Clam & Bacon Pizza

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about Ocean Queen canned smoked scallops.  I thought at the time that they'd be a great ingredient on a seafood pizza (specifically, a bacon/scallop/anchovy/clam pizza.)  So I made one.

I made a standard batch of pizza dough and set it aside to rise (it's in the background in the picture at left) and assembled the other ingredients:  Ferrara pizza sauce (a snappy and well-seasoned tomato sauce,) a jar of anchovy fillets in olive oil, a can of Ocean Queen smoked scallops, and a can of Bar Harbor Foods littleneck clams.

After the crust had risen for about an hour, I spread it with the sauce and sprinkled it with little chunks of fresh basket cheese and a light scattering of mozzarella.  Then I topped it with pieces of cooked (but not crispy) bacon, a few anchovies arranged like spokes radiating from the center of the pie, and the scallops and clams, properly distributed.  A heavier scattering of mozzarella followed, and it was into the oven for about 15 minutes at 500 F.  The high temperature is essential for a decent crust, and also makes the bacon crispy and gives the cheese a light golden brown finish - just the degree of doneness I love on a pizza.

Now, I know that it's pretty much traditional for food bloggers to present their creations and then write about how amazing and awesome and delicious everything was, but I have to admit to being a little disappointed with the results.  Theoretically, this pizza should have been THE MIGHTY SEAFOOD PIZZA - all the flavors were complimentary to one another, the crust came out great, and Ferrrara sauce can hold its own against most pizzeria sauces.  This should have been a home run.  But truth be told, it just wasn't.  The seafood flavors were far too overwhelming; next time I get a craving for this kind of pizza, I'll leave out either the scallops or the clams - I'm almost certain it was one or the other that pushed the final result over the edge.

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