and set dough aside at room temperature to rise for 1 to 3 hours, or until dough has risen about an inch.

4. While the dough rises, preheat oven to 450F.

5. Brush chicken breasts with garlic butter, salt, and pepper and place in a lidded shallow baking dish with inch of water.

6. Cover and place chicken in the oven to steam until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165F, about 25-30 minutes.

7. While chicken cooks, fry bacon in a medium pan over medium heat, flipping halfway and cooking to desired crispness.

8. Drain bacon on a paper towel and set aside until pizza assembly.

9. When chicken is done cooking, remove chicken from the oven; keep oven heated to cook the pizza. Set aside chicken to cool.

10. Once cooled, slice into strip sand reserve until assembly.

11. When dough has finished rising, spread shredded cheese across dough evenly to the edges of the pan.

12. Rip reserved bacon strips in half; pizza will eventually be sliced into eight squares, so place one piece of bacon on each of the eight squares. Spread chicken, onions, and chopped garlic over the pizza and drizzle with Caesar dressing, to finish.

13. Place pizza on the centre rack of the oven; bake for 25 minutes, or until dough is firm but not doughy and bottom is golden brown.

14. Remove pizza from the oven. With a spatula, loosen pizza from the pan and slide onto a cutting board or baking sheet to cool. Cut pizza in half lengthwise, then into fourths widthwise to create 8 even slices. Sprinkle chopped romaine lettuce over the pizza to finish, pressing the lettuce down into the cheese. Plate pizza slices and garnish with grated Romano cheese.

See more: Cheese, Chicken, Comfort Food, Dinner, Italian, Pork, Vegetables